JP2015074057A - Work-piece handling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a work-piece handling device which has an inexpensive and simple configuration and can reliably perform loading/unloading of a rectangular work-piece into/from a square hole for the work-piece, of a carrier.SOLUTION: A work-piece handling device is so configured that a hand device 41 is transferred right above a double carrier 20 and is lowered up to the double carrier 20. Then, the hand device is so rotated as to move plural hand claws 416 of the hand device 41 into the insides of plural notch parts 212 of the double carrier 20 in a state that a carrier hook position detection sensor 417e detects that plural carrier hooks 417d are inserted into plural notch parts 213 for positioning formed in the double carrier 20, and performs loading or unloading of a work-piece 10.

Description

  The present invention relates to a workpiece handling apparatus that loads or unloads a rectangular workpiece with respect to a workpiece square hole.

  The double-side polishing apparatus polishes both surfaces of a workpiece to be polished at the same time. The double-side polishing apparatus includes an upper surface plate, a lower surface plate, a sun gear, and an internal gear. The carrier holding the workpiece is engaged with the sun gear and the internal gear, and the carrier performs a planetary motion that revolves while rotating. Further, the lower surface plate and the upper surface plate rotate while the work is sandwiched between the lower surface plate and the upper surface plate. Thereby, the upper and lower surfaces of the workpiece are polished.

  There are various types of carriers used in the double-side polishing apparatus, and for example, a double carrier is known. This double carrier has an outer carrier and an inner carrier, a circular carrier hole is provided in the outer carrier, and the inner carrier is rotatably arranged in the carrier hole. The workpiece is inserted into the workpiece hole of the inner carrier, and the workpiece is polished by multiple and complicated rotation of the outer carrier and the inner carrier. The workpiece hole of the inner carrier has a shape obtained by adding a plus tolerance to the workpiece dimension. Therefore, the workpiece hole when the workpiece is circular is circular, and the workpiece hole when the workpiece is rectangular is rectangular.

  As a conventional technique of such a double carrier, for example, one described in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 57-041164, title of invention “double carrier for lapping”) is known. This prior art is related to a double carrier for rectangular workpieces. The rectangular workpiece is housed in a double-structured carrier, and free rotation of the entire built-in carrier is promoted, thereby improving workpiece machining accuracy. It is improving.

  In addition, in a double-side polishing machine, handling is performed by automatically loading unprocessed workpieces into the double-side polishing machine and automatically unloading processed workpieces, resulting in processing costs due to quality stabilization and labor saving. There is an active movement to reduce this. Therefore, there is a demand for automatically handling the rectangular workpiece as described above. However, there has been no disclosure of the prior art of an apparatus for automatically handling a rectangular work with a normal carrier as well as a double carrier.

  As for an apparatus for automatically handling a circular workpiece, for example, Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-243996, title of invention “Holding detection device and detection method for semiconductor wafer carrier, and polishing of semiconductor wafer”) Methods ") are known. Patent Document 2 performs “automatic workpiece handling” for circular workpieces. In order to recognize the positions of the circular workpiece holes, the workpiece holes or the workpieces are positioned at right angles as viewed from the center of the workpiece. A center coordinate is obtained by providing a camera (visual sensor) and obtaining the edge position of the work hole.

JP-A-57-041164 JP 2005-243996 A

  When handling such a rectangular workpiece automatically, the prior art workpiece handling device of Patent Document 2 cannot be simply applied. Even if the circular work rotates, the appearance does not change, and it is relatively easy for a robot hand or the like to grip the circular work. Therefore, it is necessary to move the gripping position of the robot hand or the like. Further, since the inner carrier can freely rotate in the double carrier, the rotational position of the rectangular workpiece cannot be predicted, and in this respect, gripping is not easy.

  For example, if the workpiece is loaded and the workpiece is loaded on the carrier and the upper surface plate is put on and polished, the sandwiched workpiece will be damaged and the broken pieces will be removed from the upper surface of the other workpiece. Or the entire upper surface plate may vibrate abnormally (crash), damaging not only the workpiece but also the carrier and surface plate. Therefore, there has been a demand for reliable handling of rectangular workpieces.

  In Patent Document 1, a rectangular work is targeted, but handling is not disclosed.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, automatic handling is put to practical use because it is intended for a circular workpiece that is relatively easy to grip. However, a workpiece handling device for a circular workpiece cannot be applied to a workpiece handling device for a rectangular workpiece. This is because the gripping position needs to be changed by the rotation of the rectangular workpiece as described above. In addition, it is difficult to detect the position and orientation of a rectangular work as compared to a circular work, and it is necessary to devise the number and arrangement of visual sensors. For example, it is difficult to detect a rectangular work or work hole with a camera, and additional means such as adding a camera or expanding the field of view are required.

