JP5949717B2 - Transport device for container with lid and support method for lid - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a container transport apparatus having a lid and a method for supporting the lid.

  A container having a lid such as FOUP is transported by a transport device such as an overhead traveling vehicle. Here, when the transport device moves in a high place such as a ceiling space, it is dangerous if the lid removed from the container falls, so measures such as preventing people from entering the area under the transport device are required. . Further, it is preferable that it is possible to detect the removal of the lid in order to prevent contamination of the inside of the container even when it is not transported at a high place. In this regard, the applicant proposed in Patent Document 1 (JP4264840) to monitor the removal of the lid in parallel with the surface of the lid and along the optical axis off the surface of the lid. The optical axis is directed diagonally from the bottom to the top, and when the lid is removed, the optical axis is blocked and can be detected.

JP4264840

  In order to prevent erroneous detection with the technique of Patent Document 1, a certain distance is required between the optical axis and the lid. If this interval is narrow, the optical axis is inadvertently interrupted, and erroneous detection may occur. Therefore, it is necessary to detect the lid that has been removed with little risk of erroneous detection.

  An object of the present invention is to reliably detect that the lid of the container has been removed while preventing erroneous detection.

This invention is a container transport device for transporting a container having a lid on a side surface,
A main body of a conveying device that holds and conveys the container;
A pressing member having an upper edge that supports an intermediate portion of the detached lid along the height direction;
An optical sensor in which the optical axis is disposed above the upper edge and at a position closer to the lid than the lid-side edge of the upper edge , and
The pressing member has a flat plate shape and includes protruding portions protruding upward from both ends of the upper edge,
The optical sensor is attached to the protrusion so that the optical axis is positioned in a direction connecting the protrusions .

Further, the present invention is a method for transporting a container having a lid on a side surface by a transport device and supporting the lid,
Holding the container and transporting it by a transport device;
A step of supporting the middle part of the lid along the height direction by the upper edge of the flat pressing member provided in the transport device when the container lid is removed;
The protrusion is attached to a protrusion protruding upward from both ends of the upper edge of the pressing member, and the optical axis is located above the upper edge and closer to the lid than the edge of the upper edge on the lid side. They are arranged in a direction connecting between the steps of detecting that the lid is disengaged by the optical sensor, and executes the city.

  When the container lid is removed and tilted, the lid is supported by the upper edge of the pressing member. At this time, since the lid is inclined toward the outer side of the upper edge, the optical axis located above the upper edge and on the lid side of the upper edge or closer to the lid than the edge is surely blocked. . For this reason, while removing the lid | cover, it can detect reliably that the lid | cover removed. It should be noted that in this specification, the description related to the transport device also applies to the lid support and detection method that have been removed.

The pressing member can be easily configured in a flat plate shape, and by attaching the optical sensor to the protruding portions at both ends of the upper edge portion, the optical axis of the optical sensor can be disposed above the upper edge and closer to the lid. Therefore, the removed lid can be reliably detected with a simple configuration.

  Preferably, the second optical sensor has an optical axis disposed below the lower edge of the pressing member and on the second edge on the lid side of the lower edge or closer to the lid than the second edge. Is provided. Even when the lid is removed and its lower end leans against the lower edge of the pressing member, it can be reliably detected by the second optical sensor. Since the optical axis of the second optical sensor is below the lower edge of the pressing member and on the second edge on the lid side of the lower edge or closer to the lid than the second edge, the optical axis is surely off. The lid can be detected.

Side view of the overhead traveling vehicle of the embodiment II-II horizontal sectional view of Fig. 1 Fig. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the main part in the III-III direction. Cross-sectional view of the main part of the conventional example

  In the following, an optimum embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be shown. The scope of the present invention should be determined according to the understanding of those skilled in the art based on the description of the scope of the claims, taking into account the description of the specification and well-known techniques in this field.

  1 to 3 show an overhead traveling vehicle 2 of the embodiment. The overhead traveling vehicle 2 conveys a container 4 such as FOUP, and the container 4 includes a lid 6 that can be freely opened and closed on a side surface and a top 8 for gripping on an upper part. The overhead traveling vehicle 2 travels along a traveling rail 10 provided in the ceiling space of the clean room, 12 is a traveling drive unit, which supports a lateral movement unit 14 by a shaft 13 and is rotated by a lateral movement unit 14. 15 is moved laterally with respect to the traveling rail 10 in a direction perpendicular to the horizontal plane. The lateral movement unit 15 rotates the lifting drive unit 16 about the vertical axis, and the lifting drive unit 16 feeds or winds a suspension material such as a belt and a wire (not shown) that suspends the lifting platform 18. The elevator 18 is raised and lowered. The lift 18 has a chuck 19 that can be freely opened and closed, and holds the top 8 by the chuck 19. At the time of transfer to a load port (not shown) or the like, the position and orientation of the lifting platform 18 are adjusted by the lateral movement unit 14 and the rotation unit 15, and the lifting platform 18 is moved up and down by the lifting drive unit 16. When traveling, the elevator 18 is moved up.

