Method and apparatus for cooling a planar workpiece in an evacuated environment with dynamically moveable heat sinks
View Patent ↗An apparatus and method for cooling a planar workpiece, such as a substrate of a recording disk, in an evacuated environment has a heat exchanging structure with at least two heat sinks having substantially parallel facing surfaces disposed within a vacuum chamber. A drive arrangement is connected to the heat sinks to controllably and dynamically drive the parallel facing surfaces of the heat sinks towards and away from each other.
1. An apparatus for cooling a planar workpiece in an evacuated environment, said apparatus comprising:
a heat exchanging structure having at least two heat sinks with substantially parallel facing surfaces disposed within a vacuum chamber and having a first distance between the substantially parallel facing surfaces to admit a workpiece; and
means for dynamically adjusting a distance between the substantially parallel facing surfaces during operation, such that the distance is dynamically adjusted to a second distance between the substantially parallel facing surfaces after the workpiece is positioned between the substantially parallel facing surfaces.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the means for dynamically adjusting includes a drive arrangement connected to the heat sinks to controllably drive the substantially parallel facing surfaces to one of the first and second distances between the substantially parallel facing surfaces.
3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the drive arrangement includes a controller, a pair of stepper motors controllably coupled to the controller, and gear arrangements operatively connected between the stepper motors and the heat sinks, such that actuation of the stepper motors causes the gear arrangements to drive the substantially parallel facing surfaces of the heat sinks to one of the first and second distances between the substantially parallel facing surfaces.
4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured to drive the substantially parallel facing surfaces of the heat sinks to the second distance between the substantially parallel facing surfaces after a workpiece has been positioned between the substantially parallel facing surfaces, wherein each substantially parallel facing surface is separated from the workpiece by a distance of less than 50 mils.
5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein each heat sink includes a cooling plate having gas apertures operable to open at the substantially parallel facing surface towards a workpiece, the gas apertures being connected via a cooling gas distribution channel to a cooling gas supply.
6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the controller is configured to supply the cooling gas via the cooling gas distribution channel and the gas apertures to between the parallel facing surface and the workpiece.
7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the cooling plates are removable from the heat sinks, and have an outer circumference substantially matching an outer circumference of the workpiece.
8. The apparatus of claim 3 , further comprising a proximity sensor positioned to detect an axial position of a workpiece in relation to the heat sinks, and coupled to the controller to provide a workpiece position signal to the controller.
9. An apparatus for cooling a planar workpiece, comprising:
a heat exchanging structure having at least two heat sinks with substantially parallel facing surfaces and having a first distance between the substantially parallel facing surfaces to admit a workpiece; and
a drive arrangement configured to dynamically adjust a distance between the substantially parallel flat surfaces to a second distance after the workpiece is positioned between the substantially parallel facing surfaces.
10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the drive arrangement includes a controller, a pair of stepper motors controllably coupled to the controller, and gear arrangements operatively connected between the stepper motors and the heat sinks, wherein actuation of the stepper motors causes the gear arrangements to drive the substantially parallel facing surfaces of the heat sinks to one of the first and second distances between the substantially parallel facing surfaces.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the controller is configured to drive the substantially parallel facing surfaces of the heat sinks to the second distance between the substantially parallel facing surfaces after a workpiece has been positioned between the substantially parallel facing surfaces, such that each substantially parallel facing surface is separated from the workpiece by a distance of less than 50 mils.
12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein each heat sink includes a cooling plate having gas apertures that are operable to open at the substantially parallel facing surface towards a workpiece, the gas apertures being connected via a cooling gas distribution channel to a cooling gas supply, wherein the controller is configured to supply the cooling gas via the cooling gas distribution channel and the gas apertures to between the parallel facing surface and the workpiece.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the cooling plates are removable from the heat sinks, and have an outer circumference substantially matching an outer circumference of the workpiece.
14. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising a proximity sensor positioned to detect an axial position of a workpiece in relation to the heat sinks, and coupled to the controller to provide a workpiece position signal to the controller.
15. An apparatus for cooling a planar workpiece, comprising:
a cooling chamber;
a pair of heat sinks in the cooling chamber with substantially parallel facing surfaces and having a first distance between the substantially parallel facing surfaces to admit the workpiece;
a proximity sensor positioned in the cooling chamber and configured to produce sensed position information regarding the axial position of the workpiece between the substantially parallel facing surfaces; and
a drive arrangement configured to dynamically adjust a distance between the substantially parallel flat surfaces to a second distance after the workpiece is positioned between the substantially parallel facing surfaces as determined by the proximity sensor.
16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the drive arrangement includes:
a controller;
a pair of stepper motors controllably coupled to the controller; and
gear arrangements respectively operatively connected between the stepper motors and the heat sinks, such that actuation of the stepper motors causes the gear arrangements to drive the parallel facing surfaces of the heat sinks to one of the first and second distances between the substantially parallel facing surfaces.
17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein each heat sink includes a cooling plate, each cooling plate having gas apertures extending therethrough, opening at the parallel facing surfaces.
18. The apparatus of claim 17 , further comprising fasteners that attach the cooling plates to the heat sinks.
19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the cooling plates have an outer circumference that substantially matches an outer circumference of the planar workpiece.
20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein each gear arrangement includes a gear rack coupled to a respective one of the heat sinks, each gear rack including an integrated cooling gas distribution channel connecting the gas apertures to a cooling gas supply.