JP2000033540A - Production system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a production system capable of resuming production easily even if a part of a line stops. SOLUTION: This production system is provided with conveyance lines 10, 11 for conveying a workpiece, machining devices 2, 7 arranged on sides of the conveyance lines 10, 11, buffer devices 4, 9 arranged so as to oppose across the machining devices 2, 7 and the conveyance lines 10, 11, and transfer robots 3, 8 which are arranged between the machining devices 2, 7 and the buffer devices 4, 9 and can transfer a workpiece to the machining devices 2, 7 and the buffer devices 4, 9.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a production system for sequentially processing a workpiece by a processing apparatus while transporting a work on a transport line, and more particularly to a production system for performing a predetermined processing on a glass substrate used in a liquid crystal display device. Things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a production line in which a workpiece is transported by a transport line while processing is performed by a processing device arranged along the transport line. In such a production line, a buffer device is generally arranged so that when a processing device in an intermediate step is stopped, a processing process in a preceding step is not hindered.

[0003] Conventionally, each processing device and the buffer device are connected in series along a transport line.
For example, in a production line for processing a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device, when a spinner for applying a resist after ultraviolet irradiation is arranged, the buffer device is arranged after the ultraviolet irradiation device. If there is no buffer, if the post-processing device stops, the ultraviolet irradiation device is also connected in series, so the work is connected in a daisy chain and the conveyance by the ultraviolet irradiation device also stops, and The work stays. Therefore, when the post-process is stopped due to a failure or the like, the work in the ultraviolet irradiation device is stored in the buffer device to prevent the work from becoming defective.

Here, an example of a conventional production line will be described with reference to FIG. In the production line illustrated in FIG. 2, when a downstream process device after the ultraviolet cleaning device 102 stops, the work is stored in the buffer device 104 by the robot 103. If there is no buffer device, the work cannot be carried out to the downstream process.
02, stays in the room, and is exposed to excessive UV rays.
It will be bad. The buffer device 104 is provided for this purpose. When the downstream process is stopped, the loading of the work into the cleaning device 101 is prohibited at the same time.
1. Buffer 1 for all the workpieces in the ultraviolet cleaning device 102
04. As a result, the ultraviolet cleaning device 10
Even if the second and subsequent devices are stopped, the work is stored without becoming defective.

[0005]

However, even when the work is retracted to the buffer device 104 as described above,
The effect of the ultraviolet irradiation gradually weakens when left for a long time after the irradiation, and may be defective in the next coating step. For this reason, when a certain period of time has elapsed after storage in the buffer device 104, the work is taken out from the buffer device 104,
There is a problem that it is necessary to manually reload the cleaning device 101 from the cleaning device 101, which is troublesome.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a production system capable of easily restarting production even when a part of a line is stopped. is there.

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems The above-mentioned problems are solved,
In order to achieve the object, a production system according to the present invention includes a transfer line for transferring a workpiece, a processing device arranged beside the transfer line, and a processing device and the processing device, which face each other across the transfer line. And a transfer device that is disposed between the processing device and the buffer device and that can transfer the work to the processing device and the buffer device.

Further, in the production system according to the present invention, the transport line is configured by a transport conveyor that places and transports the work. Further, in the production system according to the present invention, the transfer means is constituted by a robot. Further, in the production system according to the present invention, the processing device is an ultraviolet irradiation device.

Further, in the production system according to the present invention, the processing device is a temperature furnace. In the production system according to the present invention,
The work is cooled in the buffer device. Further, in the production system according to the present invention, the work is a glass substrate.

[0010] In the production system according to the present invention, the glass substrate is a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to processing of a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system for processing a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device according to an embodiment.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a cleaning apparatus, which continuously performs a cleaning process on a glass substrate as a workpiece one by one from a previous process. A conveyor 10 for transporting a work is connected to an outlet of the cleaning device 1. A robot 3 for transferring a workpiece is disposed above the center of the conveyor 10.
The robot 3 has a hand (not shown) for transferring a work. The robot 3 can be a robot having two hands.

