JP4436689B2 - Glass substrate transfer system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a glass substrate transfer system such as LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), PDP (Plasma Display Panel), and EL (Electro Luminescence).

  Conventionally, in LCD production lines, such as etching and photoresist production lines, glass substrates are transported from the automated warehouse to the production line side, and glass substrates that have been processed on the production line are transported one by one to the automated warehouse side. In the so-called single-wafer handling system, various transport systems are installed between the automatic warehouse and the production line side.

  As the transfer system, for example, there is a transfer conveyor system as shown in FIG. In the transport system, stacker cranes B ′ are arranged side by side along the automatic warehouse A ′, and a plurality of exchangers (three in the drawing, one in the middle is spare) along the travel path of the stacker crane ( Exchanger) C 'and a cross conveyor (straight line transfer and 90 degree transfer) G' are provided side by side, and transfer, floating, 90 degree transfer, etc. are repeated, and delivery to the production line and reception from the production line are performed.

  The exchanger that constitutes the transport system is configured to place a wire cassette (a cassette in which wires are stretched so as to support the glass substrates in a horizontal multi-stage shape at a predetermined interval) between the glass substrates and the stacker crane. A mechanism is provided for receiving and delivering, and loading a glass substrate to the wire cassette or unloading the glass substrate from the wire cassette.

And the operation | movement which conveys and supplies the glass substrate in an automatic warehouse to the production line side by the conveyance system, and conveys and accommodates the processed glass substrate from the production line side to the automatic warehouse side is a process shown in the flowchart of FIG. Done. In FIGS. 4A and 4B, the left column represents the movement of the glass substrate, and the right column represents the machine that performs the movement.
For example, when the glass substrate is transported and supplied to the production line side, the wire cassette F ′ in the automatic warehouse A ′ is inserted and positioned in the leftmost exchanger C ′ by the stacker crane B ′, and the glass substrate is moved from the exchanger to the leftmost. The cross conveyor G ′ receives and floats the received glass substrate by the operation of the cross conveyor G ′. In the floating state, the glass substrate passes through the middle cross conveyor G ′ and is conveyed onto the right end cross conveyor G ′. After the cross conveyor G ′ receives the glass substrate, the cross conveyor is operated to lower the glass substrate, and the roller conveyor of the cross conveyor G ′ is operated to convey the glass substrate to the production line P ′ side.
If the exchanger center O and the production line center O ′ coincide with each other, the glass substrates can be sequentially transferred from the conveyor to the conveyor to be received and transferred, and the cross conveyor can be lifted and transferred during the transfer process. Complicated operations such as stopping, descending, etc. are required.
Furthermore, if the exchanger center O and the production line center O ′ do not match, in addition to the complicated operations described above during the delivery process, it is necessary to control the operation of the conveyor in order to align the centers. Thus, loss of tact time and damage to the glass substrate cannot be denied. Further, when a glass substrate is conveyed from the exchanger to the production line side via the cross conveyor, the glass substrate that has been processed on the production line side cannot be conveyed to the exchanger side by the cross conveyor. That is, the cross conveyor cannot simultaneously deliver and receive the glass substrate.

  Moreover, the production line side sometimes requires that the glass substrate input direction be rotated 90 degrees, 180 degrees, or 270 degrees with respect to the state accommodated in the wire cassette in the exchanger. Must be performed (fine adjustments such as rotation of the conveyor, front and back of the glass substrate, and left and right alignment).

  In addition, if the wire cassette is received / delivered by the exchanger, or if the input / output timing of the glass substrate matches that of the production line, the tact time will not be lost, and the receipt / delivery will be completed within the specified time. However, if the timing does not match, either glass substrate will have to wait and production efficiency will be reduced. Although it is conceivable to provide a dedicated space for the buffer as a means of eliminating the waiting time, an extra space is required, and in the case of increasing the size of the glass substrate, as will be described later, the total installation area is increased. There is a problem of inviting.

  Furthermore, LCD glass substrates tend to increase in size year by year, and currently exist up to the glass size (2200 × 2000), which is said to be the seventh generation. Glass substrates are inherently delicate and increase in size as the size of the glass substrate increases. Of course, if a complicated operation is performed during the transporting process as described above, the large-sized glass substrate causes further damage.

In order to eliminate the conventional problems in view of the above circumstances, the present invention eliminates the need for connecting a stationary conveyor, and enables the simultaneous transfer and reception of a glass substrate by transferring a single wafer between an exchanger and a production line. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive transport system that can transport efficiently without losing tact time.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a transport system that can perform these operations during the transport process of the glass substrate between the exchanger and the production line when it becomes necessary to rotate or center the glass substrate. .

