JP2010052866A - Glass substrate transfer system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a glass substrate transfer system capable of executing process tact reduction by using a cassette unit capable of being inexpensively created with a simple structure wherein its height is low and storing glass substrates can be increased and reducing robot hand operation actions. <P>SOLUTION: In the glass substrate transfer system provided with a cassette unit for transferring-storing the plurality of glass substrates and a substrates transfer robot which transfers the glass substrates between the process unit and the cassette unit, a first lifting mechanism for lifting the whole cassette unit and a second lifting mechanism for lifting only part of a substrate rest in the cassette unit are provided separately. The position of the rest for substrates to be transferred of the cassette unit is moved up and down by the first lifting mechanism according to the height of a glass substrate pass line of the process unit and upper and lower substrate rests positioned adjacent to the rest of the substrate to be transferred are opened and closed by the second lifting mechanism in a manner capable of inserting a fork for delivering the substrates of a robot hand of a substrate transfer robot. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a glass substrate transfer system for a flat panel display such as a liquid crystal display panel or a plasma display panel, and more particularly to a cassette type storage case (hereinafter abbreviated as a cassette) that stores a large number of glass substrates in the vertical direction. ) And the process apparatus, a glass substrate is transferred one by one by a substrate transfer robot.

  The color filter that constitutes the liquid crystal display panel uses, for example, a black glass film forming process and an R / G / B colored pixel film forming process using a thin glass substrate having a size exceeding 1 m square and a thickness of 1 mm or less. It is formed through the process. Between each process, it is necessary to temporarily store, transport, and inspect a large number of glass substrates. Therefore, in the mass production line, many glass substrates are arranged in the vertical direction in consideration of space saving and line tact adjustment. A cassette device for housing is used.

  Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 1, a glass substrate is transported / transferred by placing a cassette device 2 that stores and holds a plurality of glass substrates 1 one by one in a shelf-like substrate receiver on a base 5 of a transfer unit, The glass substrates 1 are taken out from each cassette device one by one by the robot hand 30 of the transfer robot 3 and sent to the next process. The glass substrates are taken out from the cassette apparatus 2 by inserting the fork 4 for transferring the robot hand between the adjacent glass substrates and taking out the glass substrates one by one from the cassette apparatus 2 so as to scoop up. The position of the substrate receiver (not shown) in which the glass substrate is housed is fixed by the cassette device being fixed to the base portion 5 of the transfer portion. Remove from substrate holder. The moving amount of the robot hand 1 is moved from the lower end to the upper end of the cassette apparatus, and the glass substrate taken out is adjusted to the height of the process apparatus pass line in the next process, and the glass substrate is supplied.

  In the conventional cassette apparatus, since the substrate receivers in the case are fixed at equal intervals, the robot forks can be inserted between the glass substrates accommodated in the substrate receivers, and a gap for scooping is provided. In order to ensure it, it was necessary to increase the vertical distance between the steps. Usually, the height of the storage case itself is abnormally high due to the thickness of one glass substrate plus the thickness of the robot hand nook fork and the room where the bent glass substrate does not come into contact. The number of cases stored per case is less than expected. As a result, the upper and lower strokes of the substrate transfer robot become longer, and there is a problem that the height of the clean room for accommodating the cassette device and the substrate transfer robot is increased.

  In recent years, for example, with the increase in size and mass production of liquid crystal displays, the size of glass substrates used has increased year by year. Recently, large glass substrates called sixth generation (1500 mm × 1800 mm) or eighth generation (2160 mm × 2400 mm) have been used. Furthermore, the 10th generation (2850 mm × 3050 mm) production is being prepared. In such a next-generation large-sized glass substrate transport system, space saving is strongly desired for cassette devices that accommodate glass substrates in multiple stages and substrate transport robots that transport glass substrates between cassette devices and process devices. It is rare. In addition, in the conventional process work method, since the parallel operation cannot be performed, the robot hand work operation regulates the process tact. However, it is required to reduce the process tact by reducing the movement amount of the robot hand. .