  Furthermore, in the prior art of Patent Document 2, the position is detected using a camera, but water and abrasive grains scattered due to the influence of the polishing liquid adhere to and stay on the work and the work carrier, and are detected by a visual sensor such as an optical sensor or a camera. Monitoring is difficult. Moreover, since water may accumulate in the carrier hole, it is difficult to detect the edge of the workpiece. For these reasons, position detection is difficult in image processing.

  In addition, the visual sensor is difficult to control, such as the point that the detection accuracy changes when the sensor or the like becomes dirty with the polishing liquid, or the detection accuracy changes depending on the amount of polishing liquid discharged. there were. In addition, the visual sensor has a problem of high cost. The positioning means using a visual sensor is only an auxiliary means for increasing the fitting probability, and it is difficult to check after fitting with the same visual sensor, and at the same time, it is possible to detect the climbing of the workpiece. However, since there is no means for recovery, the automation process cannot continue. Thus, it is difficult to discriminate the polishing workpiece itself, and if the detection accuracy is lowered, it becomes a major factor that hinders automation.

  In any case, a workpiece handling device that detects the position and orientation of a rectangular workpiece square hole or a rectangular workpiece in an environment contaminated with polishing slurry or the like is a very complicated and expensive system when the conventional technology is applied as it is. End up.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a low-cost and simple configuration, and to reliably load or unload a rectangular workpiece into a square hole for a workpiece of a double carrier. The object is to provide a workpiece handling device.

The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is
A circular inner carrier in which a rectangular hole for a workpiece on which a rectangular workpiece is mounted, a plurality of hand nail cutout portions communicating with the rectangular hole for the workpiece, and a carrier on which the inner carrier is loosely fitted A workpiece handling device for loading or unloading a workpiece into a square hole for a workpiece of a double carrier comprising a circular outer carrier having a gear portion formed on the outer peripheral surface thereof, wherein a work hole is formed,
A hand device having a plurality of hand claws for gripping a workpiece, and an alignment mechanism in the rotation direction of the hand claws with respect to the workpiece, and a double-side polishing apparatus and workpiece supply / discharge by moving the hand device up and down and turning A transfer unit for transferring between the devices,
The positioning mechanism includes a mechanism for rotating the hand claw, a pair of positioning pins and hozo mechanisms, and a detection mechanism for confirming the fitting of the workpiece handling apparatus. It was.

The invention according to claim 2 of the present invention is
The work handling apparatus according to claim 1,
The positioning pin & hoo mechanism is
A plurality of carrier hooks as a plurality of pins provided in the hand device;
Notch portions for positioning as a plurality of tenons provided on the outer periphery of the inner carrier,
It was set as the workpiece handling apparatus characterized by providing.

  According to the present invention as described above, it is possible to provide a workpiece handling device that is inexpensive and simple and that reliably loads or unloads a rectangular workpiece into a workpiece square hole of a double carrier.

It is a top view of the important section of a polish system. It is sectional drawing of the principal part of a grinding | polishing system. It is explanatory drawing of a double carrier. It is explanatory drawing of the hand apparatus on the workpiece | work table for supply (collection workpiece | work table), Fig.4 (a) is a perspective top view, FIG.4 (b) is a perspective front view. It is a front view containing the partial cross section of the hand apparatus on a double carrier. FIG. 6A is an explanatory diagram of workpiece handling (at the time of loading), FIG. 6A is an explanatory diagram of a moving state immediately above the workpiece, FIG. 6B is an explanatory diagram of positioning operation by lowering of the hand device and carrier hook movement, FIG. FIG. 6C is an explanatory diagram of position determination by carrier hook fitting. It is explanatory drawing (at the time of loading) of workpiece handling, Fig.7 (a) is explanatory drawing of a hand nail | claw lowering, FIG.7 (b) is explanatory drawing of workpiece mounting. FIG. 8A is an explanatory diagram of workpiece handling (when unloading), FIG. 8A is an explanatory diagram of a state of movement immediately above the workpiece, FIG. 8B is an explanatory diagram of positioning operation by lowering of the hand device and carrier hook movement; FIG. 8C is an explanatory diagram of position determination by carrier hook fitting. FIG. 9A is an explanatory diagram of workpiece handling (during unloading), FIG. 9A is an explanatory diagram of hand claw lowering, FIG. 9B is an explanatory diagram of workpiece gripping, and FIG. 9C is an explanatory diagram of movement of an inner carrier. FIG. FIG. 10A is an explanatory diagram showing the state of the carrier hook, FIG. 10A is a hand state diagram showing the carrier hook fitting operation, and FIG. 10B is a carrier state diagram showing the carrier hook fitting operation. FIG. 11A is a perspective plan view showing a state of the hand device when the hand claw is in contact with the work, and FIG. 11B is a hand claw and the work when the hand claw is in contact with the work. It is a perspective plan view showing a peripheral state. FIG. 12A is an explanatory diagram of a carrier hook operation, FIG. 12A is an operation state diagram for a square work, and FIG. 12B is an operation state diagram for a rectangular work. It is explanatory drawing of the workpiece handling from the grinding | polishing apparatus with a some double carrier.