The LCD glass substrate transfer system according to the present invention is an LCD glass substrate transfer system that transfers cassettes between an automatic warehouse and a plurality of exchangers arranged side by side, and transfers the sheets between the exchanger and the production line. A conveyor for loading or unloading the glass substrate with respect to the cassette that moves up and down in the exchanger is arranged inside, and the glass substrate is loaded on the production line side on the side where the glass substrate is loaded / unloaded in the exchanger. The conveyor for exclusive delivery and the conveyor for exclusive use for receiving the glass substrate discharged from the production line are arranged so as to be able to run independently without interfering with each other at an interval in the vertical direction, and the conveyor arranged in the exchanger. Is the delivery It is characterized in that it has freely vertically lifting corresponds to the height of Beya and receive dedicated conveyor (claim 1).
The cassette supplied / removed to / from the exchanger accommodates glass substrates in a horizontal multi-stage shape, and the wires supporting the glass substrates are parallel to each other with a predetermined interval in the horizontal direction and a predetermined interval in the vertical direction. A roller cassette (roller shaft) for loading / unloading the glass substrate is positioned between the wires in the vertical direction.
The loading / unloading side of the glass substrate in the exchanger means the side opposite to the side where the cassette is inserted into and removed from the exchanger, that is, the side opposite to the stacker crane.

Since the above-mentioned exclusive conveyor for transfer and exclusive conveyor for transfer convey glass substrates only in a certain direction, the conveyor is sufficient when it is necessary to convey the glass substrate as it is to the production line side. Depending on the work, it is necessary to rotate the glass substrate. When responding to such a request, the receiving-only conveyor and the transferring-only conveyor are provided with an alignment device (claim 2).
The alignment apparatus has a rotation mechanism for horizontally turning the glass substrate and a fine adjustment mechanism in the left-right direction (direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the conveyor), and both mechanisms are simultaneously performed at one place without interfering with each other. It is adjustable (claim 3).
In addition, when a glass substrate is conveyed by driving a receiving conveyor and a conveying conveyor, fine adjustment in the front-rear direction (conveying direction) of the glass substrate can be performed by adjusting the conveyance stop position by the conveyor. .

The above rotating mechanism has a flexible belt-like body wound around the outer peripheral surface of a rotating body provided with a glass substrate holder for supporting the glass substrate, one from the left and the other from the right to end one end of each belt-like body. It is fixed to the rotating body, the other end of the belt-like body is fixed to a moving body that moves linearly, and the rotating body is rotated by the reciprocating motion of the moving body.
The other end of the left and right strips is folded back via a pulley, and the moving body that fixes the folded end may be any type that moves linearly, such as a ball screw system, a rack and pinion system, an air cylinder, A system without backlash is preferred. In addition, the winding angle of the left and right belt-like bodies with respect to the rotating body is about 300 degrees, and the rotating angle of the rotating body due to the reciprocating motion of the moving body is 270 degrees or more. Thereby, the glass substrate is configured to be rotated 90 degrees, 180 degrees, and 270 degrees.

The alignment device floats the glass substrate supported by the conveyance roller of the roller conveyor from the surface of the conveyance roller and rotates and / or finely adjusts the left and right. When it is necessary to rotate or finely adjust the glass substrate between the shaft to which the transport roller is fixed, the glass substrate supported by the transport roller is moved up and down to a position where it can float from the top of the transport roller. It is comprised so that it can raise by a mechanism (Claim 5).
As the vertical mechanism, an air cylinder is effective, and the above-described rotating body is concentrically arranged around the air cylinder. As a means of the vertical mechanism other than the air cylinder, for example, a motor type may be used.

The glass substrate receiver is positioned below the top of the transport roller and protrudes above the top of the transport roller when necessary. For this purpose, the glass substrate receiver has an opening through which the transport roller can pass. ing. Since the rotation adjustment of the glass substrate is determined to be 90 degrees, 180 degrees, and 270 degrees, the vertical direction of the conveyance roller in the roller conveyor is such that the glass substrate holder can pass through the conveyance roller at any angular rotation. -The horizontal mounting interval and the opening interval of the glass substrate receptacle opening are set to the same pitch.
Accordingly, even if the glass substrate is rotated by a predetermined angle (90 degrees, 180 degrees, 270 degrees) and lowered in the state after the rotation, the glass substrate can pass through without hitting the conveyance roller. It can be stored between the two axes.

The rotating mechanism is mounted and fixed on a movable base plate supported so as to be slidable to the left and right with respect to a fixed frame, and the movable base plate is orthogonal to a conveying direction of a conveyor provided with an alignment device by a driving body. It is characterized in that it can be finely adjusted in the direction (claim 6). Examples of the driving body that slides the movable base plate include a motor and an air cylinder.
As a result, the movable base plate on which the rotating mechanism is placed is finely adjusted in the left-right direction, so that the operation for rotating the glass substrate and the glass substrate are finely adjusted in the left-right direction (the direction perpendicular to the conveyor conveyance direction) The operation can be performed at the same place. Of course, the fine adjustment range is such that the opening of the glass substrate receiver can pass through the transport roller. Of course, if the size of the opening opened in the glass substrate receiver is increased, the range of fine adjustment is increased accordingly.

