Valve Technology

Basic Introduction

Jürg Öhri
Sales Manager
 End products needing vacuum valves
Flat Panel screens LED business Semiconductor components

Solar Cells Smart phones Surface coatings

… AND MANY OTHER PRODUCTS!!

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 Valve Applications
… plus many applications in R&D

Synchrotrons,
Accelerators,
Tokamaks,
Laboratories, …

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 Valve Categories

Type Picture Type Picture

Angle valves Leak valves

Gate valves Fast closing valves

Diaphragm valves
Beam stoppers

Butterfly valves
Gas dosing valves

Pressure control valves

Customized valves

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 Types of gate valves
Gate valve ≠ Gate valve  there is a big variety of valves depending on vacuum level, feedthrough,
actuator, material, type of flange, application, …
Series Description Picture Series Description Picture

01 Mini gate valve 121 Vacuum gate valve

08 Insertable gate valve 140 HV gate valve

09 HV gate valve 15 Low particle gate

“wedge valve” valve

108 UHV gate valve 17 Gate valve with

protective ring

110 HV gate valve 19 Large gate valves

48 All-metal gate valve 47 RF all-metal gate

valve

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 Valves in a classical vacuum system

Vent Vent
valve valve
Chamber door or valve Transfer valve Door/valve

Explanation
Typical application for angle valves.
Process chamber Load-Lock
Located between fore vacuum pump and
high vacuum process chamber or high
vacuum pump or used as vent valve.
Bypass or High vacuum- High vacuum-
Typical application for gate- or pendulum roughing valve valve valve
valves.
Located between high vacuum pump and High vacuum High vacuum
process chamber. In case of down stream pump pump
application also control valves are used.

Typical application for transfer- or door Foreline valve Foreline valve

valves

Typical application for door valves Fore vacuum

(usually customer tailored). pump

Exhaust

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 Different feed-throughs
Vacuum
-10-7mbar

Shaft feed-through
Bonnet seal: Viton
High Vacuum
-10-8mbar

Bellows feed-through
Rotary feed-through
Bonnet seal : Viton
Bonnet seal: Viton
-10-10mbar
UHV

Bellows feed-through
Bonnet seal: Viton or Metal

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 Gate Valve Comparison

Series Series Series Series

010/15 012/08/12/19/14/168/11 162 09

MONOVAT VATLOCK SEALING RING WEDGE

Easy maintenance, Low Gate mechanically locked Easy maintenance, Low Easy maintenance. Opening
shock, Best particle without air-pressure shock, good particle against differential pressure
performance performance

Please click on 3D pictures to see the animation 8

 VATLOCK Characteristics

Series
012/08/12/19/  Gate valve mechanism developed by VAT
14/168/11  Gate is mechanically locked in valve closed position
(remark: valve open position is not locked)
 Low shock during operation
 Differential pressure proof in both directions
 Long service lifetime

Closing sequence:
 Leaf springs hold the gate and counter plate against
the carriage
 The mechanism is moved forward into closing
position
 The locking starts after the leaf spring stop touches
the body. The ball retainers move the ball pairs out of
the detents. Gate and counter plate are spread apart.
 The gate seal is pressed against the sealing surface
without scuffing.

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 MONOVAT Characteristics

Series
 Sealing technology developed by VAT
010/15
 Vulcanized Viton gate (or other sealing material)
 Low shock during operation
 Differential pressure proof in both directions
 Excellent particle performance
 Mechanism free of lubricants (bellows sealed versions)
 Compact design
 Minimum number of parts in vacuum
 Fast opening and closing time
 Easy maintenance procedure

Closing sequence
 The gate is moved forward into closing position
 The vulcanized seal is pressed against the seat

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 SEALING RING Characteristics

Series
162
 Single plate sealing technology
 Low shock during operation
 Minimum number of parts in vacuum
 Differential pressure proof in both directions
 Easy maintenance
 NC operation

Opening sequence:
 By applying compressed air the sealing ring is
pushed back to release the valve plate
 The actuator shaft releases the plate valve from the
valve body
 The valve plate is rotated into the valve housing

