JP2000006016A - Grinder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a grinder which can detect the holding of a work securely, and can convey the work securely. SOLUTION: Robots 15 and 16 which carry in a work 1 from a unprocessed work storage device 22 to a carrier table 14 at the unload position P1, and carry out the processed work 11 to a processed work storage device 23, are provided. The robots 15 and 16 are provided with robot hand to lift up the work 11, and a vacuum sensor to confirm the holding of the work 11 in the robot hand lifting up condition after a vacuum absorption operation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a grinding machine for grinding a wafer-like work cut with a wire saw, for example.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional grinding machine of this type, a carry-in robot and a carry-out robot are provided corresponding to a carrier table of a main body of the grinder. Then, the works accommodated in the cassette of the unprocessed work storage device are taken out one by one by the robot hand of the carry-in robot, and carried into the carrier table of the grinding machine main body. Also, after the work is ground by the grinder body,
The work is taken out from the carrier table by the robot hand of the unloading robot and stored in the cassette of the processed work storage device.

[0003] A vacuum pad is provided on the robot hand, and the vacuum pad is connected to a vacuum pump. The vacuum pad of the loading or unloading robot vacuum-adsorbs the workpiece one by one and loads or unloads the workpiece. Then, when the robot hand comes into contact with the work, it is checked whether or not the work is vacuum-sucked.

[0004]

However, in a conventional grinding machine, if moisture or the like adheres to the back side of the work, the work may come into close contact with the carrier table and cannot lift the work. In this case, since the suction of the work is confirmed when the robot hand comes into contact with the robot hand, the work that cannot be lifted cannot be reliably confirmed. Therefore, there is a possibility that the work cannot be transported reliably.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to reliably transfer a workpiece by confirming the holding of the workpiece while the robot hand 27 is lifted to a predetermined position. It is to provide a grinding machine which can be used.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a work stored in an unprocessed work storage device is loaded into a carrier table at a work loading / unloading position of a grinding machine main body, and the processed work is processed. The robot has a robot hand for lifting the work, and a work detecting means for confirming the holding of the work with the robot hand raised to a predetermined position.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the grinding machine according to the first aspect, the robot loads the work stored in the unprocessed work storage device into a carrier table at a work loading / unloading position of the grinding machine body. And a carry-out robot that carries out the processed work to the processed work storage device.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the grinding machine according to the first or second aspect, the work detecting means is arranged to face the work.

[0009]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although the embodiments described below are preferred specific examples of the present invention, various technically preferable limitations are given thereto. However, the present invention is described in the following description to particularly limit the present invention. It is not limited to these embodiments unless there is.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the grinding machine includes a grinding machine main body 12 for grinding a surface to be processed of a wafer-like work 11. The grinding machine main body 12 is equipped with a mechanism section 13 for bringing a grindstone (not shown) into contact with the surface to be processed of the work 11 for grinding, and a carrier table 14 for moving the work 11 into the mechanism section 13. A carry-in robot 15 and a carry-out robot 16 are provided on both front sides of the grinding machine body 12. The unloading robot 16
A control panel 20 for controlling the entire grinding machine is provided at the rear. Various operations of the entire grinding machine are executed according to a program pre-installed in the control board 20.

[0011] As shown in FIG.
A robot body 40, an upper cylindrical body 41, a first arm 42,
It comprises the second arm 43 and the robot hand 27. The robot body 40 has a cylindrical shape, and its upper part is covered by an upper cylindrical body 41. The upper cylindrical body 41 is coaxial with the robot main body 40 and is movable vertically. One end of a first arm 42 is pivotally mounted on the upper surface of the upper cylindrical body 41,
The first arm 42 is rotatable in a horizontal plane about a position at which the first arm 42 is attached. One end of a second arm 43 is pivotally attached to the other end of the first arm 42, and the second arm 43 is rotatable in a horizontal plane about the pivoted position. Further, the robot hand 27 is mounted on the other end of the second arm 43. The robot hand 27 is rotatable in a horizontal plane about a position at which the robot hand 27 is attached. With this configuration, the robot hand 27 can turn 360 ° in a horizontal plane and can also move in the vertical direction. The unloading robot 16
Has the same configuration as the carry-in robot 15, the carry-out robot 16 is assigned the same reference numeral as the carry-in robot 15, and the description is omitted.

