JP4705753B2 - Transport system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a transport system that transports articles between ports using an overhead traveling vehicle, a tracked carriage, an automatic guided vehicle, or the like.

Consider carrying out an article from a port with a carrying device in a carrying system. Further, it is assumed that the priority of the conveyance command is given to the article to be conveyed . When a transport command having a high priority is assigned, if the carry-out port is occupied by another article, the transport is delayed. In particular, when the priority of the conveyance command for the article occupying the carry-out port is low, the conveyance of the article with the high priority of the subsequent conveyance command is also delayed when the conveyance of the article with the low priority of the conveyance command is delayed. . Priority in this way convey not only the priority of the transport command of the article, is a phenomenon that also related to the priority of the transport command of the preceding article, is that consideration of this point in the prior art missing There wasn't.

An object of the present invention is to prevent the conveyance of an article having a high priority in the conveyance command from being delayed because the conveyance article having a low priority in the conveyance instruction occupies the port for unloading.
An additional problem in the invention of claim 2 is to prevent a delay in the delivery of an article having a high priority of the transport command because the transported article having a low priority of the transport command occupies the port for carrying in. .
An additional problem in the invention of claim 3 is to prevent a traveling route from the carry-out port to the carry-in port from being blocked by a waiting conveyance device and delaying conveyance of an article having a high priority of the conveyance command. is there.

In the transport system of the present invention, a plurality of transport devices travel along a travel rail formed of a circular orbit having a determined travel direction, and a stocker including a carry-in port and a carry-out port are respectively carried along the travel rail. port and out port and a plurality of processing apparatus including a is provided in the conveyance system to convey the articles by the conveying apparatus from said one unloading port to the one of the loading port, in said stocker the first article, by way of the out port of the stocker, when allocating carry command higher first priority for transporting the loading port of the processing device, the same said stocker and said first transport command via out port, and low priority transport command than the priority of the first transfer instruction, being transported further in the ejection already and the out port to said discharge port, It means for retrieving a second transport command for a second article, by providing a priority changing means for increasing the priority of the transport command of the unloading port after the second transport command, the second Without stopping the transport command, the second article is quickly transported from the transport port, and when assigning the first transport command, the same transport port of the processing apparatus as the first transport command is set. Means for searching for a third transport command for a third article that has passed through and has a priority of the transport command lower than the priority of the first transport command and has been loaded into the carry-in port; and By providing means for increasing the priority of the third transport command after the carry-in port, the third article is preferentially transported to the post-load port without stopping the third transport command. that it has to so that And butterflies.

Here, the carry-out port and the carry-in port may be a port of a storage facility such as a stocker, a port of a processing apparatus such as a semiconductor processing apparatus, or a port without a buffer. The assignment of the transport command is to assign the transport command to the transport device. Further, an overhead traveling vehicle, a tracked carriage, an unmanned transport vehicle, a stacker crane in the stocker, a transport device in the processing device, or the like is used as the transporting device. In yet example interfering range and the first transport command to increase the priority, for example, when increasing the priority of unloading from the carry-out port for the second transport command, for example transport from unloading port to the carrying-port may be Maze the priority of the directive, it is not necessary to increase the priority of the later of the transport command.

The priority level is set by classifying the transport command into, for example, 3 ranks or 5 ranks. For example, in the case where five ranks are provided, the higher the rank, the higher the priority. In order to promote the first conveyance command of rank 3, priority is given to the second and third conveyance commands of rank 2. You may make it increase a priority to rank 2 or 3 with respect to the conveyance command of rank 1 without changing. In other words, the priority may be increased with respect to the second and third transport commands having a priority that is not less than a specified level than the priority of the first transport command.

Preferably, when allocating the first transport command having a high priority, a transport device standing by on the travel route between the carry-out port and the carry-in port according to the first transport command is changed according to the first transport command. Retreat means for retreating beyond the carry-in port.

In the present invention, if the carry-out port is occupied by a transport article of the second transport command having a low priority, the transport priority of the goods is increased to expedite the carry-out, so that the subsequent high priority It is also possible to promote the conveyance of an article with one conveyance command.

In the present invention, it is possible to prevent the carrying port is because it is occupied by the lower leading article priority of transport command, it can not be carried the article at high transport command of the subsequent priority.

