JP4667187B2 - Substrate transfer device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate transfer device, and in particular, a silicon wafer used in a semiconductor manufacturing process and a glass substrate used in a liquid crystal panel manufacturing process can be quickly transferred with a small space occupied by a transfer arm and a simple linear slider structure. The present invention relates to such a substrate transfer apparatus.

  As a conventional substrate transfer device, a device of a link arm type using a turning operation with the arm length set based on a transfer distance or the like as a radius or a deformation operation of a parallel link mechanism is often used. In addition, in some transport apparatuses, a type including a linear slider arm is used in order to increase transport accuracy. The linear slider has a simple structure and high conveyance accuracy, but if the conveyance distance is increased, the occupied space also increases in the extending direction, and the cover that covers the extended slider must also have a movable part. It becomes a large facility. In addition, the multi-stage slide structure is more complicated than the single-row slide structure, and the cost increases. Furthermore, it is necessary to provide a device for preventing particles and the like from scattering outside the aircraft and to exhaust them, but there is a problem that it is difficult to incorporate an exhaust device. As an invention in consideration of these problems, a type in which the occupation space is reduced and the reach distance is increased while adopting a multistage slide structure has been proposed (Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  In Patent Document 1, a multistage slider has a nested structure on a flat surface, and the sliders are interlocked with wires laid over a plurality of pulleys, so that a large reachable distance can be secured with a compact body. It has become.

  The multi-stage slide arm device of Patent Document 2 can similarly ensure a large reachable distance by moving the wire hung on a pulley provided inside a box-shaped frame having an upper and lower two-stage structure.

Japanese Patent No. 2664354 Japanese Patent No. 3475120

  However, in the invention of Patent Document 1, since there is no cover that covers the entire multi-stage mechanism, it is necessary to secure a complicated path to exhaust the particles and the like generated by the respective slide mechanisms, and to use the exhaust means. In addition, a member for connecting a part of the upper belt and the lower fixing portion is necessary, and it is necessary to separately provide an opening for inserting the member. Therefore, there is a problem that exhausting the entire apparatus becomes difficult.

  In the invention of Patent Document 2, a structure in which the opening formed on the surface of the stacked box-shaped frame is covered with a belt is adopted so that exhaust efficiency is improved and particle scattering can be prevented more reliably. It has become. However, since the upper side exhaust is performed via each exhaust pipe in terms of structure, a great improvement cannot be obtained. Therefore, in Patent Document 2, there is a problem that the cost increases due to the more complicated structure than the invention of Patent Document 1. Further, since the exhaust port is provided, the amount of movement with respect to the entire length of the slider is also limited.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is supported so as to be rotatable up and down with respect to a main body, and a guide rail of a first linear guide and a slide guided by the guide rail of the first linear guide therein. A base housing comprising a box-like body having a pair of pulleys fixed to both ends of each portion and one of which is connected to a drive source, and a first transmission body spanned between the pair of pulleys A first slider composed of an elongated box-like body that is entirely accommodated in the base housing when retracted and can be extended so as to project from one end surface of the base housing when extended, and the first linear guide the slide portion is provided at a site located within the base housing, extending within said first slider, a second linear guide of the guide rail is provided on the top, the first linear A first holding member made of a member slidable along the id and a pair of driven pulleys pivotally supported by the first holding member, and both ends thereof are fixing portions in the base housing Is fixed to the second transmission body fixed to the second linear guide, functions as a slide portion of the second linear guide, and is positioned at the upper end of the side surface of the base housing and the side surface of the first slider. A hand is attached to the base housing through an elongated slit formed so as to be positioned at an initial position above the outer surface of the base housing , and the hand is synchronized with the first slider in sliding movement. A second slider that is slidable in the same direction, and the driving force applied to the pulley in the base housing causes the first transmission body to move along the traveling direction of the first transmission body. Support member is slid along the first linear guide, along with this movement, the said one end face of the base housing the first slider is extended, in synchronization with the extending movement of the first slider The second transmission body travels, and the second slider slides along the second linear guide according to the traveling direction, and the hand moves the base housing and the first housing along with the movement . While being guided by an elongated slit of one slider and projecting from a position on the first slider, the hand slides in synchronism with the first slider retracting and being accommodated in the base housing. As the second slider contracts, it moves from the state protruding from the end of the first slider to the initial slit above the base housing while being retracted by being guided by the elongated slit. It is characterized by making.

