JP3434587B2 - Filter media for air filter - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the production of semiconductor elements, optical discs, foods, medical products, etc., in order to take in clean outside air and to maintain a clean environment space.
The present invention relates to a filter medium for removing dust, impurities, pollutants and harmful gaseous substances contained in the outside air and circulating air, for use as an air filter provided in an air conditioner or a clean room, and an air filter using the filter medium. It is a thing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is becoming more and more necessary to create and maintain an extremely clean environment space in the manufacture of semiconductor devices, optical disks, foods and medical products. Especially in the manufacture of semiconductor devices and optical discs, not only is the product yield reduced due to particles of impurities and contaminants adhering to the device, but also devices caused by harmful gaseous substances that are brought in from the open air or generated in the workplace. The reduction in product yield due to corrosion of wiring and wiring has become a problem. Examples of the trace amount of corrosive gaseous substances contained in these environments include acid gases such as SO ₂ and NO _x from the outside air. In addition, as a corrosive gaseous substance that adversely affects product quality and manufacturing yield, a minute amount of corrosive gaseous substance generated from the product itself and accumulated in the circulating air over time, such as ammonia gas Such alkaline gases are included. In order to deal with these problems described above, recently, a means for removing a trace amount of corrosive gaseous substances is installed in a facility for manufacturing environment of highly integrated products together with a conventional fine particle microfiltration facility. It's starting to happen.

As an example of the filtration equipment equipped with the means for removing the above-mentioned gaseous substances, (1) JP-A-2-12691
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2 (1994) describes that an adsorption filter for adsorbing the trace amount of corrosive gaseous substances is provided at the outlet of the air circulated in the clean room. As the adsorption filter used here, activated carbon, zeolite,
A preferred example is a filter having a structure in which a known adsorbent such as a molecular sieve or a metal oxide is wrapped in a breathable packaging material and processed into a layer or fiber. (2) As another example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-126513, a chemical filter for removing toxic gas is partially arranged below the air suction surface of the floor of the clean room, which discharges the air circulated in the clean room. However, a clean room is described in which toxic gas is removed from a part of the indoor air passing through the suction surface. As the toxic gas removing agent filled in the chemical filter used here, the activated carbon which is aerated and packaged like the above is mentioned.

(3) As yet another example, JP-A-62-62
JP-A-68509 discloses a filter material having a double layer structure in which an ion exchange fiber sheet material and an electretized fiber sheet material or a glass fiber sheet material are laminated for the purpose of deodorizing and degassing at the same time as dust in the air. Have been described. (4) Further, as still another example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-247
Japanese Patent No. 207 discloses a double-layered filtration of an ion-exchange fiber sheet-like material and a filter material for fine particle microfiltration, in which the ion-exchange fiber sheet-like material is placed on the side where the air flows, as a final stage filter for air blown into a clean room. A filter material for fine particle microfiltration is described in which a material or ion-exchange fiber is mixed and molded. Here, an example in which an anion exchange fiber and a cation exchange fiber are mixed and used is described.

The known adsorbents such as activated carbon, zeolite, molecular sieve, metal oxide, etc. described in (1) and (2) are powders or powders obtained by solidifying and granulating them, and air between them. When passes through, powder (fine dust particles) is mixed into the air from the adsorbent. Therefore, even if these adsorbents are wrapped in a filter medium for microfiltration and used, fine particles are leaked or the filter medium is clogged to deteriorate the adsorption performance.

Further, an ion-exchange fiber sheet material is used for removing corrosive gaseous substances, and the ion-exchange fiber sheet material is laminated with a glass fiber sheet material or an electretized fiber sheet material. Layered structure (3)
The filter material described in (4) has the following problems. In a filter medium having a structure in which fibrous sheet-like materials having different direct performances are laminated, the filter medium is used under conditions of high flow velocity actually used (0.35 m / sec or more at the opening surface, usually 0.35 m
/ Sec), a consolidation phenomenon occurs in the filter medium having a laminated structure, which makes ventilation difficult. In JP-A-4-247207, when the ion-exchange fiber sheet material is used in the preceding stage (used on the upstream side) of the electretized fiber sheet material, the ion-exchange fiber sheet material adsorbs water, so the electret Although it is described that the chemical fiber sheet-like material has an effect of preventing performance deterioration due to moisture, in reality, when the two sheets are brought into close contact with each other, the ion-exchange fiber has a high water-absorption property and thus adsorbs a large amount of water, The moisture adsorbed on the ion-exchange fiber sheet material easily migrates to the electretized fiber sheet material through the boundary surface, and the performance of the electretized fiber sheet material deteriorates. Further, the electretized fibrous sheet material has a drawback that it contains a large amount of water and its performance deteriorates, so that the particles once trapped are released again.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, the electretized fibrous material has a moisture content in the composite microfiltration filter medium containing the ion exchange fibrous sheet material used for the conventional removal of harmful gases. Has been solved to solve the problem of deterioration of its performance due to the migration of semiconductors, and it has been improved so that fine impurities and harmful gas substances contained in the outside air or environment can be sufficiently removed when manufacturing semiconductor devices, optical disks, etc. An object is to provide a filter material for an air filter and an air filter using the same.