  According to the present invention, as described above, the conveyor for receiving and transferring the glass substrate to and from the exchanger is divided into a dedicated receiving conveyor and a dedicated transferring conveyor, and configured to be able to run independently without interfering with each other. Even if the timing of the exchanger or the timing on the production line side is deviated, it can be handled by the dedicated conveyor, so the standby state can be eliminated. Therefore, loss of tact time can be eliminated and production efficiency can be improved (claim 1).

According to the second, third, and sixth aspects, when the glass substrate needs to be rotated and / or finely adjusted in the left-right direction, the operation such as the rotation can be performed while the conveyor is moving. , You can earn tact time. Conventionally, in a process that requires rotation, the conveyor itself is rotated or rotated by a robot after taking it into the manufacturing process. It can be omitted.
Furthermore, conventionally, when fine adjustments in the front / rear / right / left directions are required, the cross conveyor is repeatedly lifted, transported, stopped, and lowered, resulting in damage and dirt on the glass substrate. Since it is performed at one place, damage to the glass substrate can be eliminated, space can be saved, a robot or the like is unnecessary, cost reduction can be achieved, and tact time can be reduced.

  According to the fourth and fifth aspects of the present invention, the alignment device can be manufactured thinly, whereby the dedicated receiving conveyor and the dedicated transfer conveyor assembled with the aligned device can be easily arranged in two upper and lower stages, and HEPA (High-efficiency Particulate Air ) Equipped with a filter to keep the glass substrate transport path clean. Although there is a direct drive motor method as a rotating method, since the direct drive motor itself has a certain thickness, the apparatus itself becomes thick as it is, and the upper and lower two-stage conveyors also become larger. As a result, the conveyor in the exchanger The up / down movement stroke also becomes longer, which has the disadvantage of affecting the tact time.

An embodiment of a transfer system of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, the glass substrate a displayed in the drawings is shown with a part of a corner cut away so that the rotation or the adjustment in the left-right direction can be easily understood.
As shown in FIG. 1, an automatic warehouse A, a stacker crane B, an exchanger C, and a conveyor D (hereinafter referred to as a shuttle conveyor) D including a delivery dedicated conveyor D1 and a delivery dedicated conveyor D2 are arranged as shown in FIG. Three exchangers C are juxtaposed along the travel path of the stacker crane B, and a shuttle conveyor D is arranged in parallel with the side of loading / unloading the glass substrate a with respect to the exchanger C. A transport conveyor G is installed at the unloading position and the unloading position to perform the feeding to the production line side P and the feeding from the production line P side. In addition, you may make it carry in from the shuttle conveyor D to the production line P side directly, without installing the conveyance conveyor G in relation to the production line side P.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 3, the exchanger C supplies or takes out the wire cassette F containing the glass substrates a in a multi-stage shape with the fork of the stacker crane B, and transfers the glass substrate a in the wire cassette F to the shuttle conveyor D. The unloading conveyor D2 is unloaded, and the glass substrate a can be loaded into the empty wire cassette F from the dedicated conveyor D1.
Hereinafter, the exchanger C will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 3, as shown in FIG. 3, the elevator unit 2 that moves up and down by placing the wire cassette F in the device frame 1 and the roller conveyor 3 that conveys the glass substrate a are accommodated. The glass substrate a can be loaded / unloaded with respect to the wire cassette F by the operation of the elevating unit 2 and the roller conveyor 3. The roller conveyor 3 has a loading position and an unloading position corresponding to a delivery conveyor D2 and a reception conveyor D1 arranged above and below a shuttle conveyor D, which will be described later, at a substantially intermediate position in the height direction of the casing 1. It is configured to move up and down according to the purpose.

  As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the instrument frame 1 includes a frame 1a having a substantially rectangular shape, column frames 1b and 1b 'erected and fixed on two opposite sides of the frame 1a, and a column frame 1b. , 1b ′ and a connecting frame 1c that connects between the upper ends of the frame 1a, and a leg seat 4 is attached to the base frame 1a so as to be adjustable up and down. It can be installed in. The wire cassette F can be supplied or taken out by the fork of the stacker crane B from the side between the support frames 1b and 1b '.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the lifting unit 2 that moves the wire cassette F up and down includes a support frame 5 that supports and supports the bottom of the wire cassette F, and a lift drive unit 6 that moves the support frame 5 up and down in synchronization with each other. It consists of and.
The support frame 5 is formed in a flat rectangular shape using a metal square pipe or the like, and an L-shaped cassette support portion 5 ′ for fixing and supporting the bottom four corners of the wire cassette F is fixed to the upper surface of the support frame 5. Yes. Thus, the wire cassette F is positioned on the support frame 5 by a positioning device (not shown) and is stably placed and supported.