  Preferably, the first transmission body is a belt suspended between the pair of pulleys, and the second transmission body is a wire suspended between the pair of driven pulleys.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to realize a linear slider that can be expanded and contracted with high accuracy with a simple structure, and has an effect that efficient exhaust can be performed in the extending operation of the slider.

  Hereinafter, as the best mode for carrying out the substrate transfer apparatus of the present invention, the following embodiments will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a storage state of the linear slider 10 of the substrate transfer apparatus 1 of this embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a state in which the circular substrate is held by the hand while the linear slider 10 of the apparatus of FIG. 1 is extended. It is the schematic perspective view which showed typically.
As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate transfer apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a rectangular parallelepiped main body 2 fixed on a floor surface and a linear slider 10 mounted on the upper surface of the main body 2. ing. The linear slider 10 has an elongated rectangular parallelepiped outer shape, and is fixed and supported at the upper end of a column cylinder 4 (see FIG. 3 and other partial sectional views) protruding from a substantially central position on the upper surface of the main body.

  The linear slider 10 moves upward within the range of a stroke of 300 mm from the initial state shown in FIG. 1 by the operation of a drive motor (not shown) installed in the main body 2 that drives the supported column cylinder 4. It can be raised to a predetermined height, and can be swung over a range of approximately 330 ° by the rotation of the column cylinder 4. For example, as shown in FIG. A conveyance target such as a circular substrate W placed and held at the tip of the hand 3 of the linear slider 10 can be conveyed to a predetermined position with high accuracy.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of the linear slider 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 shows a configuration in the base housing 11 in a state in which a linear slider 10 having a two-stage configuration (in the following description, the first slider 20 and the second slider 30 are distinguished as necessary) is accommodated. It is sectional drawing shown. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration in the linear slider 10 in a state where the two-stage linear slider 10 is substantially extended. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an arrangement state of a plurality of pulleys, which will be described later, arranged in the linear slider 10, and an arrangement state of a multi-stage slider fixed to a drive belt and a wire spanned between the pulleys. It is sectional drawing shown.

[Configuration of base housing]
As shown in FIG. 1, the base housing 11 is an elongated rectangular parallelepiped stainless steel plate processing box-like body, and as shown in FIG. 3, the bottom center is concentric with the central axis of the column cylinder 4. A circular opening 12 is provided, and an exhaust fan 13 is fixed in the column cylinder 4 on the lower surface of the circular opening 12. The exhaust fan 13 can efficiently send particles and the like generated as the base housing 11, the first slider 20, and the second slider 30 move to the main body 2 side.

  Pulley support frames 14 are fixed in the vicinity of both ends of the bottom surface in the base housing 11 in the longitudinal direction. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the pulley support frame 14 is made of a processed plate material of a stainless steel plate in this embodiment, and includes a pulley support flange 14 a that supports belt pulleys 15 and 16 to be described later and a later-described pulley support flange 14 a. A wire fixing flange 14b to which the end portion of the wire 18 stretched between the driven pulleys 23 and 24 in the first slider 20 is fixed is formed by bending. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, belt pulleys 15 and 16 having the same diameter are pivotally supported on the pulley support flanges 14 a at both ends. Among these, the belt pulley 15 on the left side in the drawing (hereinafter referred to as the drive belt pulley 15 when distinguished) is directly connected to the rotary shaft 17a of the drive motor 17 fixed to the bottom surface of the housing 11. A predetermined rotation is applied by the control operation of the drive motor 17. A drive belt B that is rotatable in a substantially horizontal direction is stretched between a belt pulley 16 on the right side of the drawing (hereinafter referred to as a driven belt pulley 17 when distinguished) and a drive belt pulley 15. . The drive belt B and the belt pulleys 15 and 16 are both processed members made of aluminum in this embodiment, have excellent wear resistance, and hardly generate particles during rotational driving. The same effect can be obtained by employing anodized material.

  Further, on the side surface side of the position where the drive belt B is stretched, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the first linear guide 19 is arranged in parallel with the belt drive direction (see FIG. 3). 5). In this embodiment, the first linear guide 19 travels along the guide rail 19A in a low friction state on a slide piece 19B mounted on the guide rail 19A via a roller held by a retainer (not shown). A known linear guide is used.

[Configuration of the first slider]
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, in the first slider 20, a portion covered with a rectangular parallelepiped cover 21 extends by a predetermined amount from an opening 11 a formed in a part of the end surface in the longitudinal direction of the base housing 11. The expansion / contraction operation is realized by a sliding operation of a pulley holding plate 22 (described later) by traveling on the drive belt B that travels by a predetermined rotation amount of the drive motor 17. Hereinafter, the internal configuration of the first slider 20 will be described.

