Patents Assigned to BOC Edwards Technologies Limited
  • Patent number: 7059823
    Abstract: A molecular pump has a casing having a gas inlet port and a gas discharge port, a stator disposed within the casing, a shaft disposed in the casing concentrically with the stator, a bearing rotatably supporting the shaft for undergoing rotation relative to the stator in a preselected direction of rotation, a rotor mounted on the shaft for rotation therewith in the preselected direction of rotation, and a motor for rotationally driving the shaft. A flange is connected to the casing at the gas inlet port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2003
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2006
    Assignee: BOC Edwards Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Yoshiyuki Sakaguchi, Satoshi Okudera, Hirotaka Namiki, Takashi Kabasawa, Togru Miwata
  • Patent number: 6991439
    Abstract: A vacuum pump apparatus has a casing and a base connected to the casing. The base has an opening communicating with an interior space of the casing. A heater is mounted on the base for heating the base to maintain a gas discharge path at a temperature high enough to prevent solidification of processed gas in the vacuum pump. A cover member covers the opening of the base. The cover member has a first surface communicating with the interior space of the casing and a second surface exposed to the exterior of the vacuum pump. A substrate is connected to the first surface of the cover member and has at least one circuit for controlling operation of the vacuum pump.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2006
    Assignee: BOC Edwards Technologies Limited
    Inventor: Takaharu Ishikawa
  • Patent number: 6910850
    Abstract: A vacuum pump has a pump case having a gas suction port at an upper part of the pump case and a gas exhaust port at a lower part of the pump case. A stator column extends from a base of the pump case and has an outer circumferential surface. A rotor shaft is rotatably supported in the pump case by the stator column. A spacer is removably integrally connected to the outer circumferential surface of the stator column. The spacer has an outer circumferential surface spaced apart from an inner circumferential surface of the rotor and a through-hole extending form the outer circumferential surface to an inner circumferential surface thereof. A connecting member extends through the through-hole of the spacer and contacts the outer circumferential surface of the stator column to thereby removably integrally connect the spacer to the outer circumferential surface of the stator column.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2005
    Assignee: BOC Edwards Technologies, Limited
    Inventors: Manabu Nonaka, Takashi Kabasawa
  • Patent number: 6899529
    Abstract: Provided is a connecting structure for a vacuum pump, which can block propagation of electrical noise, generated by a main body of the vacuum pump. Between both ends of a connection piping for connecting the vacuum pump to a vacuum chamber of an apparatus to be connected with and evacuated by the vacuum pump, there is interposedly provided an electrical insulating portion formed of an insulating material so as to provide electrical insulation therebetween. The electrical insulation portion may be provided to a connection piping member such as a damper (or a valve depending on the connection arrangement) for absorbing mechanical vibrations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2005
    Assignee: BOC Edwards Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Takaharu Ishikawa, Akira Yamauchi
  • Patent number: 6890145
    Abstract: A vacuum pump has a pump case having a gas suction port at an upper surface thereof, a rotor shaft mounted in the pump case for undergoing rotation, and a rotor connected to the rotor shaft for rotation therewith. The rotor has inner and outer circumferential surfaces coated with a corrosion-resistant film treated by nonelectrolytic plating. Rotor blades are disposed in the pump case and are integrally connected to the outer circumferential surface of the rotor. Stator blades are integrally connected to the pump case so that the rotor blades and the stator blades are alternately positioned and arranged. A balancing body is disposed on the inner circumferential surface of the rotor for balancing the rotor during rotation thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2005
    Assignee: BOC Edwards Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Masayoshi Takamine, Yasushi Maejima, Shinji Kawanishi, Yoshiyuki Sakaguchi, Satoshi Okudera, Kenji Kabata, Yutaka Inayoshi
  • Patent number: 6866472
    Abstract: A vacuum pump has a rotor mounted to undergo rotation about a rotational axis. A cylindrical base member surrounds a lower outer periphery of the rotor. A cylindrical pump case surrounds an upper outer periphery of the rotor. The base member has an inner periphery, an outer periphery, and a groove formed between the inner and outer peripheries thereof. The pump case is connected to the base member so that a portion of the outer periphery of the base member confronts a portion of the inner periphery of the pump case. A thread groove is formed in the inner periphery of the base member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2005
    Assignee: BOC Edwards Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Satoshi Okudera, Yoshiyuki Sakaguchi
  • Patent number: 6854956
    Abstract: A turbo-molecular pump has a main body and a pump case for covering the main body. A first flange is integrally formed with the pump case for connection to a second flange integrally with a vacuum chamber. The flange of the pump case and the flange of the vacuum chamber are integrally connected together with fastening bolts. A clamping structure separately clamps the first and second flanges together by surrounding a portion of each of the first and second flanges.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2005
