JP2011125947A - Transfer robot - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mechanism reducing the load on a link in an elevating/lowering mechanism consisting of two sets of link mechanisms. <P>SOLUTION: The transfer robot includes a hand part for loading an object to be conveyed, a horizontal arm mechanism 30 consisting of two sets of horizontal arms connected to the hand part, provided with at least two rotational joints, expanded/contracted to move the hand part in one direction, and arranged facing the direction of the turning shaft, and an elevating/lowering mechanism 20 connected to a support base 8 of the horizontal arm mechanism 30 and constituted of at least two sets of link mechanisms for elevating/lowering the horizontal arm mechanism 30. A direct-acting mechanism for movably supporting the horizontal arm mechanism 30 in the X-direction is arranged between the support base 8 and a third joint part 8b of the elevating/lowering mechanism 20. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a transfer robot that takes a thin plate-shaped workpiece such as a liquid crystal glass substrate or a semiconductor wafer into and out of a stocker.

    A predetermined processing is performed on a workpiece such as a liquid crystal substrate or a wafer substrate, and the substrate manufacturing apparatus uses a substrate transfer device that transfers the substrate to a target position for the processing. The substrate transfer apparatus is also called a transfer robot, and the inventors have configured the hand and arm that realize the horizontal operation mechanism and the arm support member that supports them to be raised and lowered by an elevating mechanism including a double leg mechanism. A robot is provided (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

WO2009 / 034854

In the stocker to be stored, thin plate-like workpieces such as glass substrates for liquid crystals and semiconductor wafers are stacked and stored at a certain interval from the height reaching the ceiling to the floor surface. Such a stocker is arrange | positioned before and after the transfer robot, or right and left. In order to cope with this, the transfer robot needs to be enlarged and include a long stroke lifting mechanism and a turning mechanism.
In addition, the workpiece to be stored becomes heavier as the size of the workpiece increases, and it is necessary to increase the rigidity of the transfer robot that transfers the workpiece. In addition, if the lifting mechanism fails, the workpiece may fall and be damaged. It has been required to have safety measures to prevent.
In the conventional transfer robot, the workpiece transport unit is supported by the four link mechanisms and moves up and down. Therefore, even if a failure occurs in the drive mechanism of any one of the link mechanisms, it is safe without dropping the workpiece. The workpiece can be transferred to the position.
In this mechanism, the turning mechanism and the link mechanism of the raising / lowering mechanism facing each other operate and move up and down, so that an external force such as centrifugal force acts on the connecting part, and a large load is applied to the link part.
The present invention provides a transfer robot that reduces the load acting on the link mechanism of the lifting mechanism.

  In order to solve the above problem, the present invention is provided with a hand unit for placing a transported object and the hand unit, and is provided with at least two or more rotary joints so that the hand unit can be moved in one direction. And a horizontal arm mechanism disposed so as to be opposed in the axial direction, and a lifting mechanism including at least two sets of link mechanisms provided in a base member that moves the horizontal arm mechanism up and down, The elevating mechanism is composed of at least two sets of link mechanisms provided in the base member, and a linear motion mechanism is disposed between at least one of the link mechanisms and the base.

  According to the present invention, by connecting a linear motion mechanism between a link part and a connecting part of an elevating mechanism composed of at least two link mechanisms, the connecting part and the link are applied due to inertia, centrifugal force, and the like applied during the elevating operation. The external force of the part can be reduced.

Moreover, the centrifugal force to the connection part generated at the time of turning can be reduced.

The perspective view of the transfer robot which shows the Example of this invention The front view of the transfer robot which shows the Example of this invention The A section enlarged view of the transfer robot which shows the Example of this invention

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

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a transfer robot according to the present invention.

