JP2010253636A - Article holding device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To quickly hold and release articles in an article holding device for holding the articles in a non-contacting state. <P>SOLUTION: This article holding device 20 holds a glass substrate in a non-contacting state, and includes a device body 21 and a fan control part 30. The device body 21 includes a case 22, a fan 24, a suction port 26 and a blow port 28. The case 22 includes an article opposite part 42 opposable to the glass substrate and a space 40a provided at the inside. The fan 24 is arranged in the space 40a of the case 22 to suck and blow gas. The suction port 26 is communicated with a suction side of the fan 24. The blow port 28 is arranged in the article opposite part 42 at a position different from the suction port 26 and is communicated with a blow side of the fan 24. The fan control part 30 controls rotational speed of the fan 24 so that the glass substrate may be held. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a holding device, and more particularly to an article holding device that holds an article in a non-contact manner.

  When holding an article such as a semiconductor substrate and a liquid crystal glass substrate, an article holding apparatus that holds the article in a non-contact manner is widely used in semiconductor manufacturing factories and liquid crystal manufacturing factories. For example, an article holding device called a so-called Bernoulli chuck is known (for example, see Patent Document 1). A conventional article holding device has a fluid ejection port that ejects fluid. The fluid outlet is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical recess so that the fluid becomes a vortex. When the fluid is ejected, negative pressure is generated in the concave portion to adsorb the article, and the ejected fluid flows between the article holding device and the article so that the article and the article holding device do not come into contact with each other. Thereby, the article is held in a non-contact manner. When releasing the holding of the article, the supply of fluid to the article holding device is shut off.

JP 2006-278831 A

  In the conventional article holding device, the supply of fluid is cut off when releasing the holding of the article. However, even if the fluid supply is shut off, the holding of the article cannot be released instantaneously due to the residual pressure. For this reason, it is difficult to quickly hold and release the article.

  An object of the present invention is to enable quick holding and releasing of an article in an article holding apparatus that holds an article in a non-contact manner.

An article holding apparatus according to the present invention is an apparatus that holds an article in a non-contact manner, and includes an apparatus main body and a blower control unit. The apparatus main body includes a storage unit, at least one blower, a suction port, and a blowout port. The storage unit has an article facing part that can face the article and a space provided inside. A blower is arrange | positioned in the space of a storage part, inhales and blows off gas. The suction port is disposed in the article facing portion and communicates with the suction side of the blower. The blowout port is disposed at the article facing portion at a position different from the suction port, and communicates with the blowout side of the blower. The blower control unit controls the blower amount of the blower so that the article can be held.
In this article holding device, when the blower is operated in a state where the article is opposed to the article facing portion of the storage portion, the gas is sucked from the suction port and the gas is blown out from the blowout port. The article is held by the sucked gas, and the article is separated from the case by the blown-out gas. At this time, the article can be held in a non-contact manner by controlling the amount of air blown from the blower and appropriately adjusting the amount of air sucked from the air inlet and the amount of air blown from the air outlet. Here, the article is held by controlling the flow rate of the gas generated by the blower provided in the article holding device. Therefore, the article can be quickly held by rotating the blower in one direction, and the holding of the article can be quickly released by rotating in the opposite direction.

  The blower can reverse the blowing direction, and the blower control unit controls the blowing direction of the blower to the first direction of sucking gas from the suction port and blowing out gas from the blowing port when holding the article, When releasing the holding, the second direction opposite to the first direction may be controlled. In this case, when holding an article, the article can be held by rotating the blower in the first direction and controlling the rotation speed. Further, when releasing the article, the holding can be quickly released by rotating the blower in the second direction.

  The blower control unit may control the distance from the article by changing the blown amount of the blower. In this case, for example, the distance to the article can be controlled according to the properties of the article.

The article holding device may further include a mass grasping unit capable of grasping the mass of the article, and the blower control unit may control the blower amount of the blower according to the grasped mass.
In this case, if the air volume is increased as the mass is increased according to the mass of the article, even an article having a large mass can be accurately held.

The article holding device further includes mass grasping means capable of grasping the mass of the article, and the blower control unit controls the air flow rate so as to change a predetermined set value of the distance to the article according to the grasped mass. Also good.
In this case, the distance can be controlled according to the mass of the article. For this reason, an article having a larger mass can be separated from the article holding device, and even an article having a large mass and a large inertial force is less likely to collide with the article facing portion.

