JP4879833B2 - Transport device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a transfer device for transferring a workpiece in a vacuum atmosphere.

  As a transfer device for transferring a thin plate-like workpiece in a vacuum atmosphere, for example, there is one disclosed in Patent Document 1 below. This transport device is provided with a link arm mechanism supported by a turning base, and a hand capable of horizontally holding a plate-like workpiece such as a substrate is provided at the tip of the link arm mechanism. The swivel base is mounted on a cylindrical lift base that is supported so as to be lifted and lowered with respect to the fixed base. More specifically, the fixed base is provided with a ceiling wall having an opening in the center, and the elevating base is made to enter and exit from the opening of the fixed base as its cylinder part moves up and down. And the hand supported by the turning base according to the raising / lowering operation of the raising / lowering base is arrange | positioned at predetermined | prescribed height. When the turning base turns around the vertical turning axis on the fixed base, the link arm mechanism is turned accordingly, and when the link arm mechanism swings, the plate-like work held by the hand is linear in the horizontal plane. Moved to. Thereby, a plate-shaped workpiece is conveyed from a predetermined position to another position.

  A cylindrical bellows is provided between the fixed base and the lift base (see FIG. 21 of Patent Document 1). The bellows is disposed so as to surround the cylinder portion of the lifting base, and the upper end is attached to the ceiling wall of the fixed base, while the lower end is attached to the lower portion of the lifting base. The bellows can be expanded and contracted within a certain range following the lifting operation of the lifting base, and always keeps an airtight seal between the ceiling wall of the fixed base and the lifting base. Thereby, in the said conveying apparatus, irrespective of the raising / lowering operation | movement of a raising / lowering base, it is possible to make atmospheric space the inside space of a raising / lowering base. For this reason, even when the transport device is used in a vacuum atmosphere, the driving motor that causes various operations is assumed to be used in the atmospheric pressure by being placed in the atmospheric pressure atmosphere. A general motor can be used.

  The transport device having such a configuration is used for, for example, carrying a workpiece into or out of a process chamber in a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device or a liquid crystal display panel, and is arranged in a vacuum chamber such as a transport chamber. . In this arrangement, the ceiling wall of the fixed base is connected and fixed in a sealed state to the bottom wall of the vacuum chamber. During the operation of the conveying device, the plate-like workpiece is conveyed by repeating each of the raising / lowering operation, the turning operation, and the linear movement operation. In such a vacuum process, a reduction in production cycle time is required from the viewpoint of improving product productivity. In connection with this, each operation | movement of a conveying apparatus is also requested | required of speed-up, and speed-up has also been advanced about raising / lowering operation | movement. As a result, the bellows are more susceptible to breakage such as cracking than before. As a cause of such breakage, for example, it is conceivable that a load such as an inertial force acting on the bellows is increased due to a high-speed expansion / contraction operation. That is, the problem of bellows breakage has been revealed with the increase in the speed of the lifting operation.

  If the bellows breaks, the vacuum in the vacuum chamber decreases due to a vacuum leak from the damaged part, so the bellows must be replaced. However, the bellows is attached to the ceiling wall of the fixed base, and the ceiling wall is fixed to the bottom wall of the vacuum chamber. For this reason, in order to replace the bellows, it is necessary to remove the ceiling wall from the bottom wall of the vacuum chamber, and the replacement work of the bellows is large and complicated. As a result, this has been an impediment to improving product productivity through faster operation of the transport device.

JP 2005-125479 A

  The present invention has been conceived under such circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a transport apparatus that can easily exchange bellows.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention employs the following technical means.

The conveying device provided by the present invention includes a ceiling wall having an opening in the center, a fixed base to which the ceiling wall is connected and fixed to the vacuum chamber, and a cylinder part, and the cylinder part extends from the opening. An elevating base supported to be movable up and down with respect to the fixed base, a linear movement mechanism mounted on the elevating base for moving a workpiece along a desired movement stroke in a horizontal plane, and the cylinder And a cylindrical bellows that hermetically seals between the ceiling wall and the lifting base by attaching end portions to each of the ceiling wall and the lifting base. The ceiling wall includes a first portion and a second portion having an annular shape, and the first portion is fixed to the vacuum chamber, while the second portion is the first portion. Against Are detachably connected, the one end of the bellows is detachably attached to the second portion, said bellows, the second portion separating the second portion from said first portion And can be replaced by removing one end of the bellows from the second part .