An ultraviolet irradiation device 2 is disposed in a direction perpendicular to the flow direction of the work. The ultraviolet irradiation devices 2 are formed in multiple stages in the vertical direction according to the processing time of the ultraviolet irradiation. A buffer device 4 is provided on the opposite side of the conveyor 10 from the ultraviolet irradiation device 2. A shelf (not shown) for storing a work is arranged in the buffer device 4. This shelf utilizes a cassette for storing works. The buffer device 4 can accommodate all the works in the cleaning device 1 and the ultraviolet irradiation device 2.

Further, downstream of the production line, a coating device 5 for coating a resist on a glass substrate as a work, and an end face processing device 6 are arranged. A conveyor 11 for transporting the work is connected to the outlet of the end face processing device 6. A robot 8 for transferring a work is disposed above a central portion of the conveyor 11, and the robot 8 includes a hand (not shown) for transferring a work.

A baking device 7 for drying the resist is arranged in a direction perpendicular to the flow direction of the work. The baking devices 7 are formed in multiple stages in the vertical direction according to the baking time. A buffer device 9 is provided on the opposite side of the baking device 7 with respect to the conveyor 11. In the buffer device 9, a shelf (not shown) for storing a work is arranged. This shelf utilizes a cassette for storing works. The buffer device 9 is provided with a cooling device (fan unit with a filter) (not shown) so that the work can be cooled.

The buffer device 9 can store all of the number of works in the coating device 5 and the end face processing device 6, the number of works in the baking device 7, and the number of works remaining in the buffer 9 for cooling. . Next, the operation of the production system configured as described above will be described. The work is transported to the cleaning device 1 sequentially from the previous process. Usually,
The work discharged from the cleaning device 1 is transferred to the ultraviolet irradiation device 2 by the robot 3.

If the time required for the transfer is longer than the ultraviolet ray processing time, the robot 3 transports the work to the ultraviolet ray irradiating apparatus 2 and waits until the processing is completed. Take out the work. on the other hand,
If the ultraviolet treatment time is longer than the transfer time of the robot 3, the robot 3 carries the first work into the ultraviolet irradiation device 2, and then waits for the end of the processing of the first work to process the next work. The operation for carrying into the ultraviolet irradiation device 2 is started.

When the cycle time of the robot 3 is long, the time can be reduced by adopting a configuration having two hands. As described above, the operation of the robot 3 can be performed in various patterns. The workpiece after the ultraviolet treatment is returned to the conveyor 10 by the robot 3 again, and is conveyed to the coating apparatus 5 in the next step. Thereafter, the same processing is sequentially performed, and the robot 8 performs the same operation as the robot 3.

Next, the operation at the time of trouble in the post-process will be described. When sequentially processed, for example, the coating device 5
Is stopped, a system (not shown) that immediately monitors the entire line issues a command to prohibit the loading of a work into the cleaning device 1 to a device in a previous process of the cleaning device 1. Work does not flow from the process.

Since there are still workpieces in the cleaning device 1 and the ultraviolet irradiation device 2, they are processed as usual. That is, first, the work that has been processed by the ultraviolet irradiation device 2 is stored in the buffer device 4 by the transfer robot 3.
As a result, a processing portion for one sheet is formed in the ultraviolet irradiation device 2, and the work from the cleaning device 1 is put in the robot irradiation device 3 here. When the work that has been subjected to the ultraviolet irradiation processing is completed again, the work is stored in the buffer device 4 by the robot 3.

That is, even if the coating device 5 is stopped, the work is sequentially processed without stopping the ultraviolet irradiation device 2, and the processed work is stored in the buffer device 4. Since the work is not transferred to the cleaning device 1 from the previous process, if the work existing in the cleaning device 1 and the ultraviolet irradiation device 2 is processed after all, there is no work to be processed. The work that has been subjected to the ultraviolet treatment is stored in the buffer device 4.

There are two cases in the subsequent operation depending on the time until the stop of the coating device 5 is released. One of them is a case where the time until the stop of the application device 5 is released is shorter than the effect duration time of the ultraviolet irradiation. In this case, if the stop of the coating device 5 is released, the robot 3 takes out the work from the buffer device 4 and sends it to the coating device 5 as it is. Then, when the robot 3 sends the last work stored in the buffer device 4 to the coating device 5, the feeding of the work from the previous process is restarted at such a timing that the work from the previous process reaches the outlet of the cleaning device 1. You.