    Assignee: BOC Edwards Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Tooru Miwata, Satoshi Okudera, Yoshiyuki Sakaguchi, Yasushi Maejima
  • Patent number: 6851848
    Abstract: A turbo-molecular pump has components including a stator column, a rotary shaft, and a blade connected to the rotary shaft for rotation therewith. A radiation temperature measuring apparatus has a radiation thermometer for measuring a temperature of a preselected one of the components of the turbo-molecular pump disposed within a view angle range of the radiation thermometer and in accordance with heat energy radiated from the preselected component. A hood is connected to the radiation thermometer so as to not interfere with the view angle range of the radiation thermometer and is configured to block heat energy radiated from components of the turbo-molecular pump disposed outside of the view angle range of the radiation thermometer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2005
    Assignee: BOC Edwards Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Tooru Miwata, Manabu Nonaka, Takashi Kabasawa
  • Patent number: 6840736
    Abstract: Vibrations generated by a vacuum pump are prevented from propagating to external equipment such as an electron microscope. A casing (a separate casing portion and a casing main body) that houses a stator, stator blades, a rotor portion, and rotor blades as an exhaust function portion is connected to an inlet port portion in which an inlet port for sucking in a gas from the outside is formed, through an elastic member. An suction space between the casing and the inlet port portion is sealed by a bellows cylinder sealing means, and motion regulating members and motion regulating members and which regulate the amount of separation between the inlet port portion and the casing, and change shape due to relative motion between the two, are formed between the inlet port portion and the casing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2005
    Assignee: BOC Edwards Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Yoshinobu Ohtachi, Hirotaka Namiki, Takaharu Ishikawa, Akira Yamauchi
  • Patent number: 6832888
    Abstract: A molecular pump for exhausting a chamber has a casing, a stator mounted in the casing, and a rotor mounted in the casing for undergoing rotation relative to the stator during exhaustion of the container. The rotor has a surface disposed opposite to and confronting a surface of the stator. A thread groove is formed in at least one of the opposite and confronting surfaces of the stator and the rotor. A clearance varying device varies a magnitude of a clearance between the opposite and confronting surfaces of the stator and the rotor. An exhaust controlling device controls a degree of exhaustion of the chamber by adjusting the magnitude of the clearance between the opposite and confronting surfaces of the stator and the rotor to a preselected target value during operation of the molecular pump.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2004
    Assignee: BOC Edwards Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Takashi Kabasawa, Manabu Nonaka, Tooru Miwata
  • Patent number: 6827550
    Abstract: A vacuum pump adopts a positioning structure in which stator blades and spacers are arranged in the radial direction of a pump case by the contact between the outer peripheries portion of the stator blades and the inner periphery portion of the pump case and the contact between the outer periphery portions of the spacers and the inner periphery portion of the pump case. Accordingly, the spacer interposed between the upper and lower stator blades can have a simplified shape that serves a function of only setting the spacing between the stator blades to a prescribed length, thus decreasing the number of steps and costs of processing the spacer, and accordingly reducing the costs of the entire vacuum pump.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2003
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2004
    Assignee: BOC Edwards Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Satoshi Okudera, Takashi Kabasawa, Tooru miwata
  • Patent number: 6824349
    Abstract: A vacuum pump is removably connected to the underside of a chamber for exhausting gas molecules from the chamber. The vacuum pump has a pump case having a flange extending circumferentially around a top portion thereof, a suction port and an exhaust port. Stator blades are fixedly mounted within the pump case, and a rotor is rotatably mounted in the pump case and has rotor blades alternately disposed with respect to the stator blades. A driving motor rotationally drives the rotor so that the rotating rotor blades coact with the stator blades to evacuate gas molecules from the chamber and pump the gas molecules from the suction port to the exhaust port. Bolt insertion holes are formed in the flange and each hole has a smaller diameter portion opening at a lower surface of the flange and a larger diameter portion opening at an upper surface of the flange which faces the underside of the chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2004
    Assignee: BOC Edwards Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Satoshi Okudera, Yoshiyuki Sakaguchi, Yasushi Maejima
  • Patent number: 6814536
    Abstract: The present invention provides a vacuum pump which reduces a damaging torque produced when a rotor rotating at high-speed crashes into a screw stator or the like. The vacuum pump has a rigid ring disposed around the screw stator such that a shock load from the screw stator causes the rigid ring to rotate. When a brittle facture occurs in the rotor rotating at high-speed, for example, and a part of the rotor crashes into the screw stator, a rotating torque, i.e., a damaging torque causing the entire vacuum pump to rotate is likely to occur. However, this damaging torque is absorbed by the rotation of the rigid ring and eventually subsides.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2004
