JP4957731B2 - Crucible handling equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a crucible handling apparatus that holds and lifts a crucible such as a quartz crucible used in a single crystal manufacturing apparatus by, for example, the Czochralski method (hereinafter abbreviated as CZ method) to transfer it to a predetermined position. .

  Conventionally, a single crystal used as a substrate of a semiconductor device such as a memory or a CPU is, for example, a silicon single crystal. As a method for growing the silicon single crystal, a silicon melt in a quartz crucible supported by a graphite crucible is used for a semiconductor. A CZ method for growing a high-purity silicon single crystal is known.

  When a single crystal is manufactured by the CZ method, it is manufactured using a single crystal manufacturing apparatus as shown in FIG. The single crystal manufacturing apparatus 20 includes a member for housing and melting the raw material polycrystal, a heat insulating member for blocking heat, and the like, which are housed in the main chamber 21. A pull chamber 22 extending upward from the ceiling of the main chamber 21 is connected, and a mechanism (not shown) for pulling up the single crystal 23 with a wire 33 is provided on the upper portion.

  A quartz crucible 25 for containing the raw material melt 24 and a graphite crucible 26 for supporting the quartz crucible 25 are provided in the main chamber 21, and the crucibles 25, 26 are rotated by a drive mechanism (not shown) by a shaft 36 so as to be rotatable up and down. It is supported. The driving mechanism of the crucibles 25 and 26 raises the crucibles 25 and 26 by the amount corresponding to the liquid level drop in order to compensate for the liquid level drop of the raw material melt 24 accompanying the pulling of the single crystal 23.

  And the heater 27 for melting a raw material is arrange | positioned so that the crucibles 25 and 26 may be surrounded. In order to prevent heat from the heater 27 from being directly radiated to the main chamber 21, a heat insulating member 28 is provided outside the heater 27 so as to surround the periphery thereof.

  The raw material polycrystal is accommodated in the quartz crucible 25 arranged in the single crystal manufacturing apparatus 20 and heated by the heater 27 to melt the raw material polycrystal in the quartz crucible 25. A seed crystal 35 fixed by a seed holder 34 connected to the lower end of the wire 33 is deposited on the raw material melt 24, and then the seed crystal 35 is pulled up while being rotated. A single crystal 23 having a desired diameter and quality is grown. At this time, after the seed crystal 35 is deposited on the raw material melt 24, the seed crystal 35 is thickened until a desired diameter is obtained, and the dislocation-free crystal is pulled up.

In recent years, the quartz crucible 25 and the graphite crucible 26 have also increased in size due to the large diameter of the single crystal 23 to be manufactured, and handling of the crucible thus increased in size is difficult.
As a conventional apparatus for handling a crucible, for example, a plurality of arms having contact portions that come into contact with the outer surface of the crucible are provided, and the graphite crucible is gripped by generating a force for simultaneously closing the arms by the weight of the crucible. A crucible handling device that can be lifted up is disclosed (see Patent Document 1).

  Further, a cleaning device is disclosed that includes a pair of arm members that hang downward, and a mechanism that conveys the quartz crucible in a state where the arm members are sandwiched between the outer peripheral surfaces of the quartz crucible with the opening facing downward. (See Patent Document 2).

JP 2002-29886 A Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-46966

  By the way, when such a crucible is delivered from a manufacturer, the crucible is generally delivered in a state where its opening is arranged upward and enters a box (crucible storage box). Then, the crucible is taken out from the box and transferred to a transport cart or a transport tray. Conventionally, the operation of taking out the crucible with the opening portion disposed upward has been performed manually by the operator.

  In recent years, crucibles having various diameters have been used, and particularly large crucibles have been used as described above. For example, a quartz crucible with a diameter of 660 mm has a weight of about 28 kg, and a quartz crucible with a diameter of 800 mm has a weight of about 57 kg. Such a large crucible is difficult to remove from the box by the operator's manual operation, and there is a risk of injury, back pain, etc., as well as damage of the crucible itself due to dropping or the like.