  Next, a work handling apparatus according to an embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the polishing system 1 is a system in which a workpiece handling device 40 attaches and detaches a workpiece 10 with respect to a double-side polishing device 30 that polishes by revolving or rotating a double carrier 20 to which the workpiece 10 is mounted. It is. In FIG. 1, the upper surface plate is omitted in order to facilitate understanding of the configuration.

  The workpiece 10 is a rectangular (square in this embodiment) plate as viewed from above, and is made of quartz, silicon wafer, glass, piezoelectric element, metal, or other various materials.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the double carrier 20 is divided and configured in a binary manner, and includes an inner carrier 21 and an outer carrier 22. The thicknesses of the inner carrier 21 and the outer carrier 22 are set to be thinner than the workpiece 10 to be processed. The double-side polishing apparatus 30 shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 is provided with a single double carrier 20. A plurality of double carriers 20 may be arranged as shown in FIG.

  The inner carrier 21 is a disc on which the workpiece 10 is mounted. In particular, as shown in FIG. 3, the workpiece square hole 211 in which a rectangular (in this embodiment, a square shape) workpiece 10 is mounted, this workpiece Positioning of plural (four in this embodiment) hand claw notches 212 communicating with the square hole 211 and a plurality of (four in this embodiment) located around the plurality of hand claw notches 212 Notch portions 213 for forming are respectively formed.

  Cutout portions 212 for hand claws that are rectangular through holes are provided at four straight portions of the work square holes 211 that are rectangular through holes of the inner carrier 21. A space for inserting and operating a hand claw 416 for gripping from four directions is provided.

  The positioning notch 213 is a through-hole (notch) that is formed near one outer periphery of the inner carrier 21 and in the vicinity of one hand claw notch 212. A positioning notch 213 is provided on the same circle. The positioning notch 213 is fitted with a carrier hook 417d (see FIG. 5) described later.

  The outer carrier 22 is a disc that holds the inner carrier 21, and is formed with a carrier hole 221 into which the inner carrier 21 is loosely fitted, and a gear portion 222 on the outer peripheral surface. The gear part 222 of the double carrier 20 (outer carrier 22) meshes with the sun gear 32 and the internal gear 33 on the double-side polishing apparatus 30, and the double carrier 20 (outer carrier 22) can arbitrarily operate (spin and revolve). Can do. Since the outer carrier 22 is a portion that directly and physically meshes with the sun gear 32 and the internal gear 33 of the double-side polishing apparatus 30, the outer carrier 22 is made of a material having high rigidity so as to have high durability.

  Since the inner carrier 21 having a circular outer periphery is loosely fitted in the carrier hole 221 having substantially the same outer diameter as the outer carrier 22, the inner carrier 21 can freely rotate in the carrier hole 221. Further, the center of the outer carrier 22 and the center of the carrier hole 221 are different from each other and are eccentric, and the work 10 is polished on a uniform plane without further bias by the rotation or revolution of the inner carrier 21 that is loosely fitted to the outer carrier 22. The By setting it as such a structure, the processing precision of the workpiece | work 10 can be improved.

  The double-side polishing apparatus 30 on which such a double carrier 20 is mounted performs planar processing such as lapping and polishing on both sides of the workpiece 10. Then, each structure of such a double-side polish apparatus 30 is demonstrated.

  The double-side polishing apparatus 30 includes a lower surface plate 31, a sun gear 32, an internal gear 33, and an upper surface plate 34, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 show a state in which the upper surface plate 34 is raised and the inside can be seen. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a lower surface plate rotation drive unit 35, a sun gear rotation drive unit 36, and an internal gear rotation drive unit 37 are provided.

  The lower surface plate 31 is an annular disk, and has a lap surface / polish surface for polishing the workpiece 10 on the upper surface. Although not shown, a polishing cloth (not shown) may be attached to the upper surface of the lower surface plate 31 and the workpiece 10 may be polished with the polishing cloth. Such a lower surface plate 31 has a function of lapping or polishing the lower surface of the workpiece 10 and is rotated by a lower surface plate rotation driving unit 35.

  The sun gear 32 is disposed on the inner peripheral side (center side) of the lower surface plate 31 as shown in FIG. 1, and is rotationally driven by the sun gear rotation drive unit 36 as shown in FIG. The pin-shaped teeth of the sun gear 32 mesh with the gear portion 222 on the outer periphery of the double carrier 20.

  The internal gear 33 is disposed on the outer peripheral side of the lower surface plate 31 as shown in FIG. 1, and is rotationally driven by an internal gear rotation drive unit 37 as shown in FIG. The pin-shaped teeth of the internal gear 33 mesh with the gear portion 222 on the outer periphery of the double carrier 20. The double carrier 20 disposed on the lower surface plate 31 and mounted with the workpiece 10 meshes with the sun gear 32 and the internal gear 33 and rotates.