[0008]

The above-mentioned object has been achieved by providing the following filter material for an air filter. (1) These are provided between an ion exchange fiber sheet for chemically removing impurities and harmful gas substances and an electretized synthetic fiber sheet or a sheet for fine particle microfiltration for physically removing impurities and contaminants. filter media for air filters rigidity than two sheets and wherein Rukoto Do crowded scissors high breathability separator. (2) An air filter using the filter material for an air filter according to the item (1). Furthermore, the ion-exchange fiber sheet made of the ion-exchange fiber is an ion-exchange fiber sheet made of anion-exchange fiber, an ion-exchange fiber sheet made of cation-exchange fiber, and anion-exchange fiber and cation-exchange fiber mixed. It may be either an ion exchange fiber sheet or an ion exchange fiber sheet in which an anion exchange fiber sheet and a cation exchange fiber sheet are laminated (anion and yang composite). Furthermore, when an ion-exchange element filter such as an ion-exchange fiber sheet made of the anion-exchange fiber is combined with another type of element filter to form a composite air filter unit, an air-permeable separator is provided between each element filter. Needless to say, it is used by inserting.

For the ion exchange fiber sheet used in the present invention, a non-woven fabric or woven fabric ion exchanger in which a fiber from an organic polymer is used as a non-woven fabric or a woven fabric, and an ion exchange group is introduced into the non-woven fabric or the woven fabric is used. Is preferred. The ion exchange fiber sheet may be manufactured separately from two types, an ion exchange fiber sheet made of anion exchange fibers and an ion exchange fiber sheet made of cation exchange fibers. Using both as separate filter media is much more advantageous as it can be more easily regenerated when used in a filter. In the following description, the anion exchange fiber sheet and the cation exchange fiber sheet will be described separately. However, it goes without saying that an Yin-Yang composite ion exchange fiber filter can be constructed by laminating both at the stage of the ion exchange fiber sheet. Here, the ion-exchange fiber sheet is a fiber sheet that is used as a processing unit in the process of imparting ion-exchange property and is imparted with ion-exchange property, and is an air filter in which 2 to several ion-exchange fiber sheets are laminated. The ion-exchange fiber sheet part can be formed.

The material of the polymer base material used in the production of the above-mentioned ion-exchange fiber sheet of the present invention is preferably polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl alcohol and their copolymers. The polar groups of these base materials include carboxyl group, sulfonic acid group, phosphonic acid group, phosphoric acid group, phenolic hydroxyl group, etc. (above cation exchange fiber), primary to tertiary amino group, quaternary ammonium group, etc. (The above are anion exchange fibers). The ion exchange fiber sheet used in the present invention is used for an air filter because it chemically adsorbs and removes harmful gaseous substances by ion exchange groups.

In order to explain the function of this adsorption and removal, the case of adsorbing ammonia or nitric acid will be exemplified as follows using a chemical formula. That is, in the ion-exchange fiber sheet made of a cation-exchange ^{_{fibers, Poly-R 1 - · H}} + + NH 3 → Poly-R 1 - ammonia · HH ₄ ⁺ mechanism such as to be fixed as a cation. Further, in the ion exchange filter made of anion exchange fiber, Poly-R ₂ + HNO ₃ → Poly-R ₂ · HN
Anions (NO ₃ ⁻ ) are fixed by a mechanism such as O ₃ . Here, Poly the polymeric matrix backbone (molecular chain), R ₁ ^- · H
⁺ Represents a strongly acidic cation exchange group (H type), and R ₂ represents a weakly basic anion exchange group (free base type). Table 1 shows the types of ion exchange groups and the types of components to be removed, which are added to the anion exchange fiber and the cation exchange fiber.

