JP3976170B2 - Thin article positioning device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus for positioning a thin plate article, and in particular, quickly and accurately positions a thin plate article (hereinafter simply referred to as “thin plate article”) made of a liquid crystal glass substrate by a simple mechanism. The present invention relates to a positioning apparatus for a thin plate article that can be performed while the apparatus is being used.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, in a liquid crystal manufacturing factory, when a glass substrate formed in a predetermined size is transferred from one apparatus to another apparatus, an error in the relative position of the apparatus or the apparatus accompanying the increase in the size of the glass substrate. The error of the transfer accuracy of loading / unloading of the glass became large, and an accident occurred in which the glass substrate collided with the apparatus or the like during the transfer.
In order to prevent this, it is necessary to accurately position the glass substrate. When the glass substrate is transferred from one apparatus to another apparatus, the position of the glass substrate is corrected.
By the way, the correction of the position of the glass substrate is performed, for example, by positioning the glass substrate by bringing the end of the glass substrate directly into contact with the positioning stopper at the position of the conveyer, and then by another transfer machine. It was performed by transferring to an apparatus or a conveyor.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The conventional glass substrate position correction method is performed by directly contacting the end of the glass substrate with the positioning stopper, so that there is no problem when the glass substrate is small, but the production efficiency is improved. In order to meet the demand for improvement and reduction in manufacturing cost, when the glass substrate is enlarged, the frictional resistance with the conveyor increases due to the weight of the glass substrate itself, and the thin plate article such as the fragile glass substrate and the conveyor A large frictional resistance is generated between them, and if a glass substrate conveyed at high speed is placed in direct contact with the positioning stopper, the glass substrate may be damaged due to frictional force or deformation, or the rigidity may be insufficient and deformation may occur. There was a risk of it.
In order to prevent this in advance and to perform stable positioning, it is necessary to reduce the conveyance speed of the glass substrate, but this causes a problem that the production efficiency decreases.
[0004]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-described problems of the conventional apparatus for positioning a thin sheet article, the present invention provides a positioning apparatus for a thin sheet article that can transfer a thin sheet article while positioning it quickly and accurately with a simple mechanism. Objective.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
To achieve the above object, a positioning device of the sheet article of the invention, the positioning device of the sheet articles in the case of transferring via a transfer device the sheet article comprising a glass substrate from one device to another device, the thin plate a conveyor for transporting articles from one device to another, is carried from one device, a sheet article to be positioned on the conveyor, supported by increasing through the lifting device is lowered through the lifting device Of the thin plate article supported by the support base that is supported on the conveyor, the air bearing that floats the support base that supports the thin article by air pressure, and the support base that is levitated by air pressure. a positioning stopper which is disposed to face the widthwise direction of the conveyor to position the direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the sheet article by conveyor, the sheet article Characterized by comprising the positioning cylinder serving as a support stand returning means for returning the support base at a position deviated from the original reference position to the reference position by Me-decided.
[0006]
This thin article positioning device supports a thin article that is carried in from one apparatus and that is positioned on a conveyor by raising the support base via an elevating device, and is supported by air pressure injected from an air bearing. After positioning the thin plate article together with the support base with the positioning stopper at least in the direction perpendicular to the transfer direction of the thin plate article by the conveyor , the support base is lowered via the lifting device and supported on the conveyor. by unloading the sheet article that is positioned to the other device by, it can be transported while positioning the sheet articles quickly and accurately.
Further, after carrying out the thin plate article to the other device, the support stand returning means comprising a positioning cylinder is used to return the support stand at a position shifted from the original reference position to the reference position by positioning the thin plate article. be able to.
[0007]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of a method for positioning a thin plate article of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
[0008]
1 to 2 show an embodiment of a method for positioning a thin article according to the present invention.
In a liquid crystal manufacturing factory, a glass substrate G formed in a predetermined size is continuously or intermittently transferred between manufacturing apparatuses according to a predetermined manufacturing process, for example, via a transfer device such as a conveyor. To be transported.
Here, although not particularly limited, a case will be described in which the conveyor 1 is employed as an unload port so that a large glass substrate G can be stably transferred.