  As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the elevating drive unit 6 that moves up and down the support frame 5 has an L-shaped support member 7 attached to the central upper surface of the left and right sides of the support frame 5, and moves the support member 7 up and down. A ball screw mechanism 8 and a guide member 9 to be driven, a servo motor 10 as a power source for driving the left and right ball screw mechanisms 8, and a connecting shaft 11, a coupling 12, and a bevel gear box for transmitting the rotation of the servo motor 10 to the left and right ball screw mechanisms. 13.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the left and right ball screw mechanisms 8 and the guide member 9 are vertically arranged inside the support frames 1 b and 1 b ′ of the instrument frame 1, and are nut members that are screwed into the screw rods 8 a of the ball screw mechanism 8. The vertical side portion of the support member 7 is fixed to 8b, and the nut member 8b is connected to the slider of the guide member 9. Thereby, the nut member 8b to which the support member 7 is fixed by the rotation of the screw rod 8a is moved in the vertical direction by the guide action of the guide member 9. The guide member 9 is preferably an LM guide.
Further, the range in which the support frame 5 is moved up and down by the operation of the lift drive unit 6 includes the start position (upper limit position) for unloading the glass substrate of the wire cassette F mounted on the support frame, and the glass on the wire cassette F. It is between the starting position (lower limit position) for loading the substrate.

The roller conveyor 3 for loading / unloading the glass substrate a with respect to the wire cassette F that is moved up and down by the elevating unit 2 is a wire cassette F accommodated in the casing 1 as shown in FIGS. Conveyor frame 14 formed in a comb-tooth shape so that it can be fitted and removed without contact with each other, transport roller 15 attached to the upper part of each comb-like standing frame 14a, and transport roller 15 of each standing frame 14a It is comprised with the drive source 16 to drive and rotate.
The reason why the conveyor frame 14 is formed in a comb-tooth shape is due to the form of the cassette that accommodates and supports the glass substrates in a horizontal multi-stage shape. When unloading the glass substrates a that are accommodated in the multi-stage shape in the wire cassette F, And when loading glass substrates into an empty wire cassette F in multiple stages, the wire cassette F is moved up and down by the above-described lifting unit, but does not disturb the up and down movement, and in order to load / unload the glass substrate a. It is. In other words, the wires f ′ arranged in parallel in the wire cassette F are inserted into the gaps between the standing frames 14a of the conveyor frame 14 without being in contact with each other and pass therethrough.

The driving unit 16 that drives and rotates each transport roller 15 disposed on the upper part of the conveyor frame 14 includes a motor 16a and a non-contact power transmission system that uses the attraction and repulsion of the magnet to rotate the motor 16a. It is comprised so that it may transmit to the axis | shaft of. Thereby, there is almost no dust generation and a glass substrate can be conveyed in a clean environment.
And the roller conveyor 3 comprised as mentioned above is comprised so that it may move up and down by the conveyor raising / lowering unit 17 corresponding to the height of the exclusive conveyor D1 and the exclusive conveyor D2 which are arrange | positioned at the upper and lower two stages of the shuttle conveyor D. (See FIGS. 9 and 10).

  As shown in FIGS. 7 to 10, the conveyor lifting unit 17 includes a crank arm 17 a that supports the bottom four portions of the conveyor frame 14, a lifting motor 17 b with a gear box that rotates the four crank arms 17 a, The guide 17c is configured to guide the conveyor frame 14 in the vertical direction. The rotation of the elevating motor 17b is transmitted to the crank arm 17a through the gear box and the connecting shaft, and the four crank arms 17a are operated in synchronization. The roller conveyor 3 is moved up and down. In addition, the distance that the roller conveyor 3 moves up and down is the same as the interval between the shuttle-only conveyor and the transfer-only conveyor, which will be described later, and is determined by the interval.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the shuttle conveyor D includes an instrument frame 18 formed longer than the entire length of a plurality of exchangers C (three in the drawing) arranged side by side, and a vertical interval within the instrument frame 18. It is composed of a reception dedicated conveyor D1 and a delivery dedicated conveyor D2 arranged in two stages, and traveling and moving means 19, 19 ′ that allow the reception dedicated conveyor D1 and the delivery dedicated conveyor D2 to travel independently without interfering with each other. .

  As shown in FIG. 11, the container frame 18 is formed in a horizontally long shape along the exchanger C, and travel moving means 19, 19 ′ are arranged at the upper and lower positions in the instrument frame 18. The transfer dedicated conveyor D2 is supported in a suspended manner, and the receiving dedicated conveyor D1 is mounted on the lower traveling movement means 19 ′, and is configured to travel independently. That is, the upper transfer dedicated conveyor D2 reciprocates between the position of the exchanger C to which the wire cassette F is supplied by the fork of the stacker crane B and the position where the glass substrate a is transferred to the production line, and the lower transfer is received. The dedicated conveyor D1 reciprocates between the discharge position of the glass substrate a from the production line side and the exchanger C from which the wire cassette F is taken out by the fork of the stacker crane B.

