JPH0285056A - Transport vehicle equipped with self cleaning function - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the adhesion of dusts in the transport and handling by providing an air cleaning unit for feeding the clean air into the body covered by a hood and operating the air cleaning unit when the hood is opened by a prescribed angle. CONSTITUTION:The air which is cleaned by a cleaning unit 18 is supplied into the body 12 of an unmanned transport vehicle M through an aeration part 11A, and the inside of the body 12 is filled with the air. When the unmanned transport vehicle M stops at a prescribed station, a hood 14 is opened upwardly by the operation of a shifting robot 6. When the rod of a hood opening degree fixing and releasing mechanism extends to a full extent, and a switch sends out a detection signal, the revolution speed of a blower 19 in the cleaning unit 18 increases. At the same time, the opening of the hood 14 is detected, and a motor-driven fan 22 of an air curtain unit 21 is revolved, and air is blown up along a side wall 10, and an air curtain is formed, and the intrusion of the outside air into the body 12 is cut off.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a transport vehicle with a self-cleaning function suitable for transporting objects that do not like dust or the like.

[Conventional technology]

Products such as semiconductors used to be manufactured entirely in clean rooms to prevent the adhesion of dust, etc., but in recent years there has been a trend to establish clean rooms for each process, and in this case, intermediate products are manufactured one after another in a clean room. A transport vehicle is required to transport the product to the clean room for the next process. Transport vehicles are also required to transfer intermediate products from device to device within each process.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Automated guided vehicles are sometimes used as this type of guided vehicle, but conventionally, in order to prevent dust from adhering to intermediate products or products, it has been difficult to prevent the transported objects from being transported, such as semiconductor wafers (hereinafter simply referred to as , wafers), each cassette containing wafers is stored in a case for transport, which poses the problem of long transport time, which affects productivity. , transportation space and transfer (
Handling) Since the air cleanliness of the space must also be increased to the required level, there is a problem in that the cost for this is high.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problem, and is a conveyor with a self-cleaning function that prevents the adhesion of dust etc. during conveyance and handling even when conveyed objects are directly put in and taken out. The purpose is to provide cars.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a conveyance system comprising a main body covered with a hood, a switch that detects when the opening degree of the hood reaches a predetermined opening degree, and an air purification unit that supplies purified air into the inside of the main body. The box is mounted on a transport vehicle, and when the hood is opened to a predetermined angle, the air purification unit starts operating using the output of the switch as an operation command.

[Effect]

In the present invention, since the transport box has an air purification unit, if this air purification unit is operated during transport or handling to supply clean air into the transport box, the external air can be removed from the transport box. Since intrusion into the inside of the transport box is prevented, the inside of the transport hook can be filled with clean air at all times, and dust and the like can be prevented from adhering to the transported object.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In Figures 1 to 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a trolley of an automatic guided vehicle M that uses a storage battery as a driving power source, and under the floor there are drive wheels and their drive mechanism, a guide line sensor, a mark sensor, etc. (not shown). The storage battery, travel control device, operation programmer device, etc. are stored inside, and the ceiling is a horizontal platform 5.
covered with. On the front part 5A of the horizontal base 5 of the trolley 1, there are 5
A transfer robot 6 with a degree of freedom is mounted, and a transfer box 7 is placed and fixed on the rear side of the front section 5A.

This transport box 7 includes a main body 12 having a bottom wall 8, front and rear side walls 9, 10 when the traveling direction of the automatic guided vehicle M is the front and back direction, and a back wall 11 formed with a ventilation section fla. It consists of a hood 14 for covering the opening (object transfer port) 13.

This hood 14 has a cross-sectional shape of the opening 1 of the side wall 9.
It has a lid part 15 shaped along the 3 side edges, and a cover part 16 which is bent from the rear side edge of the lid part 5 and covers the side wall 10 of the main body 12, and the front side edge includes: A band-shaped edge 17 covering the edge of the side wall 9 is bent and hingedly supported on the back wall 11. An air purification unit (clean unit) 18 is attached to the outside of the back wall 11 of the main body 12.

