JPH03158320A - Clean tube transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To maintain and inspect a tube body without the stop of a line by providing a plurality of openings capable of being opened and closed on the side wall of the tube body at uniform intervals, and providing an air cleaning means embedded clean booth having an operation opening with an adhesion device which can be shifted along the side wall and also which can be communicated with the opening of the main body. CONSTITUTION:Clean air supplied from a blower which is not shown is blown in a traveling chamber 21 via a HEPA filter 27 to keep the inside of the chamber clean. At the tine of maintaining and inspecting the tube body 13, a clean booth 13 is shifted to the tube unit 15 portion, the handle of an adhesion device 53 is operated to make a packing tightly close to the tube unit 15. Next, a cleaning device 50 is driven to purify air in the clean booth 13. When a predetermined degree of cleanness is accomplished, doors 52, 53 are opened to communicate the tube unit 15 therewith for conducting operations.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a clean tube device for conveying highly clean objects, and particularly to a clean tube equipped with a clean booth for maintenance and inspection.

[Prior Art] Generally, when transporting semiconductor wafers and other items that require high cleanliness, they are transported within a clean room using a clean conveyor, or when transported between buildings.
A lean tube is used as shown in Figure 7.

The clean tube 1 shown in FIG. 7 has a rectangular cylindrical main body 2 divided into a transport tunnel 4 and a driving tunnel 5 using a separator 3, and a cart 7 is connected to a drive mechanism 6 disposed in the driving tunnel. After being connected, the object to be transported is placed on this trolley 7 and transported. Furthermore, a high-precision filter 8 is arranged at the air outlet on the ceiling surface of the transport tunnel 4 to maintain the cleanliness inside the tunnel at a constant standard.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The conventional clean tube has the following drawbacks, and improvements are desired.

In other words, as mentioned above, clean tubes are installed indoors or outdoors to connect buildings, and because the inside of the tube maintains a certain level of cleanliness, maintenance and inspections that may introduce contaminated air must be carried out during business closures. , which can only be performed when the line is stopped. Also, when repairing minor malfunctions in drive parts, etc., contaminated air may be mixed in as mentioned above.
This must be done after all lines have been stopped, which requires a great deal of time and effort.

The present invention has been made to eliminate the drawbacks of the conventional type, and its purpose is to provide a clean tube that can be maintained and inspected without stopping the line.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the clean tube conveying device of the present invention is a clean tube conveying device in which a cart is driven into a clean space inside the tube by a drive device disposed inside the tube body. A side wall of the tube body is provided with openings that can be opened and closed at regular intervals, and a clean booth that is movable along the tube body and equipped with an air purifying means is attached to the side of the tube body, and The clean booth is provided with a working opening equipped with a contact device on the side of the opening provided in the tube body.

[Function] In the clean tube conveying device configured as described above, the cart moves inside the tube by a drive device placed inside the tube. If a breakdown or maintenance/inspection is necessary, move the clean booth to the relevant location and use the sealing device placed in the clean booth to tightly seal the tube and the booth. Repairs, maintenance, and inspections will be performed from the booth side by communicating with the work opening.

[Example] The present invention will be specifically explained below based on the illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a part of the same. In the figure, reference numeral 10 is a clean tube, and the tube body 1 is disposed between buildings 11 and 11.
The main components are a clean booth 13 and a blower device 14, which are movably arranged on the side of the tube.

As shown in FIG. 2, the main body of the tube 12 is a plurality of rectangular cylindrical tube units 15 connected together and arranged between the buildings 11. Each unit 15 is made up of four panels 18 made of a heat insulating material 16 such as urethane sandwiched between front and back surfaces of stainless steel surface plates 17 and 17, as shown in FIG.
It constitutes a side wall, and is divided into three layers in the height direction by separators 19 and 20: a running chamber 21, a drive chamber 22, and a duct chamber 23. The traveling room 21 is a section in which a cart 25 connected to a drive device 24 disposed in a drive room 22 runs with objects to be transported, and an air supply port 26 connected to a blower device 14 is provided on the ceiling surface. HEPA filter 2 is formed on the bottom surface of this
7 is installed. In the drive chamber 22, a drive device 24 for driving the cart 25 is arranged. This drive device 24
is composed of a traveling rail 29 laid on the bracket 28 and a traveling drive unit 30 that runs along this rail 29, and the traveling drive unit receives electricity from a power supply rail (not shown) laid on the bracket 28. Receive and drive.

Also, a separator 19 partitions the running chamber 21 and the drive chamber 22.
A central air passage 31 is perforated in the longitudinal direction in the center of the drive unit 30, and a bracket 32 for supporting the trolley, which is erected and fixed at the center of the traveling drive unit 30, is inserted into this air passage 31. I support 25.