  A lower end of a vertical member 22b of a pulley holding plate 22 as a first holding member is fixed to a slide piece 19B that travels along a first linear guide 19 provided in the base housing 11. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the pulley holding plate 22 includes an elongated plate-like horizontal member 22a and a vertical member 22b integrally formed in the vicinity of the large-diameter driven pulley attached to the horizontal member 22a. The lower end of the vertical member 22b is stretched between the belt pulleys 15 and 16, and a part of the drive belt B as the first transmission body is interposed through a fixing tool (not shown). It is fixed. In this embodiment, the horizontal member 22a is accommodated in the cover 21 of the first slider 20 from the front end (right end in the figure) to the vicinity of the position where the vertical member 22b is formed. It is fixed to. Other portions are located in the base housing 11.

  At both ends of the horizontal member 22a of the pulley holding plate 22, a large-diameter driven pulley 23 is attached to the rear end (left end in the figure), and a small-diameter driven pulley 24 is attached to the front end (right end in the figure). As shown in FIG. 5, the two driven pulleys 23 and 24 are different in the lengths of the rotary shafts 25 and 26 that support the driven pulleys 23 and 24, and are stretched over the driven pulleys 23 and 24. The wires 18 are pivotally supported on the side surfaces of the pulley holding plate 22 so as to form parallel surfaces so as not to contact the wires 18 and the driven pulleys 23 and 24.

  Between the large diameter driven pulley 23 and the small diameter driven pulley 24, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a wire 18 as a second transmission body is stretched. The end portions of the respective wires 18 are fixed to the wire fixing flanges 14b erected from the bottom surface of the housing 11 via the fixing tool 28 so as to maintain a predetermined tension. As shown in the drawing, the wire 18 has one end positioned on the wire fixing flange 14b of the driven belt pulley 16 and horizontally wired in the housing 11, and then when the U is turned by the large-diameter driven pulley 23, the first slider 20 Positioned in the cover 21 and further laid over the small-diameter driven pulley 24 from the upper side in a horizontally wired state, and after making a U-turn with the small-diameter driven pulley 24, the first slider 20 is wired near the bottom surface in the cover 21; Further, the inside of the base housing 11 is wired to the drive belt pulley 15 side, and is fixed to the wire fixing flange 14b via the fixing tool 28.

  Thus, as shown in FIG. 2, the first slider 20 has the pulley holding plate 22 fixedly held in the rectangular parallelepiped cover 21 whose rear end is opened, and the pulley holding plate 22 is integrated. As the vertical member 22b moves in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 2 along the first linear guide 19 as the drive belt B travels, the first slider 20 is covered as shown in FIGS. The cover 21 can be extended by a predetermined slide amount from the opening 11 a of the base housing 11.

[Configuration of the second slider]
Next, the configuration of the second slider 30 will be described. A second linear guide 31 is fixed to the side surface of the pulley holding plate 22. In the present embodiment, the second linear guide 31 has the same structure and the same dimensions as the first linear guide 19, and the slide piece 31 </ b> B of the second linear guide 31 functions as the second slider 30. A hand holding base member 32 which is a holding portion 2 is fixed. 2 and 5, the hand holding base member 32 has a substantially U shape with respect to the direction of expansion and contraction of the slider, and part of the hand holding base member 32 includes the base housing 11 and the cover 21 of the first slider 20. The hand 3 protrudes from the long and narrow slit 33 and can be attached and held at the tip thereof. In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a ceramic hand 3 having an elongated rectangular plate shape is attached. A vacuuming pipe (not shown) is formed inside the hand 3 and can be evacuated from a number of fine suction holes 34 (see FIG. 2) formed in the tip region.

  On the other hand, the lower end of the hand holding base member 32 as a second holding portion is fixed to a wire 18 made of a wire cable with a small diameter as a second transmission body via a slide piece 31B. As a result, the large-diameter driven pulley 23 and the small-diameter driven pulley 24 move, and the slide piece 31B of the second linear guide 31 fixed to the wire 18 changes as the guide state of the wire 18 changes in accordance with the change of the state of the wire 18. As shown in FIG. 3 along 31A, it slides in the direction of the arrow in the figure. Therefore, the hand holding base member 32 fixed to the slide piece 31B is also overlapped with the elongated slit 33 formed on the side surface of the base housing 11 and the elongated slit 33 as shown in FIGS. It can slide continuously along the elongated slit 36 formed on the side surface of the first slider 20 and can finally move to the end of the second linear guide 31.

