JP2000072252A - Impact type air flow carrying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an impact type air flow carrying device capable of dispensing with an air flow feeding pipeline for a slider, and capable of lessening an air flow loss. SOLUTION: A plurality of air flow blow-out parts 11 directed upward are provided for the whole surface of a table 10, upstand parts 12 are provided for paired side peripheries mutually faced to each other, and air flow blow-out ports 13 directed to the mutually opposite horizontal directions are provided for the upstand parts 12. An air flow feeding source feeding air flow is connected with each air blow-out port 11 directed upward and each air flow blow- out port 13 directed in the horizontal direction, a slider 20 is floated by means of air flow out of the air flow blow-out port 11 directed upward, and the slider in a floating condition is carried/suspended in the horizontal direction by means of air flow out of the air flow blow-out port 13 directed in the horizontal direction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an impact type air flow transfer device for transferring an object to be transported by using an air flow, or a slider on which an object to be transferred is transported as a slider. This impact-type airflow transfer device is suitable for a transfer device for a semiconductor wafer or a transfer device for a glass substrate for liquid crystal in an IC manufacturing process, for example.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, an IC manufacturing process is composed of a plurality of processes. In order to transfer a semiconductor wafer from one process to the next process, means for transporting the semiconductor wafer is required. The transfer of the semiconductor wafer must be performed in a highly clean environment, and is preferably contact-free and static-free from the viewpoint of preventing dust generation. Therefore, an air flow transfer device using nitrogen gas or the like has been receiving attention. BACKGROUND ART An airflow transport device is a device that levitates and transports an object using a controlled airflow, and two types have been proposed.

The first type is as shown in FIG.
The table 40 is provided with a large number of airflow outlets 41 for blowing airflow obliquely, and conveys in the direction of the arrow while floating a slider 42 for mounting an object.

[0004] The second type, as shown in FIG.
A slider 51 for mounting an object is provided with a large number of airflow outlets 52 for blowing airflow obliquely downward, and a table 50 is provided.
It slides up.

[0005]

In the first type described above, the airflow is generated not only in the area where the slider 42 exists but also in the entire surface of the table 40 with the pressure necessary for causing the slider 42 to float and travel. So that the airflow loss is large. In order to locally blow out the airflow only in the region where the slider 42 is present, a switching element for controlling the passage of the airflow on and off is provided for each airflow outlet 41 and the position of the slider 42 is detected. It is necessary to provide a detection means and control the blowing of the airflow according to the position of the slider 42, which complicates the apparatus.

On the other hand, in the above-mentioned second type, the airflow can be blown only at the lower portion of the slider 51,
Requires a pipe for connection to the airflow supply source 53, and the movement is restricted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an impact-type airflow transfer device that does not require an airflow supply pipe for a slider and requires only a small loss of airflow.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a table provided with a large number of upward air flow outlets over the entire surface, and the table is further provided with at least one pair of edges facing each other. Airflow outlets are provided at the rising portions, and airflow outlets are provided in the horizontal direction opposite to each other, and airflow is supplied to the upward airflow outlet and the horizontal airflow outlet, respectively. So that the slider is levitated by the airflow from the upward airflow outlet, and the horizontal slider is transported and stopped by the airflow from the horizontal airflow outlet. Thus, there is provided an impact-type airflow transfer device characterized by the following.

According to the present invention, there is also provided an impact-type airflow transfer device, wherein a plurality of the tables are connected along a transfer path of the slider.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The impact-type airflow transport device according to the present embodiment includes a table 10 provided with a large number of vertically upward airflow outlets 11 over the entire surface. The table 10 has a frame-shaped rising portion 1 around its periphery.
2, and a pair of the rising portions 12 facing each other is provided with airflow outlets 13 in horizontal directions opposite to each other. Although not shown, an airflow supply source for supplying an airflow having a certain pressure is connected to the upward airflow outlet 11 and the horizontal airflow outlet 13.

In this impact-type airflow conveying device, the slider 20 is levitated by the airflow from the airflow outlet 11 upward, and the slider 20 in the floating state is floated by the airflow from the airflow outlet 13 in the horizontal direction. Transport and stop. That is, the flying and transport of the slider 20 are performed by different airflows. In this way, airflow blows out from the entire surface of the table 10 from the upward airflow outlet 11, but since these airflows only need to float the table 20, the first airflow described in FIG.
The flow rate is much lower and the airflow loss is less than the type.

