JPH0510606B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an inspection device for almost automatically carrying out leak inspection and cleanliness inspection of air filters in a clean room.

The following leak tests are generally performed on air filters (HEPA filters) installed on the ceiling or walls of clean rooms. This is an inspection to see if there is any air leaking from the filter surface that does not pass through the filter material, or if air is leaking from the joints around the filter mounting frame. Conventionally, this inspection has been performed manually. In other words, attach the dust meter's air sampling probe (air suction port) to the tip of a suitable work net, hold the probe so that it is within 2.5 cm from the HEPA filter surface, and gently slide the probe onto the filter. move along the surface,
Scan the entire surface of the filter. Additionally, the probe is positioned around the peripheral portion of the filter, and the joint portion is thoroughly scanned. The probe scanning speed during this test must be less than 5 cm per second.

Such inspection work forces the worker to remain in the same position for a long time, making the work painful. Furthermore, since the probe is held manually, the probe may wobble or vibrate, making it impossible to maintain correct inspection conditions, and the probe may also hit the filter surface, damaging the filter. Cleanliness tests are also carried out by sampling the air in the clean room using the above probe, but in this case there is also considerable dust generated by the workers themselves.
In addition to not being able to perform accurate measurements, it also has an adverse effect on maintaining the degree of crease.

In addition, in equipment such as clean tunnels and clean benches in clean rooms, workers cannot enter directly under the air filters installed on the ceiling, so workers must hold the work stick diagonally from a short distance away, as described above. You must perform a scan like this. This work is extremely difficult, and it is also difficult to perform accurate measurement scans.

This invention was made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its purpose is to provide a clean room inspection device that uses an unmanned vehicle to automatically conduct clean room leak inspections and cleanliness inspections with high precision. Our goal is to provide the following. Another object of this invention is to automatically perform leak detection by extending a probe from a slightly distant location, even in facilities such as clean tunnels and clean benches where unmanned vehicles cannot enter directly under the air filter. Another object of the present invention is to provide an inspection device that can perform inspection with high precision.

In order to achieve the above object, the inspection device of the present invention includes an unmanned vehicle, an elevating mechanism mounted on the vehicle and displacing in the vertical direction, and a movable part of the elevating mechanism that rotates around a vertical axis. A rotation mechanism for dynamic displacement and a rotation mechanism attached to the rotation part of this rotation mechanism.
An XY table, an air sampling probe that is removably attached to a movable part that can move in the XY direction on the XY table, a dust meter connected to this probe, and an inspection filter that the traveling vehicle a travel control means for automatically stopping the traveling vehicle so as to be located directly below the vehicle; a positioning control means for positioning the lifting mechanism and the rotation mechanism so that the XY table faces the filter at a predetermined distance; scan control means for scanning the probe along a predetermined trajectory on the table; the XY table is provided with a fixed image sensor for capturing an image of the filter facing the table; A clean room inspection device that finely adjusts the position of an XY table in a horizontal plane based on images captured by a A detachable unit consisting of a vertical arm that extends and contracts in the vertical direction from the free end of a horizontal arm and to which the probe can be attached is provided, and the probe is connected to the movable part of the XY table and the vertical arm of the detachable unit. It is characterized by being selectively installed.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the appearance of an inspection device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of this inspection device. Note that FIG. 2 also shows the configuration of the remote control device side.

As shown in FIG. 1, the structural main body of this inspection device is an unmanned vehicle 1. A vertically displacing lifting mechanism 2 is mounted on this running vehicle, and this lifting mechanism 2 is equipped with a rotating mechanism that rotates its movable part, and allows the moving part to move in an XY direction in a horizontal position.
Table 3 is attached. The movable part 4 of the XY table 3 is two-dimensionally displaced in a horizontal plane, and a horizontal arm 70 that expands and contracts in the horizontal direction is detachably attached to the movable part 4, and further extends and contracts in the vertical direction at the tip of the horizontal arm 70. A vertical arm 71 is attached. The air sampling probe 5 of the dust meter 6 is detachably attached to the upper end of the vertical arm 71 in a vertical position.