  The upper surface plate 34 is an annular disk, and has a lapping surface / polishing surface for polishing the workpiece 10 on the lower surface. Although not shown, a polishing cloth (not shown) may be attached to the lower surface of the upper surface plate 34 and the workpiece may be polished with the polishing cloth. Such an upper surface plate 34 has a function of lapping or polishing the upper surface of the workpiece 10. The lower surface plate 31 and the upper surface plate 34 are supported around the same central axis.

  In such a double-side polishing apparatus 30, the sun gear 32 and the internal gear 33 are configured to rotate independently. The degree of rotation and revolution of the double carrier 20 (cycle, number of times, etc.) is determined by the rotation ratio or speed of the shaft with respect to each gear. That is, the workpiece 10 mounted on the double carrier 20 performs a rotational motion corresponding to the rotation or revolution of the double carrier 20. The inner carrier 21 also rotates and revolves with respect to the outer carrier 22. Since the workpiece 10 arranged in the workpiece square hole 211 also moves in accordance with the movement of the double carrier 20 in this way, the front and back surfaces of the workpiece 10 contacting the lower surface plate 31 and the upper surface plate 34 are polished.

  Next, the work handling apparatus 40 that characterizes the present invention will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the work handling device 40 includes a hand device 41, a transport arm 42 supported at the tip of the hand device 41, and an arm rotation that moves the hand device 41 by turning and lifting the transport arm 42. The hand unit rotation driving unit 44 that rotates around the axis of the hand unit 41 that is pivotally supported by the driving unit 43 and the tip of the transport arm 42, and the rotational force from the hand unit rotation driving unit 44 is transmitted to the hand unit 41. A belt 45 is provided. In addition, a central control device (not shown) is provided.

  The hand device 41 has a function of gripping the rectangular workpiece 10, and as shown in detail in FIGS. 4 and 5, the hand base 411, the hand claw opening / closing member 412, the cam follower (four) 413, the connecting shaft 414, a shaft guide member 415, hand claws (four pieces) 416, and a carrier hook mechanism (two places) 417. The hand base 411, the hand claw opening / closing member 412, the cam follower (four) 413, the connecting shaft 414, and the shaft guide member 415 constitute a mechanism for rotating the hand claw of the present invention.

The hand base 411 is a mechanical base on which these configurations are mounted.
The hand claw opening / closing member 412 is a member for moving each hand claw 416 in the radial direction in synchronization. The hand claw opening / closing member 412 is supported to be rotatable with respect to the hand base 411. As shown in FIG. 4A, the hand claw opening / closing member 412 is provided with a plurality of guide grooves 412a. The hand claw opening / closing member 412 is configured to rotate independently within the hand claw opening / closing member rotation range 412b by a hand claw opening / closing member rotation driving device (not shown).

The cam follower 413 moves in the guide groove 412a. When the hand claw opening / closing member 412 rotates, the cam follower 413 moves in the radial direction.
The connection shaft 414 connects the cam follower 413 and the hand claw 416, and the cam follower 413, the connection shaft 414, and the hand claw 416 have an integral structure.
The shaft guide member 415 restrains the connecting shaft 414 to move in the horizontal direction and only in the radial direction.

As shown in FIGS. 4B and 10B, the hand claw 416 grips the workpiece 10 from four directions (at intervals of about 90 degrees in the circumferential direction).
As shown in FIGS. 4B and 5, the lower end portion of the hand claw 416 has a shape protruding inward in order to pick up the work 10 slightly from the lower surface plate 31 and then grip it. (Note that the corner of the workpiece 10 on which the hand claw 416 acts is chamfered.)

The carrier hook mechanisms 417 are provided at two diagonal positions on the central axis of the hand device 41.
As shown in FIG. 5, the carrier hook mechanism 417 includes a shaft head 417a, a compression spring mechanism 417b, a shaft 417c, a carrier hook 417d, and a carrier hook position detection sensor 417e. The shaft 417c has a shaft head 417a fixed to the upper end and a carrier hook 417d fixed to the lower end. The shaft head 417a, the compression spring mechanism 417b, the shaft 417c, and the carrier hook position detection sensor 417e constitute a detection mechanism for confirming the fitting of the present invention.

  The shaft 417c is urged downward by a compression spring mechanism 417b. As will be described later, as shown in FIGS. 6B and 6C, when the carrier hook 417d enters the lower positioning notch 213 by the spring force, the shaft head 417a is moved downward via the shaft 417c. The carrier hook position detection sensor 417e is turned on / off according to the position of the shaft head 417a. For example, it turns on when it moves down and turns off when it moves up. The carrier hook 417d and the positioning cutout portion 213 constitute the positioning pin & teno mechanism of the present invention. There are two such positioning pin & tense mechanisms, which constitute a pair of positioning pin & teno mechanisms.