This clean unit 18 includes a blower 19 and a filter 20.
Built-in. Further, an air curtain unit 21 is attached to the outer surface of the side wall 9 with its air outlet facing upward. 22 is an electric fan of the air curtain unit 21. As shown in FIG. 4(a), the hood 14 (
(Figure 4(b) shows the state between the hoods), and is connected to the clean unit 18 (or main body 12) by a hood opening fixing/releasing mechanism (for example, one-touch stay) 23, and this hood opening fixing/releasing mechanism 23 (for example, one-touch stay) The release mechanism 23 is the cylinder 2
3A and a loft 23B, one end of the cylinder 23A is rotatably connected to the hood 14, and the loft 23Bi is rotatably connected to the clean unit 18. Further, at the upper end of the inner surface of the side wall 9 on the rear side of the main body 12, as shown in FIGS. 5(a) and (b), a switch (for example, a U-shaped photoelectric switch) 2
A driver (dog) 25 for driving the switch 24 is attached to the lid 15 of the boot 14, and the detection signal sent out by this switch 24 is transmitted to the relay shown in FIG. It is used as a command signal to energize Ry. RYI, RY2, and RY3 are contacts of relay Ry. Furthermore, a hook 26 for engaging a robot arm for opening and closing is attached to the upper surface of the hood r4. Note that the contact Ryl of the relay Ry performs an operation of switching between the power source Eo and the power source EL (<EM), and the contact RY2 performs an operation of switching between the power source Et and zero potential. The contact Ry3 is provided to notify the transfer robot 6 of the open/closed state of the hood 14. Note that the power sources EM and EL are taken out from a storage battery mounted on the trolley 1. D is a diode.

The main body I stores therein a table 27 on which a wafer cassette C (FIG. 7) is placed.
7 is supported at its end on the back wall 11 side by a hinge mechanism on the back wall 11, and its opposite end is supported by an electric cylinder 28.

Next, the operation of this device will be explained.

It is now assumed that the automatic guided vehicle M has transferred the wafer cassette C containing the wafers W onto the table 27 at a station of a certain process, and is traveling toward the station of the next process to stop.

At this time, the main body 12 of the transport box 7 is covered with a hood 14, and the contacts RYI, RY2, and RY of the relay Ry are
3 is in the state shown in FIG. 6, air purified by the filter 2o of the clean unit 18 is supplied into the main body 12 through the ventilation portion 11a, and the inside of the main body 12 is filled with clean air.

During this time, the electric fan 22 of the air curtain unit 21 is stopped.

Furthermore, the wafer cassette C is placed on the table 27 not in the posture shown in FIG. 7, but in a horizontal position in the direction of the arrow. Therefore, there is a possibility that the wafer W may fall out of the wafer cassette C, and the wafer W fits more snugly into the groove CI in the wafer cassette C when the wafer cassette C is in a slightly inclined position than when the wafer cassette C is in a horizontal position. During the traveling, the electric cylinder 28 is operated to tilt the table 27 by a predetermined angle as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 1.

When the automatic guided vehicle M travels to the station for the next process and stops, the playback type transfer robot 6 starts the previously taught operation in response to a command from the operation programmer device, and the hook 16 is activated. Hook and open the hood 14 upwards as shown in FIG. When the hood 14 opens upward by a predetermined angle θ (the opening angle at which the robot arm that has entered the main body 12 can operate), the rod 21 of the hood opening fixing/releasing mechanism 21 is fully extended, and the rod 21B is fixed. At the same time, switch 22 sends out a detection signal.

This energizes relay Ry, so its contact R
YI switches to the power source EM side, and at the same time, contact RY2 switches to the power source EL side, and the rotation speed of the blower 19 increases.
The amount of clean air supplied into the main body 12 increases. Furthermore, the contact RY3 is turned on, and the control circuit (not shown) of the transfer robot 6 detects that the hood 14 is opened.
A forward movement command is output to the electric cylinder 28. The rod of the electric cylinder 28 is extended and the table 27 returns to the horizontal position. As a result, clean air is strongly blown out from the inside of the main body 12 toward the opening 13, so that external air is prevented from entering into the inside of the main body 12 from the opening 13. At the same time, the electric fan 2 of the air curtain unit 21
2 begins to rotate and blows air upward along the side wall 10, creating an air curtain that covers the opening (robot arm insertion/removal port) 13A created between the open hood 14 and the front side wall 10. , to block entry of external air into the main body 12.