The work loading / unloading position (unloading position P
The loading robot 1 together with the carrier table 14 of 1)
In order to be located on the operation locus of the robot hand 27 of FIG.
A washing machine 19 and work storage devices 22 and 23 are provided. Then, the robot hand 27 of the loading robot 15
Takes out the work 11 stored in the work cassette 24 of the unprocessed work storage device 22 and transports the work 11 to the carrier table 14 waiting at the unload position P1 via the angle aligner 17. On the other hand, the unloading robot 16
The robot hand 27 takes out the work 11 from the carrier table 14 waiting at the unload position P1 after finishing the grinding, and transports the work 11 to the work cassette 24 of the processed work storage device 23 via the washing machine 19.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a stepped catching portion 29 is formed at each end of the robot hand 27. Three vacuum pads 31 are attached to each of the upper and lower surfaces of the catch portion 29. The vacuum pad 31 on the upper surface and the vacuum pad 31 on the lower surface are connected to air pipes 34a and 34b of different systems, respectively.
The work 11 is connected to a vacuum pump (not shown) via an electromagnetic valve 36 so that the work 11 can be sucked.

Therefore, the suction operation of the upper vacuum pad 31 and the lower vacuum pad 31 can be switched by the solenoid valve 36. When the upper vacuum pad 31 is sucked, the lower vacuum pad 31 is sucked. Not configured. On the other hand, when the vacuum pad 31 on the lower surface is sucked, the vacuum pad 31 on the upper surface is not sucked. One of those having such a configuration is used as the loading robot 15 and the other is used as the unloading robot 16.
It is needless to say that each of the loading robot 15 and the unloading robot 16 may be changed to a dedicated configuration.

A through hole 32 is formed in the catching portion 29, and a work detection sensor 33 disposed in the through hole 32 is used by the robot hand 27 so that the robot hand 27 detects the work 11 in the work cassette 24 of the unprocessed work storage device 22. When I went to get
It is detected whether or not the work 11 exists in 5. When the robot hand 27 is raised to a predetermined position after the suction operation of the work 11 is performed by the upper and lower vacuum pads 31, a vacuum sensor as a work detection means provided on the path of the air pipes 34a and 34b. The detection signal is output from the control panel 20 to the control panel 20 so that the work 1
1 is confirmed.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, each of the work storage devices 22 and 23 is provided with a work cassette 24, and a shelf 25 for accommodating the work 11 is provided in the work cassette 24. I have. A notch 26 is formed on the shelf board 25 from the front side to the rear side, and the notch 26 allows the robot hands 2 of the robots 15 and 16 to move.
7 is avoided.

As shown in FIG.
Is adjusted such that the notch 11a of the work 11 comes to a predetermined position. That is, in the angle adjusting device 17, the rotation of the work 11 is adjusted with reference to the notch 11a on the work 11. When the work 11 is conveyed to the carrier table 14 by the rotation adjustment, the engagement protrusion 14a of the carrier table 14 and the notch 11a of the work 11 are engaged, and the work 11 is set on the carrier table 14. Further, the washing machine 19 cleans dirt such as grinding powder adhered to the work 11 which has been processed by the grinding machine body 12.

Next, the operation of the grinding machine configured as described above will be described. Loading and unloading robots 15, 16
FIG. 2 shows the initial standby position of the carrier table 14. That is, when the robot hand 27 is extended, the carry-in robot 15 is in a state where the catching unit 29 can immediately take out the unprocessed work 11 in the work cassette 24 in the unprocessed work storage device 22. At this time, the catching part 29 of the robot hand 27 is close to the work cassette 24. In addition, when the robot hand 27 is extended, the unloading robot 16 is in a state where the catching unit 29 can immediately take out the processed workpiece 11 on the carrier table 14. At this time, the catching unit 29 of the robot hand 27 is close to the carrier table 14.

When the operation of the grinding machine is started, the robot hand 27 of the loading robot 15 is extended, and the work 1 in the work cassette 24 in the unprocessed work storage device 22 is moved.
1 is adsorbed. In this case, the robot hand 27 moves the upper shelf 2 from the lowermost shelf 25 in the work cassette 24.
The workpiece 11 is taken out in such a manner as to proceed to step 5. Each shelf 25 stores an address in a memory (not shown) provided in the control panel 20, and this address is stored in the shelf 2 in the work cassette 24 in the processed work storage device 23.
Corresponds to address 5. And the processed work 1
1 is stored in the shelf 25 corresponding to the shelf 25 of the work cassette 24 in the raw work storage device 22.

The removal of the work 11 from the work cassette 24 in the raw work storage device 22 is performed by a
Are arranged below the work 11, and the upper vacuum pad 31 is brought into contact with the work 11 to perform vacuum suction.
When the catching portion 29 is disposed below the work 11, the work detection sensor 33 determines whether or not the work 11 is present on the shelf 25 at the address where the takeout is intended.

