JP4538738B2 - Overhead traveling vehicle system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an overhead traveling vehicle system, and more particularly to a mounting table on which an overhead traveling vehicle temporarily places an article.

The inventors have proposed that a mounting table is provided on the side of a traveling rail of an overhead traveling vehicle to provide a buffer for temporarily placing an article (Patent Document 1). This buffer is provided to face the load port of the processing device, for example, in order to simplify the stop data of the overhead traveling vehicle. Also, at the buffer installation position, it can not be installed in the curve section of the traveling rail, when installing multiple traveling rails in parallel, install so as not to interfere with the overhead traveling vehicle traveling on the adjacent rail, etc. There is a limit. For this reason, it is necessary to be able to adjust the installation position of the buffer.
Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-432431

An object of the present invention is to make it possible to temporarily place an article even when the position of the mounting table with respect to the overhead traveling vehicle is shifted .
An additional problem of the present invention is to make it possible to adjust the position of the article cradle from front to back and from side to side with a simple configuration.

The present invention provides a system in which a mounting table for temporarily placing articles is provided in a ceiling space at a position where an overhead traveling vehicle can deliver articles from a traveling rail, and the body of the mounting table includes a plurality of crosspieces, The plurality of crosspieces are provided with dovetail grooves that open at the top of the crosspiece and are parallel to the longitudinal direction of the crosspiece, and the article cradle for placing individual articles is along a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction in the horizontal plane. A plurality of long grooves, and the article cradle has a fastening member penetrating the long groove from the dovetail groove to the main body of the mounting table in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the crosspiece and the longitudinal direction in the horizontal plane. Along the both sides, the position adjustment is fixed.

In this invention, since the position of the article cradle can be adjusted with respect to the mounting table, the article cradle can be adjusted to a position where the article can be easily delivered from the overhead traveling vehicle. For example, in the case of a mounting table on the side of the traveling rail, the article receiving table can be adjusted to a position facing the load port of the processing device, for example. Further, since the position of the article receiving table can be adjusted , the mounting table itself can be rough. Further, according to the present invention, the article cradle is slidable back and forth and right and left with respect to the crosspiece of the mounting table, so that the article cradle can be easily adjusted to a desired position.

If a guide pin that engages the bottom of the article is provided on the article cradle, for example, a position for supporting a member for obtaining article delivery data on the lifting platform of the overhead traveling vehicle and contacting the guide pin of the article cradle Unload to The height of the article receiving table is determined from the height of the lifting platform when this member comes into contact with the guide pins, and the position in the horizontal plane of the article receiving table is determined from the position in the horizontal plane where the guide pins are in contact. Alternatively, according to the rough delivery data, the article can be moved to the cradle side, and at this time, it can be easily positioned by adjusting the article cradle to a position where the guide pin is engaged with the groove on the bottom of the article. Articles can be delivered according to the rough delivery data. The position adjustment of the article cradle is also completed by the above procedure.

  In the following, an optimum embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be shown.

  1 to 6 show an embodiment and its modifications. In the figure, reference numeral 2 denotes an overhead traveling vehicle system, which is provided in a ceiling space such as a clean room, and 4 is a traveling rail provided near the ceiling of the clean room. A semiconductor processing apparatus 6 and the like are provided in the clean room. Reference numeral 8 denotes a load port for exchanging articles such as a semiconductor cassette with the overhead traveling vehicle and provided in the ground space. In parallel with the traveling rail 4, the mounting table 10 is provided so that, for example, the traveling rail 4 supports the left or right side. About 1 to 3 individual article receiving trays 12 are provided on the mounting base 10, and articles such as semiconductor cassettes are placed on each article receiving base 12. The installation location of the article cradle 12 is arbitrary, but is preferably a position facing the load port 8 or a position around it. The loading table 10 is used as a buffer for temporarily placing an article when the load port of the unloading destination is blocked, or when the overhead traveling vehicle that conveys the article from the load port 8 to the destination cannot be allocated. Used as a buffer for temporarily placing articles. In addition to this, the article cradle 12 is used as a temporary buffer for articles in the clean room, and particularly as a buffer in the intrabay route of the clean room.

In addition to the preferred location of the article cradle 12 facing the load port 8 in plan view,
・ It is not provided in the curve section, branch section, or junction section of the traveling rail 4,
If there is another traveling rail parallel to the traveling rail 4, it is not provided at a position where interference with an overhead traveling vehicle traveling on the other traveling rail occurs.
There are restrictions such as. For example, the mounting table 10 is provided with a pair of crosspieces 14, and a dovetail groove 15 is provided along the longitudinal direction thereof. Further, for example, attachments 16 are provided at both ends of the mounting table 10, and are attached to a ceiling of a clean room or the like by a vertical plate 17. In the vertical plate 17, 18 is a pair of left and right columns, for example, and a wiring housing pipe 19 or the like is provided between them, and a signal line such as a load sensor or a power line is accommodated in the article receiving base 12. In the case where sensors are not provided on the article cradle 12 side, the wiring housing pipe 19 is not necessary. The mounting table 10 can be connected to each other via a fixture 16.

