Knowledge
Vacuum coating (PVD/PECVD/magnetron sputtering) equipment is key process equipment for downstream products such as optical components, consumer electronics structural parts, decorative hardware and hard-coated cutting tools. It must complete thin film deposition under high vacuum and places high requirements on precise switching of process gases, reliable isolation of the vacuum chamber and synchronous response of action cycles. Valve terminals are becoming the mainstream choice for pneumatic control in such equipment. This case study takes vacuum coating equipment as its subject and demonstrates the application practice of the Solidot C3 Series Valve terminal.
Solidot products used in this case study
C3 Series Valve terminal
I. Equipment introduction
Vacuum coating equipment deposits functional thin films such as metal films and dielectric films under vacuum, covering various process routes including magnetron sputtering, evaporation, ion plating and PECVD. A large number of pneumatic actuators are integrated inside the equipment, which can be classified into three categories by function:
These pneumatic actuators are all driven by solenoid valves — the more air-operated valves and cylinders there are, the more solenoid valve points are required, and a single machine often needs dozens of solenoid valves.
II. Solidot solution
The vacuum coating process places high requirements on the precision of gas switching, the reliability of chamber isolation and the coordinated response of multiple gas circuits. The actuators are numerous and concentrated, and process gas control and vacuum chamber control need unified management. The solution uses 2 sets of Solidot C3 Series Valve terminals (PROFINET protocol), deployed respectively in the process gas area and the vacuum chamber area, bringing the two types of pneumatic actuators into centralized control. The valve terminals are mounted on the equipment body, and signals are connected to the PLC via the PROFINET bus.
III. Solution architecture
Control layer:
The Siemens S7-1500 PLC serves as the core controller and manages the 2 valve terminal sets uniformly via the PROFINET bus.
Network layer:
The 2 C3 valve terminal sets are installed respectively in the process gas area and the vacuum chamber area, each connected to the PLC via PROFINET. Single-bus management ensures a clear network structure.
Field layer:
Each valve terminal set independently drives the pneumatic actuators in its corresponding area, with valve slices corresponding one-to-one to control objects, as follows —
Valve terminal air nozzle specifications support flexible customization (e.g. changed from φ6 to φ8 in this case) to facilitate connection to actuators with different flow rates.
Application results
Solidot C3 Series Valve terminal
The Solidot C3 Valve terminal supports configurations of up to 24 Double Solenoid Valves and has an IP65 Protection rating. The self-branded Solenoid valve offers a service life of more than 50 million cycles, a low-power design, and supports online firmware upgrades. Air nozzle specifications and Valve Slice types can be flexibly configured according to on-site process requirements. The entire terminal is compatible with mainstream industrial bus protocols such as PROFINET/EtherCAT/EtherNet/IP, and is widely used in high-cycle-rate, high-reliability scenarios such as vacuum coating, optical coating, hard coating, 3C electronics, lithium batteries, semiconductors, and new energy.