Each of the reception dedicated conveyor D1 and the transfer dedicated conveyor D2 is configured by a roller conveyor, and the conveyance rollers 60 that place and convey the glass substrate a are arranged at the same vertical and horizontal intervals as shown in FIG. Further, the conveying rollers in each row are configured to rotate by transmitting the rotation of the motor 20 to the shafts of the respective conveying rollers by a non-contact power transmission mechanism 21 utilizing the attraction / repulsion of the magnet. The illustrated power transmission mechanism 21 transmits the rotation of the motor 20 to the drive shaft 21b to which the magnet ring 21a is attached via the gear train 21e, and the end of the shaft 21c of the conveying roller 60 arranged orthogonal to the drive shaft 21b. A magnet ring 21d is fixed to the portion, and the magnet ring 21d is arranged orthogonally to the magnet ring 21a with a predetermined gap. Thereby, the rotation of the motor 20 is transmitted to the drive shaft 21b via the gear train 21e, and the shaft 21c of the transport roller 60 arranged orthogonal to the drive shaft 21b is rotated by the action of the magnet ring 21a and the magnet ring 21d. .
The roller conveyors constituting the receiving conveyor D1 and the receiving conveyor D2 are not required to rotate the glass substrate a to be received or transferred, that is, when it is not necessary to incorporate the alignment device E, The horizontal spacing does not have to be the same, and a general roller conveyor with different vertical and horizontal spacing may be used. Also in this case, it is preferable to adopt a non-contact power transmission mechanism using a magnet, as described above, for the driving method of the transport roller. For a non-contact power transmission mechanism (roller conveyor) using a magnet, for example, the configuration described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-177725 can be used.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the receiving dedicated conveyor D1 and the receiving dedicated conveyor D2 configured as described above are attached to the supporting members 22, 22 ′, respectively, and the supporting members 22, 22 ′ are the travel moving means 19, 19 respectively. It is supported horizontally by 'and traveled.
The traveling and moving means 19 and 19 ′ are composed of a rack and pinion mechanism 23 and a guide mechanism 24, and the rack 23 a of the rack and pinion mechanism 23 is installed in a drive unit storage case 25 fixed to the front portion of the casing 18. The pinion gear 23b that meshes with the rack 23a is fixed to the output shaft of the motor 27 with a speed reducer that is fixed to one side edge (front side edge) of the support member 22 via the mounting plate 26.
The mounting plate 26 to which the motor 27 with a reduction gear is attached and the mounting plate 26 ′ attached to the other side edge (rear side edge) of the support member 22 in the receiving dedicated conveyor D <b> 1 and the transferring dedicated conveyor D <b> 2, respectively. A guide mechanism 24 that guides linear movement is attached to the drive unit storage cases 25 and 25 ′ fixed to the front and rear portions of 18.
Thus, the reception dedicated conveyor D1 and the transfer dedicated conveyor D2 run on the rack 23a while the pinion gear 23b is rotated by the operation of the motor 27 with a speed reducer.

  Further, the support members 22 and 22 'for supporting the reception dedicated conveyor D1 and the transfer dedicated conveyor D2 are closed except in the direction of loading / unloading the glass substrate a, and the support members 22 and 22' support the support members 22 and 22 '. A duct tube 28, 28 ′ is connected in communication with the inside of the members 22, 22 ′, and the other end of the duct tube 28, 28 ′ is a HEPA (High-efficiency Particulate Air) filter mounted on the support member 22, 22 ′. It connects to 29 and 29 ', and it is comprised so that a clean state can be ensured (refer FIG. 21).

When it is necessary to rotate (horizontal swivel) the glass substrate a supplied to the receiving conveyor D1 and the receiving conveyor D2 of the shuttle conveyor D, an alignment device E is provided in the conveyor as shown in FIG. The
The alignment apparatus E floats the glass substrate a sent to the reception-only conveyor D1 or the transfer-only conveyor D2 from the surface of the transport roller and is in a state when it is sent (this state is assumed to be 0 degree). On the other hand, a rotation mechanism E1 that horizontally turns 90 degrees, 180 degrees, and 270 degrees, and a fine adjustment mechanism E2 that finely adjusts the glass substrate a in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the reception dedicated conveyor D1 or the transfer dedicated conveyor D2. It is configured.
In addition, since the alignment apparatus E equipped in the exclusive conveyor D1 and the exclusive conveyor D2 is the same, the alignment apparatus E equipped in the exclusive conveyor D1 will be described below, and the alignment apparatus E equipped in the exclusive conveyor D2 will be described below. Will not be described.

  The rotation mechanism E1 includes a glass substrate receiver 30 that floats and supports the glass substrate a on the transport roller 60 from the surface of the transport roller, and the glass substrate receiver 30 floats above the top of the transport roller or the top of the transport roller. An up-and-down mechanism 31 that sinks further downward, a rotating body 32 that horizontally turns the glass substrate receiver 30 that has floated above the top of the conveyance roller by the operation of the up-and-down mechanism 31, and a drive unit 33 that drives and rotates the rotating body 32 It consists of

  The glass substrate receiver 30 has an area that can be supported horizontally while minimizing deformation of the glass substrate a, and an opening 34 that can pass through the conveying rollers constituting the roller conveyor before and after the rotation on the entire surface thereof. Further, resin-made support bodies 35 that support the glass substrate a with dots are scattered on the surface (upper surface) facing the glass substrate a. And since this glass substrate receiver 30 is disposed between the apex of the transport roller in the roller conveyor and the shaft to which the transport roller is fixed, the size of the opening 34 is the same as the diameter of the transport roller, The apertures 34 are set to have the same vertical and horizontal intervals so as to correspond to the positions of the transport rollers before and after rotation. The opening 34 is not limited to a circular hole but may be a square hole.