The article holding device may further include distance grasping means for grasping a distance from the article, and the blower control unit may feedback control the blower so that the grasped distance remains at a predetermined set value.
In this case, the distance between the article and the article holding device can be held at a predetermined set value.

  The distance grasping unit may include a pressure measuring unit that measures the pressure on the suction side or the blowing side of the blower. In this case, since the distance can be grasped not by the distance sensor but by pressure, the distance from the article can be grasped even if the article is difficult to detect by the distance sensor (for example, a specific glass substrate that transmits light).

The apparatus main body is movable, and further includes an operation pattern grasping means for grasping the operation pattern of the apparatus main body, and the blower control unit may control the amount of air blown according to the grasped operation pattern.
In this case, it is possible to prevent the article from approaching or moving away from the holding device by the acceleration by controlling the air flow rate according to the acceleration included in the operation pattern. For this reason, an article can be held more accurately.

  According to the present invention, the article is held by controlling the flow rate of the gas generated by the blower provided in the article holding device. Therefore, the article can be quickly held by rotating the blower in one direction, and the holding of the article can be quickly released by rotating in the opposite direction.

The perspective view of the transfer apparatus by which 1st Embodiment of this invention was employ | adopted. The bottom view of the article holding device by a 1st embodiment of the present invention. The side view. IV-IV sectional drawing of FIG. The block diagram of a fan control part. The flowchart which shows the control operation of a fan control part. The block diagram of the fan control part of 2nd Embodiment. The flowchart which shows the control operation of the fan control part of 3rd Embodiment.

<First Embodiment>
(1) Overall Configuration of Transfer Device In FIG. 1, the transfer device 10 in which the first embodiment of the present invention is adopted is, for example, a large liquid crystal glass substrate S between a cassette C and a transport device (not shown). Reprinted with. The transfer device 10 includes, for example, a transfer robot 12 made of a SCARA robot, a transfer arm 14 provided at the tip of the transfer robot 12, and an embodiment of the present invention attached to the transfer arm 14, for example. And four article holding devices 20. The cassette C has a plurality of shelves Ca inside. Each shelf portion Ca has three shelf plates Cb that are arranged on the left and right sides with a space therebetween.

  The transfer robot 12 includes a frame part 12a, a first arm part 12b attached to the frame part 12a, and a second arm part 12c attached to the first arm part 12b. The first arm portion 12b is attached to the frame portion 12a so as to be able to move up and down and turn around a lifting axis E. The second arm portion 12c is attached to the tip of the first arm portion 12b so as to be rotatable about an axis parallel to the lifting axis E. A transfer arm 14 is attached to the tip of the second arm portion 12c. The transfer arm 14 is attached to the distal end of the second arm portion 12c so as to be rotatable about an axis parallel to the lifting axis E. Therefore, the transfer robot 12 has three parallel joint axes and one lifting axis E.

  The transfer arm 14 is arranged at a predetermined height away from the tip of the second arm portion 12c. Thus, the article holding device 20 and the glass substrate S held by the article holding device 20 are put over. In this embodiment, the transfer arm 14 has a fork 14a and a fork 14b which are divided into two forks. Two article holding devices 20 are fixed to the lower surfaces of the fork 14a and the fork 14b with a gap therebetween. The fork 14a and the fork 14b can be disposed between the shelf plates Cb of the cassette C.

(2) Configuration of article holding device The article holding device 20 holds the upper surface of the glass substrate S as an article in a non-contact manner. As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the article holding device 20 includes a device main body 21. The apparatus main body 21 includes a case (an example of a storage unit) 22 that can face the glass substrate S, a fan (an example of a blower) 24 disposed in the case 22, a suction port 26, and a blowout port 28. is doing. In addition, the article holding device 20 includes a fan control unit 30 that controls the rotation speed of the fan 24 inside the case 22, and a plurality (for example, four) of distance sensors (an example of a distance grasping unit) 32 outside the case 22. It has. In addition, the article holding device 20 includes an intake portion 34 that communicates with the suction port 26.

(3) Configuration of Case The case 22 houses the fan 24 and the fan control unit 30 inside. The case 22 is made of metal or synthetic resin and has a flat surface facing the glass substrate S. The case 22 includes a case main body 40 that is formed of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped housing, and an article facing portion 42 that is fixed to the case main body 40 with a space therebetween.

