JPH04350007A - Article carrying in and out device used in clean warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an article carrying in and out device which is provided in a clean warehouse and carries an article into an article housing shelf and carries an article out of the article housing shelf. CONSTITUTION:An air flow from the upper part to the lower part is made at an article housing room space 58 at the upper part of a slide fork 48 by sucking air through a slit 47, and the article housing space 58 is kept clean by preventing dust generated in a hollow ascent/descent stand 25 from scattering to the outside.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article loading/unloading device used in a clean warehouse for storing dust-free articles such as carriers containing a large number of semiconductor wafers.

0002

[Background of the Invention] It goes without saying that an article loading/unloading device that is installed in a clean warehouse and that loads articles into article storage shelves and takes articles out of the article storage shelves must take measures against dust. needs to be done. This invention was made based on such a request.

0003

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS This invention will be explained below based on embodiments shown in the drawings. In this specification, the front refers to the lower side in FIG. 1, the rear refers to the upper side in FIG. 1, the left refers to the left side in FIG. 1, and the right refers to the right side in FIG. A horizontal wall 4 is provided above and behind the floor 2 of the clean warehouse 1, with a predetermined interval 3 between it and the floor 2, and an opening 5 that is long in the left-right direction in the front. There is. A rack 7 is provided on the horizontal wall 4, and this rack 7 has a large number of article storage shelves 8 on the upper and lower sides, and on the left and right sides, and the openings 9 of these article storage shelves 8 face forward. Then, the articles W are placed in these article storage shelves 8.
is placed and stored.

A pair of front and rear casings 11 which are long in the left-right direction are arranged below the opening 5, and these casings 11 have a slit 12 which is long in the left-right direction at the top.
have. A pair of guide rails 13 that are long in the left and right direction are provided inside the casing 11, and a left and right sliding body 14 is guided by these guide rails 13 so as to be able to move left and right. Wheels 16 are rotatably provided so as to face forward and backward, and are opposed to these wheels 16 with a downward shift,
A wheel 18 is provided at each of the left end and right end of the casing 11.
is rotatably provided, and the left wheel 18 is driven by a motor 19. A driving band 20 such as a timing belt, the left end of which is fixed to the left end of the casing 11, is connected to the left wheel 16, the left wheel 18, and the right wheel 18 of the left and right sliding body 14.
, are stretched around the right wheel 16 of the left and right sliding body 14 in the listed order, and the right end of the drive band 20 is fixed to the right end of the casing 11.

[0005] A connecting plate 41 is secured to the front and rear left and right sliding bodies 14, and the connecting plate 41 and the left and right sliding bodies 14 constitute a traveling carriage 40 of the stacker crane 39. A mast 23 is erected on the connecting plate 41. Note that depending on the number and shape of the article storage shelves 8, the mast 23 may be fixed within the clean warehouse 1 without moving from side to side. The mast 23 has a cylindrical shape with a closed upper end and an open lower end. A slit 24 is formed in this mast 23 along its height direction, and a hollow guided part 26 that communicates and is connected to a hollow lifting platform 25 through this slit 24 is housed in the mast 23. The hollow guided portion 26 is a roller 27 provided therein.
The mast 23 is configured to move up and down along a guide rail 28 provided inside the mast 23.

[0006] A pair of upper and lower wheels 29 whose axes are parallel to the width direction of the slit 24 are rotatably provided at the upper and lower portions of the hollow guided portion 26, and are opposed to these wheels 29 with an offset to the right. A wheel 30 is rotatably provided on each of the upper part of the mast 23 and the lower part of the mast 23, and the lower wheel 30 is driven by a motor 32. A drive belt 31 whose upper end is fixed to the upper end of the mast 23 is attached to the hollow guided portion 2
The lower end of the drive belt 31 is fixed to the lower part of the mast 23, the width of the drive belt 31 is greater than the width of the slit 24, and the drive belt 31 substantially closes the slit 24.