  The mechanism for rotating the hand claw, the pair of positioning pin and lever mechanisms, and the detection mechanism for confirming the fitting of them constitute an alignment mechanism in the direction of rotation of the workpiece of the present invention. Furthermore, the hand device of the present invention is configured by the plurality of hand claws and the alignment mechanism in the rotation direction of the workpiece.

  Such a hand device 41 is rotatably supported with respect to the transport arm 42. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4B, a hand turning shaft 419 is attached to the tip of the transfer arm 42, and the hand base 411 is attached to the hand turning shaft 419. Accordingly, the hand base 411 is pivotally supported with respect to the transfer arm 42 so as to be rotatable.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the hand device rotation drive unit 44 provided on the transport arm 42 is connected to the hand turning shaft 419 via the drive belt 45 and the drive pulley 418 as shown in FIG. The rotating force is transmitted, and the hand base 411 is rotated together with the hand claw opening / closing member 412.

  Further, the hand claw opening / closing member 412 is configured to rotate independently with respect to the hand base 411 by a hand claw opening / closing member rotation driving device (not shown). When the hand claw opening / closing member 412 rotates, the guide groove 412a moves, and the hand claw 416 moves in the radial direction via the cam follower 413 and the connecting shaft 414. When the hand claw opening / closing member 412 is rotated in one direction (clockwise in FIG. 4A), the four hand claws 416 are synchronously moved inward, and in the other direction (counterclockwise in FIG. 4A). When the hand claw 416 is rotated, the four hand claws 416 are moved outward in synchronization.

  Further, the transfer arm 42 is supported at one end thereof so as to be raised and rotated by the arm rotation driving unit 43. As shown in FIG. 2, the arm rotation driving unit 43 is supported by a base unit 431, a rotation support unit 432 that is pivotally supported by the base unit 431, and a lift support unit 432 that can be moved up and down. The rotary lift shaft 433 is moved up and down and rotated by a lift and rotation device (not shown).

  When turning, the rotary elevating shaft 433 is raised to the height a and then turned. Further, when the carrier hook 417d and the inner carrier 21 are brought into contact with each other, the rotary elevating shaft 433 is lowered to the height b. Further, when placing and gripping the workpiece 10, the rotary elevating shaft 433 is lowered to the height c. The arm rotation driving unit 43 and the hand device rotation driving unit 44 as described above constitute a transfer unit of the present invention. The above-described hand device 41, arm rotation drive unit 43, hand device rotation drive unit 44, and hand claw opening / closing member rotation drive device (not shown) are controlled by a central control device (not shown).

  The behavior of the workpiece handling apparatus 40 is as follows. As shown by the semicircular arrow in FIG. 1, the handling position of the double carrier 20 in the double-side polishing apparatus 30 (position where the loading position and the unloading position are common). ) And the workpiece loading position (feeding workpiece mounting table 51) and unloading position (collecting workpiece mounting table 52) outside the double-side polishing apparatus 30 are on the trajectory (circular arc) on which the transfer arm 42 turns. It is above. For this reason, positioning operation can be performed easily and reliably.

  Next, a series of operations of the polishing system 1, that is, loading of the workpiece 10 by the workpiece handling device 40, polishing by the polishing device 30, and unloading of the workpiece 10 by the workpiece handling device 40 will be described. In this polishing system 1, loading is performed to transfer from a workpiece mounting table 51 of a workpiece supply / discharge device (not shown) to the double-side polishing device 30, and from the double-side polishing device 30 to a recovery workpiece table 52 of a workpiece supply / discharge device (not shown). The workpiece handling apparatus 40 performs unloading to be transported. The workpiece is loaded and unloaded by the following series of operations.

  First, the loading of the workpiece 10 onto the double-side polishing apparatus 30 will be described. Here, it is assumed that the double-side polishing apparatus 30 performs an initialization process before workpiece processing, and is stopped so that both the double carrier 20 and the inner carrier 21 are in a predetermined loading position.

(A) The transfer arm 42 is turned to the supply work table 51.
A central control device (not shown) controls the arm rotation driving unit 43 to raise and turn the transfer arm 42, and as shown in FIG. 4B, the hand device 41 is placed on the guide pins 53 of the supply work table 51. It moves directly above a certain unprocessed workpiece 10.

(B) Lowering of Hand Device 41 A central control device (not shown) controls the arm rotation driving unit 43 to lower the hand device 41 to a predetermined position. Thereafter, the hand claw 416 is moved inward to grip the unprocessed workpiece 10. Since the lower end portion of the hand claw 416 protrudes inward and has a tapered shape, the unprocessed workpiece 10 can be reliably scooped up and gripped.