Under the background described above, Patent Document 1 discloses that shelves that support a plate material are arranged in multiple stages in a housing, and the shelf is vertically moved by a relative lifting operation with the housing to form a desired shelf. There is disclosed a plate material storage cassette device that is provided with a conveying unit that arrives and carries plate materials into or out of the shelf, for example, a large number of rollers arranged on a plane. Further, Patent Document 2 includes a plurality of support columns and a plurality of slidable substrate receiving seats that are placed on each support column, and a substrate that supports a liquid crystal glass substrate by the same substrate support seats. There is provided a cassette apparatus and a thin substrate transfer system having a support portion and a mechanism capable of lifting a substrate receiving seat at an arbitrary stage, and a lifting mechanism for lifting the upper substrate receiving seat from the lifted substrate receiving seat. It is disclosed.
JP 2004-137046 A JP 2005-142443 A

  The cassette apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above has an advantage that a robot for delivery is unnecessary, but it is necessary to change the entire glass substrate transfer system with the process apparatus, such as addition / change of processes, etc. Lack of flexibility. In addition, since the cassette device itself has the transport section and the lifting mechanism, it is difficult to maintain cleanliness, and the cassette device becomes complicated and disadvantageous in terms of cost. The cassette device disclosed in Patent Document 2 has an advantage that a large number of substrates can be stored at a low height. However, since the cassette device itself has a mechanism for lifting the substrate receiving seat, there are many sliding portions and a cleanliness level. In addition, there is a problem that the process work tact cannot be shortened because the substrate seat lifting mechanism moves greatly up and down in a state where the entire cassette apparatus is fixed.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to perform robot hand work by using a cassette device which can be made at a low cost with a simple structure that can reduce the height of the cassette device and increase the number of glass substrates that can be stored. It is an object of the present invention to provide a compact glass substrate transfer system that can reduce the operation and shorten the process tact time.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cassette apparatus for storing and transporting and storing a plurality of glass substrates one by one in each of the multistage substrate receivers, and the glass substrate between the process apparatus and the cassette apparatus. In a glass substrate transfer system including a substrate transfer robot for transferring one by one, a first raising / lowering mechanism for raising and lowering the entire cassette device, and a second raising and lowering for raising and lowering only a part of the substrate receiver of the cassette device A mechanism separate from the cassette apparatus, and the first lifting mechanism moves the position of the substrate receiving target of the cassette apparatus up and down according to the height of the glass substrate pass line of the process apparatus, and the first The substrate transfer fork of the robot hand of the substrate transfer robot can be inserted by two lifting mechanisms, and the transfer target substrate receiver and the adjacent upper and lower substrate receivers Interval is a glass substrate transfer system, characterized in that the opening and closing.

  In the invention according to claim 2 of the present invention, the cassette device has a plurality of slidable substrate receiving seats stacked on a plurality of support columns, and is installed in the plurality of substrate receiving seats on the same step. And the stopper plate of the second elevating mechanism installed separately outside the side surface parallel to the glass substrate loading / unloading direction of the cassette device and the substrate receiving seat are fitted together so that the same stage is provided. 2. The glass substrate transfer system according to claim 1, wherein the substrate receiver is moved up and down for each same stage, and is opened and closed between adjacent substrate receivers.

  In the invention according to claim 3 of the present invention, the stopper of the second elevating mechanism is fitted to the substrate receiving seat in which the transfer target substrate receiver is provided at the same time, and the substrate receiving seat just above the substrate receiving seat. The glass substrate transfer system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the glass substrate transfer system can be moved up and down independently.

According to the glass substrate transfer system of the present invention, the path line height adjustment between the glass substrate and the process device held by the substrate receiver of the robot hand and the cassette device is not performed by moving the robot hand up and down, Since it can be performed by raising and lowering the entire cassette apparatus using the first raising and lowering mechanism, the tact time of the robot hand raising and lowering movement time can be shortened.
Further, according to the glass substrate transfer system of the present invention, the substrate transfer fork of the substrate transfer robot can be inserted by another second lifting mechanism in synchronization with the pass line height adjustment. Adjacent upper and lower substrate holders can be opened and closed, and tact time can be reduced. In addition, the gap between the glass substrate that is not to be transferred and the glass substrate that is not in the order of removal is minimized, and only the fork insertion part of the robot hand has a necessary gap to reduce the height of the cassette device. It becomes possible to accommodate a large number of glass substrates with a small apparatus or the same size as the conventional one.