    Assignee: BOC Edwards Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Yoshiyuki Sakaguchi, Yasushi Maejima
  • Patent number: 6806606
    Abstract: Disclosed are a magnetic bearing device with a vibration restraining function, a magnetic bearing device with a vibration estimating function, and a pump device with the magnetic bearing devices mounted thereto, in which it is possible to realize a reduction in vibration in the apparatus system as a whole inclusive of the equipment associated with the vacuum pump without newly providing a vibration sensor. In a vibration detector, a multiplication result obtained by multiplying the Laplace transformation of a displacement of a rotor by a predetermined transfer function is added to a multiplication result obtained by multiplying the Laplace transformation of a variation in an unbalance force acting on the rotor by the reciprocal of the mass of the rotor. The result of this calculation is reversed in polarity and is added to the output of a compensator by an adder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2003
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2004
    Assignee: BOC Edwards Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Yoshinobu Ohtachi, Hideo Fukami, Hirotaka Namiki
  • Patent number: 6779969
    Abstract: A thread-groove pump mechanism portion PB employs a turn-back structure including a rotor formed of a multiple cylinder having an inner cylindrical rotor and an outer cylindrical rotor and a stator formed of a multiple cylinder having an inner cylindrical stator and on outer cylindrical stator. Gaps g1 and g3 defined by the outer walls of the rotor and the stator walls, and a gap g2 defined by the inner cylinder wall of the rotor and the stator wall during the rest of the pump are formed such that they increase with the distance from the rotor shaft center and g1>g2 and g1>g3 are satisfied. Thus, even if displacement occurs by the centrifugal force and thermal expansion during the operation of pump, predetermined gaps can be provided therebetween.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2004
    Assignee: BOC Edwards Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Manabu Nonaka, Tooru Miwata, Takashi Kabasawa
  • Patent number: 6752588
    Abstract: The present invention provides a vacuum pump in which a damaging torque produced when a rotating rotor crashes into the inner wall of a pump case, is prevented to transfer to a vacuum chamber so as to protect the vacuum chamber. Bolt-holes of flange portions, through which the vacuum pump and the vacuum chamber and also the pump case and a base member disposed below the pump case are fastened, respectively, are formed so as to have larger diameters than the shank diameters of corresponding bolts by 20% or more. With this arrangement, when the entire vacuum turns moved by the damaging torque, the pump case slips relative to the vacuum chamber and the base member by the gaps between the pump case-base member fastening bolt-holes and the pump case-base member fastening bolts. As a result, the damaging torque is absorbed and is prevented to transfer to the vacuum chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2004
    Assignee: BOC Edwards Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Shinji Kawanishi, Yoshiyuki Sakaguchi, Yasushi Maejima, Satoshi Okudera
  • Patent number: 6736593
    Abstract: A protective device is provided for protecting a turbo molecular pump having a rotor mounted for undergoing rotation, an intake port for sucking gas by rotation of the rotor, and an exhaust port for exhausting the gas sucked from the intake port. The protective device has a detecting device for detecting the occurrence of an abnormal phenomenon in the turbo molecular pump. An abnormal phenomenon inference device infers a type of the abnormal phenomenon detected by the detecting device. A value obtaining device infers a magnitude of damage given to the turbo molecular pump by the abnormal phenomenon inferred by the abnormal phenomenon inference device and obtains a value weighted based on the inferred magnitude of the damage. A value accumulation device accumulates the value obtained by the value obtaining device. A sum obtaining device obtains a sum of the values accumulated in the value accumulation device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2004
    Assignee: BOC Edwards Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Hirotaka Namiki, Akira Yamauchi
  • Patent number: 6709226
    Abstract: To provide a vacuum pump used for semiconductor manufacturing, which has improved reliability and safety and in which damages to a pump casing, peripheral apparatuses, or the like are prevented from occurring by preventing the occurrence of rotor breakage due to corrosion. A balancer is provided in the outer circumferential surface of the rotor so as to face the inside of the gas passageway. A balancer main body is supported against the outer circumferential surface of a rotor through a fragile portion that is weak with respect to corrosive gasses, the fragile portion of the balancer is damaged by corrosion before any corrosive gas influence appears in rotor blades or the rotor, and the balancer falls off, thus forcibly causing an unbalanced state to appear in the rotor. The balancer thus possesses a function for balancing the rotor and a corrosion detecting function.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2004
    Assignee: BOC Edwards Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Yasushi Maejima, Yoshiyuki Sakaguchi