  According to the transport device having such a configuration, when replacing the bellows, the first portion of the ceiling wall that is connected and fixed to the vacuum chamber is connected to the second portion while maintaining the connection and fixing state. The bellows can be extracted by separating from one part. Therefore, the bellows can be easily replaced.

  In a preferred embodiment, the second part is connected to the first part in a state of being placed from above.

  In a preferred embodiment, an annular sealing mechanism is interposed between the first part and the second part.

  1-5 has shown the conveying apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The transport device A1 is for transporting a thin plate-like workpiece such as a substrate for a liquid crystal display panel, for example. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the transfer device A <b> 1 includes a fixed base 1, a lift base 2, a lift mechanism 3 that lifts and lowers the lift base 2 with respect to the fixed base 1, and a lift base 2. And a turning mechanism 5 for turning the turning base 4 around a vertical turning axis Os. The turning base 4 supports a linear movement mechanism 6, and the linear movement mechanism 6 supports a pair of hands 7 </ b> A and 7 </ b> B separately. The hands 7A and 7B are for holding the thin plate-like workpiece W in a horizontal posture.

  As clearly shown in FIG. 3, the fixed base 1 includes a housing 1 </ b> A having a substantially columnar outer shape including a bottom wall portion 11, a cylindrical side wall portion 12, and a ceiling wall 13. The bottom wall portion 11 is a portion for attaching a motor shaft M1 and a screw shaft 321 of the lifting mechanism 3 to be described later, and an opening portion 11A is formed at an appropriate position. As shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 5, guide rails 311 are provided at two locations along the vertical direction on the side wall 12 of the housing 1A. The guide rail 311 constitutes a slide guide mechanism 31 described later.

  The ceiling wall 13 includes an annular outer flange 131 and an annular inner flange 132, and the inner flange 132 is connected to the outer flange 131 so as to be vertically separable. More specifically, as clearly shown in FIG. 4, the inner peripheral edge portion of the outer flange 131 is formed with a locking collar portion 131 </ b> A that protrudes toward the inner peripheral side at the lower position, while the inner flange 132. The outer peripheral edge portion is formed with a locking collar portion 132A that protrudes to the outer peripheral side at the upper position, and the connecting portion between the outer flange 131 and the inner flange 132 is in-row fitted. Accordingly, the inner flange 132 can be placed and connected to the outer flange 131 from above, and the inner flange 132 is positioned with high accuracy with respect to the outer flange 131 at the time of connection. The outer flange 131 and the inner flange 132 are connected through a plurality of bolts 133. An annular seal mechanism 134 made of, for example, an O-ring is interposed at a contact portion between the locking hook 131A and the locking hook 132A. By this sealing mechanism 134, the space between the outer flange 131 and the inner flange 132 is hermetically sealed. The outer flange 131 is attached to the side wall portion 12, and a central opening 132 </ b> B is formed at the center of the inner flange 132.

As shown in FIG. 3, the elevating base 2 includes a cylindrical inner cylindrical portion 21 having a predetermined dimension in the vertical direction, a cylindrical outer cylindrical portion 22, and lower ends of these cylindrical portions 21 and 22. And a bottom wall portion 23 to be connected. The inner cylinder portion 21 has an outer diameter smaller than the center opening 132 </ b> B of the ceiling wall 13 of the fixed base 1. The upper end of the outer cylinder portion 22 is lower than the upper end of the inner cylinder portion 21.

The elevating mechanism 3 is for elevating the elevating base 2 with respect to the fixed base 1, and as shown in FIG. 3 or 5, includes two slide guide mechanisms 31 and two screw feed mechanisms 32. It is prepared for. Each slide guide mechanism 31 includes the above-described guide rail 311 and two guide members 312 (indicated by broken line hatching in FIG. 3) provided on the elevating base 2, and these guide members 312 are attached to the guide rail 311. It is slidably engaged. Thereby, the elevating base 2 can move within a predetermined range in the vertical direction of FIG. 3 with respect to the fixed base 1, and at this time, the inner cylindrical portion 21 of the elevating base 2 protrudes and retracts from the central opening 132 </ b> B of the housing 1 </ b> A. . As the slide guide mechanism 31 having such a configuration, for example, a linear guide incorporating a linear motion bearing can be employed.