If the work 11 does not exist, the removal is stopped, the address of the shelf 25 is stored in the memory of the control panel 20, and the next work 11 is taken. On the other hand, when the work 11 exists on the desired shelf board 25,
After the work 11 is vacuum-sucked by the robot hand 27, the robot hand 27 is moved to a predetermined position (preferably 1 to 5 mm above the position where the work 11 is sucked).
After being lifted, the vacuum sensor 35 performs an operation of confirming the suction and holding of the work 11. The reason why the holding of the work 11 by suction is confirmed after the robot hand 27 is lifted is to surely and smoothly transfer the work 11 to the next process.

If the suction holding of the work 11 is not confirmed, the vacuum suction is performed again. If the workpiece 11 is not sucked after the vacuum suction has been performed 10 times, an alarm is issued and the grinding machine is automatically stopped. At this time, the address of the shelf 25 corresponding to the work 11 in which the suction error has occurred is stored as a history in the memory of the control panel 20. Then, the work 11 that has not been sucked is removed from the work cassette 24 by the operator. Thereafter, when the grinding machine is restarted by the operator, the robot hand 27
Goes for the work 11 corresponding to the address next to the address stored due to the suction error.

On the other hand, when it is confirmed that the work 11 is held by suction, the work 11 is conveyed to the angle adjuster 17 and is aligned by the angle adjuster 17. After that, the robot table is carried to the carrier table 14 at the unload position P1 by the robot hand 27, and the carrier table 14
Set in. When the work 11 is set, the carrier table 14 is moved to the grinding position P2, and the work 11 is ground. When the grinding is completed, the work 11 is returned to the unload position P1 by moving the carrier table 14 again. Then, the unloading robot 16 processes the processed work 1 in the carrier table 14.
1 is taken out.

When the work 11 is taken out by the unloading robot 16, the robot hand 27 is placed on the carrier table 14.
Is extended so that the catching portion 29 is disposed above the work 11, the lower vacuum pad 31 is brought into contact with the work 11, and vacuum suction is performed. Thereafter, the robot hand 27 is lifted to a predetermined position (preferably 5 to 20 mm above the position where the work 11 is sucked), and the vacuum sensor 35 confirms the holding of the work 11. After the robot hand 27 is lifted, it is confirmed that the work 11 is held by suction after grinding dust or coolant adheres to the back surface of the work 11 and becomes a load. This is because it is assumed that the user cannot lift the robot 11.

If the work 11 is not confirmed,
Perform vacuum suction again. If the workpiece 11 is not sucked after the vacuum suction has been performed 10 times, an alarm is issued and the grinding machine is automatically stopped. At this time, the address of the shelf 25 corresponding to the work 11 in which the suction error has occurred is stored as a history in the memory of the control panel 20. Then, the work 11 that has not been sucked is removed from the inside of the carrier table 14 by the operator. Thereafter, the grinding machine is restarted by the operator.

On the other hand, when the work 11 is confirmed in a state where the robot hand 27 is lifted on the carrier table 14, the work 11 is transported to the washing machine 19, where grinding dust and the like are removed. Washed. Thereafter, the workpiece is transferred to the work cassette 24 in the processed work storage device 23 by the robot hand 27, and the work cassette 2
4 is stored. The storage of the work 11 here is such that the shelf at the blank address becomes blank as it is,
The address is stored on the shelf at the address corresponding to the address actually stored.

Further, loading or unloading robots 15, 16
When the power is restored after a power failure while the workpiece 11 is being transported, the vacuum sensor 35 checks whether or not the current vacuum suction state is ON. , The operation immediately before the power failure occurs.

Next, effects that can be found from this embodiment will be described below. As the timing for confirming the holding of the processed work 11 on the carrier table 14, the holding of the work 11 is confirmed after the robot hand 27 has been raised to a predetermined position. For this reason, the work 11 that has not been lifted can be reliably confirmed, so that the work 11 can be reliably transported.

Since the unprocessed work is sucked and held by the robot hand 27 and lifted, the work 11 can be reliably transported to the next step.・ Work cassette 2 in raw work storage device 22
4, the address of each shelf 25 and the processed work storage device 23
Corresponds to the shelf plate 25 of the work cassette 24. Since the shelf 25 of the processed work storage device 23 corresponding to the work 11 having the suction error is left blank, the history remains, and the work 11 can be easily managed.

In the unprocessed work storage device 22, when the robot hand 27 fails to take out the work 11 even though the work 11 is in the work cassette 24, the machine automatically stops and an alarm is issued. 27 can be easily grasped.

The operator removes the workpiece 11 from which the robot hand 27 failed to remove the workpiece 11 by the unprocessed workpiece storage device 22.
When the grinder is removed from the work cassette 24 and the grinding machine is restarted, the shelf board 25 corresponding to the work 11 that has failed to be taken out.
Is blank, and the work 1 on the shelf 25 at the next address
1 is taken out, so the history remains, and work 1
1 can be easily managed.