(C) The transfer arm 42 is turned to the loading position.
Subsequently, the central control device (not shown) controls the arm rotation driving unit 43, raises the transport arm 42 and the hand device 41 in a state where the work 10 is gripped, and then turns the transport arm 42 to turn the hand device. 41 is moved directly above the inner carrier 21 of the double carrier 20. As shown in FIG. 6A, the hand device 41 stops immediately above the inner carrier 21.

(D) Lowering of the hand device 41 The central control device (not shown) controls the arm rotation driving unit 43 to a position where the carrier hook 417d is pressed onto the surface of the inner carrier 21 as shown in FIG. The hand device 41 is lowered. Here, since the shaft 417c is housed in the hollow shaft and the compression spring mechanism 417b is loaded on the upper portion, when the carrier hook 417d is pressed against the inner carrier 21 surface, the shaft head 417d is apparently pushed up. The vertical position can be determined by the carrier hook position detection sensor 417e.

  The level at which the hand device 41 is lowered is normally the level b in the side view of the hand device shown in FIG. However, in the case of accompanying platen wear such as lapping, it is necessary to provide a sensor (not shown) for detecting the carrier surface or the lower platen surface to determine the lowered position. (This is because, in the unlikely event that the carrier hook 417d is lowered, the inner carrier 21 may be fitted with the positioning notch (through hole) 213.)

(E) Rotation of Hand Device 41 A central control device (not shown) controls the hand device rotation control unit 44, and the hand device rotation control unit 44 rotates the hand device 41 via the belt 45. This rotation is continued until the carrier hook 417d is fitted into the inner carrier notch (through hole) 213. When viewed from above, the carrier hook 417d approaches the inner carrier notch (through hole) 213 as indicated by the black circles in FIGS. 10 (a) and 10 (b).

(F) Stopping rotation of hand device 41 As shown in FIG. 6C, when the carrier hook 417d is fitted into the inner carrier notch 213, the shaft head 417a is lowered and the carrier hook position detection sensor 417e is moved. When the ON signal is output, the central control device (not shown) stops the rotation of the hand device 41 by the hand device rotation control unit 44. At this time, when the inside of the hand device 41 and the double carrier 20 are viewed from above, the state is as shown in FIGS.

(G) Lowering of the hand device 41 A central control device (not shown) controls the arm rotation driving unit 43, and as shown in FIG. 7A, the hand claw 416 passes through the positioning notch 213 and is lowered. The arm rotation drive unit 43 lowers the hand device 41 until it slightly contacts the upper surface of the board 31. For example, the drag at the time of contact can be detected by a force sensor built in the arm rotation drive unit 43, and a central control device (not shown) can stop the descent. If the thickness of the workpiece is almost constant as usual, the workpiece may be lowered from position b in the side view of the hand device shown in FIG. 2 to position c.

(H) Loading of Work 10 A central control device (not shown) controls a hand claw opening / closing member rotation driving device (not shown), and this hand claw opening / closing member rotation driving device rotates the hand claw opening / closing member 412 to cause the hand claw 416 to have a radius. Move outward in the direction. At this time, when the relationship between the guide groove 412a and the cam follower 413 is viewed, the state shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B is shifted to the state shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B. Then, as shown in FIG. 7B, the workpiece 10 is placed in the workpiece square hole 211. Since the lower end portion of the hand claw 416 protrudes inward and is tapered, the workpiece 10 can be placed while being slowly lowered when the hand claw 416 is moved outward.

  As shown in FIG. 13, when there are a plurality of double carriers 20, the double carrier 20 is moved while rotating and revolving so that the inner carrier 21 is at a predetermined unloading position or loading position. The operations (A) to (H) described are newly performed sequentially. Further, all the double carriers are revolved, and the unloading operation and the loading operation are sequentially performed on the next double carrier.

Next, a specific processing operation of the double-side polishing apparatus 30 will be described.
The workpiece 10 is set on the double carrier 20. As shown in FIG. 2, the upper upper platen 34 is lowered, the workpiece 10 held on the double carrier 20 placed on the lower platen 31 is pressed, and the entire surface of the upper and lower platen is supplied while supplying the abrasive. The sun gear 32 and the internal gear 33 are rotated according to a program set in advance so that the workpiece 10 moves relatively while in contact with the workpiece 10. Further, the lower surface plate 31 and the upper surface plate 34 are rotated together, or either the lower surface plate 31 or the upper surface plate 34 is rotated.

  When the double carrier 20 is rotated by the sun gear 32 and the internal gear 33, the workpiece 10 mounted on the double carrier 20 is also rotated. The workpiece 10 in contact with the upper and lower surface plates is rotated and revolved by the double carrier 20 while being supplied with the abrasive. Such rotational force due to rotation and revolution generates a relative frictional force between the lower surface plate 31 and the upper surface plate 34, and a frictional force due to a rotational motion with the polishing pad, and a polishing slurry in which abrasive particles and various additives are mixed. It is polished by the reaction.

