Gas control system and program for gas control system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10138555-B2
Application number	US-201615291264-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 12, 2016
Priority date	Oct 13, 2015
Publication date	Nov 27, 2018
Grant date	Nov 27, 2018

Abstract

A gas control system includes: a first valve that is provided in a carrier gas line or in a gas supply line; a flow rate control mechanism that is provided in a diluent gas line and includes a flow rate sensor and a second valve; a contactless type first concentration sensor; a first valve control part; a diluent gas setting flow rate calculation part adapted to, on the basis of a preset setting total flow rate of a post-dilution mixed gas and a post-dilution measured concentration, calculate a diluent gas setting flow rate that is a flow rate of a diluent gas to be flowed through the diluent gas line; and a second valve control part adapted to control the opening level of the second valve so as to decrease the deviation between the diluent gas setting flow rate and a measured flow rate measured by the flow rate sensor.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A gas control system used for a vaporizer comprising: a tank adapted to contain a material; a carrier gas line adapted to introduce a carrier gas into the tank; a gas supply line through which a material gas produced by vaporizing the material and the carrier gas flow and led out of the tank; and a diluent gas line adapted to merge with the gas supply line and introduce a diluent gas into the gas supply line, the gas control system comprising:
a first valve that is provided in the carrier gas line or provided in the gas supply line on an upstream side of a merging point with the diluent gas line;
a flow rate control mechanism that is provided in the diluent gas line and comprises a flow rate sensor and a second valve;
a first concentration sensor that is provided in the gas supply line on a downstream side of the merging point with the diluent gas line and adapted to measure a concentration of the material gas in a post-dilution mixed gas containing the material gas, the carrier gas, and the diluent gas;
a first valve control part adapted to control an opening level of the first valve so as to decrease a deviation between a preset setting concentration of the material gas in the post-dilution mixed gas and a post-dilution measured concentration of the material gas in the post-dilution mixed gas, the post-dilution measured concentration being measured by the first concentration sensor;
a diluent gas setting flow rate calculation part adapted to, on a basis of a preset setting total flow rate of the post-dilution mixed gas, the post-dilution measured concentration, and an estimated or actually measured concentration of the material gas in a pre-dilution mixed gas, calculate a diluent gas setting flow rate that is a flow rate of the diluent gas to be flowed through the diluent gas line; and
a second valve control part adapted to control an opening level of the second valve so as to decrease a deviation between the diluent gas setting flow rate and a measured flow rate measured by the flow rate sensor.

2. The gas control system according to claim 1 , wherein
the first concentration sensor is an infrared absorption type concentration sensor.

3. The gas control system according to claim 1 , further comprising
a contactless type second concentration sensor that is provided in the gas supply line on the upstream side of the merging point with the diluent gas line and adapted to measure a concentration of the material gas in the pre-dilution mixed gas containing the material gas and the carrier gas, wherein
the diluent gas setting flow rate calculation part is configured to calculate the diluent gas setting flow rate on a basis of the setting total flow rate, the post-dilution measured concentration, and a pre-dilution measured concentration of the material gas in the pre-dilution mixed gas, the pre-dilution measured concentration being measured by the second concentration sensor.

4. The gas control system according to claim 1 , wherein
the first valve control part is configured to, when the post-dilution measured concentration is larger than the setting concentration, change an opening level in a direction to close the first valve, and when the post-dilution measured concentration is smaller than the setting concentration, change the opening level in a direction to open the first valve.

5. The gas control system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a third valve that is provided in the carrier gas line;
a pressure sensor that is provided in the tank and adapted to measure a pressure of an inside of the tank; and
a third valve control part adapted to control an opening level of the third valve so as to decrease a deviation between a preset setting pressure and a measured pressure measured by the pressure sensor.

6. The gas control system according to claim 1 , wherein:
multiple parallel branch gas supply lines are provided from the tank and diluent gas lines respectively individually merge with the gas supply lines;
the gas supply lines are respectively individually provided with first valves and first concentration sensors; and
the diluent gas lines are respectively individually provided with flow rate control mechanisms.

7. A storage medium storing a program for a gas control system used for a vaporizer comprising: a tank adapted to contain a material; a carrier gas line adapted to introduce a carrier gas into the tank; a gas supply line through which a material gas produced by vaporizing the material and the carrier gas flow and led out of the tank; and a diluent gas line adapted to merge with the gas supply line and introduce a diluent gas into the gas supply line,
the gas control system comprising: a first valve that is provided in the carrier gas line or provided in the gas supply line on an upstream side of a merging point with the diluent gas line; a flow rate control mechanism that is provided in the diluent gas line and comprises a flow rate sensor and a second valve; and a first concentration sensor that is provided in the gas supply line on a downstream side of the merging point with the diluent gas line and adapted to measure a concentration of the material gas in a post-dilution mixed gas containing the material gas, the carrier gas, and the diluent gas,
the program instructing a computer to fulfill functions as:
a first valve control part adapted to control an opening level of the first valve so as to decrease a deviation between a preset setting concentration of the material gas in the post-dilution mixed gas and a post-dilution measured concentration of the material gas in the post-dilution mixed gas, the post-dilution measured concentration being measured by the first concentration sensor;
a diluent gas setting flow rate calculation part adapted to, on a basis of a preset setting total flow rate of the post-dilution mixed gas, the post-dilution measured concentration, and an estimated or actually measured concentration of the material gas in a pre-dilution mixed gas, calculate a diluent gas setting flow rate that is a flow rate of the diluent gas to be flowed through the diluent gas line; and
a second valve control part adapted to control an opening level of the second valve so as to decrease a deviation between the diluent gas setting flow rate and a measured flow rate measured by the flow rate sensor.

Assignees

• Horiba Stec Co Ltd

Inventors

• Nishizato Hiroshi
• Takijiri Kotaro
• Minami Masakazu
• TERAOKA Atsuko

Classifications

• C23C16/52 Primary

  Controlling or regulating the coating process {(C23C16/45557, C23C16/279 take precedence)} · CPC title

• C23C16/4482

  by bubbling of carrier gas through liquid source material · CPC title

• Y10T137/0329

  Mixing of plural fluids of diverse characteristics or conditions · CPC title

• G05D11/00

  Control of flow ratio (control of chemical or physico-chemical variables, e.g. pH-value, G05D21/00; control of humidity G05D22/00; control of temperature by varying the mixing ratio of two fluids having different temperatures G05D23/13; control of viscosity G05D24/00) · CPC title

• G01N21/84

  Systems specially adapted for particular applications · CPC title