The slider 20 floated by the airflow from the upward airflow outlet 11 receives the impact of the horizontal airflow blown from one rising portion 13 and is pushed and moved in one direction (FIG. 1). ). In this way,
The slider 20 that has been pushed once receives little resistance during movement, and thus slides and moves to the vicinity of the other rising portion 13 as it is. Next, when the slider 20 approaches the other rising portion 13, the airflow in the direction opposite to the traveling direction of the slider 20 is blown out from the other rising portion 13, so that the slider 2 is moved by the impact.
0 decelerates and stops (FIG. 2). Here, the slider 20 can be stopped at an arbitrary position by controlling the air cushion effect by appropriately changing the jet velocity, flow rate, and the like of the airflow as a function of time by a control device (not shown). That is, the control device blows out the airflow from the airflow outlet 13 of the one rising portion 13 and stops the airflow when the slider 20 accelerates and starts sliding,
Subsequently, the airflow is blown out from the airflow blowout port 13 of the other rising portion 13 and the blowout of the airflow is stopped at the timing when the slider 20 is decelerated and stopped.

The slider 20 moves when a load such as a semiconductor wafer is mounted and moves.
In some cases, the object itself is a transferred object. The slider 20
In the case of moving with the transported object mounted thereon, after the transport of the transported object is completed, the slider 20 is returned to the first start line by the operation reverse to that described above.

In any case, the impact type airflow transfer device of this embodiment is for transferring the slider 20 in only one direction. However, when the semiconductor wafer is composed of a plurality of processes such as an IC manufacturing process, it is necessary to transport the semiconductor wafer through a plurality of process chambers. In such a case, the table 10 may be arranged between adjacent process chambers, and a plurality of tables 10 may be connected along the transport path of the slider.

FIG. 3 shows a specific example in which three tables 10 are connected. Hereinafter, a case where the slider 20 itself is a semiconductor wafer will be described. In FIG. 3, process chambers 30-1, 30-2, and 30-3 are arranged at intervals. In this case, a table 10- is provided between the start line and the process chamber 30-1.
1, the process chambers 30-1 and 30-2 are connected by a table 10-2, and the process chamber 30-2
And the table 30-3 may be connected by the table 10-3. Although not shown, well-known handling devices are arranged near the process chambers 30-1 to 30-3, respectively. This handling device
For example, for the process chamber 30-1, after moving on the table 10-1, the slider 20 in the stopped state is grasped and housed in the process chamber 30-1,
After the processing is completed, the processed slider 20 is grasped again and transferred to the start line of the table 10-2.

As can be understood from the above description, in the impact type airflow transfer device according to the present invention, the airflow for flying the slider and the airflow for transferring the slider are separated into two systems. A small amount of airflow for floating the slider is constantly blown out over the entire surface of the table to maintain a frictionless state between the slider and the table. The air flow for transporting the slider slides the slider due to the impact from one of the outlets,
The slider is stopped at an appropriate position by the impact from the other outlet.

[0017]

The impact-type airflow transfer device according to the present invention reduces the airflow loss by dividing the airflow supplied to the table into two systems of floating and conveying, and reducing the blowout of the entire table to only the floating, thereby minimizing the airflow loss. Can be realized. Further, since there is no need to supply airflow to the slider side, there is no need to provide a pipe to the slider, and even a complicated transport path can be handled by connecting a plurality of tables in accordance with the complicated transport path.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an impact-type airflow transport device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state after movement of a slider in the impact type airflow transfer device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a combination in a case where a plurality of impact-type airflow transport devices of FIG. 1 are connected.

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining the principle of a first type of a conventional airflow transport device.

FIG. 5 is a view for explaining the principle of the second type of the conventional airflow transport device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 10-1 to 10-3, 40, 50 Table 11 Airflow outlet upward 12 Start-up part 13 Airflow outlet 20 in the horizontal direction 20, 42, 51 Slider 30-1 to 30-3 Process chamber 53 Airflow supply source

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A table provided with a large number of upward air flow outlets over the entire surface, and further provided with rising portions on at least a pair of edges facing each other on the table. Are provided with horizontal airflow outlets opposite to each other, and connected to the upward airflow outlet and an airflow supply source for supplying an airflow to the horizontal airflow outlet, respectively. Impact type air flow transport, wherein the slider is levitated by an air flow from a mouth, and the slider is horizontally transported and stopped by the air flow from the air flow outlet in the horizontal direction. apparatus. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of said tables are connected along a transport path of said slider.
The impact-type airflow conveying device according to the above.