When this operation is performed using, for example, a crucible handling device as shown in Patent Document 1, it is difficult to control the crucible gripping force. For example, a crucible quartz crucible may be damaged, and one crucible may be damaged. The handling device cannot handle crucibles of various sizes. Further, the mechanism for transporting the quartz crucible described in Patent Document 2 cannot handle the upward crucible in the first place.
Therefore, when performing operations such as taking out the crucible from the box, transferring, transporting, etc., a device that can be handled by one worker safely and without damaging the crucible has been required.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems. A crucible of various sizes can be gripped, and the gripping force can be adjusted and lifted without damaging the crucible. An object of the present invention is to provide a crucible handling device that can be performed by an operator.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a crucible handling device for gripping and lifting a crucible having an opening portion disposed upward, and having a straight body portion, a bottom portion, and an R portion connecting them. Each of four clamp arms comprising a straight body support member for supporting the straight body portion of the crucible, an R portion support member for supporting the R portion of the crucible, and an arm member for supporting the both support members; A clamper member that supports the upper portion of the clamp arm while moving the clamp arm forward and backward in a horizontal direction with respect to the crucible by an air cylinder, and a vertical movement means that drives the clamper member that supports the clamp arm up and down. And each of the clamp arms is translated in the direction of the crucible by an air cylinder of the clamper member, and the straight barrel portion of the crucible A crucible handling apparatus is provided, wherein the crucible is held while the R portion is supported by the straight body support member and the R portion support member, and the crucible is lifted by the vertical movement means. .

  Thus, four clamp arms comprising a straight body support member that supports the straight body portion of the crucible, an R portion support member that supports the R portion of the crucible, and an arm member that supports the both support members; A clamper member that supports the upper part of each clamp arm, and moves the clamp arm forward and backward in the horizontal direction with an air cylinder with respect to the crucible; and a vertical movement that drives the clamper member that supports the clamp arm up and down. Means for translating the respective clamp arms in the direction of the crucible with an air cylinder of the clamper member to support the straight body portion and the R portion of the crucible with the straight body portion supporting member and the R portion. If the crucible is gripped while being supported by a member and the crucible is lifted by the vertical movement means, the pressure of the air cylinder is controlled. While adjusting the lifting force can grip the crucible, it can be lifted without breaking. In addition, by moving the clamp arm in parallel, the movable space of the clamp arm can be reduced, and even if there is only a narrow space around the crucible, the crucible can be lifted by inserting the clamp arm into the gap. .

At this time, it is preferable that the straight body part supporting member and the R part supporting member are made of resin or rubber.
Thus, when the straight body support member and the R portion support member are made of resin or rubber, when the crucible is gripped and lifted, damage to the crucible can be more reliably suppressed. Become.

At this time, it is preferable that the parallel movement width of the clamp arm is adjustable.
Thus, if the parallel movement width of the clamp arm can be adjusted, it can be adapted to various sizes of crucibles and boxes.

  According to the present invention, in the crucible handling apparatus, there are four units including a straight body support member that supports the straight body portion of the crucible, an R portion support member that supports the R portion of the crucible, and an arm member that supports the both support members. A clamp arm, a clamper member that supports the upper part of each clamp arm, and moves the clamp arm forward and backward in the horizontal direction by an air cylinder with respect to the crucible, and a lift drive for the clamper member that supports the clamp arm Vertical movement means for moving the respective clamp arms in the direction of the crucible with an air cylinder of the clamper member, and moving the straight body portion and the R portion of the crucible to the straight body portion support member and the Since the crucible is held while being supported by the R portion support member and the crucible is lifted by the vertical movement means, an air cylinder While adjusting the gripping force by controlling the pressure it can grip the crucible, can be lifted without breaking. In addition, by moving the clamp arm in parallel, the movable space of the clamp arm can be reduced, and even if there is only a narrow space around the crucible, the crucible can be lifted by inserting the clamp arm into the gap. . Thereby, these operations can be performed by one operator.

It is the schematic which shows an example of the crucible handling apparatus which concerns on this invention. 1 is a schematic side view showing an example of a crucible handling apparatus according to the present invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows a mode that the clamp arm of the crucible handling apparatus of this invention was inserted in the clearance gap of four corners of a box. It is the schematic which shows the single crystal manufacturing apparatus using a crucible.

Hereinafter, although an embodiment is described about the present invention, the present invention is not limited to this.
When the crucible is delivered, typically, the crucible with the opening portion facing upward is delivered in a state where it enters a storage box such as a box. Conventionally, the operation of taking out the crucible from the box and transferring it to a carriage or a carrying tray has been performed manually by an operator.
However, in recent years, large crucibles have come to be used, and it is difficult to take out such large crucibles from the box by hand, and in addition to the dangers of injury and back pain, The crucible itself may be damaged due to falling.

  Therefore, when carrying out the operation of taking out a large crucible from the box, for example, when handling a crucible that is easily broken due to glass such as a quartz crucible, an apparatus that can be safely handled by one person without being damaged. Was necessary. Conventionally, a device for grasping and lifting a crucible with a plurality of arms has been known. However, when removing a crucible from a box, it is necessary to insert the arm into a narrow gap between the crucible and the box, and various sizes are available. It was necessary to reduce the working space of the arm while supporting the crucible.