  The upper surface of the case body 40 is fixed to the fork 14a or the fork 14b. The case main body 40 includes a first member 40b having a square opening at the bottom and a space 40a therein, and a second member 40c closing the opening of the first member 40b. The first member 40b is a frame-like member formed by bending or press-molding a thin metal plate, for example. The second member 40c is a square plate-like member, and is fixed to the first member 40b by appropriate fixing means such as screws or adhesion. The second member 40c is fitted inside the opening of the first member 40b. The second member 40c has a plane that can face the glass substrate S, and a circular first opening 40d that forms the suction port 26 is formed at the center of the plane. Around the first opening 40d, a plurality of (for example, 18) circular second openings 40e constituting the air outlet 28 are arranged on the circumference centering on the center of the first opening 40d with a space therebetween. ing. Here, the sum of the areas of the plurality of second openings 40e is set to 1/3 or more and 2/3 or less of the area of the first opening 40d when the first opening 40d and the second opening 40e are formed on the same plane. ing. In the present embodiment, the blowout port 28 is provided on the outer peripheral side, and the force acting when the wind blown to the outside escapes smaller than that of the inner suction port 26. For this reason, the blowing pressure is increased by reducing the area.

  The article facing portion 42 has a flat surface facing the glass substrate S. The article facing portion 42 is a generally square plate-like member that is disposed at a distance from the second member 40c. The article facing portion 42 is provided mainly to configure the intake portion 34. In other words, the gap between the case 22 and the case 22 serves as the intake portion 34. In the center of the article facing portion 42, a circular third opening 42a is formed to face the first opening 40d. The third opening 42a is a hole having the same diameter as the first opening 40d, and the third opening 42a also constitutes the suction port 26. Around the third opening 42a, a plurality of fourth openings 42b are formed to face the plurality of second openings 40e. The fourth opening 42b is a hole having the same diameter as the second opening 40e, and the fourth opening 42b also constitutes the blowout port 28. A plurality of spacer members 44 for preventing communication between the air outlets 28 and the intake portions 34 are arranged at the arrangement portions of the second openings 40e and the fourth openings 42b. The plurality of spacer members 44 are arranged concentrically with the second opening 40e and the fourth opening 42b. The spacer member 44 is a washer-shaped member, and has a through hole 44a having the same diameter as the second opening 40e and the fourth opening 42b. As described above, the air intake portion 34 is disposed in the gap between the case main body 40 and the article facing portion 42. Therefore, the intake portion 34 is disposed along the lower surface of the case 22 instead of the lower surface, and is open to the side portion. The intake portion 34 communicates with the suction port 26 and does not communicate with the blowout port 28. Thereby, even if the glass substrate S contacts the third opening 42a of the suction port 26 by mistake, and the third opening 42a is blocked by the glass substrate S, the gas is sucked from the suction portion 34 and blown out from the blow-out port 28. Can do. For this reason, it becomes difficult for the glass substrate S to contact the suction port 26.

(4) Fan Configuration The fan 24 has a rotation center concentric with the suction port 26. The fan 24 includes a rotating fan unit 50 using, for example, a sirocco fan, a turbo fan, and a propeller fan. In this embodiment, the rotary fan unit 50 uses a sirocco fan that has a larger air volume than a turbo fan, but may have other forms. The fan 24 includes a fan motor 52 that rotationally drives the rotary fan unit 50 and a fan case 54 that fixes the fan motor 52. The fan motor 52 is, for example, a fixed shaft type motor in which a motor shaft 52 a is fixed to a fan case 54. The rotating fan unit 50 is fixed to a motor case 52 b of the fan motor 52. The fan case 54 has a J-shape in plan view and is fixed to the second member 40c. The fan 24 has a suction portion 54 a disposed on the lower surface of the fan case 54 so as to face the suction port 26, and a blowing portion 54 b communicating with the blowing port 28 and disposed on a side portion of the fan case 54. Note that the fan case 54 may be omitted if the fan 24 can separate the suction side and the blowout side.

(5) Configuration of Distance Sensor Four distance sensors 32 are arranged on two opposite sides of the case main body 40 with an interval therebetween. The distance sensor 32 is capable of detecting the distance from the glass substrate S by irradiating the glass substrate S with light such as a laser beam and reflecting the reflected light.