[0012]

[Table 1]

The electretized synthetic fiber sheet used for the filter medium constituting the air filter of the present invention is formed from electretized synthetic fiber, which is a known method for producing electret-formable fibrous polymer, that is, thermal electret. Method, electro-electret method, radio-electret method, photo-electret method, etc. Examples of the polymer substance that can be electretized include polyolefin, polyester, polyamide, and polystyrene. When these polymeric substances are processed into a fibrous form and then electretized by the above method, the polymeric substances are polarized and the surface of the fibers is charged. The electretized fiber attracts and collects fine particles by a polarization force or Coulomb force. Since water neutralizes polarization and electrification, the electretized fiber sheet has a low ability to trap impurities and contaminants when it contains water. The fine particle microfiltration sheet used in the air filter of the present invention is formed from a very thin glass fiber non-woven sheet. Impurities and contaminants in the filtered air are physically trapped in the gaps between the thin glass fibers. Therefore, when trying to capture very fine particles, the gap between the glass fibers must be made small, and the filtration resistance becomes high.

A feature of the filter medium for an air filter of the present invention is that a separator is interposed between the ion exchange fiber sheet and the electretized synthetic fiber sheet or the fine particle microfiltration sheet. Since the purpose of this separator is to maintain the above-mentioned both sheets in a separated state, it is preferable that the separator does not have any other factor that deteriorates the performance of the air filter. It is preferable that the air resistance of the entire air filter is as low as possible so that the filtration resistance of the entire air filter does not increase, and that the air filter has a higher rigidity than both sheets so that the strength of the entire air filter is sufficiently maintained. It is preferably a breathable material.

Examples of the constituent material of the separator include a net, a lattice, a punched thin plate, and a punched corrugated plate. As the material of the separator,
Materials such as commonly used plastics and metals are mentioned, but not limited to these as long as they are functionally satisfactory materials. Preferred examples include separators made of plastic such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, Teflon. Further, a material that does not weaken the electrification property of the electretized synthetic fiber sheet is preferable. The shape of the separator is not limited to the above shape as long as it is breathable and can be inserted between both sheets to prevent direct contact between the adjacent sheets.
In particular, the thickness of the separator is preferably sufficient to prevent direct contact between the adjacent sheets, but increasing the thickness increases the overall thickness of the filter medium and increases filtration resistance. Therefore, it is better to be as thin as possible. More specifically, the size of the mesh of the separator is such that the diameter is in the case of a circle or the inner spacing is 1 μm in the case of a lattice.
10 mm, preferably 10 μm to 5 mm, especially 300 μ
Those having a size of m to 3 mm are preferable. The thickness of the separator is 0.1 mm to 5 mm, preferably 0.5 mm to 3 m
m is preferable. Further, the aperture ratio is preferably 80% or more.

In the filter units described in JP-A-62-68509 and JP-A-4-247207, the ion exchange fiber filter and the electretized fiber filter or the glass fiber microfiltration filter are directly laminated. Then, it is used by incorporating it into a filter unit as a composite filtration filter. Therefore, as already described above, the filtration resistance rapidly increases due to the consolidation phenomenon in the filter on the downstream side of the filtration, or the water adsorbed on the ion-exchange fiber sheet material is transferred to the electretized fiber sheet material to be electretized. A problem occurs that the performance of the fibrous sheet material deteriorates.

[0017]

The following four types of fiber sheets (also referred to as "element sheets") are incorporated in the filter medium for an air filter of the present invention. (1) An ion exchange fiber sheet made of ion exchange fibers that removes impurities and harmful gas substances by a chemical mechanism. (1a) Anion exchange fiber sheet made of anion exchange fiber (1b) Cation exchange fiber sheet made of cation exchange fiber (2) Fiber sheet for removing impurities and contaminants by a physical mechanism (2a) Electret However, it is not always necessary to incorporate all of the above four types, and a proper element sheet may be selected and used according to the situation. Further, two or more element sheets of one kind may be incorporated. Each of the element sheets generally has a thickness of 1 mm to 5 mm.
It is manufactured as a sheet having a thickness of about mm, preferably a sheet having a thickness of about 1 mm to 2 mm. In use, each element sheet may be used as one sheet, but it is usually used by stacking two to several sheets.

