Vacuum valve having a pressure sensor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11378202-B2
Application number	US-201816627190-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 28, 2018
Priority date	Jun 30, 2017
Publication date	Jul 5, 2022
Grant date	Jul 5, 2022

Abstract

Disclosed is a vacuum valve including a valve closure and a preferably pneumatic or electro-pneumatic drive unit having a pressure medium, said drive unit being coupled to the valve closure. The vacuum valve also has a pressure sensor such that a pressure of the pressure medium can be measured.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vacuum valve, for regulating a volume or mass flow and/or for gas-tight interruption of a flow path, comprising:
a valve seat which has a valve opening defining an opening axis (H) and a first sealing surface surrounding the valve opening,
a valve closure for regulating the volume or mass flow and/or for interrupting the flow path, having a second sealing surface corresponding to the first sealing surface, the variable location of which second sealing surface is determined by a respective position and alignment of the valve closure,
at least one drive unit, which is coupled to the valve closure, comprising at least one piston-cylinder unit comprising at least one piston and a cylinder borehole, wherein the drive unit furthermore has a pressure medium to be applied to at least one pressure-active surface (F 1 , F 2 ) of the piston, so that by means of the drive unit,
wherein the valve closure is adjustable from an open position (O), in which the valve closure and the valve seat are present without contact relative to one another, into a closed position (G), in which an axially sealing contact with respect to the opening axis (H) exists between the first sealing surface and the second sealing surface via an interposed seal and the valve opening is thereby closed in a gas-tight manner, and back again,
wherein the vacuum valve furthermore comprises at least one pressure sensor, and
wherein the pressure sensor is designed and arranged such that a pressure measurement of the pressure medium can be carried out.

2. The vacuum valve according to claim 1 , wherein the drive unit has at least one hose line or pipe line where the pressure sensor is integrated into the hose line or pipe line.

3. The vacuum valve according to claim 1 , wherein the pressure sensor is designed to measure the ongoing pressure of the pressure medium and/or a pressure range between 0 and 10 bar and/or an absolute pressure.

4. The vacuum valve according to claim 1 , wherein the pressure sensor has a deformable membrane and/or a piezo crystal and/or a quartz and/or piezo resonator for the pressure measurement.

5. The vacuum valve according to claim 1 , wherein the pressure sensor is arranged outside a vacuum region, which is defined by the vacuum valve and is separated from an external environment, and/or the valve seat is formed by a part of the vacuum valve structurally connected to the vacuum valve or is provided by a process chamber.

6. The vacuum valve according to claim 1 , wherein the pressure sensor is arranged in the vacuum valve such that at least one input pressure of the piston-cylinder unit is measurable and/or a pressure in at least one chamber of the cylinder borehole is measurable.

7. The vacuum valve according to claim 1 , wherein the vacuum valve has two piston-cylinder units for adjusting the valve closure in two different directions, which are substantially orthogonal to one another,
wherein each piston-cylinder unit has at least one pressure sensor for the respective pressure measurement.

8. The vacuum valve according to claim 1 , wherein the vacuum valve additionally has a position sensor, which is designed for the measurement of a position of the valve closure and/or the piston.

9. The vacuum valve according to claim 8 , wherein the position measurement and the pressure measurement are adaptable to one another such that the pressure necessary for adjusting the valve closure and/or the piston from an idle position is determinable, and/or the pressure sensor and the position sensor are designed such that a movement of the valve closure and/or the piston is derivable both on the basis of the pressure measurement and on the basis of the position measurement, and/or the pressure sensor and the position sensor are designed such that a force-distance characteristic curve can be generated on the basis of the pressure measurement and the position measurement.

10. The vacuum valve according to claim 1 , wherein the vacuum valve has a processing unit designed such that an acquired pressure sensor measurement signal can be processed by means of the processing unit and an item of state information of the vacuum valve is ascertained on the basis of the acquired pressure sensor measurement signal.

11. The vacuum valve according to claim 10 , wherein the item of state information is provided with respect to a mechanical and/or structural integrity of the valve closure and/or the drive unit.

12. The vacuum valve according to claim 10 , wherein based on a comparison of the item of state information to predefined tolerance values, an output signal is provided with respect to an evaluation of a process controlled by the vacuum valve.

13. The vacuum valve according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one pressure sensor is arranged in the drive unit.

14. A method for controlling a vacuum valve wherein the vacuum valve is designed for the regulation of a volume or mass flow and/or for the gas-tight interruption of a flow path and the vacuum valve, comprising:
a valve seat, which has a valve opening defining an opening axis (H) and a first sealing surface circumferential around the valve opening,
a valve closure for the regulation of the volume or mass flow and/or for the interruption of the flow path, comprising a second sealing surface corresponding to the first sealing surface, the variable location of which second sealing surface is determined by a respective position and alignment of the valve closure,
at least one drive unit, which is coupled to the valve closure, comprising at least one piston-cylinder unit comprising at least one piston and a cylinder borehole,
wherein the drive unit furthermore has a pressure medium to be applied to at least one pressure-active surface (F 1 , F 2 ) of the piston, such that the valve closure is adjustable by means of the drive unit, from an open position (O), in which the valve closure and the valve seat are provided without contact in relation to one another, into a closed position (G), in which an axially sealing contact with respect to the opening axis (H) exists between the first sealing surface and the second sealing surface and the valve opening is thus closed gas-tight, and back again, wherein in the scope of the method a pressure of the pressure medium is measured.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein an item of state information of the vacuum valve is ascertained based on the pressure measurement,
wherein the item of state information is ascertained by means of an actual-setpoint comparison for an acquired pressure measurement signal and/or based on a comparison of the item of state information to predefined tolerance values, an output signal is provided with respect to an evaluation of a process controlled by the vacuum valve.

16. The method according to claim 14 , wherein in addition a position measurement, which is coupled to the pressure measurement, of the valve closure and/or the piston takes place,
wherein on the basis of the pressure measurement and the position measurement, the pressure necessary for adjusting the valve closure and/or the piston from the open position (O) and/or closed position (G) is determined, and/or both on the basis of the pressure measurement and also on the basis of the position measurement, a movement of the valve closure and/or the piston is derived and a comparison of the two derived movements with respect to possible discrepancies takes place, and/or on the basis of the pressure measurement and the position measurement, a force-distance characteristic curve is generated.

17. A computer pro

Assignees

• Vat Holding Ag

Inventors

• Eschenmoser Adrian
• Hofer Andreas

Classifications

• F16K3/0218

  with only one sealing face · CPC title

• F16K37/0041 Primary

  for measuring valve parameters (F16K37/0033 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F16K3/188

  by means of hydraulic forces · CPC title

• F16K3/18

  by movement of the closure members · CPC title

• F16K3/0254

  being operated by particular means · CPC title