Gas enclosure assembly and system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10442226-B2
Application number	US-201615184755-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 16, 2016
Priority date	Jun 13, 2008
Publication date	Oct 15, 2019
Grant date	Oct 15, 2019

Abstract

The present teachings relate to various embodiments of an hermetically-sealed gas enclosure assembly and system that can be readily transportable and assemblable and provide for maintaining a minimum inert gas volume and maximal access to various devices and apparatuses enclosed therein. Various embodiments of an hermetically-sealed gas enclosure assembly and system of the present teachings can have a gas enclosure assembly constructed in a fashion that minimizes the internal volume of a gas enclosure assembly, and at the same time optimizes the working space to accommodate a variety of footprints of various OLED printing systems. Various embodiments of a gas enclosure assembly so constructed additionally provide ready access to the interior of a gas enclosure assembly from the exterior during processing and readily access to the interior for maintenance, while minimizing downtime.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for printing in a controlled environment comprising:
circulating a gas within an enclosure defining an internal volume, wherein the enclosure comprises a plurality of frame members contoured around a printing system;
controlling the process environment within the enclosure, wherein controlling the process environment comprises:
circulating the gas through a purification system to remove reactive species from the process environment;
circulating the gas through a filtration system to provide filtration of particulate matter from the gas after the gas moves along a path of travel of a substrate within the printing system; and
printing the substrate within the controlled process environment of the enclosure.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gas circulating in the enclosure is selected from nitrogen, at least one noble gas, and a combination of nitrogen and at least one noble gas.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gas circulating in the enclosure is clean dry air.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reactive species are removed to prevent contamination, oxidation and damage of materials and substrates processed in the printing system.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reactive species comprise at least one of water vapor, oxygen, and organic solvent vapor.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reactive species are controlled to be at about 100 ppm or less.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reactive species are controlled to be at about 0.1 ppm or less.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein circulating the gas through the filtration system controls particulate matter to meet ISO 14644 Class 3 clean room standards.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the process environment further comprises controlling the temperature within the enclosure.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein controlling the temperature within the enclosure comprises utilizing a plurality of heat exchangers and at least one of a fan or another gas circulating device.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the process environment further comprises controlling the lighting within the enclosure.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein controlling the lighting within the enclosure comprises using light from a plurality of lighting elements within the enclosure, each of the light elements having a light source having a peak intensity between about 500 nm to about 700 nm.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the internal volume is about 6 cubic meters to about 95 cubic meters.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the internal volume is about 30% to about 70% less than an internal volume defined by another enclosure that is not contoured around the printing system and that has comparable gross dimensions of a footprint of the enclosure.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the enclosure is sized to accommodate the printing of substrates from sizes ranging from Gen 3.5 to Gen 10.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein printing the substrate comprises depositing material on the substrate via ink jet printing.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein printing the substrate comprises printing an organic material on the substrate.

Assignees

• Kateeva Inc

Inventors

• Mauck Justin
• Ko Alexander Sou-Kang
• Vronsky Eliyahu
• Alderson Shandon

Classifications

• H10P72/0462

  characterised by the construction of the processing chambers, e.g. modular processing chambers · CPC title

• B41J2/175

  Ink supply systems {; Circuit parts therefor} · CPC title

• B41J29/17

  Cleaning arrangements · CPC title

• B41J2/16508

  connected with the printer frame · CPC title

• B41J2/16535

  using wiping constructions (B41J2/16552 takes precedence) · CPC title