In the unprocessed work storage device 22, if there is no work 11 even if the work 11 is picked up in the work cassette 24, the machine is stopped and the work 11 at the next address is picked up and processed. Therefore, the operation efficiency of the grinding machine does not decrease.

In the state where the loading or unloading robots 15 and 16 are transporting the work 11, a power failure occurs for some reason, and when the power is restored thereafter, it is determined whether or not the current vacuum suction state is ON. After confirming and confirming that the power is on, the operation immediately before the power failure will be executed.
The working efficiency of the grinding machine does not decrease.

The robot hand 27 of the loading robot 15
Near the unprocessed work storage device 22 and
9 stands by so that the unprocessed work 11 can be immediately picked up. In addition, the robot hand 27 of the unloading robot 16 has a
9 is ready to be ready to pick up the processed workpiece 11. Therefore, the work 11 can be transferred at the shortest distance, so that the cycle time can be reduced, and the processing efficiency can be improved.

The above embodiment can be embodied and configured as follows. The work detection sensor 33 is not arranged on the robot hand 27, but is arranged, for example, on the upper cylindrical body 41 of the robots 15, 16. In this case, the work detection sensor 33 is a laser length measurement sensor.

Instead of lifting the work 11 by vacuum suction, magnetic suction or mechanical clamping may be used.・ Work cassette 2 in raw work storage device 22
When taking out the work 11 in the work 4,
1. Arrange the work 11 on the lower side of the vacuum pad 31 by suction.

The carrier table 14 of the grinding machine body 12
A single robot that loads and unloads the work 11 in accordance with (1). In this case, the robot is arranged between the loading robot 15 and the unloading robot 16. Note that, even when a single robot is used, the upper and lower vacuum pads 31 do not simultaneously perform the suction operation.

Next, technical ideas other than the claims that can be grasped from the embodiment will be described together with their effects.・ Equipped with a robot that can carry in the work stored in the unprocessed work storage device to the unloading position and take out the processed work to the processed work storage device.The robot has a robot hand that lifts the work. A grinding machine in which a robot hand of each robot stands by in advance in a state close to each storage device when taking out a work from the work storage device or storing a work in the processed work storage device.

According to this configuration, the cycle time can be reduced, and the processing efficiency can be improved. A plurality of shelves are provided in a work cassette in the work storage device (unprocessed work storage device 22), and a robot capable of carrying the work stored between the respective shelves to the unload position is provided. A control means (control panel 20) for providing a robot hand for lifting and, when the robot hand fails to take out a work, controlling to accommodate the next work on a shelf other than the shelf corresponding to the failed work. Equipped grinding machine.

According to this configuration, since the shelf corresponding to the work that has failed to be taken out is in a blank state, the work can be easily managed. A robot capable of carrying a plurality of workpieces stored in the workpiece storage device (unprocessed workpiece storage device 22) one by one to a processing position is provided, and when the robot fails to take out a workpiece, the robot transport operation is performed. A control means (control panel 20) for continuing is provided.

According to this configuration, the processing efficiency can be improved.

[0042]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, the following effects can be obtained. Claim 1 or Claim 2
According to the invention described in (1), by confirming the holding of the work with the robot hand raised to the predetermined position, the holding of the work can be reliably confirmed, and the work can be reliably and smoothly conveyed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the holding of the work can be confirmed more accurately.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a grinding machine.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the inside of a grinding machine.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the robot hand.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the robot hand.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a work cassette.

FIG. 6 is a plan sectional view of a work cassette.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a loading and unloading robot.

[Explanation of symbols]

11: Work, 12: Grinding machine body, 14: Carrier table, 15: Loading robot, 16: Unloading robot, 22
... Unprocessed work storage device, 23 ... Processed work storage device, 35 ... Vacuum sensor (work detection means), P1 ... Unload position (Work loading / unloading position)

Continued on the front page F term (reference) 3C034 AA13 AA17 AA19 BB81 BB94 CA30 CB11 CB13 DD20 3F061 AA03 CA01 CB03 CB05 CC01 CC13 DB04 DD03

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A robot which carries a work stored in an unprocessed work storage device into a carrier table at a work loading / unloading position of a grinding machine main body, and carries out the processed work to a processed work storage device. Is a grinding machine provided with a robot hand for lifting a work, and a work detecting means for confirming the holding of the work with the robot hand raised to a predetermined position. 2. The robot according to claim 1, wherein the robot carries the workpiece stored in the unprocessed workpiece storage device into a carrier table at a workpiece loading / unloading position of the grinding machine body, and unloads the processed workpiece into the processed workpiece storage device. The grinding machine according to claim 1, further comprising an unloading robot. 3. The grinding machine according to claim 1, wherein the work detection means is arranged to face the work.