The traveling vehicle 1 is also equipped with a control device including a computer 7, the dust meter 6, a data recorder 8 for recording its output, and a DC power supply unit 9 for driving all of these devices.
As shown in Figure 2, the computer 7 has a CPU 1
0, ROM11, RAM12, clock generator 1
3, an interrupt controller 14, an IO port 15, etc.

3A and 3B show two configuration examples of the running section of the vehicle 1. FIG. A in the figure shows a caterpillar type, which has a pair of caterpillars 1 that drive the vehicle 1 in the longitudinal direction.
6, 16, and a pair of caterpillars 17, 17 that drive the vehicle 1 in the left-right direction. The caterpillar 16 is driven by a motor 18, and a brake, clutch, position sensor, etc. are added to this drive system. The caterpillar 17 is driven by a motor 19, and its drive system is equipped with a brake, a clutch, a position sensor, etc. in the same way as described above. Here, the position sensor includes a rotary encoder that statically and dynamically detects the rotational position and displacement of the drive shaft of the caterpillar. The wheel-type vehicle shown in FIG. B has two power transmission wheels 20, 21 and two steering wheels 22, 23. Power transmission wheel 2
0 and 21 are driven by motors 24 and 25, respectively, and steering wheels 22 and 23 are driven by a motor 26. Each drive system has brakes, clutches,
A position sensor is added.

The block diagram in FIG. 2 corresponds to the configuration of the running section in FIG. 3B. The traveling drive motor 24, 2
5 is controlled by the computer 7 via a drive controller 27, and the steering motor 26 is controlled via a drive controller 28. These motors 24, 25,
By servo-controlling 26 (feedback control based on the output of the position sensor), the vehicle 1 can be driven along an arbitrary travel trajectory and stopped at an arbitrary position. This running control includes a guidance method in which a guideline is provided on the running floor of the vehicle 1 and the vehicle position is moved along the guideline while the guideline is detected by a sensor. There is a trajectory program method in which a trajectory is registered and the vehicle is driven along the trajectory, and any of these methods may be adopted. The former guidance method uses optical guidelines,
Any method may be used, such as one using electromagnetic induction guidelines. In this case, a guide sensor is provided on the vehicle 1 side to detect the guideline. Based on the output of this sensor, the computer 7 controls the running of the vehicle 1.

The latter trajectory programming method includes a method of programming the trajectory using a teaching playback method and a method of programming the trajectory from the drawing. In the teaching playback method,
Push the vehicle 1 by hand to make it run along the desired trajectory,
The traveling trajectory at that time is detected by a traveling position sensor 29 (FIG. 2) or the like, and the traveling trajectory is programmed into the RAM 12 or the like based on the detected data. During automatic travel, the vehicle 1 is stopped at a predetermined reference position, and the vehicle 1 is driven from there according to the set trajectory program while the traveling position sensor 29 detects the traveling direction, speed, and position. When programming the travel trajectory from the drawing, use the two-dimensional digitizer 3 on the remote control device side in Figure 2.
0, a desired travel locus on the drawing is traced and the data is input into the computer 31. The computer 31 creates a traveling trajectory program based on the trace data, and wirelessly transmits it from the transmitter/receiver 32 to the transmitter/receiver 33 on the vehicle 1 side. On the vehicle side, the received trajectory program is sent to the computer 7.
Store in RAM12, etc. Furthermore, computer 3
1 is the CPU 34, ROM 3 as shown in Figure 2.
5, RAM 36, clock generation circuit 37, interrupt controller 38, and IO port 39. A keyboard 40 is also connected to the computer 31, and its DC power supply unit 41 also includes a charging circuit 42 for rectifying and charging AC power. A keyboard 43 is also connected to the computer 7 on the vehicle 1 side, so that various command signals and data can be input to the computer 7.

With the above configuration, the traveling vehicle 1 travels along a preset trajectory and also stops. Additionally, the vehicle 1 is provided with various sensors in order to avoid collisions with obstacles while driving. As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of ultrasonic sensors 44 are provided to detect when an obstacle approaches a predetermined location of the vehicle 1, and a mechanical system is installed around the lower part of the vehicle 1 to prevent contact with obstacles. A detecting tape switch 45 is provided. The output of the tape switch 45 from the ultrasonic sensor 44 is input to the computer 7, and based on these detection signals, the computer 7 puts the traveling vehicle 1 into an emergency stop in order to prevent the traveling vehicle from colliding with an obstacle. let

The vehicle 1 also has a buzzer 46 to notify when an obstacle is detected, an abnormality in the measurement result, or other abnormality.
A display 47 is provided to optically notify the driving state of the vehicle 1 and the like.

