JP2010070284A - Transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a transfer device capable of reducing dust in the loading operation to reduce influences of the dust to a work by supporting the work in the nearly horizontal direction, and capable of restricting a concern that a glass substrate inside the work jumps out. <P>SOLUTION: In the transfer device comprising an extension fork 1 and a lift device for lifting the fork 1, the fork 1 is curved into an upward circular shape so as to offset deflection of the fork 1 due to the weight of a work and to maintain the work W in the nearly horizontal direction in the loading/unloading operation. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a transfer device used in a clean room or the like, and in particular, by supporting a work substantially horizontally, dust generation during loading and unloading is reduced, and the influence of dust on the work is reduced. The present invention relates to a transfer apparatus that can reduce the possibility of a substrate jumping out.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the transfer device includes a fork 1 that expands and contracts, and an elevating device (not shown) that lifts and lowers the fork 1. The workpiece is transferred by moving the fork 1 up and down with the lifting device.

  By the way, in a stacker crane equipped with such a transfer device, as shown in FIG. 6, when transferring the workpiece W, the fork 1 may be bent by the workpiece weight, and the workpiece W may be inclined. The inclination of W causes slippage between the workpiece W and the table and between the workpiece W and the fork 1 and causes dust generation.

  In addition, the liquid crystal glass substrate in the work (cassette) comes to face downward when the work is tilted, and when a sudden action such as an emergency stop occurs during transfer, the glass substrate There is a possibility to jump out of.

  In the past, the tilt of the workpiece during transfer has been dealt with by reducing the deflection by improving the rigidity of the fork material and structure, but this deflection becomes larger due to the increase in the size of the glass substrate, etc. In this case, there is a problem that the weight and cost of the transfer device increase in order to reduce the deflection by improving the rigidity.

  In view of the problems of the above-described conventional transfer device, the present invention supports the work substantially horizontally, thereby reducing dust generation during loading and unloading and reducing the influence of dust on the work. It is an object of the present invention to provide a transfer apparatus that can reduce the possibility of a substrate jumping out.

  In order to achieve the above object, the transfer device of the present invention includes a plurality of forks provided in a telescopic manner by inserting and supporting a plurality of guide rollers provided on adjacent forks into guide grooves provided on the forks. In the transfer device that expands and contracts, the alignment direction of the guide grooves and guide rollers is curved in an upward arc shape that offsets the deflection of the fork due to the workpiece weight and keeps the workpiece substantially horizontal in the unloaded state. It is characterized by.

  In this case, the fork can be curved in the upward arc shape.

According to the transfer device of the present invention, by inserting and supporting a plurality of guide rollers provided on the adjacent forks into the guide grooves provided on the forks, the plurality of forks provided in a telescopic shape are expanded and contracted. In this transfer device, the guide grooves and guide rollers are aligned in an upward arc shape that offsets the deflection of the fork due to the workpiece weight and keeps the workpiece approximately horizontal in the unloaded state. To reduce the dust generation during loading and unloading, reduce the influence of dust on the workpiece, and reduce the possibility of the glass substrate in the workpiece popping out. Can do.
In addition, since it is not necessary to improve the rigidity by changing the material and structure, it is possible to suppress the increase in weight and cost of the transfer device, and further, the lifting device that supports it by suppressing the increase in the weight of the transfer device. And an increase in the weight and cost of the traveling device can be suppressed.

  Further, by bending the fork in the upward arc shape, the amount of bending in the direction in which the guide grooves and guide rollers are arranged can be reduced, and the fork deflection due to the workpiece weight can be more easily offset.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the transfer apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 to 5 show an embodiment of the transfer device of the present invention.
This transfer device includes a fork 1 that telescopically expands and contracts, and a lifting device (not shown) that lifts and lowers the fork 1. The transfer device is provided in the guide fork 3 provided in the tip fork 13 in the intermediate fork 12 in the next stage. The plurality of guide rollers 2 are inserted, and the front end fork 13 is supported by the guide rollers 2 so that the plurality of forks 1 are expanded and contracted.
In this transfer device, the alignment direction of the guide groove 3 and the guide roller 2 is curved in an upward arc shape that cancels the deflection of the fork 1 due to the workpiece weight and keeps the workpiece W substantially horizontal in the unloaded state. Yes.