As shown in FIG. 13, an up-and-down mechanism 31 that moves up and down the glass substrate receiver 30 has an attachment cylinder 38 that is rotatably and vertically attached to the outer periphery of a rod 36 a of an air cylinder 36 via a bearing 37. Is fixed to the center of the glass substrate receiver 30. Accordingly, when air is supplied to the push side of the air cylinder 36, the rod 36a is stroked, and the attachment cylinder 38 is also raised / lowered via the bearing 37 accordingly.
The air cylinder 36 is fixed to a movable base plate 42 that is positioned below a conveyor roller of the conveyor and supported by a stay member 41 that is connected to the frame of the conveyor.

  A rotating body 32 is rotatably attached to the outer periphery of the casing of the air cylinder 36 of the vertical mechanism 31 via a bearing 39, and a flange 32a of the rotating body 32 and a flange projecting and protruding in the outer radial direction of the mounting cylinder 38 are formed. 38a, a plurality of guide bodies 40 (four in the drawing) are provided at intervals in the circumferential direction to guide the ascending / descending of the mounting cylinder 38 and to transmit the rotation of the rotating body 32 to the mounting cylinder 38. ing.

  As shown in FIGS. 12 and 17, the driving unit 33 that drives and rotates the rotating body 32 has two belt-like bodies having good flexibility, such as timing belts 43 and 43 ′, on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating body 32. The timing belt 43 has a base end portion fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the upper half of the rotating body 32 and is wound counterclockwise from the fixing portion, and the other timing belt 43 ′ has a base end portion of the belt-like body 43. It is fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the lower half of the rotating body 32 at the same position as the fixing position of the base end portion, and is wound in the clockwise direction from the fixing portion. A movable body 46 is wound around the left and right folded pulleys 45 and 45 'rotatably mounted on the plate 42 via a pulley mounting frame 44, and the end portions of the folded strips 43 and 43' are linearly moved. Hard It is. As a result, the strips 43 and 43 'wound around the rotating body 32 in two upper and lower stages are in an endless state, and the rotating body 32 is rotated in the left-right direction as the moving body 46 moves linearly. The left and right folding pulleys 45 and 45 ′ are attached to the pulley attachment frame 44 via a tension adjusting mechanism 50 so that the winding of the strips 43 and 43 ′ can be adjusted to an optimum tension state. It should be noted that the winding direction of the strips 43 and 43 'may be reversed from that of the above embodiment.

A moving body 46 for connecting and fixing the end portions of the belt-like bodies 43 and 43 ′ is fixed to a nut member 48 a of a ball screw mechanism 48 driven by a motor 47, and the nut member 48 a is mounted on the pulley mounting frame 44 with the ball screw. A guide body 49 arranged in parallel with the mechanism 48 is connected. As a result, the moving body 46 moves linearly between the left and right folding pulleys 45 and 45 ′ by the operation of the ball screw mechanism 48 and the guide body 49, and the rotational force is applied to the rotating body 32. (See FIGS. 17, 18, and 19).
The rotating body 32 is rotated 90 degrees, 180 degrees, and 270 degrees by the rotating mechanism described above, and the rotation angle is detected by the sensors 51a, 51b, 51c arranged around the rotating body and the rotating body 32. It is configured to be performed by the attached flag 52. Note that the detection of the rotation angle is not limited to the illustrated form, and may be performed by other methods employed today.

  The rotation of the glass substrate a by the rotation mechanism E1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 18 and 19. The glass substrate a that has been carried in the direction of 0 degrees shown in FIG. In the case of rotating 90 degrees in the rotation direction, when the ball screw mechanism 48 is operated to move the moving body 46 to the right in the drawing, the rotating body 32 rotates 90 degrees in the clockwise direction and is supported by the glass substrate receiver 30. The glass substrate a is rotated 90 degrees as shown in FIG. The 90 degree rotation is detected by the flag 52 fixed to the rotating body 32 moving in the clockwise direction along with the rotation of the rotating body 32 and being positioned on the 90 degree detecting sensor 51a arranged around the rotating body. Detected. Further, when the ball screw mechanism 48 is operated to rotate the rotating body 32 by 90 degrees in the clockwise direction, the flag 52 corresponds to the sensor 51b, and the glass substrate a is rotated 180 degrees from the origin position as shown in FIG. When the state shown in FIG. 19 is further rotated 90 degrees in the clockwise direction, the flag 52 corresponds to the sensor 51c, and the glass substrate a is turned into a state shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the rotating operation is such that the position of the moving body 46 at 0 degrees is positioned on the folding pulley 45 side, and the moving body is moved to the opposite folding pulley 45 'side from that position and rotated. It is not limited. For example, the position of the moving body 46 at 0 degree is divided into three equal parts of the stroke of the ball screw, rotated from the 1: 2 position in a direction in which it can be moved two times, rotated 90 degrees and 180 degrees, returned to the initial position and reversed. You may make it rotate 270 degree | times by moving to a direction.