  The screw feed mechanism 32 is for applying a driving force for the lifting operation to the lifting base 2, and as shown in FIG. 3, the screw shaft 321 arranged in the vertical direction and rotated, and the screw This is configured as a ball screw mechanism including a nut member 322 screwed to a shaft 321. As shown well in FIG. 5, the two screw feed mechanisms 32 are opposed to each other with the turning axis Os interposed therebetween, and are respectively provided at positions spaced from the turning axis Os by substantially the same distance.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the screw shaft 321 is supported so as to be rotatable with respect to the fixed base 1 in the vicinity of both ends thereof. The nut member 322 is fixed to the outer peripheral portion of the outer cylindrical portion 22 of the lifting base 2. Pulleys 321 a having the same diameter are provided at the lower ends of the two screw shafts 321. As shown in FIG. 5, the two screw shafts 321 are linked to the motor M1 by a belt 323 wound around these pulleys 321a. Thus, when the motor M1 is driven, the two screw shafts 321 are rotated in synchronization with the forward and reverse directions, and thus the screw shaft 321 is rotationally driven in this manner, whereby the elevating base 2 is moved to the guide rail 311. Can be moved up and down.

  As shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4, the bellows 14 is interposed between the ceiling wall 13 of the fixed base 1 and the bottom wall portion 23 of the lifting base 2 so as to surround the inner cylindrical portion 21 of the lifting base 2. Has been placed. The upper end and the lower end of the bellows 14 are detachably attached to the inner flange 132 of the fixed base 1 and the bottom wall 23 of the elevating base 2 via a plurality of bolts 15 and 16 respectively. Accordingly, the bellows 14 hermetically seals between the ceiling wall 13 of the fixed base 1 and the bottom wall portion 23 of the lifting base 2 regardless of the vertical movement of the lifting base 2. In FIG. 5, the bellows 14 is not shown.

  The swivel base 4 includes a housing 41 and a cylindrical shaft 42 connected below the housing 41. The housing 41 and the cylindrical shaft 42 are connected through, for example, a plurality of bolts (not shown) and can be separated vertically. In a state where the housing 41 is connected to the cylindrical shaft 42, the housing 41 and the cylindrical shaft 42 are hermetically sealed by a sealing mechanism (not shown).

  The cylindrical shaft 42 is supported inside the inner cylindrical portion 21 of the elevating base 2 via a bearing 441 so as to be rotatable about the turning axis Os. A seal mechanism 442 is also provided between the inner cylinder portion 21 and the cylindrical shaft 42. The seal mechanism 442 shields the space above the seal mechanism 442 and the inner space of the elevating base 2 below the seal mechanism 442 to maintain airtightness.

  The turning mechanism 5 is for turning the turning base 4 about the turning axis Os regardless of the vertical position of the elevating base 2, and as shown in FIG. 3, the cylindrical shaft 42 of the turning base 4. A pulley 421 provided at the lower end of the belt 421, and a belt 451 wound around the pulley 421. The pulley 421 is linked to a motor M <b> 2 supported in the inner cylinder portion 21 of the elevating base 2 via a belt 451. Thereby, when the motor M2 is driven, the turning base 4 turns around the turning axis Os.

  Transmission shafts 46 and 47 for transmitting driving force to link arm mechanisms 62A and 62B, which will be described later, are coaxially inserted along the rotation axis Os in the cylindrical shaft 42 of the rotation base 4. The transmission shaft 47 is a cylindrical shaft, and is rotatably supported via a bearing 443 inside the cylindrical shaft 42. The transmission shaft 46 is rotatably supported inside the transmission shaft 47 via a bearing 444. The lower end of the transmission shaft 46 is connected to the output shaft of the motor M3 supported in the inner cylinder portion 21 of the lifting base 2. On the other hand, a pulley 471 is provided at the lower end of the transmission shaft 47, and a belt 452 is wound around the pulley 471 and a pulley attached to the output shaft of the motor M4 supported in the inner cylinder portion 21. Has been. Pulleys 462 and 472 are formed at the upper ends of the transmission shafts 46 and 47, respectively.

  The linear movement mechanism 6 is for conveying the hands 7A and 7B along the horizontal linear movement stroke GL, and, as shown in FIG. 3, guide rails 61A and 61A provided on the guide member 43, 61B and link arm mechanisms 62A and 62B that transmit horizontal driving force to the hands 7A and 7B.