The fork 1 is composed of a pair of left and right telescopic members that expands and contracts in a plurality of stages. And a tip fork 13 supported by the head.
In this embodiment, in addition to the direction in which the guide grooves 3 and the guide rollers 2 are arranged, the tip fork 13 on which the workpiece W is loaded is formed in an upward arc shape that offsets the deflection due to the workpiece weight and keeps the workpiece W substantially horizontal. Has been.
As shown in FIG. 1, the tip fork 13 is cantilevered by the tip guide roller 2a of the middle fork 12 when the workpiece W is loaded and moved to the unloaded state, so that the arc is curved. Weakened.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3D, only the alignment direction of the guide grooves 3 and the guide rollers 2 can be curved in the upward arc shape, and the fork 1 can be formed in a straight line shape.
Thereby, the process of the fork 1 can be simplified.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3E, in the two stages of the tip fork 13 and the middle fork 12, the alignment direction of the forks 12, 13, the guide groove 3 and the guide roller 2 is curved in the upward arc shape. You can also.
In this case, since the middle fork 12 is supported by the guide roller 2 of the base 11, the alignment direction of the guide rollers 2 of the base 11 is curved in the arc shape.
By expanding and contracting the two-stage forks 12 and 13 in an arc shape, the amount of bending per stage can be halved.
Further, the amount of bending per step can be reduced to 1 / n by expanding and contracting the n-step fork in an arc shape.

As shown in FIG. 4, if the fork 1 has a stroke of 3000 mm and the deflection amount is 25 mm, an arc provided on the tip fork 13 can be used to correct the deflection so that it is horizontal when the workpiece is unloaded. The curvature radius is 54500 mm.
Here, the above-described deflection amount is a total deflection amount obtained by adding the entire bending due to the middle stage fork 12 and the cantilever of the tip fork 13 and the clearance between the guide roller 2 and the guide groove 3.
The tip fork length is 2000 mm, and the substantial tip fork length related to deflection, that is, the distance from the tip guide roller 2a of the middle fork 12 supporting the tip fork 13 to the tip of the tip fork 13 is 1650 mm.

The deflection correction amount will be described with reference to FIG.
When the correction amount is 25 mm with respect to the substantial tip fork length of 1650 mm, the shape of the tip fork 13 required for deflection correction is the curve of part a in FIG.
From X ² + Y ² = R ² , X = 1650, Y = R−25,
^{1650 2 + (R-25)} 2 = R 2
R ² -50R + 25 ² +1650 ² = R ²
R = (25 ² +1650 ² ) / 50 = 54500.

On the other hand, although the lifting device is omitted in the drawing, the fork 1 is raised and lowered by raising and lowering the base 11.
For example, by raising the tip fork 13 inserted under the workpiece W of the mounting table, the workpiece W is loaded on the tip fork 13, the fork 1 is contracted in this state, and then the base 11 is lowered, The transfer of the workpiece W to the transfer device is completed.
Further, after raising the base 11 in this state, the tip fork 13 is horizontally moved to the position of the mounting table, and the workpiece 11 is transferred to the mounting table by lowering the base 11.

Next, the operation of the transfer device of this embodiment will be described.
In the conventional transfer device, as shown in FIGS. 6 to 7, when an emergency stop is applied during the exit operation in a state where the workpiece W is tilted, the inertial force in the direction of tilting acts on the contents of the workpiece W, It becomes easy to jump out.
Further, during the wholesale operation, the tip end side of the work W comes into contact with the mounting table (not shown) first, and then the base side comes into contact with the mounting table to complete the transfer.
In this case, since the tip side of the workpiece W is first deposited on the pedestal and the load on the transfer device is reduced, a minute movement in the transfer direction due to a decrease in deflection and a lowering operation of the transfer occur simultaneously. Sliding wear occurs between W and the table.
Due to the reverse phenomenon during the loading operation, sliding wear also occurs. When the deflection is large, misalignment due to slippage is also a problem.