  Therefore, the present inventor has intensively studied to solve such problems. As a result, if the crucible is supported by the clamp arm with the straight body and R part, the crucible can be held and lifted without damaging it, and the clamp arm can be lifted by the pressure of the air cylinder. The crucible handling device can handle the crucibles of various sizes, by making it possible to reduce the working space of the clamp arm and to adjust the parallel movement width of the clamp arm. As a result, the present invention has been completed.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an example of a crucible handling apparatus according to the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, the crucible handling apparatus 1 includes four clamp arms 2, a clamper member 3 that supports the upper portion of the clamp arm 2, and a vertically moving means that drives the clamper member 3 that supports the clamp arm 2 to move up and down. 4.
FIG. 2 shows a schematic side view of the crucible handling apparatus 1 of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 2, the crucible 9 to be handled has a straight body portion 10, a bottom portion 11, and an R portion 12 that connects them, and is arranged so that the opening portion 13 faces upward.

  The clamp arm 2 of the crucible handling apparatus 1 includes a straight body support member 5, an R portion support member 6, and an arm member 7. The straight body support member 5 is in contact with and supported by the straight body 10 of the crucible 9, and the R part support member 6 is in contact with and supports the R part 12 of the crucible 9. In order to support the R portion 12 of the crucible 9 more reliably, the R portion support member 6 has a taper such that the upper diameter of the R portion support member 6 is smaller than the lower diameter, as shown in FIG. The shape can be made. Further, the arm member 7 supports the support members 5 and 6.

  In the crucible handling apparatus 1 of the present invention, the crucible 9 is held while the straight body portion 10 and the R portion 12 of the crucible 9 are supported by the straight body portion supporting member 5 and the R portion supporting member 6 with such a clamp arm 2. Therefore, it can be gripped and lifted without applying a strong pressure. For example, even a glassy material such as a quartz crucible that is easily damaged can be prevented from being damaged.

  Each clamp arm 2 is supported at its upper portion by a clamper member 3. The clamper member 3 is provided with an air cylinder 8, and the clamp arm 2 can be moved forward and backward in the horizontal direction by the air cylinder 8 with respect to the crucible 9. And the pressure by the air cylinder 8 is controlled and the crucible 9 can be reliably prevented from being damaged.

  Each clamp arm 2 is translated in the direction of the crucible 9 by the air cylinder 8 of the clamper member 3 so that the straight body portion 10 and the R portion 12 of the crucible 9 are connected to the straight body portion support member 5 and the R portion support member 6. The crucible 9 can be lifted by holding the crucible 9 while supporting it and lifting the clamper member 3 by the vertical movement means 4. Here, the structure of the up-and-down moving means 4 is not particularly limited as long as it can lift the clamp arm 2 that holds the crucible 9 and the clamper member 3 that supports the clamp arm 2. For example, the operation shown in FIG. It is possible to have an air auxiliary mechanism 15 that is lightly lifted by air pressure by a person operating the handle.

  Further, although not particularly limited, the clamper member 3 can be formed in a cross shape as shown in FIG. 1, and the upper portion of the clamp arm 2 can be supported at each tip. In this way, the crucible 9 can be supported and lifted with a uniform gripping force by each clamp arm 2, damage to the crucible 9 can be more reliably suppressed, and the clamper member 3 has a strong structure. The large heavy crucible 9 can be handled.

  Thus, since the crucible handling apparatus 1 of the present invention grips and lifts the crucible 9 as described above, the gripping force is adjusted by controlling the pressure of the air cylinder 8 according to the size and weight of the crucible 9. The crucible 9 can be gripped while being lifted, and as a result, the crucible 9 can be lifted without being damaged. Further, by moving the clamp arm 2 in parallel, the movable space of the clamp arm 2 can be reduced. Even when there is only a narrow gap around the crucible 9, the clamp arm 2 is inserted into the gap and the crucible 9 is inserted. Can be held and lifted.

  For example, when removing the crucible 9 with the opening 13 facing upward from the box, as shown in FIG. 3, there are four gaps between the box 14 and the crucible 9 at the four corners of the box 14. Each of the clamp arms 2 is inserted to such a depth that the R portion support member 6 below the arm member 7 reaches the R portion 12 of the crucible 9. Then, the crucible 9 can be held and lifted by the clamp arm 2 as described above.