Figure 4 shows the lifting mechanism 2, rotation mechanism 48, XY
The configuration of the table 3, horizontal arm 70, and vertical arm 71 is shown. The elevating mechanism 2 is composed of a telescope-type movable arm, and a movable part 50 at the upper end thereof is driven to be displaced in the vertical direction by a motor 51 via a gear mechanism 53. A brake 52 and a position sensor 54 (consisting of a rotary encoder, a linear encoder, etc.) for detecting the position of the movable part 50 are added to the drive system of the motor 51. Further, a rotation mechanism 48 is added to the movable portion 50 of the elevating mechanism 2. This rotation mechanism 48 has a drive motor 49, and its rotation causes the movable part 50 to
is rotated around the vertical axis. Brakes and position sensors are also added to this drive system.

The XY table 3 is attached to the movable part 50 of the lifting mechanism 2 via a horizontal holding mechanism 55. The horizontal holding mechanism 55 has a sensor for detecting the inclination of the XY table 3 and a motor 56 (FIG. 2) for correcting the inclination of the XY table 3. The XY table 3 also includes an X-axis motor 57 that drives the movable part 4 in the X direction, and a Y-axis motor 58 that drives the movable part 4 in the Y-axis direction. For example, the XY table 3 includes an X table (not shown) extending in the X-axis direction, an X ball screw that is supported by the X table and rotated by the motor 57, and is screwed into the a Y-table (not shown) extending in the Y-axis direction; and a Y-ball screw that is rotatably supported by the Y-table and rotated by a motor 58, and the movable part 4 is screwed into the Y-ball screw. By driving the motors 57 and 58, the movable part 4 is moved in the XY directions. In this case, it is obvious for those skilled in the art to add means such as providing a guide bar parallel to the ball screw.

Further, the horizontal arm 70 and the vertical arm 71 each include a telescope-type extension/contraction mechanism, and the horizontal arm 70 is driven to extend and contract by a motor 72 , and the vertical arm 71 is driven to extend and contract by a motor 73 . Brakes and position sensors are also added to these drive systems. The horizontal arm 70 and the vertical arm 71 are the fifth
As shown in the figure, they are combined in an L-shape to form an independent unit. A mounting portion 74 is provided at the base end of the horizontal arm 70.
4, it is detachably attached to the movable part 4 of the XY table 3. If the vehicle 1 can enter directly under the air filter to be inspected,
Horizontal arm 70 and vertical arm 71 are unnecessary,
As will be described later, these are removed from the movable part 4 of the XY table 3, and the probe 5 is attached to this movable part 4. If the vehicle 1 cannot enter directly under the filter to be inspected, the horizontal arm 70, the vertical arm 71 and the probe 5 are attached to the movable part 4 of the XY table 3.
Attach the unit as shown in Figure 4.

As shown in FIG. 2, the drive motor 49 of the rotation mechanism 48 is controlled by a drive controller 59, the drive motor 51 of the lifting mechanism 2 is driven by a drive controller 60, and the drive motor of the horizontal holding mechanism 55 is controlled by a drive controller 59. 56 is the drive controller 6
1 and the drive motor 5 of the XY table 3
7 and 58 are controlled by a drive controller 62, and drive motors 72 and 73 for the horizontal arm 70 and vertical arm 71 are controlled by a drive controller 75. All positioning servo control of these mechanisms is performed by the computer 7.

The outer shape of the XY table 3 is approximately the same as the outer shape of the HEPA filter mounting frame described above. this
Image sensors 63, 63 are attached to two opposing corners of the outer frame of the XY table 3. This image sensor 63 captures an image of the upper part, and as described later, the outer shape of the XY table 3 and
Obtain image information for alignment with the external shape of the HEPA filter. The output of the image sensor 63 is introduced into the computer 7.