  Next, unloading of the workpiece 10 from the double-side polishing apparatus 30 will be described. It is assumed that both the double carrier 20 and the inner carrier 21 are stopped at the predetermined unloading position at the end of polishing.

(A) The transfer arm 42 is turned to the supply work table 51.
A central control device (not shown) controls the arm rotation driving unit 43 to raise and turn the transfer arm 42, and as shown in FIGS. 5 and 8A, the hand device 41 is processed in the inner carrier 21. Move directly above the workpiece 10.

(B) Lowering of the hand device 41 A central control device (not shown) controls the arm rotation driving unit 43 to a position where the carrier hook 417d is pressed onto the surface of the inner carrier 21 as shown in FIG. The hand device 41 is lowered. Here, since the shaft 417c is housed in the hollow shaft and the compression spring mechanism 417b is loaded on the upper portion, when the carrier hook 417d is pressed against the inner carrier 21, the shaft head 417d is apparently pushed up. The vertical position can be determined by the carrier hook position detection sensor 417e.

  The level at which the hand device 41 is lowered is normally the level b in the side view of the hand device shown in FIG. However, in the case of accompanying platen wear such as lapping, it is necessary to provide a sensor (not shown) for detecting the carrier surface or the lower platen surface to determine the lowered position. (This is because there is a possibility of fitting with the inner carrier notch (through hole) 213 at a position where the carrier hook 417d is lowered).

(C) Rotation of the hand device 41 A central control device (not shown) controls the hand device rotation control unit 44, and the hand device rotation control unit 44 rotates the hand device 41 via the belt 45. This rotation is continued until the carrier hook 417d is fitted into the inner carrier notch (through hole) 213. When viewed from above, the carrier hook 417d approaches the inner carrier notch (through hole) 213 as indicated by the black circles in FIGS. 10 (a) and 10 (b).

(D) Stopping rotation of hand device 41 As shown in FIG. 8C, when the carrier hook 417d is fitted into the inner carrier notch 213, the shaft head 417a is lowered and the carrier hook position detection sensor 417e is moved. When the ON signal is output, the central control device (not shown) stops the rotation of the hand device 41 by the hand device rotation control unit 44. At this time, when the inside of the hand device 41 and the double carrier 20 are viewed from above, the state is as shown in FIGS.

(E) Lowering of the hand device 41 A central control device (not shown) controls the arm rotation driving unit 43, and as shown in FIG. 9A, the hand claw 416 passes through the positioning notch 213 and is lowered. The arm rotation drive unit 43 lowers the hand device 41 until it slightly contacts the upper surface of the board 31. For example, the drag at the time of contact can be detected by a force sensor built in the arm rotation drive unit 43, and a central control device (not shown) can stop the descent. If the thickness of the workpiece is almost constant as usual, the workpiece may be lowered from the position b in the side view of the hand device shown in FIG. 2 to the position c.

(F) Grasping the workpiece 10 A central control device (not shown) controls a hand claw opening / closing member rotation driving device (not shown), and the hand claw opening / closing member rotation driving device rotates the hand claw opening / closing member 412 to make the hand claw 416 radius. Move inward direction. At this time, when the relationship between the guide groove 412a and the cam follower 413 is viewed, the state shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B is shifted to the state shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B. Then, as shown in FIG. 9B, the workpiece 10 in the workpiece square hole 211 is gripped. Since the lower end portion of the hand claw 416 protrudes inward and has a tapered shape, the workpiece 10 can be grasped while being slowly lifted when the hand claw 416 is moved outward. It should be noted that immediately after gripping (or after the hand claw 416 is slightly lifted and lifted to a position separated from the surface of the lower surface plate 31), the hand device 41 is rotated as shown in FIG. You may make it become a position. In particular, in the case of polishing using a plurality of double carriers in FIG. 13, the inner carrier is rotated to a predetermined position so that the position information of the inner carrier in each double carrier after the previous machining is loaded when an unmachined workpiece is loaded. It is no longer necessary to memorize the information, and simpler and more reliable operation is possible.

(G) The transfer arm 42 is turned to the recovery work placing table 52.
Subsequently, the central control device (not shown) controls the arm rotation driving unit 43, raises the transport arm 42 and the hand device 41 in a state where the work 10 is gripped, and then turns the transport arm 42 to turn the hand device. 41 is moved to a position immediately above the work table 52 for collection. As shown in FIG. 4B, the hand device 41 stops just above the collection work placing table 52.

(H) Lowering of the hand device 41 A central control device (not shown) controls the arm rotation driving unit 43 to lower the hand device 41. Thereafter, the hand claw 416 is moved to the outside to place the unprocessed workpiece 10 on the guide pins 53 of the collection workpiece placing table 52. Since the lower end portion of the hand claw 416 protrudes inward and has a tapered shape, the unprocessed workpiece 10 can be placed slowly.