Such work with the crucible handling apparatus 1 of the present invention can be easily performed by one operator and is safe.
At this time, it is preferable that the straight body support member 5 and the R support member 6 are made of resin such as MC nylon or rubber such as urethane rubber.
Thus, if the straight body part supporting member 5 and the R part supporting member 6 are made of resin or rubber, the crucible 9 can be more reliably prevented from being damaged when the crucible 9 is gripped and lifted. At the same time, the crucible 9 can be prevented from sliding down.

At this time, it is preferable that the parallel movement width of the clamp arm 2 is adjustable.
Thus, if the parallel movement width of the clamp arm 2 can be adjusted, a crucible handling device that can accommodate the crucible 9 and the box 14 of various sizes can be obtained.
In addition, a limiter is provided in the parallel movement width of the clamp arm 2, and the amount of movement with respect to the crucible 9 is limited according to the size of the crucible 9, so that the crucible 9 can be more reliably prevented from being damaged. It can also be.

In order to transfer the crucible 9 lifted in this way to a predetermined place such as a crucible transporting carriage or a tray, for example, a crucible 9 attached with the crucible handling apparatus 1 of the present invention can be used. If the crucible handling apparatus 1 lifted up is moved to a predetermined position by the pedestal, and the crucible 9 is lowered to release the grip, the crucible 9 can be transferred to a desired position.
Alternatively, a ceiling-mounted type such as a hoist can be attached to the crucible handling apparatus 1 to transfer the crucible 9.

  EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to examples and comparative examples of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to these.

(Example)
Using the crucible handling apparatus of the present invention as shown in FIG. 1, a quartz crucible having a diameter of 560 mm, 660 mm, and 800 mm was taken out from the box and transferred to a transporting carriage. The crucible handling device used was one in which the translational width of the clamp arm was adjustable so that it could accommodate different crucible diameters.

As a result, it was possible for one worker to remove all the crucibles from the box without damaging them and transfer them to the transport cart.
As described above, the crucible handling apparatus of the present invention can hold crucibles of various sizes, adjust the gripping force and lift the crucible without damaging it, and perform the work by one operator. It was confirmed that it was possible.

(Comparative example)
The quartz crucible having a diameter of 560 mm, 660 mm, and 800 mm was taken out of the box and transferred to a transporting carriage by the operator's manual work.
As a result, a crucible with a diameter of 560 mm could be transferred by one operator, but a crucible with a diameter of 660 mm was about to be dropped by one operator, so it was about to be dropped in the middle of the two-person operation. It was. In addition, a crucible having a diameter of 800 mm could not be transferred by one worker, and two or three workers were required. In addition, these operations are burdensome operations that require the operator to be careful of crucible damage and the like.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. The above-described embodiment is an exemplification, and the present invention has any configuration that has substantially the same configuration as the technical idea described in the claims of the present invention and that exhibits the same effects. Are included in the technical scope.
That is, in the above description, the case of handling a crucible used in a single crystal manufacturing apparatus has been described. However, a crucible having a straight body portion and an R portion with respect to a crucible used for other purposes and having an opening portion facing upward. In principle, the present invention can be applied to any of them.

1 ... crucible handling device, 2 ... clamp arm, 3 ... clamper member,
4 ... Vertical movement means, 5 ... Straight trunk part support member, 6 ... R part support member,
7 ... arm member, 8 ... air cylinder, 9 ... crucible, 10 ... straight body,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Bottom part, 12 ... R part, 13 ... Opening part, 14 ... Passing through, 15 ... Air assist mechanism.

Claims (3)

A crucible handling device for gripping and lifting a crucible having an opening arranged upward, having a straight body portion, a bottom portion, and an R portion connecting them,
Four clamp arms comprising a straight body support member for supporting the straight body portion of the crucible, an R portion support member for supporting the R portion of the crucible, and an arm member for supporting both of the support members; A clamper member that supports the upper part of the clamp arm and moves the clamp arm forward and backward in the horizontal direction by an air cylinder with respect to the crucible, and a vertical movement means that drives the clamper member that supports the clamp arm up and down. The respective clamp arms are translated in the direction of the crucible by an air cylinder of the clamper member, and the straight body portion and the R portion of the crucible are supported by the straight body portion support member and the R portion support member. The crucible handling apparatus is characterized in that the crucible is gripped and the crucible is lifted by the vertical movement means.   The crucible handling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the straight body support member and the R portion support member are made of resin or rubber. The crucible handling apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a parallel movement width of the clamp arm is adjustable.

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