A guide rail 44 whose longitudinal direction is oriented in the front-rear direction is provided inside the hollow lifting platform 25, and a front-rear sliding body 45 is provided on the guide rail 44 so as to be slidable back and forth. The moving body 45 is configured to be moved back and forth by a known mechanism such as a ball screw mechanism or a belt drive mechanism. Upper end neck portion 4 of the front and rear sliding body 45
6 protrudes upward through a longitudinally long slit 47, which is an air suction port formed in the upper wall of the hollow lifting platform 25, and a slide fork 48, which is an article transfer device, is provided at the upper end neck portion 46. ing. As is well known, the slide fork 48 carries out the operations of protruding the article W downward, lifting the article W by raising the hollow lifting platform 25, and retracting the article W toward the hollow lifting platform 25. The article W can be pulled into the hollow lifting platform 25 and lowered onto the article storage shelf 8 or the like by performing the reverse operation to the above. Note that instead of the slide fork 48, a known robot hand may be used as the article transfer device.

As described above, the hollow lifting platform 25 is provided with a slit 47 which is an air suction port. This slit 47 is closed by a closing belt device 52 as described below, which prevents dust generated within the hollow lifting platform 25 from scattering to the outside. The closure belt device 52 has a pair of front and rear winding rotation shafts 5.
3, and two constant tension coil springs 5 wider than the slit 47 are attached to each of these winding rotation shafts 53.
4 are attached, and the other ends of these constant tension coil springs 54 are attached to the front and rear sliders 45. With this configuration, the slit 47 is closed by the constant tension coil spring 54 regardless of the position of the front and rear sliding members 45. Note that air can flow into the hollow lifting platform 25 from the outside through between the slit 47 and the constant tension coil spring 54. An air outlet 51 that opens into the mast 23 is formed in the hollow guided portion 26 . An air suction fan 35 is provided at the lower end of the mast 23 to exhaust the air inside the mast 23 from below. With this configuration, air is sucked through the slit 47 to create a flow of air from top to bottom in the article storage space 58 above the slide fork 48, and dust generated in the hollow lifting platform 25 is removed from the outside. It is possible to keep the article storage space 58 clean by preventing the articles from scattering. In addition, the air suction fan 35
may be provided in the hollow guided portion 26 or the hollow lifting platform 25.

Note that the clean warehouse 1 is provided with a loading/unloading station (not shown). In the figure, 3
6 is a fan of the clean warehouse 1, and 37 is a filter. With the above-described configuration, the traveling carriage 40 is moved left and right by the drive of the motor 19, and the hollow lifting platform 25 is moved up and down by the drive of the motor 32.

0010

[Effects of the Invention] With the above-described configuration, the present invention achieves the following effects. A cylindrical mast, a hollow lifting platform provided on the mast so as to be able to rise and fall freely,
A slit is formed in the mast along the height direction, and the mast is communicated with the hollow platform through the slit.
A connected hollow guided part is housed in the mast, and this hollow guided part moves up and down along a guide rail provided inside the mast, and air is sucked into the hollow lifting platform. An air outlet is formed in the hollow guided part, and an air outlet opening into the mast is formed, and air suction is provided to suck air outside the hollow lifting platform into the hollow lifting platform, the hollow guided part, or the mast. Since a fan is installed,
Air is sucked through the air suction port to create a flow of air from top to bottom in the article storage space above the hollow lifting platform.
It is possible to prevent dust generated within the hollow lifting platform from scattering to the outside, and to keep the article storage space clean.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a simplified plan view showing an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view along the line III-III in FIG. 1, with the middle part omitted in the height direction.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of main parts of the stacker crane.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line V-V in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI-VI in FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

23 Mast 24 Slit 25 Hollow lifting platform 26 Hollow guided part 28 Guide rail 35 Air suction fan 47 Slit 48 Slide fork 51 Air outlet

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cylindrical mast, a hollow elevating platform provided on the mast so as to be able to rise and fall freely, and an article transfer device provided on the hollow elevating platform, the mast having:
A slit is formed along the height direction, and a hollow guided part that communicates and is connected to the hollow lifting platform through this slit is housed inside the mast, and this hollow guided part is installed inside the mast. The hollow lifting platform is configured to move up and down along a guide rail, an air suction port is formed in the hollow guided part, and an air outlet opening in the mast is formed in the hollow guided part. An article loading/unloading device used in a clean warehouse, in which an air suction fan for sucking air outside a hollow lifting platform is installed on a platform, a hollow guided part, or a mast.