[Linear slider expansion]
The extension operation of the linear slider 10 constituted by the two-stage sliders 20 and 30 of the present embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, the drive belt B travels in the direction of the arrow by rotating the drive belt pulley 15 directly connected to the rotation shaft 17a of the drive motor 17 (see FIG. 5) in the clockwise direction (FIG. 3). The longitudinal member of the pulley holding plate 22 fixed to the upper side surface of B moves the first slider 20 by the same distance as the driving belt B in the extending direction (right side in the drawing) as this travels. At this time, the driven pulleys 23 and 24 supported by the pulley holding plate 22 also move in the same direction and the same distance in the wired state. Accordingly, the positions of both driven pulleys 23 and 24 from the wire fixing portion are changed by the amount of movement of the two driven pulleys 23 and 24. At this time, since the hand holding base member 32 as the second slider 30 is fixed to the wire 18, the movement of the wire 18 between the two driven pulleys 23, 24 is an example of the second slider 30. The hand holding base member 32 moves in the same direction and distance as the first slider 20. Accordingly, since the second slide 30 can extend at an equal distance relative to the extension amount of the first slide 20, an extension amount that is twice the extension amount of the first slide 20 can be obtained with respect to the base housing 11. It will be. In the above description, it is possible to use a wire instead of the driving belt B as the first transmission body, and it is also possible to use a narrow belt instead of the wire as the second transmission body. Not too long.

  As described above, the linear slider 10 according to the present invention hardly accommodates the drive part inside from the housed state shown in FIG. 1 to the extended state shown in FIG. The exhaust function of the exhaust fan 13 is advantageous in that external contamination can be prevented.

The whole perspective view which showed the slider accommodation state of one Example of the board | substrate conveyance apparatus of this invention. FIG. 2 is an overall perspective view showing an extended state of the slider shown in FIG. 1. Sectional drawing which showed the structure and accommodation state of the linear slider. Sectional drawing which showed the expansion | extension state of the linear slider shown in FIG. Sectional drawing which showed the example of arrangement | positioning of each drive mechanism in a linear slider.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate conveyance apparatus 3 Hand 4 Column cylinder 10 Linear slider 11 Base housing 13 Exhaust fan 14 Pulley support frame 15 Drive belt pulley 16 Driven belt pulley 17 Drive motor 18 Wire 19 First linear guide 20 First slider 21 Cover 22 Pulley holding plate 23 Large-diameter driven pulley 24 Small-diameter driven pulley 30 Second slider 31 Second linear guides 33 and 36 Elongated slit B Drive belt W Circular substrate

Claims (2)

It is supported so that it can rotate up and down with respect to the main body, and is fixed to both ends of the guide rail of the first linear guide and the slide portion guided by the guide rail of the first linear guide. A base housing formed of a box-like body having a pair of pulleys connected to a source and a first transmission body spanned between the pair of pulleys;
A first slider composed of an elongated box-like body that is entirely accommodated in the base housing when retracted and can be extended so as to protrude from one end surface of the base housing when extended;
The slide portion of the first linear guide is provided at a site located within the base housing, extending within said first slider, a second linear guide of the guide rail is provided on the top, A first holding member made of a member slidable along the first linear guide;
It spans between a pair of driven pulleys pivotally supported by the first holding member, and both ends thereof are fixed to a second transmission body fixed to a fixing portion in the base housing, and the second It functions as a slide part of the linear guide, and at the upper end part of the outer surface of the base housing through an elongated slit formed on the side surface of the base housing and the side surface of the first slider so that the positions thereof are aligned. A hand is attached with the upper position as an initial position , and the hand is synchronized with the slide movement of the first slider and includes a second slider that can slide in the same direction as the first slider;
Due to the driving force applied to the pulley in the base housing, the first holding member slides along the first linear guide along the traveling direction of the first transmission body. the base housing end surface of the first slider is extended from, in synchronization with the extending movement of the first slider, the second transfer body travels, the second with its running direction The slider slides along the second linear guide, and with this movement, the hand is guided by the elongated slits of the base housing and the first slider and protrudes from a position on the first slider. on the other hand,
In synchronization with the first slider retracting and being accommodated in the base housing, the hand is projected from the first slider end in accordance with the contraction of the second slider. A substrate transfer apparatus, wherein the substrate transfer apparatus operates so as to be retracted by being guided by a slit and to return to an initial position above the base housing .   The first transmission body is a belt hung between the pair of pulleys, and the second transmission body is a wire hung between the pair of driven pulleys. The substrate transfer apparatus according to claim 1.

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