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 WEDGE Characteristics
 Special sealing technology developed by VAT
Series  Full 1 bar differential pressure opening possible
09  Mechanism free of lubricants (bellows sealed versions)
 Compact design
 Minimum number of parts in vacuum
 Fast opening and closing time
 Easy maintenance procedure, no special tools needed
 No readjustments after cleaning
 Low cost of ownership

Closing sequence
 The gate is moved forward into closing position
 The gate o-ring is pressed against the valve body

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 Angle Valve Characteristics

Position Indicator
The modular system with low part
count ensures reliable operation
Actuator
Manual -
Pneumatic -
Electro-pneumatic -

Feed through
Bellows sealed -
Shaft sealed -

Body
Stainless steal -
Aluminum -
type: inline or angle -
flanges: ISO-KF or CF -
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 All Metal Sealing Technology

Is there any standard? There are solutions for a wide range of UHV and XHV
applications.

For static seals: main standard it’s the Conflat Flange (CF)
system (proven and reliable sealing method up to DN 250).

Partly, where chain clamps are used (radiation

environment) we find Helicoflex seals as a static seal.

In synchrotrons we see more and more the VATSEAL as

static seal for specific RF apertures.

For dynamic seals we find the combination of copper pad

and knife edge (“soft-on-hard”) or the VATRING system
(“hard-on-hard”) in the field.

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 All Metal Sealing Technology

Comparison of two different all metal sealing technologies

 „Soft-on-hard“ sealing method

 At least one sealing partner is plastically deformed

to a considerable degree
Classical example: ss knife edge into copper pad

 „Hard-on-hard“ sealing method

 All sealing partners are mainly deformed

in the elastic area.
Example: silver coated ss ring into ss seat
VATRING

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 All Metal Sealing Technology

Diagram showing sealing force requirements

soft on hard

Specific sealing force [Ncm-1]

hard on hard

elastomere seal

Number of closings

For dynamic vacuum seals VAT uses the “hard-on-hard“

sealing method because of numerous advantages against
the “soft-on-hard“ sealing method.
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 All metal valves - Applications

LINACs Storage rings Front ends

Pumping stations Beam lines

Applications requiring …
• low outgassing
• high temperatures
• XHV conditions
• radiation resistance

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 Products - VATSEAL

Requirements for an all-metal seal besides leaktightness:

at least one-time or multiple use
VATSEAL’s bakeable (often to high temperatures)
low permeation
low outgassing
no hydrocarbons
radiation resistance

Series 35 VATSEAL as static metal vacuum seals

Leak rate < 1x10-10 mbarls-1
shaped according to customer’s needs

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 Products - All metal variable leak valve

Series 59
DN16

All Metal Variable Leak

Valve

- High reproducibility
of small gas flow for
constant system
pressure
- Reliable and
repeatable leaktight
closing
- Easy to handle and
maintenance free
- Bakeable to 300°C in
open and closed
position

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 Bellows

What is an edge welded bellows?

A Bellows
• is a sealing (gasket) for separation of media;
• is a flexible connection (axial, lateral or angular displacement); and
• consists of membranes, welded at their edges
(alternating at ID and OD)

Convolutions = Bellows package (Capsule) Bellows unit (Assembly)

pair of membranes = a set of convolutions always has two endpieces

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 Bellows

Comparison of different types of bellows

Edge welded
Hydroformed flexible tubing Electro deposited

Strength
• Best elasticity
• Lowest possible
installed length
Strength
• Low Spring rate
• Low cost Strength
• Variety of materials (only little
• High pressure capability • Micro-Dimensions
deformation necessary)
• Suitable for rough environment • Corrosion resistance
Weakness
Weakness Weakness
• Cost-intensive production
• Low elasticity • Low elasticity
• Sensitive to mounting stress
and contamination w/ particles • Only high ductile materials • Costly (single-use Al-mandrel)
• Limited pressure capabilities • Mounting length 2-3 times • Limited choice of materials
higher than EWB

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Bellows – a few application examples

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 Thank you !

This presentation has been prepared

for the CERN CAS 2017 by
VAT Vakuumventile AG of Switzerland

being the global leader in vacuum valve technology

and offering the widest variety of vacuum valves worldwide.
Please contact us in case of any questions:

www.vatvalve.com
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