Thereafter, the transfer robot 6 moves its arm into the main body 12 through the opening 13A, takes out the wafer cassette C from the table 27 through the opening 13, and starts transferring it to a predetermined position in the station.

As described above, in this embodiment, since clean air is supplied from the clean unit 18 into the main body work 2 during transportation, dust, etc. enters into the main body 12 and is not transferred to the wafer W. Prevent adhesion.

Also, when the hood 14 is opened, the clean unit 1
The amount of clean air supplied into the main body 12 from the opening of the main body 12 increases, and the clean air is strongly blown out from the opening of the main body 12.
Since the opening 13A between the main body 12 and the side wall 10 is shielded by an air curtain, dust and the like are prevented from entering the main body 12 during transfer of the transported object.

Further, in this embodiment, since the table 27 is tiltable, when the object to be transported is a cassette wafer C containing wafers W, it is possible to prevent the wafers W from being damaged.

In the above embodiment, the volume of clean air sent out by the clean unit 18 is changed between transport and transfer, but of course the volume may be constant at all times.

Further, in this embodiment, clean air is supplied into the main body 12 even during transport, but the transport box 7 may have an airtight structure where the space between the hood 14 and the main body 12 is sealed, or If the transported object does not require low air cleanliness, the supply of clean air may be stopped during transport, and clean air may be supplied only during transfer when the hood 14 is opened.

Furthermore, although this embodiment is explained using an automatic guided vehicle as an example, if the guided vehicle is a hand-driven guided vehicle, a power cord for obtaining power sources Rh and El may be provided at the station. .

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the hood 14 is opened and closed by the transfer robot 6, but a hood opening/closing drive mechanism that is controlled from the truck l side may be provided.

Further, when the transported object is to be taken in and taken out manually, it can be done through the opening 13, so the edge 17 of the hood 14 may be made large enough to cover the entire side wall 9, and the air curtain unit 21 may be omitted.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the present invention, since the carrying box to be mounted has an air purifying unit, the inside of the box can be filled with purified air by operating this air purifying unit during carrying or handling. Even if the transported object is taken in and out directly and transported/handled, it is possible to prevent dust from adhering to the transported object, reducing the time required for transporting and handling compared to conventional methods. In addition, since the air cleanliness of the transport space and handling space does not need to be low, the cost for securing these spaces can be saved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention with some components omitted; Fig. 2 is a side view of the above embodiment with some parts omitted;
The figure is a rear view of the above embodiment with some parts omitted, Fig. 4 (al and ridges) is a diagram showing the closed and open states of the hood of the above embodiment, respectively, and Figs. 5 (a) and (b) are A diagram showing a switch when the hood is closed and a switch when the hood is open in the above embodiment, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an electric circuit in the above embodiment, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a wafer and a wafer cassette as objects to be transported. It is a diagram. 1.-Transportation vehicle trolley, 7.-Transportation box, 12 main body, 13.13 A-opening, 14-hood, 18-air purification unit, 21-air curtain unit, 24.
-Switch, 25-...Dog.

Claims (6)

[Claims] (1) A main body covered with a hood, a switch that detects when the opening degree of the hood reaches a predetermined opening degree, and a transport box equipped with an air purification unit that supplies purified air to the inside of the main body, A conveyance vehicle with a self-cleaning function, wherein the air purification unit starts a clean air supply operation using the output of the switch as an operation command. (2) The transport box is covered with a hood, but has an opening different from the transported object transfer port, and includes an air curtain unit that forms an air curtain covering the opening, and the air curtain unit has an output of a switch. 2. The self-cleaning conveyance vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the self-cleaning vehicle is operated by using an operation command as follows. (3) The air purification unit is capable of switching the strength of the clean air supply flow rate, and upon receiving an operation command from the switch, automatically switches the clean air supply flow rate to "strong". Transport vehicle with self-cleaning function. (4) Claim characterized in that the main body houses a tiltable table and a cylinder device for tilting the table, and the table assumes a tilted posture at a predetermined angle in response to the closing operation of the hood. The transport vehicle with a self-cleaning function according to 1, 2 or 3. (5) The guided vehicle with a self-cleaning function according to claim 1, 2, 3, or 4, wherein the guided vehicle is an automatic guided vehicle. (6) The carrier with a self-cleaning function according to claim 1, 2, 3, or 4, wherein the carrier is a hand-push carrier and has a power cord.