(6) Configuration of Fan Control Unit The fan control unit 30 includes a microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an I / O interface, and the like, for example. The fan control unit 30 feedback-controls the rotational speed of the fan motor 52 of the fan 24 so that the distances of the measurement results from the four distance sensors 32 are constant.

  As shown in FIG. 5, a distance sensor 32, an external communication unit 36, and a fan motor 52 are connected to the fan control unit 30. The external communication unit 36 can communicate with an external device by wireless or wired communication means (for example, a wireless communication standard defined by IEEE 802.15.1 or IEEE 802.15.4). In this embodiment, the fan control unit 30 can communicate with the transfer control unit 60 that controls the transfer device 10 via the external communication unit 36. The transfer controller 60 also has one or more microcomputers similar to the fan controller 30. An external communication unit 62 that can communicate with an external device including the external communication unit 36 and the transfer robot 12 are connected to the transfer control unit 60.

(7) Configuration of Transfer Control Unit The transfer control unit 60 outputs a holding command for holding the glass substrate S and a release command for releasing the holding of the glass substrate S to the fan control unit 30. A transfer command is given to the transfer control unit 60 from a host controller (not shown) in the factory via the external communication unit 62. This transport command includes data on the mass of the glass substrate S and data on an operation pattern including acceleration for each operation position of the transfer robot 12. Note that the conveyance command may include surface roughness data and data on the flexibility of the article. This is because if the surface roughness is rough, the adsorption force by the gas becomes weak. Moreover, it is because it is necessary to adsorb | suck an article | item carefully when an article | item is easy to bend. When the transfer control unit 60 receives the transfer command, the data included in the transfer command is transmitted to the fan control unit 30 via the external communication unit 62 and the external communication unit 36 before outputting the holding command. When receiving these data, the fan control unit 30 controls the fan motor 52 in consideration of the data. When the transfer arm 14 is disposed on the glass substrate S, the transfer control unit 60 transmits a holding command for holding the glass substrate S and a release command for releasing the holding to the fan control unit 30. The fan control unit 30 controls the fan motor 52 in response to the holding command and the release command.

(8) Control Operation of Fan Control Unit Next, the control operation of the fan control unit 30 will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG.
When power is turned on to the fan control unit 30, initialization is performed in step S1. In this initial setting, various variables and flags are reset. In step S2, it is determined whether or not the mass data included in the transport command has been received. If no mass data has been received, the process proceeds to step S3. In step S3, it is determined whether a hold command has been received. If the holding command has not been received, the process proceeds to step S4. In step S4, it is determined whether a release command has been received. If no release command has been received, the process returns to step S2.

When the mass data is received, the process proceeds from step S2 to step S10. In step S10, the rotation speed Vs of the fan motor 52 and the distance Ls from the glass substrate S are set based on the received mass data. These two set values are stored in the internal memory in the microcomputer in the form of map data, for example, according to the mass data. For example, the rotation speed Vs is set so that the speed increases as the mass increases. Further, the distance Ls may be set to increase as the mass increases.
When the setting is completed in step S10, the process proceeds to step S3.

  When the holding command is received, the process proceeds from step S3 to step S11. In step S11, it is determined whether or not the fan motor 52 has already been normally rotated (that is, the direction of rotation sucked from the suction port 26). When the fan motor 52 is not rotating forward, the process proceeds to step S10, the fan motor 52 is rotated forward, and the process proceeds to step S13. When the fan motor 52 is rotating forward, the process proceeds to step S13. . When the fan 24 rotates in the forward direction (counterclockwise indicated by an arrow in FIG. 2), the gas flows as indicated by the white arrow in FIGS. 2 and 3, and the gas is sucked from the suction port 26 and blown out from the blowout port 28. The At this time, when the sum of the wind force blown from the blowout port 28, the weight of the glass substrate S, and the repulsive force becomes equal to the wind force sucked from the suction port 26, the glass substrate is contacted without contact. It can be held by the article holding device 20. Therefore, when the wind from the inlet 26 and the outlet 28 becomes oblique, the wind force is weakened even if the air volume is the same.