Next, the operation of the clean room inspection apparatus configured as described above will be explained. The automatic travel control function described above causes the traveling vehicle 1 to travel along a predetermined trajectory and stop at a predetermined position. FIG. 6 shows a state in which the filter 64 of the clean tunnel 76, into which the traveling vehicle 1 cannot directly enter, is inspected using the unit consisting of the horizontal arm 70 and the vertical arm 71 described above. The vehicle 1 is driven with the lifting mechanism 2, the horizontal arm 70, and the vertical arm 71 retracted, and stopped at a predetermined position on the side of the clean tunnel 76. In that state, lift mechanism 2
is raised by a preprogrammed amount, horizontal arm 70 is extended by a preprogrammed amount, and vertical arm 71 is raised by a preprogrammed amount. Then, the horizontal arm 70
The tip part enters the clean tunnel 76 side,
The probe 5 is located directly below the filter 64 to be inspected. Further, at this time, the probe 5 faces below the filter 64 with a predetermined distance (within 2.5 cm) maintained therebetween. Next, motor 5 of XY table 3
7 and 58 are driven in accordance with preprogrammed contents, and the horizontal arm 70 attached to the movable part 4 thereof is moved in a plane. As a result of this movement, the probe 5 scans the surface in a reciprocating manner, similar to the raster scan of a television, as shown by the arrows in FIG. 6, thereby thoroughly inspecting the filter 64 for leaks. Similarly, the probe 5 is caused to scan the joint portion of the mounting frame of the filter 64 as well. As the probe 5 scans in this manner, the air taken in from the probe 5 is measured by the dust meter 6, and the results are recorded on the data recorder 8. At the same time, the measurement results are analyzed by the computer 7, and if an abnormality is detected, it is notified by the display 47 or the buzzer 46, or the abnormality is transmitted wirelessly to the remote control device by the transmitter/receiver 33. Notice.

When the above inspection is completed, the elevating mechanism 2, horizontal arm 70, and vertical arm 71 are retracted and the vehicle 1 is driven toward the next measurement point. By repeating this operation, it is possible to sequentially and automatically perform leak inspections at a large number of measurement points within the clean room.

FIG. 7 shows an inspection state in which the traveling vehicle 1 can enter directly under the filter 64 to be inspected. In this case, the unit consisting of the horizontal arm 70 and the vertical arm 71 is removed, and the probe 5 is attached to the movable part 4 of the XY table 3 in a vertical position. The traveling vehicle 1 enters directly under the filter 64 and stops. At this time, depending on the travel trajectory program of the vehicle 1, the square outline of the XY table 3 and the square outline of the filter 64 almost match, but there is a risk that a slight error may remain. In order to correct this position error, the above-mentioned image sensor 6
3 is used. The lifting mechanism 2 is raised by a pre-programmed amount, and the probe 5 and filter 64 are
The filters 64 are placed in a state where they face each other with a predetermined interval maintained, and at that time the image sensor 63 images the filter 64, and the filter 64 is placed at a predetermined position within the imaging area.
The computer 7 analyzes whether or not the corner of No. 4 exists. Then, the position error (rotation direction) of the XY table 3 with respect to the filter 64 is detected, and the motor 49 of the rotation mechanism 48 is used to correct the error.
to drive. This causes the XY table 3 to be slightly displaced in the rotating direction, so that the square of the XY table 3 and the square of the filter 64 are perfectly aligned. Next, the XY table 3 motors 57 and 58 are driven according to the preprogrammed contents, and the probe 5 attached to the movable part of the XY table 3 is scanned in a plane, and the filter 6 is
4. Thoroughly inspect the entire surface.