  For example, a plurality of long grooves 20 are provided in the article cradle 12, screws 22 are attached to the respective long grooves 20, and the article cradle 12 is fixed to the crosspiece 14 by the dovetail grooves 15 and the screws 22. Since the screw 22 is slidable along the longitudinal direction of the dovetail groove 15 and is also slidable with respect to the long groove 20, the article support 12 is slidable back and forth and right and left with respect to the mounting table 10. In this specification, the front means the traveling direction of the overhead traveling vehicle on the traveling rail 4 (indicated by the white arrow in FIG. 1), the rear is the opposite direction, and the left and right are relative to the longitudinal direction of the crosspiece 14. The direction perpendicular to the horizontal plane.

In the embodiment, the article receiving tray 12 is slidable back and forth and left and right with respect to the mounting table 10 using the dovetail groove 15 and the long groove 20 .

  For example, three guide pins 24 are provided on the article receiving table 12 and engaged with a guide groove provided on the bottom of the semiconductor cassette to guide the delivery of the semiconductor cassette. Further, guides 25 and 26 are provided on the left and right sides of the article cradle 12 to prevent the articles from falling during an earthquake or the like. The article cradle 12 may be provided with various other equipment. For example, the reflector 28 is provided, and the reflector 28 is blocked by the presence or absence of the article. Can be detected.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the traveling rail 4 includes an upper rail 31 and a lower rail 32, and a column 34 is attached using a dovetail groove 33 provided on the upper rail 31. The vertical plate 17 of the mounting table 10 is attached to the upper fixture 36, one end of each of the left and right sides is fixed to the ceiling of the clean room or the like with a column 35, and the other end is attached to the traveling rail 4 using a dovetail groove 33 or the like. As a result, the mounting table 10 is supported by the support 35 on one side in the left-right direction and the traveling rail 4 on the other side, and a certain degree of accuracy is obtained at the position of the mounting table 10 with respect to the traveling rail 4. In addition, you may support the mounting base 10 from the ceiling by the support | pillar provided in the both right and left independently of the traveling rail 4, for example.

  40 is an overhead traveling vehicle, 41 is a traveling unit, and travels in the upper rail 31, and 42 is a power receiving unit, which receives power from a litz wire (not shown) provided on the lower rail 32 by non-contact power feeding or the like. Communication is performed using a line or the like. There is a lateral feed portion 43 at the lower part of the traveling rail 4 of the overhead traveling vehicle 40, and the article receiving base is provided by laterally feeding the rotating portion 44, the lifting drive portion 45, and the lifting platform 46 to the traveling rail 4 in the horizontal direction. 12 to the upper position. The rotation part 44 does not need to provide the raising / lowering drive part 45 and the raising / lowering stand 46 within the horizontal plane. The raising / lowering drive part 45 raises / lowers the raising / lowering stand 46 by winding / unwinding the suspension material with a drum. For example, 48 is a pair of front and rear fall prevention covers, and 50 is a semiconductor cassette, which is an example of a transported article. Reference numeral 51 denotes an ID of a bar code or RF tag, which is the ID of the semiconductor cassette 50. In the embodiment, the semiconductor cassette 50 is delivered between the article receiving base 12 and the overhead traveling vehicle 40 by the lateral feeding by the lateral feeding section 43 and the raising / lowering of the lifting platform 46 by the lifting / lowering driving section 45, but the delivery mechanism itself Is optional. As shown in FIG. 2, it is preferable that the article cradle 12 appears such that the upper surface of the guide 25 appears slightly lower than the bottom surface of the semiconductor cassette 50 being conveyed.

  FIG. 3 shows the attachment of the article cradle 12 to the crosspiece 14, and FIG. 4 shows an example in which equipment such as an ID reader 52 and a loading sensor 54 is attached to the article cradle 12. In this case, the ID reader 52 reads the ID of the semiconductor cassette, and the loading sensor 54 detects the presence or absence of the semiconductor cassette on the article receiving tray 12.

  Although the mounting table 10 is provided on the side of the traveling rail 4 in the embodiment, it may be provided below the traveling rail 4. In such an example, FIG. 5 shows that 60 is a new fixture, 62 is a support column, and is attached to the ceiling of a clean room on both the left and right sides of the traveling rail 4. A mounting table 64 is provided. The position of the mounting table 64 is provided below the overhead traveling vehicle 40 in FIG. 2 at a height at which the article on the mounting table 64 and the overhead traveling vehicle 40 do not interfere with each other. Also in this case, the dovetail groove 15 is provided in the crosspiece 14, and the article receiving tray 12 is slidable back and forth and right and left with respect to the mounting table 64 using the long groove 20 and the screw 22 provided in the article receiving tray 12.