  The guide member 43 that supports the guide rails 61 </ b> A and 61 </ b> B has a rectangular shape in plan view having a longitudinal axis (movement stroke GL) in the horizontal direction, and is fixed to the housing 41 of the turning base 4. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the turning base 4 has a support column 411 connected to the upper center of the housing 41, and a guide member 43 is integrally provided on the support column 411. ing. The upper surface of the guide member 43 is covered with a cover 431 that covers the upper portions of the guide rails 61A and 61B.

  The hand 7A is supported by a pair of inner guide rails 61A via a support arm 71a formed in the lower portion of the hand 7A and a slider 611A provided on the support arm 71a. The hand 7B is supported by a pair of outer guide rails 61B via a pair of support arms 71b formed so as to bypass the side of the hand 7A and a slider 611B provided on the support arm 71b.

  The hands 7A and 7B are integrally provided with a plurality of hawk-shaped holding pieces 72a and 72b extending in the longitudinal direction of the guide member 43, and the thin plate-like workpiece W is placed on the holding pieces 72a and 72b. Placed and held. An extension 73a is connected to the support arm 71a of the hand 7A, and this extension 73a passes through a slit formed in the guide member 43 and passes under the outer guide rail 61B to the outside. It is extended to. A distal end portion of an arm 624 (the right side in FIG. 3) of the link arm mechanism 62A is rotatably connected to the extension portion 73a. On the other hand, a shaft 73b is connected to the support arm 71b of the hand 7B, and the tip of an arm 624 (the left side in FIG. 3) of the link arm mechanism 62B is rotatably connected to the shaft 73b. ing.

  The link arm mechanisms 62A and 62B are configured by connecting a plurality of arms 621 to 624, respectively. Since the main configuration and operation of the link arm mechanisms 62A and 62B are the same as those of the conventional one, detailed description thereof is omitted. The base end portion 621 a of the arm 621 is rotatably supported through a bearing 445 in an opening provided in the upper portion of the housing 41 of the turning base 4. A rotating shaft 620 is connected to the lower end of the base end portion 621a via a speed reduction mechanism 625. Between the base end portion 621 a and the upper portion of the housing 41, a seal mechanism 446 for maintaining airtightness is provided above the bearing 445. As a result, the inside of the housing 41 and the inner space of the elevating base 2 communicating from the inside via the cylindrical shaft 42 are hermetically sealed with respect to the outside.

  A pulley 620a is provided at the lower end of the rotation shaft 620 (right side in FIG. 3) of the link arm mechanism 62A, and a belt 453 is wound around the pulley 620a and the pulley 462 of the transmission shaft 46. . Thus, when the motor M3 is driven, the rotational driving force of the motor M3 is transmitted to the rotating shaft 620 by the linkage of the transmission shaft 46 and the belt 453, and the link arm mechanism 62A is driven. On the other hand, a pulley 620b is provided at the lower end of the rotation shaft 620 (left side in FIG. 3) of the link arm mechanism 62B, and a belt 454 is wound between the pulley 620b and the pulley 472 of the transmission shaft 47. ing. Thus, when the motor M4 is driven, the rotational driving force of the motor M4 is transmitted to the rotating shaft 620 by the linkage of the belt 452, the transmission shaft 47, and the belt 454, and the link arm mechanism 62B is driven.

  When one link arm mechanism 62A is driven, the lower hand 7A is slid horizontally while being supported by the two inner guide rails 61A. When the other link arm mechanism 62B is driven, the upper hand 7B slides horizontally while being supported by the two outer guide rails 61B without interfering with the hand 7A. At that time, the extension 73 a that connects the hand 7 </ b> A and the link arm mechanism 62 </ b> A slides without being blocked by the guide member 43. Thereby, the workpiece | work W mounted on holding piece 72a, 72b of hand 7A, 7B is arrange | positioned with the stable attitude | position.