FIG. 8 shows two examples of running patterns of the running vehicle 1. In FIG. 7A, the traveling vehicle 1 is started from the reference point S, is driven to the position "1", and the above-mentioned inspection is performed here, and when the inspection is completed, the vehicle position is moved to the position "2". Let it run, then stop and test again. In the same way, the inspection is carried out from "3" to "4", and finally returns to the reference point S again. FIG. 7B shows a running pattern during an inspection of a clean room in which a filter 64 is disposed on the entire ceiling surface. In this case, the traveling vehicle 1 is driven one filter 64 at a time, then stopped, and that one filter 64 is inspected.Then, the vehicle 1 is moved to just below the adjacent filter 64 and stopped, and then the vehicle 1 is inspected. The inspection is performed by combining the movement of the traveling vehicle 1 and the scanning of the probe 5 by the XY table 3, thereby uniformly inspecting the entire area on which the filter is disposed. Note that when the measurement is finished at a certain measurement point and the vehicle 1 is moved to the next measurement point, the lifting mechanism 2 is lowered and then the vehicle 1 is moved. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the probe 5 and the XY table 3 from colliding with structures on the ceiling side.

In the above embodiment, the XY table 3 and the filter 64 are accurately aligned by the computer 7, but for example, the output of the image sensor 63 is transmitted to the computer 31 on the remote control device side, and this computer 31
The above-mentioned positioning may be performed by controlling the motor 49 of the rotation mechanism 48 by a position adjustment command sent from the computer 7 to the computer 7.

Furthermore, it is preferable to provide the following self-diagnosis function for various abnormalities in the device. A tilt sensor will be installed to detect abnormalities in the posture of the equipment. In addition, regarding abnormal sounds from various parts of the device,
This is detected using a microphone and voice recognition circuit. For overloads such as motors, current
This is detected using a voltage monitoring method. Additionally, to monitor the surroundings of the equipment, a television camera will be installed and the video will be played back outside the clean room. Thermosensors are installed to detect temperature abnormalities in various parts of the device.

As explained in detail above, according to the clean room inspection device according to the present invention, HEPA inspection in a clean room, which was conventionally carried out manually, is possible.
It is possible to automate filter leakage inspection almost according to preset inspection conditions, and to maintain the facing distance of the XY table to the filter at a constant value, based on the image of the filter taken by an image sensor. Since the position of the XY table is finely adjusted using the XY table, extremely accurate inspection can be performed.

In addition, with the device of this invention, even if the vehicle cannot enter directly under the filter to be inspected, by extending the horizontal arm and vertical arm, it can automatically perform leak inspection on the filter located above the side of the vehicle. And it can be done with high precision.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an external view of an inspection device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the same device, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the vehicle running section of the same device, and FIG. Figure 4 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the mechanical displacement mechanism in the above device, Figure 5 is a perspective view showing a detachable unit consisting of a horizontal arm and a vertical arm in the same device, and Figure 6 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the mechanical displacement mechanism in the same device. Figure 7 is a perspective view showing an inspection situation using the same device when a vehicle can enter directly below the vehicle, and Figure 8 shows an example of the running pattern of the same device in a clean room. FIG. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Unmanned vehicle, 2... Elevating mechanism, 3... XY table, 4... Movable part of XY table, 5... Probe, 6... Dust meter, 7... Computer, 48... Rotating mechanism, 50... Movable part of elevating mechanism , 63... Image sensor, 70... Horizontal arm, 71... Vertical arm.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An unmanned vehicle, an elevator mechanism mounted on the vehicle and displaced in the vertical direction, and a rotation mechanism that rotationally displaces a movable part of the elevator mechanism about several vertical axes; XY attached to the rotating part of this rotating mechanism
A table, an air sampling probe that is removably attached to a movable part that can move in the XY directions on the XY table, a dust meter connected to this probe, and the traveling vehicle directly below the inspection filter. travel control means for automatically stopping the traveling vehicle so that the XY table faces the filter; positioning control means for positioning the lifting mechanism and the rotation mechanism so that the XY table faces the filter at a predetermined distance; a scanning control means for scanning the probe along a predetermined trajectory; a fixed image sensor for capturing an image of the filter facing the XY table; and a fixed image sensor for capturing an image of the filter facing the XY table; A clean room inspection device that finely adjusts the position of an XY table in a horizontal plane based on images obtained by the XY table, the horizontal arm being removably attached to a movable part on the XY table and extending and contracting in the horizontal direction; A detachable unit consisting of a vertical arm that extends and retracts in the vertical direction from a free end and to which the probe can be attached is provided, and the probe is selectively attached to the movable part of the XY table and the vertical arm of the detachable unit. A clean room inspection device characterized by being installed in.