  In step S13, the distance L measured by the distance sensor 32 is captured. At this time, an average value of the four distance sensors 32 is set as a measurement distance L. When the values of the four distance sensors 32 are separated by a predetermined distance or more (for example, 2 mm or more), it is determined that the glass substrate S is tilted, and the subsequent processing is interrupted to reversely hold the fan motor 52 and hold it. You may cancel.

  In step S14, whether or not the measurement distance L is less than the subtraction distance obtained by subtracting the control distance dL (for example, 1 mm) from the distance Ls set in step S10, that is, whether or not the glass substrate S is too close to the article holding device 20. Determine whether. In step S15, whether or not the measurement distance L exceeds the set distance Ls plus the control distance dL (for example, 1 mm), that is, whether or not the glass substrate S is too far from the article holding device 20. Judging.

  When the measurement distance L is less than the subtraction distance, the process proceeds from step S14 to step S16. In step S16, the rotational speed V of the fan motor 52 is decreased from the set rotational speed Vs by a speed dV. For example, when PWM (pulse width modulation) control is performed on the fan motor 52 with the duty ratio, the duty ratio is lowered by, for example, about 5%.

  When the measurement distance L exceeds the addition distance, the process proceeds from step S15 to step S17. In step S17, the rotational speed V of the fan motor 52 is increased by a speed dV from the set rotational speed Vs. For example, when PWM (pulse width modulation) control is performed on the fan motor 52 with the duty ratio, the duty ratio is increased by about 5%, for example. When these processes are completed, the process proceeds to step S4.

  When the release command is received, the process proceeds from step S4 to step S18. In step S18, the fan motor 52 is reversely rotated for a predetermined time. Thereby, gas blows out from the suction inlet 26, and holding | maintenance of the glass substrate S is cancelled | released.

<Second Embodiment>
In 1st Embodiment, although the distance sensor was illustrated as a distance grasping means, this invention is not limited to this.

In FIG. 7, a pressure sensor 38 is connected to the fan control unit 30 according to the second embodiment as distance grasping means. Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment shown in FIG. The pressure sensor 38 is disposed on the suction side or the blowout side of the fan 24 and detects negative pressure or positive pressure. In this embodiment, the pressure sensor 38 is disposed on the suction side and detects negative pressure. As described above, if the distance is grasped by the pressure sensor 38, it is possible to accurately measure the distance to the article even if the article is difficult to detect the distance by light such as a specific glass substrate.
When the distance is measured by the pressure sensor 38, the measured pressure (negative pressure) is taken in place of taking in the measured distance in step S13 in FIG. 6, and the measured negative pressure is determined in the determination steps in steps S14 and S15. Compare with the set negative pressure. And the distance with the glass substrate S can be grasped | ascertained by the magnitude of a negative pressure. Specifically, when the negative pressure is larger than the set pressure, the glass substrate S is approaching the article holding device 20, and therefore the rotational speed of the fan motor 52 is reduced as in the first embodiment. Further, when the negative pressure is smaller than the set pressure, the glass substrate S is separated from the article holding device 20, so that the rotation speed of the fan motor 52 is controlled in the same manner as in the first embodiment. Thus, the distance grasping means is not limited to the distance sensor that directly measures the distance. In addition, what is necessary is just to set a setting pressure according to mass data similarly to 1st Embodiment.

<Third Embodiment>
In the first and second embodiments, the rotational speed of the fan 24 and the distance from the glass substrate S are controlled according to the mass of the glass substrate S. However, the operation pattern of the transfer device 10 (for example, the operation position and its position) The rotation speed may be controlled by an acceleration pattern).

  In FIG. 8, step S4, step S10-step S18 are the same as in FIG.

  In step S2, it is determined whether or not the mass data and the operation pattern data included in the transport command are received. If these are received, it will transfer to step S10 from step S2. In step S10, the rotational speed Vs and the distance Ls of the fan motor 52 are set as in the embodiment of FIG. In step S21, a rotational speed correction value Va corresponding to the acceleration at each operating position is set. Here, the rotational speed correction value Va corresponding to the acceleration is set forward relative to the operating position. For example, the correction value Va of the operation position S is set by the acceleration at the operation position S + 5 5 mm after the operation position S at a certain time, and the process proceeds to step S3. For example, when the transfer apparatus 10 moves up and down, the acceleration correction value Va is set to a positive value at the time of ascent and a negative value at the time of the descent.

