Abstract:
A device for tempering a receptacle in a chamber, including a cylindrical casing surrounding the chamber, a bottom, which is arranged on an end of the casing and is connected with it, an opening on an end of the casing opposite to the bottom, which is limited by a contact surface running parallel to the bottom, an annular sealing element, which has a sealing leg and a contact leg, which rests on the contact surface and an annular tensioning element, which, placed on the sealing element, lies on the sealing leg on its outside.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not applicable. 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH 
     Not applicable. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a device for tempering a receptacle in a chamber. 
     There is the need to precisely temper receptacles in which chemical media react with each other. Thus, it is for example known for chemical vapor deposition processes and/or for the doping of semi-conductors to very precisely temper a receptacle, also known as a bubbler, in which a doping gas is created, in a tempering device. For this, the receptacle is arranged in the tempering device and sealed outwardly. Since bubblers have tolerances and irregularities in their circumferential diameter caused for example by welded seams, the seal can be impaired in the tempering device. The tempering device is well insulated and is tempered in its chamber via a medium such as water or another tempering medium. 
     A cover closure for a pressure container, which has an L-shaped lip seal, which is arranged with a leg in an annular recess of the inner surface of the cover fastened on the container, is known from patent specification DE 1 750 549. A sealing lip rests on an inner surface of a flat annular groove of the cover closure. 
     A closure device for sterilization apparatuses working under excess pressure is known from patent specification DE 62 43 96 PS. A sealant arranged in a circumferential cover flange is hereby pressed onto a protruding sealing edge by means of clamping screws. 
     A device for tempering a good in a cylindrical chamber, in which the good to be tempered is bathed annularly with tempered air via a device of grooves, became known from DE 20 2004 010 834 U1. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the invention is to provide a device for tempering a receptacle in a chamber, which allows with simple means an appropriate and effective sealing of the chambers inside the device. 
     The device according to the invention is provided and determined to temper a receptacle, in particular a bubbler, in a chamber. The device has a cylindrical casing, which surrounds the chamber. Furthermore, a bottom is provided, which is arranged on an end of the casing and is connected with it. Furthermore, an opening with a contact surface running parallel to the bottom, which limits the diameter of the opening with respect to the inner diameter of the chamber, is located on the end opposite the bottom. The receptacle to be tempered is placed in the chamber through the opening. According to the invention, an annular sealing element, which has a sealing leg and a contact leg, wherein the contact leg lies on the contact surface, is provided. Additionally, an annular tensioning element is provided, which is placed on the sealing element and lies on the sealing leg on its outside. By setting the tensioning element, the sealing leg with its inside can be tensioned against the outside of the receptacle and the chamber can thus be sealed off. The advantage of an annular sealing element that has two legs is that the seal can be removed from the chamber for inserting and removing the receptacle and thus the receptacle is particularly easy to arrange in and remove from the chamber. Moreover, different outer diameters of the receptacle can be compensated for by the tensioning element. The entire device can also be used for receptacles with different diameters by selecting a suitable sealing element and the suitable tensioning element. Through the seal according to the invention via a tensioned sealing element, it is also made possible to operate the tempering device with excess pressure, i.e. to incorporate a pressurized tempering medium in the intermediate space between the receptacle and the inside of the chamber wall. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the device also has connection means, with which the contact leg is fastenable on the contact surface. Advantageously, the contact leg of the seal has bore holes for the connection means. Via the connection means, which fasten the sealing element on the device in addition to the tensioning element, the sealing element can be fastened on the contact surface in the axial direction relative to the longitudinal direction of the chamber. A pressure plate and screws, which are fitted on the contact leg of the sealing element and are fastened through the sealing element with the screws, are preferably provided as connection means. Alternatively or additionally, a quick-change clamping device can be provided, which presses the contact leg or a pressing ring arranged on it for example via a toggle mechanism against the contact surface of the tempering device. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the sealing element is designed as a circumferential ring, on which the sealing leg and contact leg are arranged substantially perpendicular to each other. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the sealing element is dimensioned such that it overhangs the contact surface radially inwards. In this manner, the sealing element is particularly elastic in the radial direction and can adapt to different diameters of the receptacle. The sealing of the chamber then takes place through the inside of the sealing leg resting on the receptacle and the bottom side of the contact surface pointing towards the chamber. 
