Vacuum gate valve

• US 20050199848A1
• Filed: 05/18/2004
• Published: 09/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VAT Holding AG (VAT Group AG)
• Original Assignee: VAT Holding AG (VAT Group AG)
• Inventors: Seitz, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 7,134,642 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 251/193
• CPC Class Codes: F16K 3/18 by movement of the closure members

Abstract

The invention provides a vacuum gate valve for closing off an opening. The vacuum gate valve can have a valve plate that can be turned so that the alignment of the valve plate will adapt to a valve seat when the valve plate is pressed against the valve seat.

Claims

1. A vacuum gate valve comprising:

a valve housing with a wall having an opening and a valve seat surrounding the opening;

a valve plate in which a receptacle is formed and which has a sealing face for closing off the opening; and

a valve rod on which the valve plate is detachably mounted via a connecting segment of the valve rod engaging into the receptacle, and which via control organs is supported and adjustable in such a way that by moving the valve plate over the opening by essentially following the valve rod axis and by pressing the sealing face of the valve plate against the valve seat the opening can be closed off, where the receptacle and the connecting segment engaging into the receptacle comprise;

a radial bearing segment making possible an at least partial turning of the valve plate relative to the valve rod about the valve rod axis, so that the alignment of the valve plate about the valve rod axis will adapt to the valve seat, at least when the valve plate is pressed for a first time onto the valve seat, and

a segment confining the turning angle which confines the turning made possible by the radial bearing segment to a defined angular range, so that, while the valve plate is moved over the opening, no contact will occur between the valve housing and the valve plate due to an excessive turning angle.

2. The vacuum gate valve of claim 1, wherein

the radial bearing segment that makes the turning possible, is formed as

a cylindrical shaft on the connecting segment of the valve rod and

a cylindrical bore matching the cylindrical shaft, in the receptacle of the valve plate,

the cylindrical shaft being pivoted slidingly in the cylindrical bore with a clearance fit or with a transition fit.

3. The vacuum gate valve of claim 1, wherein

the segment confining the turning angle to a defined angular range is formed as

an external polygonal segment on the connecting segment of the valve rod and

an internal polygonal segment matching the external polygonal segment, in the receptacle of the valve plate

the internal polygonal segment having an oversize relative to the external polygonal segment which is such that the turning is confined to the defined angular range.

4. The vacuum gate valve of claim 3, wherein

the external polygonal segment is formed as an external tetragonal segment with plane-parallel external faces;

and

the internal polygonal segment is formed as an internal tetragonal segment with plane-parallel internal faces.

5. The vacuum gate valve of claim 1, further comprising

a first tapped hole arranged on the side of the connecting segment of the valve rod, essentially in the valve rod axis,

a through bore in the valve plate along the valve rod axis between the receptacle and the side opposite to the receptacle, and

a screw passing through the through bore and engaging into the first tapped hole,

so that the valve plate is fastened axially detachably along the valve rod axis to the valve rod.

6. The vacuum gate valve of claim 1, wherein the valve plate comprises at least one handle recess formed in the side opposite to the sealing face, for manually applying a force to the valve plate, essentially along the valve rod axis in particular for detaching the valve plate from the valve rod.

7. The vacuum gate valve of claim 5, wherein

the valve plate comprises at least one second tapped hole on the side opposite to the receptacle for receiving a multiple-function tool in order to manually apply a force to the valve plate, essentially along the valve rod axis, in particular for detaching the valve plate from the valve rod, and

the screw is formed as a hexagon socket head screw having an associated wrench size with a width across corners smaller than the minor diameter of the second tapped hole of the valve plate.

8. A Multiple-function tool for mounting and demounting a valve plate to and from a valve rod of the vacuum gate valve of claim 7, comprising:

a handle, where the handle can apply a lifting force and a torque; and

an elongated straight shaft, wherein the first end of the shaft is attached to the handle and wherein at the second end of the shaft at the tip an external hexagonal segment is formed for applying a torque to the hexagon socket head screw and

in a segment adjacent to the external hexagon segment, an external thread is formed for making a screwed connection to the second tapped hole of the valve plate so as to apply a force to the valve plate along the valve rod axis, in particular in order to detach the valve plate from the valve rod, the width across corners of the external hexagonal segment being smaller than the minor diameter of the external thread.

9. A system comprising:

the vacuum gate valve of claim 7 and

the multiple-function tool of claim 8.