  Further, according to the glass substrate transfer system of the present invention, the cassette apparatus for storing and transporting and storing a plurality of glass substrates one by one in each of the multi-stage substrate receivers is slidable stacked on a plurality of columns. A plurality of substrate receiving seats are provided, and a glass substrate storage substrate receiver is provided in the plurality of substrate receiving seats on the same step, and the side of the substrate receiving seat parallel to the glass substrate loading / unloading direction of the cassette device is provided. It is possible to make a simple structure, for example, with a hole, which temporarily fits with a cylinder protrusion (stopper) of the second lifting mechanism installed separately outside, Since there are no rotating parts or sliding parts other than slides, it is easy to maintain cleanliness, saving space and reducing costs.

  Hereinafter, a glass substrate transfer system of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings according to an embodiment.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the glass substrate transfer system of the present invention. (A) is a top view, (b) is the side view seen from another direction, respectively. FIG. 1 described above is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional glass substrate transfer system, in which (a) is a top view and (b) is a side view as seen from different directions. FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of one side of a second lifting mechanism that partially lifts and lowers the glass substrate receiving portion in the glass substrate transfer system of the present invention. (A) is a top view, (b) is a front view facing the cassette device side, and (c) is a side view. Moreover, FIG. 4 is the schematic which shows the partial raising / lowering mechanism of the partial side surface and one side of the cassette apparatus which comprise the glass substrate transfer system of this invention by a side surface. (1) to (8) in FIG. 4 are partial side views for explaining a series of operations when a glass substrate cassette apparatus is inserted as an example of operations by the glass substrate transfer system of the present invention. Furthermore, FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram comparing the size of the cassette apparatus in the glass substrate transfer system of the present invention and the cassette apparatus in the conventional glass substrate transfer system.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the glass substrate transfer system of the present invention includes at least a cassette device 20 that houses and transports and stores a plurality of glass substrates 1 one by one in each of the multistage substrate receivers, A first lifting mechanism installed in the base 5 of the transfer unit, which includes a substrate transfer robot 3 that transfers the glass substrates 1 to and from the cassette device 20 one by one, and moves the entire cassette device 20 up and down. 16 and a second lifting mechanism 17 that lifts and lowers only a part of the substrate receiver of the cassette device 20. The glass substrate transfer system of the present invention is usually installed in a clean room.

The cassette apparatus 20 includes a plurality of slidable substrate receiving seats 14 stacked on a plurality of support columns 15, and includes a glass substrate receiver 6 provided in the same substrate receiving base 14. 20 can be temporarily fitted with a substrate receiving stopper 18 and a substrate receiving gap stopper 19 which are cylinder projections of the second lifting mechanism 17 separately installed outside the side surface parallel to the glass substrate entrance / exit direction. The hole is provided in the substrate receiving seat 14. As a result, the substrate receiving seat 14 is slid along the support column 15 and the internally installed same-stage substrate receiver 6 is moved up and down for each same stage, so that it can be opened and closed between adjacent substrate receivers. It has a structure. Therefore, the cassette device 20 can be inserted, scooped up, and pulled out by the fork 4 of the robot hand so that the vertical height of the cassette device 20 is equal to the stacked height of the receiving seats 14 for the number of substrates stacked without contacting each other. It is possible to add a work interval for a single glass substrate.

  The substrate transfer robot 3 transfers the glass substrates 1 one by one between the cassette device 20 and the process device 7 in a clean room (not shown). The substrate transfer robot 3 is capable of moving an arm and a fork as a robot hand provided at the tip of the arm up and down by an elevating device such as a bending type using a fixed link. A fork that can be moved to any horizontal position can be used.

  In the case of loading the glass substrate 1 into the process device 7 (abbreviated as a loader), the robot hand fork 4 installed in the robot hand 30 from the cassette device 20 storing the glass substrate supplied from the previous process is used. The glass substrate 1 is inserted into the gap of the glass substrate 1 of the cassette device 20, the glass substrate 1 is extracted from the cassette device 20, and the glass substrate 3 is put into the next process device.

