JPH06144564A - Transport equipment for clean room - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To suppress the generation of the turbulence of air stream and simplify the execution of the transport equipment by reducing the dimension of an air cleaner device and making a device for the installation of the air cleaner device on a guide rail. CONSTITUTION:As for the transporting equipment for a clean room, a guide rail 3 for guiding a transfer vehicle 1 for transporting a load is installed in a clean room for the ventilation of the clean air toward a floor surface side from a ceiling side, and the transfer vehicle 1 is constituted of a body part 6 which travels along the guide rail 2, loading part 7 which is positioned over the guide rail 2, and a connecting member 8 for connecting both the parts 6 and 7, and an air cleaner device 21 for sucking and purifying the air on the periphery of the body part 6 is installed on the guide rail 2, and a cylindrical cover 3 covering the whole of the guide rail 2 is installed. An opened port part for the insertion of the connecting member 8 is formed along the longitudinal direction on the upper wall of the cover 3, and the air purifying device 21 is accommodated in the space surrounded by the bottom surface of the guide rail 2 and the lower part wall of the cover 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention provides a clean room in which clean air is ventilated from a ceiling side toward a floor side, and a guide rail for guiding a moving vehicle for load transportation is provided. An air purifying device configured to include a main body that travels along the guide rail, a load loading portion that is located above the main body, and a connecting member that connects the main body, and that suctions and purifies air around the main body. The present invention relates to a clean room transfer facility attached to the guide rail.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in such a clean room transfer facility, as shown in FIG. 9, a main body portion 32 of a moving vehicle is housed inside a cylindrical guide rail 31 having an open upper portion, and the main body portion is housed therein. The dust generated between the traveling wheel 33 provided on the 32 and the guide rail 1 was sucked into the air purifying device 35 via the duct 34 and the like. The air purifier 35 includes a suction fan 36 and an air filter 3
7, the suctioned air is purified by the air filter 37 and then discharged downward. The air purifiers 35 are provided at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail 31.

The load loading section 38 located above the main body section 32 is connected to the main body section 32 by a connecting member 39, and the upper opening of the guide rail 31 is left in a state where only an opening groove through which the connecting member 39 is inserted is left. Pair of cover members 40 for covering
Is attached to the upper edge of the guide rail 31. The moving vehicle includes a primary side coil 41 provided at a lower portion of the guide rail 31 and a secondary side plate 4 provided at a lower portion of the moving vehicle.
Propulsive force is given by a linear motor composed of 2 and.

[0004]

In a clean room in which clean air is ventilated from the ceiling side toward the floor side, it is desirable that an object in the room does not disturb the air flow as much as possible. This is because the turbulence of the air flow causes the dust to float in the room and delays the discharge of the dust from the floor surface.

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, the air purifying device provided beside the guide rail is likely to disturb the air flow. It is possible to reduce the turbulence of the airflow to some extent by smoothing the outer surface shape, but there is a limit to that. Further, although the guide rail is generally suspended and supported from the ceiling, it is necessary to suspend and support the air purifying device attached to the side of the guide rail, which is one of the factors that complicate the construction of the transportation facility.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to make the air flow turbulence less likely to occur by downsizing the air purifying device and devising a mounting method for the guide rail. At the same time, it contributes to the simplification of the construction of the transportation facility.

[0007]

In the transfer facility for a clean room according to the present invention, a guide rail for guiding a moving vehicle for load transfer is provided in a clean room in which clean air is ventilated from the ceiling side toward the floor side. The moving vehicle is composed of a main body that travels along the guide rails, a load loading portion located above the main body, and a connecting member that connects the main body, and sucks air around the main body. An air purifying device for purifying the guide rail is attached to the guide rail, and a characteristic configuration thereof is that a tubular cover that covers the entire guide rail is provided, and the connecting member is provided on an upper wall of the cover. An opening for insertion is provided along the longitudinal direction, and the air purifying device is housed in a space surrounded by the bottom surface of the guide rail and the lower wall of the cover.

[0008]

According to the above characteristic construction, the tubular cover for covering the entire guide rail is provided, and the air purifying device is housed in the space surrounded by the bottom surface of the guide rail and the lower wall of the cover. Therefore, the clean air ventilated from the ceiling side to the floor side of the clean room does not directly hit the guide rails or the air purifying device, but flows smoothly downward along the tubular cover that covers them. The cross section of the space surrounded by the bottom surface of the guide rail and the lower wall of the cover does not have to be so large by making the air purification device elongated along the bottom surface of the guide rail.