As shown in FIG. 12, the fine adjustment mechanism E2, which is another mechanism of the alignment apparatus E, moves the glass substrate a transported by the receiving conveyor D1 or the transfer conveyor D2 in a direction orthogonal to the transporting direction of the conveyors (drawing). In this case, the movable base plate 42 that supports and holds the rotation mechanism E1 including the glass substrate receiver 30 is moved linearly.
Specifically, the movable base plate 42 attached to the stay member 41 connected to the frame of the conveyor is attached via the guide body 53 so as to slide in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction by the conveyor, and the movable platen 42 is movable. The base plate 42 includes a ball screw mechanism 54 and a servo motor 55 that drives the ball screw mechanism 54.

In addition, the movement limit of the movable base plate 42 that is slid with the above configuration is detected by installing an origin detection sensor 56a, a left limit detection sensor 56b, and a right limit detection sensor 56c on the movable base plate 42 at intervals in the sliding direction. On the other hand, flags 57a, 57b, and 57c are attached to the fixed stay member 41 in accordance with the movement line of the sensor, and the movable base plate 42 starts moving from the origin position to detect the left limit detection sensor 56b or the right limit detection. It is detected when the sensor 56c is interrupted by the flag.
The connection between the ball screw mechanism 48 for moving the moving body 46 in the rotating mechanism E1 and the motor 47 and the connection between the ball screw mechanism 54 and the servo motor 55 in the fine adjustment mechanism E2 are both non-backlash couplings. Are connected so that the rotation of the motor can be transmitted to the ball screw even if the axial centers of both are displaced.

With the transport system configured as described above, the glass substrate a in the wire cassette F is transported and supplied to the production line P side, and the processed glass substrate is received from the production line P side and transported and accommodated in the wire cassette F. When there is no alignment device, the flow chart is as shown in FIG.
For example, regarding the operation of conveying and supplying the glass substrate a in the wire cassette F to the production line P side, when the wire cassette F containing the glass substrate a is inserted and positioned in the left end exchanger C by the stacker crane B, The glass substrate a is unloaded one by one by the operation of the roller conveyor 3 in the exchanger C and the lifting / lowering unit 2 that moves up and down the wire cassette F, and the unloaded glass substrate a is transferred to the shuttle conveyor D conveyor D2. Is conveyed to a predetermined position (center position) on the conveyor, and the conveyance stops at a fixed position. After the glass substrate a is stopped on the delivery dedicated conveyor D2, the delivery dedicated conveyor D2 itself travels to the right (input position) and stops on the center line O ′ on the production line P side to drive the conveyor. Then, the glass substrate a placed thereon is transported to the production line P side via the transport conveyor G, and the delivery is completed. In addition to the transfer conveyor D2, the transfer conveyor D1 is arranged on the shuttle conveyor D so as to be able to run independently without interfering with each other. The glass substrate a that has been processed on the line P side is received by the receiving conveyor D1 from the conveying conveyor G at the output position at the left end of the shuttle conveyor D. After receiving, the receiving conveyor D1 travels to the right and moves to the right end. The elevator unit 2 and the rollers that stop on the center line O of the exchanger C of the machine, drive the conveyor, convey the glass substrate into the wire cassette F in the exchanger C, and move the wire cassette F in the exchanger C up and down. Loading is performed by the operation of the conveyor 3. After the loading to the wire cassette is completed, the wire cassette F is transferred from the exchanger C to the automatic warehouse by the stacker crane B.
With the transport system configured as described above, the unloading operation for unloading the glass substrates a in the wire cassette F one by one to the production line side, and the processed glass substrates a unloaded from the production line side to the wire cassette F Regardless of the timing of the changer or the timing of the production line, the loading operation accommodated in the shuttle conveyor D1 and the delivery dedicated conveyor D2 absorb the timing deviation and eliminate the standby state. Can be done efficiently.
When it is necessary to rotate the glass substrate a to be unloaded and loaded, the receiving conveyor D1 and the transferring conveyor D2 are provided by the alignment device E provided on the receiving conveyor D1 and the transferring conveyor D2 of the shuttle conveyor D. Rotation and fine adjustment of the left and right can be performed during the movement, and the tact time can be earned. Therefore, it can greatly contribute to the improvement of productivity.
It is clear from the comparison between the conventional flow chart and the flow chart of the present invention that the transport system of the present invention has fewer processes than the conventional transport system, and accordingly, damage to the glass substrate is reduced and the time is shortened. .