  The transport device A1 having the above-described configuration is used for, for example, carrying a workpiece into or out of a process chamber in a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display panel. In this case, for example, the transfer device A1 is disposed in a vacuum atmosphere in a transport chamber as a vacuum chamber in which a plurality of process chambers are disposed in the periphery. Specifically, as indicated by phantom lines in FIG. 3, an opening B1 for attaching the transfer device A1 is formed in the bottom wall B of the transport chamber. The transport device A1 is connected and fixed in a sealed state to the bottom wall B via the outer flange 131 of the ceiling wall 13 of the fixed base 1, and an element above the ceiling wall 13 is located in the internal space of the transport chamber. To be arranged.

  In recent years, in the vacuum process, reduction of production cycle time has been demanded from the viewpoint of improving the productivity of products, and in the transfer device A1, the operation of various mechanisms has been accelerated. Ascending / descending operation is also accelerated, and as a result, the bellows 14 is more likely to be damaged than in the prior art.

  On the other hand, in the transport apparatus A1 of the present embodiment, the ceiling wall 13 includes an outer flange 131 and an inner flange 132 that are detachably connected, and the outer flange 131 is a transport chamber. While fixed to the bottom wall B, the upper end of the bellows 14 is attached to the inner flange 132.

When replacing the bellows 14, first, the housing 41 of the turning base 4 is separated from the cylindrical shaft 42 and removed. Next, the bolt 16 provided on the bottom wall portion 23 of the elevating base 2 is removed, and the lower end portion of the bellows 14 is separated from the bottom wall portion 23. Next, the bellows 14 integrally attached to the inner flange 132 can be extracted by removing the bolt 133 that connects the inner flange 132 and the outer flange 131 of the ceiling wall 13 and pulling the inner flange 132 upward. . As described above, when the bellows 14 is exchanged, the bellows 14 can be extracted while the outer flange 131 is kept connected to the bottom wall B. Therefore, the replacement work is simplified and the bellows 14 can be easily replaced.

  Further, in the transport device A1, the inner flange 132 can be connected to the outer flange 131 only by being placed from above. For this reason, when exchanging the bellows 14, it is possible to easily remove and attach the inner flange 132, and this configuration is suitable for simplifying the exchanging operation of the bellows 14.

  Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. Various modifications can be made to the specific configuration of each part of the transport device according to the present invention without departing from the spirit of the invention.

  For example, as the linear movement mechanism, a configuration without a guide rail for guiding the hand may be employed. Further, instead of the link arm mechanism, a mechanism for driving a hand supported on a guide rail so as to be movable by a belt may be employed as the linear movement mechanism.

  Moreover, as a hand which mounts a workpiece | work, it is not limited to what is provided with the two hands 7A and 7B like the said embodiment, For example, it is good also as what is called a one-hand type structure provided with only one hand.

It is a whole perspective view which shows an example of the conveying apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a side view of the conveying apparatus shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing which follows the III-III line of FIG. FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 3. It is sectional drawing which follows the VV line of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

A1 Conveying device GL Traveling stroke W Work 1 Fixed base 2 Lifting base 6 Linear moving mechanism 7A, 7B Hand 13 Ceiling wall 14 Bellows 21 Inner cylinder (cylinder)
131 Outer flange (first part)
132 Inner flange (second part)
132B Center opening (opening)
134 Sealing mechanism

Claims (4)

There is a ceiling wall having an opening in the center, and the ceiling wall has a fixed base that is connected and fixed to the vacuum chamber, and a cylindrical part, and the cylindrical part protrudes from the opening with respect to the fixed base. An elevating base supported so as to be able to move up and down, a linear movement mechanism mounted on the elevating base for moving a workpiece along a desired movement stroke in a horizontal plane, and arranged so as to surround the cylindrical portion, and the ceiling A cylindrical bellows that hermetically seals between the ceiling wall and the elevating base by attaching an end to each of the wall and the elevating base,
The ceiling wall includes a first portion and a second portion having an annular shape, and the first portion is fixed to the vacuum chamber, while the second portion is detachably connected to the first portion. Has been
One end of the bellows is detachably attached to the second part ,
The bellows can be exchanged by separating the second part from the first part, extracting the second part integrally with the second part, and removing one end of the bellows from the second part. , Conveying device. One end of the bellows with respect to said second portion is located in the lower, end of the bellows with respect to said second portion, is attached, et al by a bolt which is inserted from above the second portion, The transport apparatus according to claim 1. The transport apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the second part is connected to the first part in a state of being placed from above . The conveying apparatus according to claim 3, wherein an annular seal mechanism is interposed between the first part and the second part.

Images