     The device is also provided with at least one inflow and/or outflow tube for a tempering medium in the chamber. The tempering medium is preferably externally pretempered and fed to the chamber in the desired temperature. In order to avoid thermal losses to the device, the casing and/or the bottom of the device is designed double-walled and insulated thermally. In the case of a single-walled model of the device, an insulating casing consisting of half shells can be provided, which, arranged on the outside of the device, also insulates it. 
     In a preferred embodiment, an inflow tube for the tempering medium flows into the base of the chamber, preferably centrally on the base below a receptacle arranged in the chamber. Through the tempering medium introduced below the receptacle, it can be distributed well in the chamber and the receptacle can be tempered evenly. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the sealing leg of the sealing element has a wedge or trapezoidal shape. The inside of the sealing leg is provided for attachment to the receptacle to be tempered. The outside runs sloped with respect to the inside. The tensioning element has a sloped pressure-loaded area, which preferably runs corresponding to the sloped outside of the sealing leg. In the installed state, the tensioning element preferably lies on the contact leg of the seal and with its pressure-loaded area on the sealing leg. One particular advantage of a tensioning element with a sloped pressure-loaded area is that the force applied to the tensioning element in the axial direction is converted into a radial force on the sealing leg through the sloped pressure-loaded area. For a permissible sealing of the receptacle arranged in the tempering device, only a force needs to be exerted in the axial direction on the tensioning element for tensioning the sealing leg. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the tensioning element is designed annularly and is connectable at three or more locations with the contact surface in order to press the pressure-loaded area against the outside of the sealing leg. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the tensioning element has at least one hold-down device on its side facing radially inward, which rests against a receptacle arranged in the chamber and prevents it from rising. 
     Preferred embodiments of the invention will be explained in greater detail below based on examples. In the figures: 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows a view of a tempering device with an inserted bubbler, 
         FIG. 2  shows a cross-section of the tempering device from  FIG. 1  along the plane A-A from  FIG. 3 , 
         FIG. 3  shows a top view of the tempering element from  FIG. 1 , 
         FIG. 4  shows an enlargement of detail B from  FIG. 1 , 
         FIG. 5  shows an enlargement of detail C from  FIG. 1 , 
         FIG. 6  shows an alternative fastening of the sealing element, 
         FIG. 7  shows a view of an alternative embodiment of the tempering device with inserted bubbler in a view from the side, 
         FIG. 8  shows a view of the tempering device from  FIG. 7  from above, and 
         FIG. 9  shows detail D from  FIG. 7 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     While this invention may be embodied in many different forms, there are described in detail herein a specific preferred embodiment of the invention. This description is an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiment illustrated. 
       FIG. 2  shows a cylindrical bubbler  10  with its supply and drain lines  12  and  14  in cross-section. H 2  gas is for example supplied to the bubbler via the supply line  12 , where it reacts chemically and escapes again as doping gas via the drain line  14 . For handling purposes, the bubbler has a centrally arranged handle  16 , which is designed as a ring segment. In  FIG. 1 , the bubbler is inserted into the tempering device so that the connections for the supply and drain lines and the handle protrude from the tempering device. 
     The tempering device is designed double-walled in the example shown, wherein an inner bottom wall  18  and an outer bottom wall  20  are provided. The outer bottom wall  20  is welded to an outer cylindrical casing wall  22 . The inner bottom wall  18  is welded to a cylindrical inner wall  24 . The inner space  26  between the outer and inner wall and between the outer and inner bottom wall is filled with insulating material (not shown). Additionally, an inflow tube  27  is arranged in the inner space  26 . The inflow tube  27  protrudes on the upper end  35  out of the tempering device and extends parallel to the casing wall  22  and the inner wall  24  into the bottom, where it is exits through the inner bottom wall  18  at  33  at a 90° bend guided centrally into the chamber. The bubbler  10  has a foot  29 , which consists of a circumferential wall with radial openings  31 . The tempering medium exiting in the foot area of the bubbler on its end  33  is distributed within the foot  29  and flows over the openings  31  into an annularly cylindrical intermediate space  50 , which is formed by the bubbler  10  in the chamber. 
     On the upper end of the tempering device, the outer casing wall  22  has a flange  28 , which extends radially inward up to the inner casing wall  24  and protrudes radially inward into the chamber formed by the inner casing wall. The flange  28  has on its top side a contact surface  30 , on which lies a sealing element  32  that is L-shaped in cross-section. 