The transfer robot of the present invention includes a turning mechanism 17, an elevating mechanism 20, and a horizontal arm mechanism 30 for taking out a workpiece arranged in a stocker (not shown) and transferring it to a work area.
In the elevating mechanism 20, a drive unit (not shown) provided in the leg support members 3a and 3b drives the first joint portions 4a and 4b, and the first joint portions 4a and 4b include the first leg portions 5a and 5b. One end is connected, and the other end of the first leg portions 5a and 5b is connected to one end of the second leg portions 7a and 7b by second joint portions 6a and 6b provided with a drive unit (not shown). The other ends of the second leg portions 7a and 7b are rotatably connected to the support base 8. The first leg portions 5a and 5b are formed longer than the leg portion supporting members 3a and 3b so that the movement of the horizontal arm mechanism 30 to the lowest lowered position can be further lowered. The lengths of the second leg portions 7a and 7b are such that the side surfaces of the first leg portions 5a and 5b do not protrude outward from the side surfaces of the leg portion supporting members 3a and 3b when the horizontal arm mechanism 30 moves to the lowest position. Thus, it is formed with a length shorter than the length of the first leg portions 5a and 5b.
Next, the horizontal arm mechanism 30 will be described. The horizontal arm mechanism 30 is composed of a double link mechanism that moves the two hands 14a and 14b so that a workpiece (not shown) is moved in and out of the stocker. The moving direction of the hands 14a and 14b is relative to the direction in which the horizontal arm mechanism 30 moves vertically in the vertical direction by the lifting mechanism 20 and the extension direction of the second horizontal joint when the hands 14a and 14b are pulled into the lifting mechanism 20. The hands 14a and 14b move linearly in one direction.
Details of the horizontal arm mechanism 20 will be described. A first horizontal joint portion 9a having a drive mechanism (not shown) provided in the support base 8 is connected to one end of the first arm 10a, and the other end of the first arm 10a is secondly connected to the second horizontal joint portion 11a. It is connected to one end of the arm 12a. The other end of the second arm 12a is connected to the first hand 14a at the third horizontal joint portion 13a.
The support base 8 is provided with a support column 15 provided with a support member 16, and one end of the first arm 10b is connected to a first horizontal joint portion 9b provided with a drive mechanism (not shown) provided in the support member. The other end of the first arm 10b is connected to one end of the second arm 12b at the second horizontal joint 11b. The other end of the second arm 12b is connected to the first hand 14b at the third horizontal joint part 13b. The first arms 10a and 10b and the second arms 12a and 12b face each other to form a facing structure. Moreover, the 1st horizontal joint part 9a, 9b is arrange | positioned coaxially by the up-down direction so that it may face up and down in a present Example. However, even when the hands 14a and 14b are moved with respect to the moving direction, the same operation as in the present embodiment can be performed by changing the arm lengths of the first arms 10a and 10b and the second arms 12a and 12b. The first horizontal joint portions 9a and 9b are positioned on a straight line with respect to the movement direction of the hands 14a and 14b, and the first horizontal joint portions 9a and 9b are vertically moved when the hands 14a and 14b overlap in the vertical direction. Arranged coaxially in the direction.
Further, in this embodiment, the rotation axes of the first horizontal joint portions 9a and 9b are offset forward with respect to the moving direction of the hand with respect to the turning axis of the turning mechanism 17, and are arranged so as not to interfere with the turning mechanism 17. ing. However, even if the moving direction of the hands 14a and 14b is offset in either the front-rear direction or the right-and-left direction, it is the same as this embodiment by changing the arm lengths of the first arms 10a and 10b and the second arms 12a and 12b. Operation is possible.

The detail of the connection part of 2nd leg part 7a, 7b and the support base 8 is demonstrated with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG.
In the linear motion mechanism, a linear guide 8 c is installed between the second leg portion 7 b and the support base 8. Further, the third joint portion 8b is rotatably supported between the second leg portion 7b and the support base 8.
On the other hand, between the 2nd leg part 7a and the support base 8, it is rotatably supported by the 3rd joint part 8a.
Next, the operation will be described. A driving mechanism including a motor (not shown) of the first joint portion 4a and the second joint portion 6a is driven, and the first leg portion 5a is centered on the first joint portion 4a in a clockwise direction when viewed from the front in the moving direction of the hand 14a. When the second leg 7a turns counterclockwise around the second joint 6a and lowers the horizontal arm mechanism 30, the first leg 5a is flush with the base 2 surface. Further, the first leg portion 5a is pivoted clockwise about the first joint portion 4a to the extent that the side surface of the first leg portion 5a does not protrude greatly from the side surface of the leg portion supporting member 3a, The leg portion 7a is pivoted clockwise about the second joint portion 6a and moved to the raised position. Moreover, it moves to the lowered position by the reverse operation.
At this time, an inertial force acts on the second leg portions 7a and 7b. However, when the second leg portion 7b is moved up and down, the linear guide 8c is acted on the inertial force so as to be movable in the X-axis direction. It is supported and goes up and down. That is, the X-axis direction force generated by the inertia and centrifugal force during the lifting operation is released by the linear guide, and an operation without horizontal displacement is possible.
Further, the centrifugal force applied to the support base 8 generated when the transfer robot is rotated can be reduced by the linear guide.

In the present invention, a robot for transferring a liquid crystal substrate or a semiconductor wafer has been described. However, if such a substrate is transferred, for example, a substrate such as a panel for solar power generation or an organic EL substrate may be used. It is possible to transport.

1 Base 2 Base 3a, 3b Leg support member 4a, 4b First joint part 5a, 5b First leg part 6a, 6b Second joint part 7a, 7b Second leg part 8 Support base 8a, 8b Third joint part 8c Linear guide 9a, 9b 1st horizontal joint part 10a, 10b 1st arm 11a, 11b 2nd horizontal joint part 12a, 12b 2nd arm 13a, 13b 3rd horizontal joint part 14a, 14b Hand 15 support | pillar 16 support member 17 turning mechanism 20 Lifting mechanism 30 Horizontal arm mechanism 110 Lifting device 112 Base unit 113 Work support unit 114 Lifting mechanism 121, 122 Post 141, 142, 143, 144 Arm unit

Claims (1)

A hand unit for placing a transported object, and a hand unit connected to the hand unit, including at least two or more rotary joints, arranged to extend and contract so as to move the hand unit in one direction, and to face each other in the axial direction. A horizontal arm mechanism, and an elevating mechanism composed of at least two sets of link mechanisms provided in a base member that moves the horizontal arm mechanism up and down,
The lifting mechanism includes at least two sets of link mechanisms provided in the base member, and a linear motion mechanism is disposed between at least one of the link mechanisms and the base.

Images