Nsk Corporation

Nobuhito Saji

Tsuyoshi Nakamura

Sosuke Kawashima

Masato Taniguchi

Hideyuki Tajimi

Yoshifumi Sugita

In the present positioning apparatus, a positioning apparatus, comprising: a box body including a process chamber exposed to a decompression environment in the interior of the box body and an opening allowing said process chamber to communicate with an outside; a moving member for shielding said opening of said box body with a slight clearance between said box body and the moving member and movable with respect to said opening of said box body; and a differential pumping seal for sealing said slight clearance between said opening of said box body and said moving member, wherein a portion of said moving member to be moved into the interior of said process chamber, when said moving member moves, is formed as an adsorption preventive area.

Positioning apparatus

A table apparatus with a linear guide device according to the present invention comprises a plurality of members constituting the linear guide device, other members to which the linear guide device is attached and screws for joining a predetermined combination of the members with each other, and screw holes for receiving the screws are formed to the members comprising the combination, and a gas vent hole in communication with a gap formed between the screw and the screw hole by receiving the screw in the screw hole, and the gas vent hole is perforated through the member constituting the table apparatus. When the table apparatus is put under evacuated or depressurized circumstances, remaining air in the gap formed between the screw and the screw hole can be discharged through the gas vent hole in a short period of time, a table apparatus suitable to be used under evacuated or depressurized circumstances can be provided.

Table device

A positioning apparatus has a stage, guide elements provided on both ends of the stage, and drive elements which are provided at one of both ends of the stage and move the stage along the guide elements. Like linear guide railsA,B and linear guide bearingsA,B, two guide elements are provided in an area where a ball screw shaftserving as a drive element is placed. One guide element is provided in an area where a non-drive element is provided.

In case that some trouble occurs in exhaust pump or in pipe, internal pressure of groove comes closer to atmospheric pressure owing to leak-in of air, because the groove adjoins groove opened to atmospheric air. However, the internal pressures of grooves are maintained at negative value. Thus, difference in pressure between the top and bottom surfaces of moving block is generated. Further, the gap between the moving block and the intermediate block decreases. Consequently, the deterioration in the degree of vacuum in the process chamber can be retarded. During retarded time, measures to protect an object to be processed, such as operation of tightly sealing the object can be taken. Further, in case that the system recovers, time required to operate turbo-molecular pump for sucking the inside of the process chamber is reduced to a short time. Therefore, the processing can be quickly resumed.

A dustproof linear actuator has: a housing with a slit extending axially; a linear guide device disposed in the housing; a carriage mounted in the housing and axially movable along the slit by the linear guide device, the carriage including a workpiece mounting table protruding from the housing through the slit; a linear drive device disposed in the housing for moving the carriage axially; a pair of pulleys disposed in an axial end of the housing; and a sealing band mounted around the pulleys within the housing movably for closing the slit, the sealing band including first and second ends which are fastened to first and second ends of the carriage, respectively, to form a circulative loop. Further, the dustproof linear actuator has an air venting device for venting air existing in the housing close to the axial end toward an outside of the housing so that the dustproof linear actuator can remarkably prevents the dust particles from leaking out of the housing by reducing the pressure inside the actuator.

Dustproof linear actuator with an air venting device

An actuator includes: a housing having a slit in the outer surface in such a manner that the slit is elongated in the direction of axis, and a conveying member which is supported by a linear guide device in such a manner that the conveying member is movable axially, and is moved back and forth by a moving device along the slit, the conveying member having a portion which is protruded from the housing through the slit, and engaging with a movable loop made up of a seal belt which is laid over pulleys in such a manner that the seal belt is movable in the direction of axis while sealingly closing the slit. In the actuator, an auxiliary space communicated with outside is provided along a main space in the housing, and the main space and the auxiliary space are communicated through exhaust valves with each other which are provided at both ends of the main space and allow air to flow, in one direction, to the auxiliary space. Hence, the actuator is a non-suction type clean actuator.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Nobuhito Saji