     As can be seen in the detail view B from  FIG. 4 , the sealing element  32  has a vertically standing sealing leg  34  and a horizontally arranged sealing leg  36 . The sealing leg  36  rests flat on the contact surface  30 . A flat tensioning element  38  rests on the outside of the sealing leg  34 . By actuating the tensioning element  38 , it is tensioned radially inwards in the direction of the arrow A so that the inside of the sealing leg  34  rests sealingly on the outer surface of the bubbler  40 . In the exemplary embodiment shown, the turnbuckle of the tensioning element  38  is shown. The tensioning element itself is designed as a flat ring. A circumferential ring  42  is provided for securing the contact leg  36  on the contact surface  30 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 6 , the ring  42  can be screwed with the flange  28 ′ via a screw  44 . The screw  44  is guided through a bore hole  46  into the contact leg  36  of the sealing element  32  and thus secures the sealing element. In the example from  FIG. 6 , the flange  28 ′ is designed on the inner casing wall  24 ′ as a T flange, which is connected on its radially outer end (not shown) with the outer casing wall. Alternatively, the quick-change clamping device  52  provided in  FIG. 5  can be provided, which has a lever  54  and a pressing arm  56 . The ring  42  is pressed onto the contact leg  36  of the sealing element through tensioning in direction V via the toggle mechanism  58 . 
     In the  FIGS. 4 and 6 , a gap  48  can be seen between the outside of the bubbler  40  and the flange  28 ,  28 ′. The gap is restricted upwards by the contact leg  36 . Depending on the dimensions of the bubbler, the gap  48  can have different sizes but be equally effectively sealed via the sealing element  32 . The tempering medium exits via the outlet tube  58  arranged on the upper end of the tempering device. The outlet tube  58  is connected via its opening  60  with the chamber and has a line adapter  62  on its end leading out of the tempering device. 
       FIG. 7  shows a tempering device  64 , in which a bubbler  10  with its in supply and drain lines  12  and  14  and its handle  16  is arranged. In detail D shown in cross-section, a tensioning element  66  screwed with the casing of the tempering device  64  is represented. The tensioning element  66  has, as can be seen in the view from  FIG. 8 , three connection bridges  68 , which are fastened on a circumferential profile edge  70  of the tempering device via bolts  72 . A hold-down device  74 , which rests on a front surface of the bubbler  10 , is provided on the radially-inward-facing end of the connection bridges  68 . A clamping ring  82  is pressed against the L-shaped seal by the connection bridge  68 . 
       FIG. 9  shows the more detailed structure: A circular profile  70  is screwed with an upper cover  78  of the tempering device via bolts  76 . A fastening bolt  72  is guided through the connection bridge  68  and connects it with the profile and the tempering device. The connection bridge  68  is connected with the clamping ring  82  via a screw  80  on its side facing the tempering device. The clamping ring  82  has a sloped pressure-loaded area  84  on its radially-inward-protruding side. The L-shaped sealing ring  86  has a contact leg  88  and a sealing leg  90 . The sealing leg  90  has a wedge-like contour, wherein the thickness of the sealing leg  90  decreases from the contact leg  88  towards its free end. The sealing leg  90  rests on its radially-inward-facing leg side on the bubbler  10  to be tempered along its peripheral surface. By tightening the bolt  72 , a force is exerted on the tensioning ring  82  in direction A via the connection bridge  68 . The force is diverted radially inward in direction P via the sloped pressure-loaded area  84  so that the sealing leg  90  is pressed against the circumferential wall of the bubbler  10 . 
     The hold-down device  74  is provided on the radially-inward-protruding end of the connection bridge  68 . The hold-down device  74  has a thread, via which its position can be set relative to the connection bridge. The end  70  of the hold-down device  74  pointing towards the bubbler  10  rests, as shown in  FIG. 9 , on the top side of the bubbler so that it also cannot move in the axial direction. The pressing force of the sealing leg  90  is hereby maintained. 
     During operation of the tempering device, the intermediate space  50  between the inner wall and the receptacle is rinsed with a tempering medium, for example with water. The temperature of the cooling medium can be set very precisely through the sealing and insulating of the container wall and the bubbler on the whole can thus be very precisely tempered. Through the pressing force of the tensioning element, a seal is thereby achieved that also allows operation with a pressurized cooling medium. 
     This completes the description of the preferred and alternate embodiments of the invention. Those skilled in the art may recognize other equivalents to the specific embodiment described herein which equivalents are intended to be encompassed by the claims attached hereto.