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

  1 to 3 show an embodiment. In FIG. 1, 2 is a transport system as a whole, 4 is a stocker, and may be an automatic warehouse or other storage facility, and includes a carry-in port 5 and a carry-out port 6, which are either a buffered port or a non-buffered port. Good. In addition to the ports 5 and 6, the stocker 4 includes a stacker crane and a shelf for carrying in the stocker, and 8 is a stocker controller.

  In the embodiment, an overhead traveling vehicle is used as a conveying device outside the stocker 4, 10 and 14 are traveling rails of the overhead traveling vehicle, and 12 and 16 are overhead traveling vehicles. The traveling rail 10 is a traveling rail for inter-process transportation, and the traveling rail 14 is a traveling rail for intra-process transportation, both of which are circular tracks whose traveling directions are determined. A large number of processing devices 18 are provided along the traveling rail 14, and a carry-in port 5 and a carry-out port 6 are provided respectively. The ports of the stocker 4 and the processing device 18 may be used for loading / unloading.

  A transport article such as a semiconductor cassette is drawn into the processing apparatus 18 from the carry-in port 5, the cassette is opened, the substrate is taken out, and the substrate is transported in the processing apparatus. Further, the substrate processed by the processing apparatus 18 is transferred to the carry-out port 6 side, set in the cassette, and sent to the carry-out port 6. The port controller 20 controls the conveyance of articles from the carry-in port 5 into the processing device 18 and the conveyance of articles from the processing device 18 to the carry-out port 6. Reference numerals 22 and 24 denote controllers of the overhead traveling vehicle. The controller 22 controls the overhead traveling vehicle 12 traveling along the traveling rail 10, and the controller 24 controls the overhead traveling vehicle 16 traveling along the traveling rail 14.

The logistics controller 30 manages these while communicating with the controllers 8, 20, 22, and 24, communicates with a host controller, production controller, etc. (not shown), receives a transport request, and sends a transport result to the host controller, production controller, etc. To report to. The physical distribution controller 30 is provided with a transport command list 32 to store the transport commands already assigned to the transport equipment. In the conveyance command, the starting point (FROM position) and destination (TO position) of conveyance, the ID of the article to be conveyed, and the priority of the conveyance command are described.

  For example, when an article is transported from the stocker 4 to the processing device 18, the transport command is the stocker transport from the shelf in the stocker 4 to the unloading port 6, the non-stocker transport to the loading port 5 of the processing device 18, and the loading port. 5 can be divided into three sub-transports into the processing device 18. In the transport command, when a plurality of sub-transports are involved, the FROM position and the TO position, the article ID, and the priority are stored for each sub-transport. Here, the priority is, for example, 3 ranks, and the higher the value, the higher the priority.

  The search unit 34 searches for a preceding transport command that interferes with a transport command having a priority level equal to or higher than a specified value, such as a priority level of 2 or 3 or higher. Since the priority is high, the conveyance command for urgent conveyance is set as the first conveyance command. In this search, in the stocker 4 or the processing device 18, a transport command that interferes in the process until the article is unloaded from the unloading port 6 and that has a priority lower than the first transport command by a specified value or more is the second transport. It shall be a directive. Also, in the loading destination stocker or processing device 18, a transfer command that interferes in the process of loading into the stocker or processing device 18 from the loading port 5 and that has a lower priority than the first transfer command by a specified value or more. 3 conveyance command. In addition to this, the overhead traveling on standby between the carry-out port and the carry-in port according to the first conveyance command, more preferably between the current position of the overhead traveling vehicle assigned with the first conveyance command and the carry-in port. Search for a car.

  When the second transfer command or the third transfer command is found, the priority changing unit 36 increases the priority of the second transfer command or the third transfer command by a predetermined value. Note that the conveyance section where the priority is increased with respect to the second conveyance command is from the carry-out port to the target carry-in port, and the section where the priority of the third conveyance instruction is increased is from the carry-in port 5 in the stocker or processing. Up to the inside of the device 18. Further, when an overhead traveling vehicle waiting in the section from the carry-out port or the like to the carry-in port according to the first transport command is found, it is evacuated to a section beyond the carry-in port.

  Reference numeral 38 denotes a transport route list, which stores the arrangement of the ports 5 and 6 along the traveling rails 10 and 14. The transport device list 40 lists transport devices such as the overhead traveling vehicles 12 and 16 and the stacker crane, and stores the current position of the overhead traveling vehicles 12 and 16 in addition to this.