  When the cassette device 20 is set on the base 5 of the transfer unit, the first lifting mechanism 16 lowers the cassette device 20 to the loading path line of the glass substrate 1 held by the substrate receiver. The glass substrate 1 is sequentially extracted from the upper side of the cassette device 20, and the cassette device 20 is raised by one stage by the first lifting mechanism 16 when the glass substrate 1 is extracted. This operation is repeated to keep the extraction pass line of the glass substrate 1 constant.

  Next, when pulling out the glass substrate 1 from the process apparatus 7 (abbreviated as “unloader”), after the process in the process apparatus 7 is completed, the fork 4 of the robot hand 30 is used to take out the glass substrate 1 from the process apparatus 7. One by one is inserted into an empty cassette device 20 installed on the upper part of the base 5 of the transfer section. After inserting the glass substrate 1, the cassette device 20 is lowered by one stage by the first elevating mechanism 16. This operation is repeated to keep the insertion path line of the glass substrate 1 constant.

  In the conventional glass substrate transfer system shown in FIG. 1 described above, only the robot hand 30 moves greatly up and down the cassette apparatus having a height in both the loader and unloader systems. In the glass substrate transfer system, it is possible to keep the glass substrate extraction pass line or the glass substrate insertion pass line constant by the first elevating mechanism 16, which greatly reduces the vertical movement amount of the robot hand. , Tact can be shortened. Depending on the setting of the glass pass line height of the process equipment, the base height of the transfer section, and the height of the cassette equipment, the amount of vertical movement of the robot hand can be further reduced, and the transport robot itself can be reduced in size and simplified. Is also possible.

Next, the second lifting mechanism will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the second elevating mechanism 17 is a mechanism that is installed on both sides parallel to the glass substrate exit / entry direction of the cassette apparatus 20 and elevates the glass substrate receiving seat. As shown in FIG. 3, the second elevating mechanism includes, as a first component, a substrate receiving stopper base 12 connected to a substrate receiving stopper elevating cylinder 8 fixed to the base 5 of the transfer unit, and the substrate receiving A substrate receiving stopper cylinder 10 for pushing and pulling the substrate receiving stopper 18 for fitting with the substrate receiving seat of the stopper base 12 is provided. Further, as a second component, a substrate receiving gap stopper base 13 connected to a substrate receiving gap stopper elevating cylinder 9 fixed to the base 5 of the transfer portion, and a substrate receiving seat of the substrate receiving gap stopper base 13 are provided. A board receiving gap stopper cylinder 11 for pushing and pulling the board receiving gap stopper 19 for fitting is provided. Here, the substrate receiving stopper 18 of the first component and the substrate receiving gap stopper 19 of the second component are simultaneously provided with a substrate receiving seat in which a transfer target substrate receiver is provided, and a substrate immediately above the substrate receiving seat. Each of the receiving seats can be fitted with each other, and the movements of the substrate receiving stopper and the substrate receiving gap stopper lifting cylinder 9 and the substrate receiving gap stopper lifting and lowering cylinder 9 can be moved up and down independently. The substrate receiving gap stopper base 13 is mounted on the substrate receiving stopper base 12. When the substrate receiving stopper lifting cylinder 8 is raised, the substrate receiving gap stopper base 13 is simultaneously with the substrate receiving stopper base 12. Will rise.

  Next, a series of operations at the time of inserting the glass substrate into the cassette apparatus will be described as an example of the operation by the glass substrate transfer system of the present invention with reference to (1) to (8) of FIG.