  In the above-described embodiment, the timing belt is used as the belt-like body of the rotation mechanism E1, but any bending transmission member such as a steel belt or a chain can be used instead of the timing belt.

The layout figure which shows the outline of the conveyance system which concerns on this invention. The front view which shows the state which unloads a glass substrate from the exchanger to the delivery exclusive conveyor of a shuttle conveyor. The front view which shows the state which loads a glass substrate to the wire cassette of an exchanger from the conveyor for exclusive use of the reception of a shuttle conveyor. The front view which shows the outline of an exchanger. The partially cutaway front view which shows the raising / lowering unit which raises / lowers the wire cassette of an exchanger vertically. The same side view. The partially cutaway front view which shows the roller conveyor with which an exchanger is equipped. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line (8)-(8) in FIG. The side view of FIG. The roller conveyor conveys up and down, (a) is a side view showing the position corresponding to the height of the dedicated conveyor for the shuttle conveyor, (b) is a side view showing the position corresponding to the height of the dedicated conveyor for the shuttle conveyor. The perspective view which shows the conveyor only for delivery of a shuttle conveyor, and a conveyor only for reception. The partially cutaway top view which shows the delivery exclusive conveyor. Sectional drawing and the principal part enlarged view which followed the (13)-(13) line | wire of FIG. Enlarged view showing transport of glass substrate Sectional drawing which shows the state which floated the glass substrate from the conveyance roller. The expanded sectional view of the state where the glass substrate receiver floated. The perspective view which shows the outline of a rotation mechanism. The rotation operation | movement of a glass substrate is shown, (a) is a state figure of 0 degree | times, (b) is the state figure rotated 90 degree | times. (A) is a state diagram rotated 180 degrees, (b) is a state diagram rotated 270 degrees. The drive part of a right-and-left fine adjustment mechanism is shown, (a) is a top view which shows the state before a movement, (b) is a top view which shows the state after a movement. The partially cutaway front view which shows the delivery exclusive conveyor of a shuttle conveyor, and a reception exclusive conveyor. The layout figure which shows the outline of the conventional conveyance system. The flowchart which shows the conveyance operation by the conventional conveyance system. The flowchart which shows the conveyance operation by the conveyance system which concerns on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

A ... Automatic warehouse B ... Stacker crane
C ... Exchanger D ... Shuttle conveyor
D1 ... Conveyor for exclusive use D2 ... Conveyor for exclusive use of delivery
E ... Alignment device E1 ... Rotation mechanism
E2 ... Fine adjustment mechanism F ... Wire cassette
a ... Glass substrate 30 ... Glass substrate receiver
31 ... Vertical mechanism 32 ... Rotating body
34 ... Opening 43, 43 '... Strip (timing belt)
46 ... Moving object

Claims (6)

In a glass substrate transport system that transports cassettes between automatic warehouses and multiple exchangers arranged side by side, and transports single sheets between the exchanger and the production line, it is located inside the exchanger with respect to the cassette that moves up and down in the exchanger. A conveyor for loading or unloading the glass substrate is arranged, and the glass substrate is delivered to the production line side on the side of loading / unloading the glass substrate in the exchanger, and the glass discharged from the production line side. A dedicated conveyor for receiving the substrate is arranged so as to be able to run independently without interfering with each other in the vertical direction, and the conveyor disposed in the exchanger corresponds to the height of the dedicated conveyor for receiving and the dedicated conveyor for receiving. Up and down Transport system of the glass substrate, characterized in that the the. The glass substrate transport system according to claim 1, wherein the receiving dedicated conveyor and the delivering dedicated conveyor include an alignment device. 3. The alignment apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the alignment device has a rotation mechanism for horizontally turning the glass substrate and a fine adjustment mechanism on the left and right sides, and both mechanisms can be adjusted simultaneously at one place without interfering with each other. Glass substrate transfer system. The rotation mechanism in the alignment apparatus is configured such that a belt having good flexibility is wound around the outer peripheral surface of a rotating body provided with a glass substrate holder for supporting a glass substrate, one from the left and the other from the right. 4. The glass substrate according to claim 3, wherein one end is fixed to the rotating body, the other end of the belt-like body is fixed to a moving body that moves linearly, and the rotating body is rotated by reciprocation of the moving body. Conveying system. The glass substrate receiver in the alignment apparatus is disposed between the apex of the transport roller that transports the glass substrate and the shaft to which the transport roller is fixed, and the glass substrate receiver passes through the transport roller at any rotation angle. When it is necessary to rotate or fine-tune the glass substrate, the glass substrate support is moved up and down to a position where the glass substrate supported by the transport roller can float from the top of the transport roller. The glass substrate transfer system according to claim 4, wherein the glass substrate transfer system is configured so as to be able to rise. The rotating mechanism is mounted and fixed on a movable base plate supported so as to be slidable to the left and right with respect to a fixed frame, and the movable base plate is driven by a driving body in a direction orthogonal to a conveying direction of a conveyor provided with an alignment device. 4. The glass substrate transfer system according to claim 3, wherein fine adjustment is possible.

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