High temperature, quick access door for high vacuum chambers

摘要

A door for an ultra-high vacuum chamber is disclosed which includes a sealing joint that maintains a hermetic seal when it is baked or otherwise subjected to high temperatures, while yet allowing an operator to have quick access into the interior of the chamber. The quick access door includes a vacuum flange adapted to be conventionally secured to a corresponding flange circumscribing an access port of a vacuum chamber. The door vacuum flange has a conical sealing surface about its inner periphery, and the door includes a sealing disc designed to hermetically mate therewith. That is, the sealing disc has a circumferential conical skirt providing a sealing edge and is mounted on a support arm which is selectively securable across the opening to position the sealing disc in front of the access opening. A drive arrangement is provided for moving the sealing disc from a retracted position adjacent the arm to a registering position in which such sealing disc closes the opening and engages the flange sealing surface. The drive further axially compresses the seal disc into the opening to generate stored energy in the disc which causes it to expand peripherally as necessary to accommodate any differential thermal expansion between the seal disc and the flange which otherwise might result in a vacuum leak.