A feature of the filter medium for an air filter of the present invention is that when a plurality of element sheets are incorporated into the air filter, a separator is inserted between each element sheet.
Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 show two examples of the filter material for an air filter of the present invention.
The example shown in FIG. 1 shows a filter medium 1 for an air filter having a composite structure in which a cation exchange fiber sheet 2 is integrated with an electretized synthetic fiber sheet 4 via a separator 3, and the separator 3 is As shown in the plan view of FIG. 3, it has openings 5 in a lattice shape. In using the filter medium 1 for an air filter in an air filter, the cation exchange fiber sheet 2c is provided on the side where air enters.
Are preferably arranged so that

Further, in the example shown in FIG. 2, an anion exchange fiber sheet 2d is arranged with an electretized synthetic fiber sheet 4 via a separator 3 and fine particle microfiltration through a separator 3 next to the sheet 4. 1 shows a filter medium 1 for an air filter having a composite structure in which a filter 5 is arranged and integrated, and a separator 3 used here is also the same as that used in FIG. In both cases of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the air blowing direction is indicated by W.
The anion-exchange fiber sheet 2 is placed so as to be on the side of the air blowing direction. The filter medium for an air filter having such a configuration can be assembled into the air filter unit by putting the whole in a frame. FIG. 3 shows a front view of the separator 3 used in the filter material for the air filter of FIGS. 1 and 2, for example. The separator 3 shown in FIG. 3 has a grid-shaped opening 6
Is to have.

When constructing an air filter using the filter medium for an air filter of the present invention, a filter unit is constructed by incorporating it into a frame as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 below together with a spacer. Is convenient. Each filter medium incorporated in the filter frame may be used as a single sheet in the state of manufacturing fibers as a nonwoven fabric or a woven fabric, or may be used as a laminated sheet. When these filter media are assembled in the filter frame, for example, a sheet is bent in a corrugated form, and a flat spacer is inserted between the folded sheets, or each sheet is a flat plate and the spacer is bent in a corrugated form. Good as a thing. If each of the sheets and the spacers are formed in a flat plate shape, the air passage resistance becomes large, so it is better to avoid them.

The structure of the framed air filter of the present invention shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 will be described below. 4 and 5
In the case, a filter medium 8 for an air filter, which is obtained by laminating three sheets 7 of the same kind in a case formed by two sets of outer frames a and two sets of outer frames b, is made of a polypropylene spacer 9 Fitted in multiple pleated folded form,
The outer frame a and the outer frame a are fastened with a gasket 10 at the edges,
Both sides are sealed with resin and molded into the framed air filter 7. Table 2 shows the specifications of each part of the framed air filter of the present invention shown in FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the framed air filter 7 of the present invention shown in FIG. 4 as seen from the direction AA.

[0022]

[Table 2]

Therefore, the air enters the framed air filter 7 from the upper side (front surface) of the drawing of FIG. 4, passes through between the corrugated spacers 9 and passes to the rear surface of the drawing. During this period, impurities, harmful gas substances and pollutants contained in the air are filtered or absorbed by the air filter medium 8. In this example, a cross-flow type filter is used, in which a filter medium 8 for an air filter is folded back, a spacer 9 is provided between them to form a pleated filter, and air crosses the filter medium layer on the front and back sides. However, the spacer 9 passes through in parallel with the filter layer. Impurities, harmful gas substances and the like are sufficiently filtered or absorbed by the filter medium 8 even while passing in parallel with the filter medium layer. In this case, the filter medium 8 is
The filter is not limited to the cross flow type filter, and may be a parallel flow type filter.

As a type of incorporating the filter medium in a frame, a sheet of the filter medium 8 is pleated by sandwiching the corrugated spacer 9 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 to increase the contact area with air. Various other built-in formats are possible. In short, it suffices that the passage resistance of air is not too large and the contact area between the filter medium and air is large. Further, the outer frame of the framed filter medium may have various types other than the outer frames (a and b) shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 and is not limited to this.

[0025]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to one example of a clean room in which an air filter using the filter material for an air filter of the present invention is incorporated as a unit. However, the present invention is not limited to the following examples.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a clean room incorporating the air filter of the present invention used for the purpose of illustrating the present invention. In FIG. 6, the clean room 11 has a filter material (for example, H
It has a filter unit accommodating the EPA 12) and an opening floor 13 made of grating at the bottom, and an appropriate filter unit 18 is provided under the opening floor 13. The air to the clean room 11 is blown into the clean room 11 through the blow-in port in the upper part of the HEPA 12. The air in the clean room 11 circulates from the open floor 13 through the filter unit 18 and most of the air through the return space 14. Further, a part of the air is exhausted from the lower part of the return space 14 (the lower part of the clean room 11) to the outside.