  The overhead traveling vehicle 2 is provided with covers 20 and 20 on both front and rear sides, and even when the container 4 is detached from the chucks 19 and 19 by dropping the fall prevention pieces 21 and 21 from the bottom thereof, Be able to support the bottom. Both ends of the flat pressing member 22 are fixed to the covers 20 and 20. The holding member 22 has an upper edge 23 and a lower edge 24, both of which are horizontal straight edges, and have a pair of upward projecting portions 25, 25 at both ends of the upper edge 23. There are a pair of downward projections 26, 26 at both ends. The optical axis 28 of the first optical sensor is disposed so as to connect the protrusions 25, 25, and the optical axis 27 of the second optical sensor is disposed so as to connect the protrusions 26, 26. The optical axis 27 of the first optical sensor is disposed above the upper edge 23 and closer to the lid 6 than the edge 23a of the upper edge 23 near the container 4 (lid 6). The optical axis 28 of the second optical sensor is disposed below the lower edge 24 and closer to the lid 6 than the edge 23 a of the lower edge 24 near the lid 6. The arrangement of the edges 23, 24, the projecting portions 25, 26, and the optical axes 27, 28 is upside down with respect to the center line XX in the height direction of the pressing member 22. In the overhead traveling vehicle 2, a portion other than the pressing member 22 and the optical sensor is referred to as a main body of the overhead traveling vehicle 2.

  FIG. 2 shows the arrangement of the optical axis 27 and the like. The optical axis 27 is arranged horizontally and at a constant interval in parallel with the surface of the lid 6 when it is not detached. The light emitting end 30 is disposed on one of the projecting portions 25 and 25, and the light receiving end 31 is disposed on the other, thereby constituting a first optical sensor. The optical axis 27 is closer to the lid 6 than the edge 23 a near the lid 6 of the upper edge 23 and is higher than the upper edge 23.

  If the lid 6 is removed from the container 4 while the overhead traveling vehicle 2 is traveling for some reason, the lid 6 leans against the upper edge 23 as shown in FIG. At this time, since the optical axis 27 is above the upper edge 23 and at a position closer to the lid 6 than the edge 23a near the lid 6 of the upper edge 23, the leaning lid 6 can be reliably detected. When it is detected that the lid 6 has been removed, the overhead traveling vehicle 2 performs processing such as deceleration or stopping by an in-vehicle control unit of the overhead traveling vehicle 2 (not shown).

  On the other hand, an example in which the optical axis 27 is disposed below the upper edge of the pressing member is shown in FIG. 4 as a conventional example. 32 is a pressing member, 33 is an upper edge, and the optical axis 27 is slightly below the upper edge 33. In this case, the light shielding of the optical axis 27 is uncertain, and the detection of the detached lid becomes uncertain due to irregular reflection, stray light, or the like.

  Note that the lid 6 may come off and tilt in the direction opposite to that in FIG. 3, and the lid 6 may lean against the lower edge 24 of the pressing member 22. Also in this case, similarly, the optical axis 28 of the second optical sensor can be detected by being blocked by the detached lid 6.

  For reference, the effect is compared with Patent Document 1. In Patent Document 1, if the distance between the lid of the container and the optical axis is not increased, the optical axis may be inadvertently blocked and erroneous detection may occur. On the other hand, in the embodiment, since the detection is not performed until the lid 6 approaches the upper edge 23 or the lower edge 24, there are few false detections.

The embodiment has the following characteristics.
1) The removed lid 6 can be detected reliably and there is little risk of false detection.
2) With a simple configuration, the removed lid can be reliably detected and supported by a pressing member.

  In the embodiment, the overhead traveling vehicle 2 that travels with the container 4 suspended is taken as an example, but a transport device that travels with the container 2 mounted on a carriage may be used. For example, an unmanned guided vehicle traveling on the ground, a ceiling guided vehicle with a carriage on the upper part of the traveling rail, and the like. The type of the container is not limited to FOUP, and the effect is particularly remarkable when the container is a container for transporting a semiconductor wafer in a clean room. As the optical sensor, a light-shielding type in which the light emitting end and the light receiving end are arranged on both sides of the edges 23 and 24 is used, but a reflection type for detecting reflected light from the detached lid may be used.

2 Overhead traveling vehicle 4 Container 6 Lid 8 Top 10 Traveling rail 12 Traveling drive unit 13 Shaft 14 Lateral moving unit 15 Rotating unit 16 Elevating drive unit 18 Elevating table 19 Chuck 20 Cover 21 Fall prevention piece 22 Holding member
23 Upper edge 24 Lower edge 25, 26 Projection part 27, 28 Optical axis 30 Light emitting end 31 Light receiving end 32 Holding member 33 Upper edge

Claims (3)

A container transport device for transporting a container having a lid on a side surface,
A main body of a conveying device that holds and conveys the container;
A pressing member having an upper edge that supports an intermediate portion of the detached lid along the height direction;
An optical sensor in which the optical axis is disposed above the upper edge and at a position closer to the lid than the lid-side edge of the upper edge , and
The pressing member has a flat plate shape and includes protruding portions protruding upward from both ends of the upper edge,
The container transport apparatus with a lid , wherein the optical sensor is attached to the protrusion so that the optical axis is positioned in a direction connecting the protrusions . A second optical sensor having an optical axis disposed below the lower edge of the pressing member and on the second edge on the lid side of the lower edge or closer to the lid than the second edge is provided. The container transport apparatus with a lid according to claim 1 . A method of transporting a container having a lid on a side surface by a transport device and supporting the lid,
Holding the container and transporting it by a transport device;
A step of supporting the middle part of the lid along the height direction by the upper edge of the flat pressing member provided in the transport device when the container lid is removed;
The protrusion is attached to a protrusion protruding upward from both ends of the upper edge of the pressing member, and the optical axis is located above the upper edge and closer to the cover than the cover-side edge of the upper edge. And a step of detecting that the lid has been removed by an optical sensor , which is arranged in a connecting direction .

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