The duct chamber 23 is divided into a drive chamber 22 and a separator 20, and the separator 20 is provided with exhaust holes 33 at regular intervals, so that the clean air blown from the ceiling of the traveling chamber 21 is Drive chamber 22 via central air passage 31
The air then passes through the exhaust hole 33, passes through the duct chamber 22 while gradually decreasing its cleanliness, and flows into the duct chamber 23 from the exhaust hole 33. The air with reduced cleanliness that has entered the duct chamber 23 is connected to the blower 14 equipped with air purifying devices arranged at regular intervals as shown in Fig. 1, and becomes clean air of a certain standard, so that the air can be driven again. Air is blown into the running chamber 21 from an air supply port 26 arranged in the chamber 21.

Also, the tube unit 15 that constitutes the tube body 12
An opening 34 is provided on one side panel 18 for maintenance and inspection using a clean booth 13, which will be described later, and a door 35 is attached to this opening so as to be openable and closable. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 36 is a window provided in the door 35 for viewing the inside, into which a transparent synthetic resin plate is fitted.

Next, the clean booth 13 will be explained.

The clean booth 13 is movably provided on the side of the tube body 12, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. That is, a pair of rails 37 and 37 are laid on the side of the tube body 13 in parallel with the body, and wheels 38 which are pivotally supported on the booth 13 are placed on the two sides of the rails 37, and the tube moves along the rails 37. , this booth 13 is composed of a sub-room 39 and a main room 40. The size of the booth 13 is determined by the size of the tube unit 15 that constitutes the tube body.
It has almost the same dimensions as the tube unit, and like the tube unit, the urethane-based heat insulating material 41 is replaced with a stainless steel surface plate 42.
It is formed into a box shape using panels 43 sandwiched together. As shown in Figure 2, this booth 13 is partitioned into a small sub-room 3 using a moon 44.
9 and main room 40, which is a larger work space.
A door 45 for entering from the outside is attached to the sub-room 39 side, and each room is divided into partitions 4.
They are communicated through a door 46 provided at 4.

Each of the chambers has a stainless steel panel 4.
7 is used to form a duct 48 between the wall surface 13a,
This duct communicates with a grating 49 placed on the floor, an air purifier 50 placed on the ceiling, and a HEPA filter 51 placed at this outlet, and the clean air blown from the filter 51 is transferred to the grating 49,
The ducts 1 to 48 and the cleaning device 50 are configured to circulate.

The air cleanliness of each room is the same in the main room 40 as in the running room 21 of the clean tube main body, and in the sub room 39.
is a spare room for entering the main room, and is equipped with an air shower device 39a, so that it can maintain a level of cleanliness slightly lower than that of the main room.

Also, the clean tube main body 12 of the main room 40
A working opening 51 is formed on the side wall surface at a position facing the opening 34 provided in the tube unit 15 constituting the tube main body 12, and this opening has a door 52 that can be opened and closed.
is installed. Further, outside the opening 51, a close contact device 53 with the clean tube main body 12 is arranged.

As shown in FIG.
4 and a driving means 55 for expanding and contracting the shaft. The bellows-shaped cylindrical body 54 is fixed to the outside of the opening 51 using a fixing plate 55, and rubber gaskets 58 are attached to the four circumferences on the front side via support members 57. Next, the driving means 56 for expanding and contracting the bellows-shaped cylindrical body 54 will be explained. That is, brackets 59 are fixed to the four outer corners of the bellows-shaped cylinder 54 of the opening 51, and a bearing 60 is attached to the tip of each bracket, and a shaft 62 on which a coil spring 61 is wound is inserted through the bearing 60.

A bellows-shaped cylinder 5 is provided at the tip of the shaft 62.
One end of the support member 57 attached to the tip of 4 is fixed. Furthermore, a roller 63 is pivotally supported at the end of the shaft 62, and is brought into contact with a cam plate 66 having a slope 65 provided on a slide shaft 64 disposed perpendicularly to the shaft 62. As shown in FIG. 6, the slide shaft 64 is arranged parallel to the lower part of the opening 51 using a bearing 67, and is positioned in contact with the roller 63 of the shaft 62 attached to each of the five brackets as described above. cam plate 6
6 is fixed. A threaded portion 68 is loosely fitted into one end of the lower slide shaft 64, this threaded portion is screwed into six female threaded bearings, and a handle 70 is attached to the distal end. The upper and lower slide shafts are connected by a connecting rod 71 so that when the handle is rotated and the lower slide shaft 64 slides in the axial direction, the upper slide shaft also synchronizes. Figure 6)
.

[Function] Next, the function of the clean tube of this embodiment having the above configuration will be explained.