On the other hand, in the transfer apparatus according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, since the workpiece W is kept horizontal by suppressing the inclination of the work W, there is no inclination even when an emergency stop is applied during the entering / exiting operation. The force in the direction that makes it easier to jump out becomes smaller.
Further, during the wholesale operation, a minute movement in the transfer direction of the workpiece W due to the reduction of the deflection does not occur, so that no sliding wear occurs between the workpiece W and the mounting table, and no displacement occurs.
In the conventional countermeasure against bending, improvement of the rigidity of the entire apparatus must be considered, but in the present embodiment, it is possible to cope with only the shape of the fork 1, and therefore the influence on the weight and cost can be suppressed.

Thus, according to the transfer device of the present embodiment, a plurality of guide rollers 2 provided on the middle fork 12 of the next stage are inserted into the guide grooves 3 provided on the tip fork 13, and the front end of the front stage is guided by the guide roller 2. In the transfer device in which a plurality of forks are expanded and contracted by supporting the forks 13, the alignment direction of the guide grooves 3 and the guide rollers 2 cancels the deflection of the forks 1 due to the work weight, and is in an unloaded state. Since the workpiece W is curved in an upward arc shape that keeps the workpiece W approximately horizontal, the workpiece W is supported substantially horizontally, and slippage between the workpiece W and the table or between the workpiece W and the fork 1 is eliminated to reduce dust generation during loading and unloading. In addition to reducing the influence of dust on the workpiece W, the possibility of the glass substrate in the workpiece W popping out can be reduced.
In addition, since it is not necessary to improve the rigidity by changing the material and structure, it is possible to suppress the increase in weight and cost of the transfer device, and further, the lifting device that supports it by suppressing the increase in the weight of the transfer device. And an increase in the weight and cost of the traveling device can be suppressed.

  Further, by bending the fork in the upward arc shape, the bending amount of the guide groove 3 and the guide roller 2 in the alignment direction can be reduced, and the deflection of the fork 1 due to the workpiece weight can be more easily offset.

  The transfer apparatus of the present invention has been described above based on the embodiments thereof. However, the present invention is not limited to the configurations described in the above embodiments, and the configuration is appropriately changed without departing from the spirit of the present invention. can do.

  The transfer device according to the present invention supports the work substantially horizontally, thereby reducing dust generation during loading, reducing the influence of dust on the work, and reducing the possibility of the liquid crystal glass substrate in the work popping out. Therefore, for example, in a high-precision transfer device mounted on a stacker crane in a clean room, RGV: Rail Guided Vehicle, OHV: Over Head Vehicle, etc. In addition to being suitable for use, it can also be suitably applied to a transfer device for other general conveying devices.

An example of the transfer device of the present invention is shown, (a) is a side view showing a state where the fork is contracted, and (b) is a side view showing a state where the fork is extended. The same transfer apparatus is shown, (a) is the front view, (b) is the exploded view of the A section. The transfer device is shown, (a) is a side view showing a state in which the fork is extended in an empty state, (b) is a sectional view in the vicinity of the guide roller, (c) is a side view showing a state in which the fork is contracted, (D) is a side view showing an embodiment in which the alignment direction of the guide groove and the guide roller is curved in an upward arc shape, and the fork is formed in a linear shape. It is a side view which shows the Example which curved the row direction of the roller to the upward arc shape. (A) is a side view showing the amount of deflection of the extended fork, (b) is a side view showing the arc of the tip fork for correcting the amount of deflection. It is a schematic diagram which determines the curvature radius of the circular arc of a front-end fork. The conventional transfer equipment is shown, (a) is a side view showing the state where the fork was contracted, and (b) is the side view showing the state where the fork was extended. The same transfer apparatus is shown, (a) is the front view, (b) is the exploded view of the A section.

Explanation of symbols

1 Fork 11 Base 12 Middle Fork 13 Tip Fork 2 Guide Roller 2a Tip Guide Roller 3 Guide Groove W Workpiece

Claims (2)

  In a transfer device in which a plurality of telescopic forks are expanded and contracted by inserting and supporting a plurality of guide rollers provided in adjacent forks into a guide groove provided in the fork, the guide groove and the guide A transfer device characterized in that the direction of the rollers is curved in an upward arc shape that cancels fork deflection due to the weight of the workpiece and keeps the workpiece substantially horizontal in an unloaded state.   The transfer device according to claim 1, wherein a fork is curved in the upward arc shape.

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