  When the holding command is received, the process proceeds from step S3 to step S22. In step S22, data on the operating position of the transfer apparatus 10 is captured. In order to acquire the operation position, data is acquired from the transfer control unit 60 of the transfer apparatus 10 via the external communication unit 36 and the external communication unit 62.

  In step S23, the rotational speed Vs set by correcting the rotational speed Vs set according to the acceleration of the operating position and the correction value Va is corrected. Subsequent steps S11 to S17 are the same as in the above-described embodiment, and the rotational speed is feedback-controlled so as to be the set rotational speed Vs + Va.

  Here, since the control rotation speed is corrected according to the acceleration included in the operation pattern in addition to the mass of the article (glass substrate S), even if the article attempts to approach or separate from the article holding device 20 due to the acceleration, Can be prevented. For this reason, the article can be conveyed in a non-contact manner with higher accuracy.

(9) Features The article holding device 20 is a device that holds an article (for example, the glass substrate S) in a non-contact manner, and includes a device main body 21 and a fan control unit 30. The apparatus main body 21 includes a case 22, at least one fan 24, a suction port 26, and a blowout port 28. The case 22 has an article facing portion 42 that can face an article and a space 40a provided therein. The fan 24 is disposed in the space 40a of the case 22 and sucks and blows out gas. The suction port 26 is disposed in the article facing portion 42 and communicates with the suction side of the fan 24. The air outlet 28 is disposed in the article facing portion 42 at a position different from the air inlet 26 and communicates with the air outlet side of the fan 24. The fan control unit 30 controls the air flow rate of the fan 24 so that the glass substrate S can be held.
In the article holding device 20, when the fan 24 is operated in a state where the article is opposed to the article facing portion 42, the gas is sucked from the suction port 26 and the gas is blown out from the blowout port 28. The article is held by the sucked gas, and the fan is separated from the case by the blown-out gas. At this time, the article can be held without contact with the case 22 by controlling the amount of air blown by the fan 24 and adjusting the amount of air sucked from the air inlet 26 and the amount of air blown from the air outlet 28 appropriately. Here, the article is held by controlling the flow rate of the gas generated by the fan 24 provided in the article holding device 20. For this reason, if the fan 24 is rotated in one direction, the article can be held quickly, and the holding of the article can be quickly released by rotating in the opposite direction.

  The fan 24 can reverse the air blowing direction, and the fan control unit controls the air blowing direction of the fan 24 to the first direction in which the gas is sucked from the suction port 26 and the gas is blown from the blowout port 28 when holding the article. And when releasing holding | maintenance of goods, you may control to the 2nd direction opposite to a 1st direction. In this case, when holding an article, the article can be held by rotating the blower in the first direction and controlling the rotation speed. Further, when releasing the article, it is possible to release the actual measurement by rotating the fan 24 in the second direction.

  The fan control unit 30 controls the distance from the article by changing the air flow rate of the fan 24. Therefore, for example, the distance from the article can be controlled according to the property of the article.

Mass grasping means (step S2 in FIG. 6) capable of grasping the mass of the article is further provided, and the fan control unit 30 controls the air flow rate of the blower according to the grasped mass.
For this reason, if the blast volume is increased as the mass is increased in accordance with the mass of the article, even an article having a large mass can be accurately maintained.

The apparatus further includes mass grasping means (step S2 in FIG. 6) capable of grasping the mass of the article, and the fan control unit 30 changes the air flow rate so as to change a predetermined set value of the distance to the article according to the grasped mass. I have control.
For this reason, the distance to the article can be controlled according to the mass. For this reason, an article having a larger mass can be separated from the article holding device 20, and even an article having a large mass and a large inertial force is less likely to collide with the article facing portion 42.

A distance grasping means (distance sensor 32) for grasping the distance to the article is further provided, and the fan control unit 30 feedback-controls the fan 24 so that the grasped distance remains at a predetermined set value.
For this reason, the distance between the article and the article holding device 20 can be held at a predetermined set value.