Clean air is supplied to each tube unit 15 by a blower 14.
The air is blown down from an air supply port 26 provided in the air into the running chamber 21 through a HEPA filter 27, and maintains the air in the running room at a predetermined level of air cleanliness. Then, a cart 25 connected to a drive device 24 runs with an object placed thereon inside the running chamber 21 which is maintained at a predetermined level of cleanliness. On the other hand, the clean air inside the running room 21 is supplied to the central air passage 31.
The flow path is constricted in the flow path, and air flows into the drive chamber 22 at a lower air pressure than the travel chamber, and furthermore, dust generated in the drive chamber is mixed into the separator 20 that partitions the drive chamber 22 and the duct chamber 23. The air flows into the duct chamber 23 through the provided exhaust hole 33, and further flows into the blower device 14 from the duct to repeat circulation.

Now, if a failure occurs in the tube body 12, or if maintenance
If inspection becomes necessary, the relevant tube unit 1
The clean booth 13 is moved to the 5th section for repairs, etc., and the procedure will be explained below.

Tube unit 15 that requires repair as described above
The clean booth 13 is moved to that part.

Next, when the handle 70 disposed on the contact device 53 is rotated, the slide shaft 64 moves in the axial direction, and the cam plate 66 fixed to this shaft comes into contact with the roller 63 at the end of the shaft 62 supported on the bracket. When the handle is further rotated to move the slide shaft, the shaft 62 to which the roller 63 is attached is moved toward the clean tube unit 15 by the slope 65 of the cam plate 66 against the elasticity of the spring 61. Since it is connected to the bellows-shaped cylindrical body 54 via the support member 57, the cylindrical body 5
4 moves to the tube unit 15 side, and the gasket 58 attached to the front end comes into close contact with the tube unit 15. In this state, each cleaning device 50 arranged in the sub room 39 and main room 40 of the clean booth 13 is driven,
Purify the air in each room. and tube unit 1
For example, when the cleanliness level of the main room 40 is 100, when the cleanliness level of the subroom 39 reaches about 1000, the worker opens the door 45 and enters the subroom 39, closes the door 45, and the cleanliness level of the main room 40 reaches about 1000. Wait until it reaches the same level as unit 15. Note that the time required to clean each room can be determined according to the capacity of the air purifier 50 disposed in each room, so the operator only needs to start each operation after a certain period of time has elapsed. When the cleanliness of the main room 40 reaches the same level as that of the tube unit 15, the worker opens the door 46, enters the main room 40, and closes the door 46. Next, a door 52 attached to the work opening 51 of the main room 40
, and then open the door 35 of the opening 34 on the tube unit 15 side to access the tube unit 15 and the main room 4.
Repairs, maintenance, and inspections are performed after establishing communication with 0. When the work is completed, the operation is the reverse of the above, that is, the door 35 on the tube unit 15 side is closed, and then the main room 4 is closed.
The worker closes the door 46 on the 0 side and exits the lean booth 13 via the subroom 39.

It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and that various modifications and design changes can be made without changing the spirit of the invention.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the present invention has a clean booth attached to the clean tube, and this booth is equipped with a cleaning device to maintain the same level of air cleanliness as the tube. Maintenance and inspection can be performed without contaminating the inside of the tube even during operation.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partially omitted plan view of the same as the above, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the main part.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the adhesion device, FIG. 5 is a side view of the same,
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the same driving means as above, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a conventional type. 10: Clean tube transport device 11: Building 12: Tube body 13: Clean booth 14: Air blower 15: Tube unit 16: Heat insulating material 17: Surface plate 18: Panel 19.20: Separator 2 Travel chamber 22: Drive chamber 23 :Duct chamber 24:Drive device 25:Dolly 26:Air supply port 27:H
EPA filter 28 Bracket 29: Traveling rail 30: Traveling drive unit 31: Central air path 32: Carriage support bracket 33: Exhaust hole 34: Opening 35:
Door 36: Visibility window 37: Rail 38: Wheel 39: Sub-room 40: Main room 39a; Air shower device 41: Heat insulating material 42: Surface plate 43: Panel 44: Partition material 45.46.52: Door 47: Panel 48 : 4 ducts: Grating 50: Cleaning device 51: Working opening 53: Close contact device 54: Bellows-shaped cylinder 55: Drive means 56: Fixed plate 57: Supporting member 58: Packing 60.67: Bearing 62: Shaft 64 Slide Chiyu 68: Screw part 70: Handle

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a clean tube transporting device in which a cart is moved through a clean space inside the tube by a drive device disposed inside the tube body, openings that can be opened and closed at regular intervals are provided in the side wall of the tube body. At the same time, a clean booth movable along the tube body and equipped with an air purifying means is provided on the side of the tube body, and a close contact device is provided on the opening side of the clean booth provided in the tube body. A clean tube conveying device characterized by having a working opening. 2. The clean tube conveying device according to item 1, wherein the clean booth is divided into a sub room and a main room, and each room is equipped with an air purifying means.