[0009]

Therefore, since the guide rail, the air purifying device attached along the bottom surface thereof, and the tubular cover covering them can be unitized, it is possible to contribute to the simplification of the construction of the transport facility. It has become possible to prevent the turbulence of the flow of clean air that is ventilated from the ceiling side toward the floor side.

The main body portion including the traveling wheels of the moving vehicle is covered with the guide rail together with the tubular cover, but the load loading portion is located outside and above the tubular cover. Can be done easily.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In a clean room in which clean air is ventilated from the ceiling side to the floor side, as shown in FIG. 2, a guide rail 2 for guiding a moving vehicle 1 for load transportation and a tubular cover 3 for covering the whole are supported. The member 4 is provided so as to be suspended from the ceiling. The mobile vehicle 1 is given a propulsive force by a linear motor of a primary type on the ground as described later, and carries a package (semiconductor wafer) from one station to another station along the guide rail 2.

FIG. 1 shows a cross section of the guide rail 2 and the cover 3 as viewed in the longitudinal direction. The guide rail 2 has a U-shaped cross section and is manufactured by extrusion molding of an aluminum material. The cover 3 includes a plurality of cover members 3a to 3a as described below.
3d, the outer surface shape of which is a ventilation direction of clean air in the cross section viewed from the longitudinal direction (direction from the ceiling side to the floor side)
It is formed to have a streamlined shape. This is to prevent the flow of clean air from being disturbed as much as possible.
In the cover 3, in addition to the guide rail 2, a primary side coil of a linear motor, a control unit,
A clean unit etc. is also stored.

The cover 3 includes a pair of left and right upper covers 3a,
It is composed of a pair of left and right side covers 3b, a lower cover 3c, and a support groove cover 3d. The support groove cover 3d is made of resin, and the other cover members 3a, 3b, 3c are made of aluminum, all of which are manufactured by extrusion molding.

The guide rail 2 and each cover member 3a, 3
b, 3c, and 3d are prepared for a straight line portion having a predetermined length and for a curved line portion (left curve, right curve). It is formed in a loop shape. Actually, a plurality of types of guide rail units in which the guide rail 2, the primary side coil, the control unit, etc. are incorporated in the cover 3, that is, FIG.
The station rail unit STU, the intermediate rail unit CRU, the curve rail unit HCU, and the like shown in are prepared, and these are connected at the time of construction of the transportation facility.

A member for connecting the guide rail 2 is also used as a supporting member for each of the cover members 3a to 3d. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, a pair of left and right upper brackets 5 a, a lower bracket 5 b having a U-shaped cross section, and a pair of left and right cover blocks 5 c are provided at the connecting portion of the guide rail 2. The cover block 5c connects the guide rail 2 by tightening a predetermined portion formed on the side surface of the guide rail 2 with the tap plate 5d.
Similarly, with respect to the upper and lower brackets 5a and 5b, predetermined portions of the guide rail 2 are fastened. Top cover 3
The groove a provided at the lower end of the a is locked to the protrusion provided on the upper surface of the cover block 5c, and the upper end is screwed to and supported by the upper surface of the upper bracket 5a.

The side cover 3b has a groove formed at the upper end thereof engaged with a protrusion provided on the lower surface of the cover block 5c, and the lower end is screwed to the side surface of the lower bracket 5b. The lower surface cover 3c is screwed to the lower surface of the lower bracket 5b with its left and right end portions covering the lower ends of the side surface covers 3b. The support groove cover 3d has a locking projection that is erected on one side of the support groove cover 3d.
It is fixed by being pushed in between the leaf springs 5e fitted in the side surface concave portion.

A support bracket 4a for connecting the guide rail 2 and a support member 4 for suspending the guide rail 2 shown in FIG. 2, a communication device IT for communicating with the mobile vehicle 1, a mobile vehicle 1
The support bracket of the load sensor LD for checking the presence or absence of the load is also fixed to the side surface of the guide rail 2 similarly to the cover block 5c. Further, the members for connecting the guide rails 2 are not limited to those described above,
A plate (not shown) that is screwed to the bottom of the plate for connection
There is also.