  The operation of the embodiment is shown in FIGS. Here, it is considered that the article is conveyed from the stocker 4a to the stocker 4b in FIG. 2 by the subsequent overhead traveling vehicle 16s. Further, it is assumed that the preceding overhead traveling vehicle 16f is waiting on the traveling route 14 between the stockers 4a and 4b. The physical distribution controller transmits a sub conveyance command to the two stocker controllers of the starting point and the destination and the overhead traveling vehicle controller.

It is necessary to carry out the goods via the carry-out port 6a. Here, when the carry-out port 6a or the buffer in front of it is occupied by another article, or when the stacker crane 42 is carrying the article toward the carry-out port 6a, the conveyance of the article having a high priority of the conveyance command is delayed. . Therefore, the search means checks the priority of the carry-out port 6a, its buffer, and the carry command (interfering carry command) of the article being carried to the carry-out port 6a. If these priorities are lower than the first conveyance command by a predetermined value or more, the priorities are increased by a predetermined value.

  When the preceding overhead traveling vehicle 16f is waiting between the stockers 4a, 4b, etc., it is searched and retreated to a section beyond the target carry-in port 5b. When another overhead traveling vehicle is waiting between the carry-out port 6a and the current position of the overhead traveling vehicle 16s, such an overhead traveling vehicle is also retreated to a section beyond the carrying-in port 5b.

If loading ports 5b are occupied by lower article priority than the specified value of the transport command, increasing the priority of the transport instruction to the stocker 4b in the loading port 5b. In the case where the buffer in the carry port 5b is present, A low priority transport command of articles buffer specified value or more, the article also increase the priority of the transport command. As a result, when an article is unloaded from the overhead traveling vehicle 16s to the carry-in port 5b, it can be quickly stored in the stocker shelf by the stacker crane 42.

  In the embodiment, the conveyance between the stockers 4a and 4b has been described, but the same applies to the conveyance between the stocker and the processing apparatus or between the processing apparatus and the processing apparatus. In addition to an overhead traveling vehicle and a stacker crane, a tracked carriage, an automatic guided vehicle, or the like may be used as the conveying device.

In the embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) Since the carry- out port is occupied by an article having a low priority of the conveyance command, it is possible to prevent the conveyance of the article having a high priority of the conveyance command from being delayed.
(2) Since an article having a low priority of the transport command occupies the carry-in port, it is possible to prevent a delay in delivery of an article having a high priority of the transport command .
(3) The conveyance device in standby does not prevent the conveyance of articles having a high conveyance command priority .

The figure which shows the layout of the conveyance system of an Example The figure which shows typically arrangement | positioning with the carrying-in port in the Example, a carrying-out port, and an overhead traveling vehicle The figure which shows the algorithm of the high priority conveyance in an Example

2 Transport system 4 Stocker 5 Carry-in port 6 Carry-out port 8 Stocker controller 10, 14 Travel rail 12 Overhead vehicle 16 Overhead vehicle 18 Processing device 20 Port controller 22, 24 Controller for overhead vehicle 30 Logistics controller 32 Transport command list 34 Search Means 36 Priority change means 38 Transport route list 40 Transport equipment list 42 Stacker crane

Claims (1)

A plurality of transfer devices travel along a traveling rail formed of a circular track having a determined traveling direction, and include a stocker having a carry-in port and a carry-out port, and a carry-in port and a carry-out port, respectively. A plurality of processing devices, and a transport system configured to transport an article from one of the carry-out ports to any of the carry-in ports by a transport device,
The first article in the stocker, by way of the out port of the stocker, when allocating carry command higher first priority for transporting the loading port of the processing apparatus, same as the first transport command via unloading port of said stocker, and low priority transport command than the priority of the first transfer instruction, being transported further in the ejection already and the out port to said discharge port, first for the second article Means for retrieving two transport instructions;
By providing priority changing means for increasing the priority of the transport command after the transport port of the second transport command , the second transport command from the transport port of the second article can be stopped without stopping the second transport command . As well as expediting carry-out ,
When allocating the first transfer command, the transfer command is routed through the same loading port of the processing apparatus as the first transfer command, and the priority of the transfer command is lower than the priority of the first transfer command. Means for retrieving a third transport command for a third article already carried into the port;
By providing means for increasing the priority of the third transport command after the carry-in port, the third article is transported preferentially after the carry-in port without stopping the third transport command. A conveyance system characterized by being made to be.

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