10. A valve plate for a vacuum gate comprising:

a sealing face having at least one sealing ring for closing off an opening in a wall of a valve housing; and

a receptacle formed laterally in the valve plate, relative to the sealing face, for detachably mounting the valve plate to a valve rod by engaging a connecting segment of the valve rod into the receptacle, the valve rod being supported and adjustable via control organs in such a way that by moving the valve plate over the opening, essentially along the valve rod axis, and pressing the valve plate with its sealing ring onto a valve seat surrounding the opening, the opening (3) can be closed off,

where the receptacle comprises;

a radial bearing segment making possible an at least a partial turning of the valve plate relative to the valve rod about the valve rod axis, so that the alignment of valve plate about the valve rod axis will adapt to the valve seat, at least when the valve plate is pressed for a first time onto the valve seat; and

a segment confining the turning angle which confines the turning made possible by the radial bearing segment to a defined angular range, so that, while the valve plate is moved over the opening, no contact will occur between the valve housing and the valve plate due to an excessive turning angle.

11. The valve plate of claim 10, wherein

the radial bearing segment making possible the turning is formed as a cylindrical bore in the receptacle, so that a cylindrical shaft on the connecting segment of valve rod matching the cylindrical bore can be slidingly pivoted with a clearance fit or with a transition fit.

12. The valve plate of claim 10, wherein

the segment confining the turning angle which confines the turning to a defined angular range is formed as an internal polygonal segment in the receptacle in order to receive an external polygonal segment on the connecting segment of the valve rod matching the internal polygonal segment, the internal polygonal segment having an oversize relative to the external polygonal segment which is such that the turning is confined to the defined angular range.

13. The valve plate of claim 12, wherein

the internal polygonal segment is formed as an internal tetragonal segment with plane-parallel internal faces in order to receive an external tetragonal segment with plane-parallel external faces forming the external polygonal segment on the connecting segment.

14. The valve plate of claim 10, further comprising

a through bore along the valve rod axis between receptacle and the side opposite to receptacle for passing a screw which can be engaged in a first tapped hole arranged on the side of the connecting segment of the valve rod, essentially in the valve rod axis, so that the valve plate can be fastened axially detachably along the valve rod axis to the valve rod.

15. The valve plate of claim 10, further comprising

at least one handle recess formed in the side opposite to the sealing face, for applying a force to the valve plate, essentially along the valve rod axis, in particular for detaching the valve plate from the valve rod.

16. The valve plate of claim 10, wherein

on the side opposite to receptacle, at least a second tapped hole is formed for receiving a multiple-function tool in order to apply a force to the valve plate, essentially along the valve rod axis, particularly for detaching the valve plate from the valve rod.

17. A vacuum gate valve comprising:

a valve plate, having a sealing face, where the valve plate is operatively attached to at least one valve rod, where the valve plate can have a rotation about the at least one valve rod so that when the valve plate is pressed against a valve seat the valve plate can rotate to align with the valve seat, where the valve seat is attached to a valve housing.

18. The valve gate according to claim 17, wherein the valve rod has a valve rod axis and where the rotation has a rotation angle about the valve rod axis.

19. The valve gate according to claim 17, wherein the rotation angle can have a maximum turning angle determined by a turning angle segment.

20. The valve gate according to claim 19, wherein the maximum turning angle is determined so that when the valve plate is moved to position to be pressed against the valve seat, the valve plate does not touch the valve housing prior to being pressed against the valve seat.

21. The valve gate according to claim 20, wherein the turning angle segment is an external polygonal segment on the at least one valve rod, where the external polygonal segment is placed into an internal polygonal cavity segment of the valve plate, the internal polygonal cavity segment having a size larger than the external polygonal segment such that the valve rod can be rotated to the maximum turning angel defined by the final angle allowable when the external polygon segment rotates and touches a side wall of the internal polygonal cavity segment.

22. A method of vacuum sealing an opening comprising:

positioning a valve plate above an opening in a valve housing, where the valve plate is larger than the opening, where a valve seating on the valve housing surrounds the opening; and

pressing the valve plate to the valve seating, where the opening is closed and where during pressing the valve plate rotates in a first rotation direction to allow uniform sealing across the valve seating.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the positioning comprises:

translating the valve plate in a parallel direction, where the parallel direction is parallel to the valve seating; and

rotating the valve plate in a second rotation direction about an axis perpendicular to the parallel direction so that the valve plate contacts the valve seating.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the first rotation is about an axis parallel to the parallel direction.