  Then, when there are a plurality of double carriers 20, the double carrier 20 is moved while rotating and revolving so that the inner carrier 21 is at the unloading position, and in this state, the previously described (i) to (h) Perform operations sequentially. The unloading of the workpiece 10 is performed in this way.

  When gripping the workpiece 10 described above, by storing the hand turning position information, it is possible to fit the workpiece using the position information when supplying an unprocessed workpiece again. However, when handling multiple carriers and workpieces, or when unmachined workpieces are supplied after all processed workpieces have been collected, the position information of each inner carrier is stored. Since it is complicated to keep, it is easier and more reliable to turn the inner carrier to a predetermined position.

  The features of the present invention are as described in detail above, but the present invention is not limited to the above and illustrated examples, and includes various modifications. In particular, the double carrier 20 has been described as having a work square hole 211 for holding the square work 10 as shown in FIG. 12A, but this is not limited to a square, and FIG. As shown in b), the present invention includes a form having a work square hole 211 for holding a rectangular work 10 having one long side.

  FIG. 12 also shows a turning operation for searching for the position of the inner carrier notch 213 by the carrier hook 417d. When the shape of the workpiece 10 is “square”, the inner carrier notch 213 has each side. 4 can be installed in a direction perpendicular to each other, the turning angle of the hand device 41 becomes relatively small, and the operation time is short. However, when the work shape is “rectangular”, two inner carrier cutouts 213 are provided in a direction parallel to either the long side or the short side of the work (the long side in this embodiment). In this case, since the turning direction of the hand cannot be specified, there is a case where the hand moves in a direction with a large turning angle. Therefore, a square work shape can shorten the process time.

The present invention has been described above. The workpiece handling device can perform automatic handling of rectangular workpieces simply, inexpensively and reliably.
Further, since the position of the inner carrier is mechanically detected, the operation is surely performed even in an environment contaminated with slurry or the like.
In addition, by specifying the position of the inner carrier in the unloading process after machining the workpiece, when loading the workpiece without moving the carrier, the workpiece can be accurately and surely fitted into the workpiece hole. it can.

  Such a workpiece fitting apparatus and fitting method can be applied to a 3-way type or 4-way type planetary gear type double-side polishing apparatus or the like.

  The work handling apparatus according to the present invention as described above is particularly suitable for mounting on a polishing system that performs polishing by automation.

1: Polishing system 10: Work piece 20: Double carrier 21: Inner carrier 211: Square hole 212 for work: Notch portion for hand nail 213: Notch portion for positioning 22: Outer carrier 221: Hole for carrier 222: Gear portion 30 : Double-side polishing device 31: Lower surface plate 32: Sun gear 33: Internal gear 34: Upper surface plate 35: Lower surface plate rotation drive unit 36: Sun gear rotation drive unit 37: Internal gear rotation drive unit 40: Work handling device 41: Hand device 411 : Hand base 412: Hand claw opening / closing member 412a: Guide grooves (4 locations)
412b: Hand claw opening / closing member rotation range 413: Cam follower (four)
414: Connection shaft 415: Shaft guide member 416: Hand claws (4 pieces)
417: Carrier hook mechanism (2 locations)
417a: Shaft head portion 417b: Compression spring mechanism 417c: Shaft 417d: Carrier hook 418: Drive pulley 419: Hand turning shaft 42: Transfer arm 43: Arm rotation drive portion 431: Base portion 432: Rotation support portion 433: Rotation lift shaft 44: Hand device rotation drive unit 45: Belt 51: Supply work table 52: Collection work table 53: Guide pin

Claims (2)

A circular inner carrier in which a rectangular hole for a workpiece on which a rectangular workpiece is mounted, a plurality of hand nail cutout portions communicating with the rectangular hole for the workpiece, and a carrier on which the inner carrier is loosely fitted A workpiece handling device for loading or unloading a workpiece into a square hole for a workpiece of a double carrier comprising a circular outer carrier having a gear portion formed on the outer peripheral surface thereof, wherein a work hole is formed,
A hand device having a plurality of hand claws for gripping a workpiece, and an alignment mechanism in the rotation direction of the hand claws with respect to the workpiece, and a double-side polishing apparatus and workpiece supply / discharge by moving the hand device up and down and turning A transfer unit for transferring between the devices,
The positioning mechanism includes a mechanism for rotating the hand claw, a pair of positioning pins and hozo mechanisms, and a detection mechanism for confirming the fitting of the workpiece handling apparatus. . The work handling apparatus according to claim 1,
The positioning pin & hoo mechanism is
A plurality of carrier hooks as a plurality of pins provided in the hand device;
Notch portions for positioning as a plurality of tenons provided on the outer periphery of the inner carrier,
A work handling apparatus comprising:

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