The distance grasping means has a pressure measuring means (pressure sensor 38) for measuring the pressure on the suction side or the blowing side of the fan 24, and the fan control unit 30 controls the amount of blown air by the measured pressure. For this reason, since the distance can be grasped not by the distance sensor 32 but by pressure, even if the article is difficult to detect by the distance sensor 32 (for example, a specific glass substrate that transmits light), the distance from the article is grasped. The amount of blast can be controlled.
The apparatus main body 21 is movable, and further includes an operation pattern grasping means (step S2 in FIG. 8) for grasping the operation pattern of the apparatus main body 21, and the fan control unit 30 controls the air flow rate according to the grasped operation pattern. is doing.
For this reason, even if an article tries to approach and separate from the article holding apparatus 20 by acceleration by controlling the air flow rate according to the acceleration included in the operation pattern, it can be prevented. For this reason, the article can be conveyed in a non-contact manner with higher accuracy.

(10) Other Embodiments Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

(A) In the said embodiment, although the glass substrate was illustrated as an article | item, what kind of thing may be sufficient as long as an article | item has a hard plane. However, since the article can be held in a non-contact manner, it is suitable for holding a semiconductor substrate or a precision component, for example, which does not like contamination due to contact with the article.
(B) Although the number of blowers (fans 24) is one in the above embodiment, a plurality of blowers may be used.
(C) In the above embodiment, the configuration for receiving the mass obtained from the external communication unit as the mass grasping means has been exemplified, but the present invention is not limited to this. The mass may be stored in advance in the fan control unit 30 for each article size, and the article size may be acquired via the external communication unit 36.

  The present invention is widely applicable to an article holding apparatus that holds an article in a non-contact manner.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Transfer apparatus 12 Transfer robot 12a Frame part 12b 1st arm part 12c 2nd arm part 14 Transfer arm 14a Fork 14b Fork 20 Article holding apparatus 21 Apparatus main body 22 Case 24 Fan 26 Suction port 28 Outlet 30 Fan control part 32 Distance sensor 34 Air intake part 36 External communication part 38 Pressure sensor 40 Case body 40a Space 40b First member 40c Second member 40d First opening 40e Second opening 42 Article facing part 42a Third opening 42b Fourth opening 44 Spacer member 44a Through hole 50 Rotating fan part 52 Fan motor 52a Motor shaft 52b Motor case 54 Fan case 54a Suction part 54b Outlet part 60 Transfer control part 62 External communication part C Cassette S Glass substrate

Claims (8)

An article holding device for holding an article in a non-contact manner,
An article facing portion capable of facing the article and a storage portion having a space provided therein, at least one blower that is disposed in the space of the storage portion and sucks and blows out gas, and is disposed in the article facing portion. An apparatus body having a suction port communicating with the suction side of the blower, and a blowout port disposed in the article facing portion at a position different from the suction port and communicating with the blowout side of the blower.
A blower control unit for controlling the blown amount of the blower so as to hold the article;
An article holding device. The blower can reverse the blowing direction,
When the blower control unit holds the article, the blower control unit controls the blowing direction of the blower to a first direction that sucks the gas from the suction port and blows the gas from the blowout port, and holds the article. The article holding device according to claim 1, wherein when releasing, the article holding device is controlled in a second direction opposite to the first direction.   The said air blower control part is an article | item holding apparatus of Claim 1 or 2 which controls the distance with the said goods by changing the ventilation volume of the said air blower. Further comprising a mass grasping means capable of grasping the mass of the article,
The said air blower control part is an article | item holding | maintenance apparatus of any one of Claim 1 to 3 which controls the ventilation volume of the said air blower according to the said grasped | ascertained mass. Further comprising a mass grasping means capable of grasping the mass of the article,
The said air blower control part controls the said ventilation volume so that the predetermined setting value of the distance with the said article may be changed according to the said grasped mass, The article holding | maintenance of any one of Claim 1 to 3 apparatus. Further comprising distance grasping means for grasping the distance to the article,
6. The article holding device according to claim 1, wherein the blower control unit feedback-controls the blower such that the grasped distance remains at a predetermined set value. The distance grasping means has a pressure measuring means for measuring the pressure on the suction side or the blowing side of the blower,
The article holding device according to claim 6, wherein the blower control unit controls the blown amount by the measured pressure. The apparatus main body is movable,
An operation pattern grasping means for grasping an operation pattern of movement of the apparatus main body;
The said air blower control part is an article | item holding | maintenance apparatus of any one of Claim 1 to 7 which controls the said air flow volume according to the said operation | movement pattern grasped | ascertained.

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