Another case is a case where the time until the stop of the application device 5 is released is longer than the effect duration of the ultraviolet irradiation. In this case, when the stop of the application device 5 is released, the robot 3 takes out the work from the buffer device 4 and transfers the work to the ultraviolet irradiation device 2. When the processing is completed by the ultraviolet irradiation device 2, the work is transported to the coating device 5. In this way, the workpieces stored in the buffer 4 are sequentially taken out and sent to the ultraviolet irradiation device 2. The operation of the robot 3 at this time can be various operations as in the case where the work is sent from the cleaning device 1 to the ultraviolet irradiation device 2 at the normal time. Then, when the last work stored in the buffer 4 is sent from the ultraviolet irradiation device 2 to the coating device 5, the input of the work from the previous process is restarted at a timing such that the work from the previous process reaches the outlet of the cleaning device 1. Is done.

Next, a case of a work that does not require ultraviolet irradiation will be described. Some types of work do not require ultraviolet irradiation. In that case, the work coming out of the cleaning device 1 is sent to the coating device 5 as it is. When the application device 5 stops due to a failure or the like, the work is stored in the buffer device 4 by the robot 3. The operation in that case is the same as the above-described operation in which the robot 3 does not transport the work to the ultraviolet irradiation device 2 when using the ultraviolet irradiation device 2 described above.

Next, the work is conveyed to the baking device 7 by the conveyor 11 and the robot 8. After being processed by the baking device 7 for a certain period of time, the work is transferred to the buffer device 9 by the robot 8. The work is left in the buffer device 9 for a certain period of time, cooled, and then transferred to a subsequent process by the robot 8. When the apparatus in the post-process shown in FIG. 1 is stopped, the transfer to the post-process by the robot 8 is stopped, and the robot 8 continues only the transfer from the baking device 7 to the buffer device 9. At this time, a system (not shown) that monitors the entire line instructs the robot 3 to prohibit charging the coating apparatus 5 and the robot 3 performs the above-described operation when the post-process is stopped.

When the stop of the post-process is released, the robot 8 takes out the work from the buffer device 9 and transports the work to the post-process. As described above, according to the present embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. (1) When the post-processing apparatus is stopped, even if the work is stored in the buffer and a certain period of time or more has passed and the UV irradiation becomes ineffective, the work is easily returned to the UV irradiation apparatus. Can be put in. (2) The baking device can be in-lined simply by stacking hot plates having a substrate elevating mechanism in multiple stages without providing a transfer mechanism for in-line transfer, and all transfer (pre-process → Bake, bake → cooling,
(Cooling → post-process) can be performed, so that the cost of the transport mechanism is reduced. (3) A cooling device is required after the hot plate, that is, the baking device. In this case, in the conventional method, the hot plate and the cold plate for cooling are arranged in a straight line,
Since the apparatus is transported by one drive mechanism, the apparatuses are arranged in series and the line becomes longer. However, in the present embodiment, the cooling apparatus and the buffer can be used, and the line becomes shorter. (3) There is the same effect as providing a buffer before and after the baking device.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In the case where the line is stopped due to buffering due to a trouble in a post-process device, there is no need to manually input the buffered work back to the previous process when operating the line after recovery from the trouble.

Further, one buffer can be used as a buffer before and after the processing apparatus. In the case of a product that does not perform the processing, the product can be transferred to a subsequent process without using the transfer means of the processing apparatus.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cleaning device 2 Ultraviolet irradiation device 3 Work transfer robot 4 Buffer device 7 Bake device 8 Work transfer robot 9 Buffer device

Claims (8)

[Claims] A transport line for transporting a workpiece, a processing device disposed beside the transport line, a buffer device disposed to face the processing device with the transport line interposed therebetween, A production system, comprising: a transfer unit that is disposed between a processing device and a buffer device and that can transfer the work to the processing device and the buffer device. 2. The production system according to claim 1, wherein the transfer line includes a transfer conveyor that mounts and transfers the work. 3. The production system according to claim 1, wherein said transfer means comprises a robot. 4. The production system according to claim 1, wherein the processing device is an ultraviolet irradiation device. 5. The production system according to claim 1, wherein the processing device is a temperature furnace. 6. The production system according to claim 5, wherein said work is cooled in said buffer device. 7. The production system according to claim 1, wherein the work is a glass substrate. 8. The production system according to claim 7, wherein the glass substrate is a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display.