(1) The cassette device stops at a predetermined position by the operation of the first lifting mechanism (not shown). At this time, the second lifting mechanism is in a state before operation.
(2) First, the substrate receiving stopper cylinder 10 and the substrate receiving gap stopper cylinder 11 are activated, and the tips are inserted and fitted into holes (not shown) provided in the substrate receiving seat 14 and the substrate receiving seat just above it.
(3) Next, the substrate receiving stopper raising / lowering cylinder 8 is raised.
(4) Next, the substrate receiving gap stopper elevating cylinder 9 is raised. Here, the upper and lower gaps of the substrate receiver 6 provided in the substrate receiving seat 14 into which the glass plate 1 is inserted are secured, and the glass substrate 1 conveyed by the fork 4 of the robot hand 30 is inserted into the cassette device 20.
(5) As described above, the glass substrate 1 is installed in the target substrate receiver 6.
(6) Next, the substrate receiving stopper raising / lowering cylinder 8 is lowered.
(7) Next, the substrate receiving gap stopper elevating cylinder 9 is lowered.
(8) Next, return the substrate receiving stopper cylinder 10 and the substrate receiving gap stopper cylinder 11 to release the fitting between the substrate receiving seat 14 and the substrate receiving seat immediately above it, and operate the first lifting mechanism. The cassette device 20 is lowered.
The above is one cycle of glass substrate insertion, and it repeats for the required number of steps or the number of sheets.

  As shown in FIG. 5, according to the glass substrate transfer system of the present invention, it is possible to make the height of the cassette device compact compared to the conventional case, and the height of the conventional cassette device 2 is set to 100. %, The cassette apparatus 20 in the glass substrate transfer system of the present invention can be made about 60% in size when a glass substrate having a thickness of G6 to G10 and a thickness of 0.7 mm is used. It is.

The schematic block diagram of the conventional glass substrate transfer system. The schematic block diagram of the glass substrate transfer system of this invention. The schematic block diagram of the one side of the 2nd raising / lowering mechanism in the glass substrate transfer system of this invention. Schematic which shows the cassette apparatus and 2nd raising / lowering mechanism of the glass substrate transfer system of this invention. Schematic which compares the magnitude | size of the cassette apparatus by this invention, and the conventional cassette apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Glass substrate 2 ... Conventional cassette apparatus 20 ... Cassette apparatus 3 of this invention ... Robot for substrate conveyance 30 ... Robot hand 4 ... Fork 5 ... Transfer part base 6 ... Substrate holder 7 ... Process device 8 ... Substrate receiver stopper lift cylinder 9 ... Substrate receiver gap stopper lift cylinder 10 ... Substrate receiver stopper cylinder 11 ... Substrate receiver gap stopper cylinder 12 .. Substrate receiving stopper base 13... Substrate receiving gap stopper base 14... Substrate receiving seat 15... Post 16. First lifting mechanism 17. Receiving stopper 19 ... Substrate receiving gap stopper

Claims (3)

A cassette apparatus for storing and transporting and storing a plurality of glass substrates one by one in each of the multistage substrate receivers, and a substrate transport robot for transferring the glass substrates one by one between the process apparatus and the cassette apparatus; In a glass substrate transfer system comprising: a first lifting mechanism that lifts and lowers the entire cassette device; and a second lifting mechanism that lifts and lowers only a part of the substrate receiver of the cassette device separately from the cassette device, The position of the transfer target substrate receiver of the cassette apparatus is raised and lowered according to the height of the glass substrate pass line of the process apparatus by the first raising / lowering mechanism, and the substrate raising robot is moved by the second raising / lowering mechanism. The gap between the transfer target substrate receiver and the adjacent upper and lower substrate receivers is opened and closed so that the substrate transfer fork of the robot hand can be inserted. Scan substrate transfer system.   The cassette apparatus includes a plurality of slidable substrate receiving seats stacked on a plurality of support columns, and includes glass substrate receivers provided in the same substrate receiving seat, and the glass substrate of the cassette apparatus. When the stopper of the second elevating mechanism separately installed on the outside of the side surface parallel to the entrance / exit direction and the substrate receiving seat are fitted, the substrate receiver of the same stage is raised and lowered for each same stage, and adjacent separate stages The glass substrate transfer system according to claim 1, wherein the glass substrate transfer system is opened and closed with respect to the substrate receiver.   The stopper of the second elevating mechanism can be fitted with a substrate receiving seat in which a transfer target substrate receiver is installed at the same time, and a substrate receiving seat immediately above the substrate receiving seat, and each can be moved up and down independently. The glass substrate transfer system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that