Pad conditioners

Abstract

A pad conditioner comprising: a disk holder that is rotatable; a frame on the disk holder; a lifting and lowering support member that is between the frame and the disk holder; a posture adjusting member that is between the lifting and lowering support member and the frame and has a thickness, wherein the posture adjusting member is capable of varying the thickness; a posture sensor that is configured to detect a height of the lifting and lowering support member; and a controller that is configured to vary the thickness of the posture adjusting member according to a signal received from the posture sensor.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A pad conditioner comprising:
 a disk holder that is rotatable;   a frame on the disk holder;   a lifting and lowering support member that is between the frame and the disk holder;   a posture adjusting member that is between the lifting and lowering support member and the frame and has a thickness, wherein the posture adjusting member is capable of varying the thickness;   a posture sensor that is configured to detect a height of the lifting and lowering support member; and   a controller that is configured to vary the thickness of the posture adjusting member according to a signal received from the posture sensor.   
     
     
         2 . The pad conditioner of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to form a closed-loop control based on the signal and the thickness of the posture adjusting member. 
     
     
         3 . The pad conditioner of  claim 1 , wherein the posture adjusting member comprises an air bag structure. 
     
     
         4 . The pad conditioner of  claim 3 , further comprising a gas control member connected to the posture adjusting member, wherein the gas control member is configured to adjust an amount of a gas contained within the posture adjusting member,
 wherein the controller is configured to control the thickness of the posture adjusting member through the gas control member.   
     
     
         5 . The pad conditioner of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 a connecting hub; and   an arm that is connected to the connecting hub,   wherein the gas control member is adjacent to the arm, and the frame is connected to the arm.   
     
     
         6 . The pad conditioner of  claim 5 , further comprising a lifting and lowering driving member between the frame and the arm, wherein the lifting and lowering driving member is configured to move the frame up and down with respect to the arm. 
     
     
         7 . The pad conditioner of  claim 6 , further comprising a load sensor between the lifting and lowering driving member and the frame. 
     
     
         8 . The pad conditioner of  claim 3 , wherein the posture adjusting member is provided in plurality,
 wherein the posture sensor is provided in plurality, and   wherein a number of a plurality of posture sensors corresponds to a number of a plurality of posture adjusting members.   
     
     
         9 . The pad conditioner of  claim 8 , wherein the plurality of posture adjusting members are circumferentially spaced apart from each other, and
 wherein the plurality of the posture sensors are configured to detect heights of regions of the lifting and lowering support member, and   wherein the plurality of posture adjusting members are on the regions of the lifting and lowering support member.   
     
     
         10 . The pad conditioner of  claim 9 , wherein at least two of the plurality of posture adjusting members are diametrically opposed to each other. 
     
     
         11 . The pad conditioner of  claim 10 , wherein the plurality of posture adjusting members include a first posture adjustment member, a second posture adjustment member, a third posture adjustment member, and a fourth posture adjustment member, the first posture adjusting member and the third posture adjusting member are diametrically opposed to each other, and the second posture adjusting member and the fourth posture adjusting member are diametrically opposed to each other. 
     
     
         12 . The pad conditioner of  claim 1 , further comprising an outer side rotation auxiliary member between the disk holder and the lifting and lowering support member, wherein the outer side rotation auxiliary member is configured to allow the disk holder to rotate with respect to the lifting and lowering support member. 
     
     
         13 . The pad conditioner of  claim 1 , wherein the posture sensor is configured to detect the signal, and
 wherein the controller is configured to monitor a size of the signal according to a frequency to determine whether an abnormal state occurs.   
     
     
         14 . A pad conditioner comprising:
 a disk holder that is rotatable   a frame on the disk holder;   a lifting and lowering support member that is between the frame and the disk holder; and   a posture adjusting member that is between the lifting and lowering support member and the frame and has a thickness, wherein the posture adjusting member is capable of varying the thickness.   
     
     
         15 . The pad conditioner of  claim 14 , wherein the posture adjusting member comprises an air bag structure. 
     
     
         16 . The pad conditioner of  claim 14 , further comprising a posture sensor that is configured to detect a height of the lifting and lowering support member,
 wherein the posture adjusting member is provided in plurality,   wherein the posture sensor is provided in plurality,   wherein a number of a plurality of posture sensors corresponds to a number of a plurality of posture adjusting members, and   wherein the plurality of the posture sensors are configured to detect heights of the lifting and lowering support member at regions below the plurality of posture adjusting members.   
     
     
         17 . The pad conditioner of  claim 16 , wherein the plurality of posture adjusting members are spaced apart from each other along a circumferential direction. 
     
     
         18 . The pad conditioner of  claim 16 , further comprising a controller that is configured to change the thickness of each of the plurality of posture adjusting members according to a signal received from at least one of the plurality of posture sensors. 
     
     
         19 . A pad conditioner comprising:
 a disk holder that is rotatable   a frame on the disk holder;   a lifting and lowering support member between the frame and the disk holder;   a plurality of posture adjusting members that are between the lifting and lowering support member and the frame and have thicknesses, wherein the plurality of posture adjusting members are capable of varying the thicknesses;   a posture sensor that is configured to detect a height of the lifting and lowering support member; and   a controller that is configured to change the thicknesses according to a signal received from the posture sensor,   wherein the plurality of posture adjusting members are circumferentially spaced apart from each other.   
     
     
         20 . The pad conditioner of  claim 19 , wherein the posture sensor is provided in a plural number corresponding to a number of the plurality of posture adjusting members, and
 wherein a plurality of posture sensors are configured to detect heights of the lifting and lowering support member at regions below the plurality of posture adjusting members.