The outside air passes through the air conditioner 15 incorporating the air filter unit 18 of the present invention before being blown into the clean room 11. A pre-filter 16, a medium-performance filter 17, an air filter unit 18 of the present invention, a cooler 19, a heater 20 and a humidifier 21 are incorporated in the air conditioner 15 in this order from the inlet. The outside air is blown into the clean room 11 by the blower 22 through the supply duct. In FIG. 6, in order to remove corrosive gaseous substances generated in the clean room 11,
The structure in which the air filter unit 18 of the present invention is provided also in the lower part of the opening floor 13 and the upper part of the return space 14 is shown. It is convenient if the shape of the air filter unit 18 of the present invention provided at two locations in these clean rooms 11 is also the same as the shape of the filter unit 18 in the air conditioner 15.

The filter unit 18 in the air conditioner 15 of FIG. 6 has a structure in which the framed air filter and the separator shown in FIG. 1 are incorporated, and the framed cation exchange filter 2c is placed from the air inlet side. The electret filter with frame 3 is arranged on the air outlet side through the separator 1, and the whole is incorporated into an air filter unit. The filter unit 1 provided at the inlet of the clean room 11 (outlet of the return space 14) in FIG.
Reference numeral 8 is a construction in which the framed element filter and the separator shown in FIG. 2 are incorporated, and a framed anion exchange filter 2d is placed from the air inlet side, and a framed electret is formed in the middle through the separator 1. The fiber filter 3 is arranged, and further, the framed fine particle microfiltration filter 4 is arranged on the air outlet side through the separator 1, and the whole is incorporated into an air filter unit.

As the filter medium for the air filter shown in FIG. 1, a cation-exchange fiber sheet having a thickness of 1000 μm, a thickness of 100
A lattice-shaped polypropylene separator having an aperture ratio of 90% and a polypropylene electretized fiber sheet having a thickness of 100 μm was laminated and composited. Further, as the filter medium for the air filter shown in FIG.
μm anion-exchange fiber sheet, 100 μm-thickness polypropylene separator with 90% aperture ratio, 100 μm-thick polypropylene electret fiber sheet, 100 μm-thickness lattice polypropylene separator with 90% aperture ratio , And a 250 μm-thick glass fiber fine particle microfiltration filter were sequentially laminated to form a composite.

[0030]

As described above, in the improved filter medium for an air filter of the present invention and the air filter using the same, 1) even if air is blown at a relatively high wind speed for a long period, the downstream side of the filtration The filter does not undergo a consolidation phenomenon and the filtration resistance does not increase sharply. 2) The performance of the filter part for filtration of the electretized fiber sheet on the downstream side of the filtration does not deteriorate even when the outside air of high humidity is blown. 3) The filter medium for an air filter and the air filter using the same of the present invention are lightweight, have little pressure loss when passing air, and can be easily installed in an existing clean room or air conditioner. 4) None of them generate dust, so they do not pollute the downstream environment. 5) Since the air filter of the present invention can be regenerated and reused, the manufacturing cost of semiconductors can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of an example of a filter medium for an air filter according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of another example of the filter medium for an air filter according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing an example of a separator used in the filter medium for an air filter of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional front view showing the structure of an example of a framed element filter of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side cross-sectional explanatory view showing the structure of an example of a framed element filter of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of a clean room incorporating the improved air filter unit of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 separator 2c Cation exchange fiber sheet 2d anion exchange fiber sheet 3 separator 4 Electretized synthetic fiber sheet 5 Fine particle microfiltration filter 6 lattice openings 7 Element filter with frame 8 Filter media for air filters 9 spacers 10 gasket 11 clean room 12 HEPA 13 open floor 14 Return space 15 Air conditioner 16 pre-filter 17 Medium Performance Filter 18 Air filter unit 19 Cooler 20 heater 21 humidifier 22 blower a outer frame b Outer frame W Air direction A-A Direction line to see the cross section

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An ion exchange fiber sheet for removing chemical impurities and harmful gas substances and an electretized synthetic fiber sheet for physically removing impurities and pollutants or a sheet for fine particle microfiltration. , filter media for air filters, characterized in Rukoto Do crowded scissors stiff breathable separator than these sheets. 2. An air filter using the filter material for an air filter according to claim 1.