[0009]
A positioning device 2 that positions the glass substrate G and delivers it to the transfer device 3 is disposed at the end of the conveyor 1 of the unload port.
[0010]
The positioning device 2 is disposed below the end of the conveyor 1, and includes a support base 21 that supports the lower surface of the glass substrate G, a lifting device 22 that mechanically lifts and lowers the support base 21, An air bearing 23 that is disposed on the top surface and that floats the support base 21 in a state where the lower surface of the glass substrate G is supported by the air pressure to be jetted, and the support base by the air pressure jetted from the air bearing 23 And positioning cylinders 24 and 24 as positioning stoppers that appear and disappear at at least two different positions for positioning the glass substrate G together with the support base 21 while floating the glass substrate G. Positioning can be performed quickly and accurately so that it can be transferred to the subsequent transfer device 3.
[0011]
In this embodiment, the positioning cylinders 24 and 24 as positioning stoppers are positioned above the conveyor 1 so that the positioning can be performed in a direction perpendicular to the transfer direction of the glass substrate G by the conveyor 1. However, apart from this, a positioning cylinder (not shown) as a positioning stopper is placed above the conveyor 1 so that the glass substrate G can be positioned in the transfer direction. The glass substrate above the conveyor 1 can be disposed opposite to the feeding direction, and can be positioned at a time in a direction perpendicular to the feeding direction and the feeding direction of the glass substrate G. It can also be arranged so as to face a position on the diagonal line of G.
[0012]
The transfer device 3 is carried in by the conveyor 1, positioned by the positioning device 2, and lowered again on the conveyor 1, and the fork 32 inserted below the glass substrate G is lifted on the fork 32. It is configured such that it can be transferred onto a load port of another apparatus located at a position different from the conveyor 1 so as to scoop up from 1.
Therefore, the transfer device 3 is movable in the direction intersecting with the conveyor 1 of the unload port, and the transfer device main body 31 that can be moved to another device, and the transfer device main body 31 is lifted, expanded, contracted, and swiveled. And a fork 32 having the following structure.
[0013]
Further, the positioning device 2 is provided with positioning cylinders 25 and 25 as supporting table returning means for returning the supporting table 21 to the reference position after the glass substrate G is lowered onto the conveyor 1, and positioning the glass substrate G by positioning the glass substrate G. The biased support table 21 is returned to a predetermined reference position while the support table 21 is lifted by the air pressure injected from the air bearing 23 as necessary.
[0014]
Further, the load port 4 on the delivery side, which is the other device, is disposed on the side facing the conveyor 1 of the unload port on the manufacturing device side such as a liquid crystal as shown in the figure. It may be arranged at another position shifted in the direction.
On the manufacturing apparatus side, not only one but also a plurality of apparatuses are arranged adjacent to each other or at a predetermined interval so that the transfer apparatus 3 moves between the adjacent or parallel manufacturing apparatuses. Thus, the glass substrate G can be reliably transferred from one apparatus to the other arbitrary apparatus.
[0015]
Next, the operation of this thin plate article positioning apparatus will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1A, when the glass substrate G that has been transported on the conveyor 1 of the unload port reaches the end of the conveyor 1, the transport by the conveyor is released. At the same time, the positioning device 2 disposed below the conveyor 1 is driven.
[0016]
By driving the positioning device 2, as shown in FIG. 1B, the elevating device 22 is first driven, and the support base 21 is raised from the standby position (position shown in FIG. 1A), and the conveyor 1 The upper glass substrate G is lifted from the lower part by the support 21 and is transferred onto the support 21.
When air is next ejected from the air bearing 23 in a state where the support base 21 is lifted, the support base 21 is in a floating state with the glass substrate G supported by the air pressure.
[0017]
By operating the opposing positioning cylinders 24 and 24 in a state where the glass substrate G is floating, the floating glass substrate G is positioned from both directions together with the support base 21 so as to be in a predetermined position.
In this case, since the glass substrate G floats together with the support base 21, there is no frictional resistance with the air bearing 23, so that positioning can be performed accurately, lightly, quickly and accurately.
Next, when the air injection from the air bearing 23 is stopped, the support base 21 that supports the glass substrate G is directly supported on the air bearing 23.