  The acquisition of delivery data for the overhead traveling vehicle to deliver the semiconductor cassette 50 to the placement tables 10 and 64 when the placement tables 10 and 64 are installed will be described. The mounting table 10 is attached to a position facing the load port or to a position where articles can be delivered from the plurality of traveling rails when a plurality of traveling rails 4 are arranged in parallel. In the case of a position facing the load port, the stop data for the load port is also used as stop data for the article cradle. In addition, with respect to the article receiving table 10a between the load port at the center of the three article receiving tables 10 in FIG. 1, a position downstream by a predetermined length from the load port 8a on the upstream side in the traveling direction. Is the stop position. In addition, it does not interfere with the overhead traveling vehicle traveling on other traveling rails, the lateral feed distance when viewed from the overhead traveling vehicle is constant, the elements such as the article cradle 12 being arranged at a predetermined pitch, and the like. Then, the position of the article cradle 12 is slid back and forth and left and right using the screw 22 and positioned.

  In the case of the mounting table 64 of FIG. 5, the left and right positions are determined so that the article receiving table 12 is directly below the traveling rail 4 and the items can be delivered without operating the lateral feed unit. Further, for example, the front and rear positions of the article cradle 12 are determined so that a large number of article cradles 12 are arranged at a predetermined pitch.

  Next, in order to acquire the delivery data to the article cradle 12, for example, a unit for obtaining delivery data is supported on the lifting platform of one overhead traveling vehicle and lowered to the article cradle side. In this unit, a sensor for detecting that the guide pin of the article cradle is in contact and a sensor for determining the position in the horizontal plane where the guide pin is in contact are provided. Therefore, the height of the article receiving table is obtained from the height of the lifting table when the unit comes into contact with the guide pins, and the lifting data of the lifting table is obtained. Further, the horizontal position of the article cradle is obtained from the horizontal position where the guide pin contacts the unit, and the lateral feed amount at the lateral feed portion of the overhead traveling vehicle is obtained. In the case of the article receiving table provided on the opposite side of the load port, the stop data is obtained by using the stop data of the load port or correcting it. The obtained delivery data is also input to other overhead traveling vehicles.

  As another delivery data acquisition method, rough delivery data can be created, and the article delivery stand 12 can be adjusted to a position where articles can be delivered according to this. Such an example is shown in FIG. Approximate delivery data has been created for each article cradle, and the overhead traveling vehicle attempts to deliver the article according to this data. In this case, however, the article is not lowered to the position specified by the delivery data, but is lowered to a position higher than the delivery data by an amount equivalent to the height of the guide pin of the article receiving table. Then, the position of the article cradle is adjusted by sliding back and forth and right and left so that the guide pin fits into the guide groove at the bottom of the article. In this way, the position of the article receiving stand can be determined according to the delivery data on the overhead traveling vehicle side.

In the embodiment, since the position of the article receiving table with respect to the mounting table can be slid back and forth, left and right, the position facing the load port, the position where there is no interference with the overhead traveling vehicle, the position away from the curve section and the branching junction For example, the position of the article cradle can be adjusted. Since the shape and structure of the article cradle 12 are unified in the overhead traveling vehicle system 2, the handling is easy. When the reflector 28, the ID reader 52, the loading sensor 54, and the like are provided on the article cradle 12, it is easy to detect the presence / absence of loading, read the ID, and the like. When the upper attachment tool 36 of the article cradle 12 is supported by the traveling rail 4, the mounting table 10 can be installed at a predetermined interval in parallel with the traveling rail 4.

The top view which shows the mounting base in the overhead traveling vehicle system of an Example. Front view of the overhead traveling vehicle system of the embodiment Sectional view along the crosspiece of the mounting table in the embodiment Plan view of mounting table in the embodiment The top view which shows the mounting base in the overhead traveling vehicle system of a modification The flowchart which shows the positioning algorithm of the mounting base in the overhead traveling vehicle system of an Example.

Explanation of symbols

2 overhead traveling vehicle system 4 traveling rail 6 processing device 8 load port 10 mounting table 12 article receiving table 14 beam 15 dovetail groove 16 mounting tool 17 vertical plate 18 pillar 19 wiring accommodating pipe 20 long groove 22 screw 24 guide pins 25, 26 guide 28 Reflector 31 Upper rail 32 Lower rail 33 Dovetail groove 34, 35 Post 36 Upper mounting tool 40 Ceiling traveling vehicle 41 Traveling portion 42 Power receiving portion 43 Transverse feeding portion 44 Turning portion 45 Lifting drive portion 46 Lifting stand 48 Fall prevention cover 50 Semiconductor Cassette 51 ID
52 ID reader 54 Loading sensor 60 Mounting tool 62 Post 64 Mounting table

Claims (1)

In a system in which a mounting table for temporary storage of articles is provided at a position where an overhead traveling vehicle can deliver articles from the traveling rail to the ceiling space,
The main body of the mounting table includes a plurality of crosspieces, and the plurality of crosspieces includes a dovetail groove that opens at an upper portion of the crosspiece and is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the crosspiece,
The article cradle for placing individual articles comprises a plurality of long grooves along a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction in a horizontal plane,
Further, the article cradle is positioned along the longitudinal direction of the crosspiece and the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the crosspiece by the fastening member penetrating the long groove from the dovetail groove. An overhead traveling vehicle system characterized by being fixed in an adjustable manner.

Images