[0018]
In this state, when the support base 21 is lowered by the operation of the lifting device 22 and reaches the lower position of the conveyor 1, the glass substrate G supported on the support base 21 is again positioned on the conveyor 1 while being positioned. Supported by
[0019]
Thereafter, when the fork 32 of the transfer device 3 is inserted below the glass substrate G and is raised again, the glass substrate G is transferred from the conveyor 1 side to the fork 32 side in a positioned state.
[0020]
Next, the transfer device 3 moves along the traveling path between the conveyor 1 of the unload port and the load port 4 on the delivery side. At this time, as shown in the figure, when the conveyor 1 of the unload port and the load port 4 on the delivery side face each other, the transfer device 3 simply turns the fork by 180 degrees, and the load port on the delivery side 4 can be opposed.
Next, when the fork is lowered to a fixed position, the glass substrate G is transferred from the fork side to the load port 4 on the delivery side.
[0021]
After the glass substrate G is thus transferred to the load port 4 on the delivery side, the fork 32 is turned to the standby position and stopped. By repeating this operation, the glass substrates G can be sequentially positioned and transferred from the unload port conveyor 1 to the load port 4 side.
[0022]
In addition, after lowering the glass substrate G onto the conveyor 1, the glass substrate G is driven by driving positioning cylinders 25 and 25 as supporting table returning means for returning the supporting table 21 provided in the positioning device 2 to the reference position. The support 21 that has been displaced by positioning is returned to a predetermined reference position while the support 21 is lifted by the air pressure ejected from the air bearing 23.
[0023]
As mentioned above, although the positioning apparatus of the thin article of this invention was demonstrated based on the Example, this invention is not limited to the structure described in the said Example, The structure suitably in the range which does not deviate from the meaning. Can be changed.
[0024]
【The invention's effect】
According to the apparatus for positioning a thin article according to the present invention, the air pressure that is carried in from one apparatus and supports the thin article located on the conveyor by raising the support base through the lifting device, and is injected from the air bearing. By positioning the thin plate article together with the support stand in the direction perpendicular to the transfer direction of the thin plate article by the conveyor with the support stand while lifting the support stand at the sheet article supported on the conveyor, by unloading the positioned thin plate article to the other device, it can be transferred while positioning the sheet articles quickly and accurately.
In particular, since the thin plate article is positioned together with the support base while the support base is lifted by air pressure, the frictional force is eliminated by the floating, and the large thin plate article can be positioned with little force without breaking. can do.
Further, after carrying out the thin plate article to the other device, the support stand returning means comprising a positioning cylinder is used to return the support stand at a position shifted from the original reference position to the reference position by positioning the thin plate article. be able to.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a positioning apparatus for a thin article according to the present invention, in which (A) shows a state where a glass substrate is stopped at the position of the positioning apparatus, (B) shows a glass substrate being lifted by the positioning apparatus; Each positioned state is shown.
FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing a conveyor and a transfer device of an unload port.
[Explanation of symbols]
G Glass substrate (thin plate product)
1 Conveyor
2 Positioning device 21 Support base 22 Lifting device 23 Air bearing 24 Positioning cylinder (positioning stopper)
25 Positioning cylinder (support stand return means)
3 Transfer device 31 Transfer device body 32 Fork 4 Load port on delivery side

Claims (1)

In a thin article positioning apparatus in which a thin article made of a glass substrate is transferred from one apparatus to another apparatus via a transfer apparatus, a conveyor for transferring the thin article from one apparatus to the other apparatus, is carried from the apparatus, the sheet articles located on the conveyor, the support base is supported by increasing through the lifting device, so as to be supported on a conveyor by lowering through the lifting device, a sheet article An air bearing that floats the supported support table with air pressure, and a conveyor that performs positioning in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the thin product article supported by the support of the thin product article supported by the support table that is levitated with air pressure. a positioning stopper which is disposed to face the widthwise, the support base at a position deviated from the original reference position by the positioning of the thin plate article Positioning device of the sheet article, characterized by comprising a positioning cylinder as support table returning means for returning to the reference position.

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