As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile vehicle 1 includes a main body portion 6 housed inside a guide rail 2 having a U-shaped cross section, a load loading portion 7 located above the main body portion 6, and a connection for connecting them. And the member 8. An opening for inserting the connecting member 8 is provided in the upper wall of the cover 3 along the longitudinal direction. That is, the opening is formed between the inner end surfaces of the pair of left and right upper covers 3a.

Two carriers 9 for semiconductor wafers are loaded on the front and back of the load loading unit 7 of the mobile vehicle 1 (see FIG. 4). The main body 6 includes traveling wheels 1 that rotate around a horizontal axis.
Roller wheel 1 for horizontal positioning that rotates around 0 and the vertical axis 1
1 is provided. The traveling wheel 10 contacts a pair of left and right horizontal guide portions 2a formed so as to project inwardly from an intermediate portion in the up-down direction of the left and right inner walls of the guide rail 2, and
Are in contact with the left and right inner wall surfaces above them. Further, a horizontal plate-shaped secondary-side conductor 12 forming a linear motor is provided at the central bottom of the main body 6.

The structure of the main body 6 of the mobile vehicle 1 will be described below. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the main body portion 6
Includes front and rear wheel units 13 and 14 each including a pair of left and right traveling wheels 10 and a pair of left and right rolling wheels 11, which are attached to the load carrying portion 7 so as to be rotatable about a vertical axis. There is. That is, a cylindrical shaft 15 fixed to the bottom surface of the load carrying portion 7 and rotatably fitted on a pair of front and rear rod-shaped connecting members 8 extending downward is fixed to the central portions of the wheel units 13 and 14. The connecting member 8 penetrates the tubular shaft 15,
The secondary conductor 12 is fixed to the tip.

However, the secondary-side conductor 12 is divided into three parts, front and rear, and a central secondary-side conductor 12a is fixed to the tip of the connecting member 8 as described above before and after. The front and rear secondary conductors 12b are, as shown in FIG.
The wheel units 13 and 14 are fixed to the standing members 13a and 14a extending downward from the bottom surfaces of the frames.

With the structure of the main body portion 6 as described above, the moving vehicle 1 can smoothly travel on the curved portion of the guide rail. At this time, the front and rear wheel units 13, 14
Are in different directions along the curve with the two pairs of left and right wheels 11 contacting the left and right inner walls of the guide rail 2. Therefore, the front and rear secondary-side conductors 12b have different orientations with respect to the central secondary-side conductor 12a, and the secondary-side conductor 12 as a whole has a bent posture along a curve in plan view.

Each of the secondary-side conductors is constructed by laminating an iron plate for forming a magnetic circuit on the upper surface of an aluminum plate. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the front and rear wheel units 13 and 14 are provided with shock absorbers 16, and the rear wheel unit 14 is provided with an emergency stop brake unit 17 and the like.

In FIG. 1, a wide recess is formed at the bottom of the guide rail 2, and a duct is formed with the base plate 18 mounted on the bottom of the recess. As will be described later, this duct serves as a suction passage for air to the clean unit. The primary side coil 19 of the linear motor and the like are attached on the base plate 18. When the primary coil 19 is excited with an alternating current having a predetermined frequency, a traveling magnetic field is generated, and a propulsive force is applied to the secondary conductor 12 located immediately above it, that is, the moving vehicle 1.

The primary side coil 19 is provided at regular intervals along the guide rail 2 in order to reduce equipment costs.
The moving vehicle 1 inertially travels between them. However, it is always provided at the stop position of the moving vehicle 1 at the station and before and after it, and performs acceleration control when the moving vehicle 1 starts and deceleration control when it stops. A primary coil 19 for intermediate acceleration is installed at regular intervals between stations. That is, the station rail unit STU is provided with three primary side coils 19, and the intermediate rail unit CRU is provided.
Is equipped with one primary coil 19.

The space surrounded by the bottom surface of the guide rail 2 and the lower wall of the cover 3 accommodates a control unit 20, a clean unit 21, and the like, which are composed of a plurality of control boards. The control unit 20 includes the primary coil 19
Is controlled to accelerate or decelerate the moving vehicle 1.

Further, the station rail unit STU is provided with an electromagnet unit and a positioning unit for stopping the moving vehicle 1 at a predetermined position, and the control unit 20 also controls these. Further, destination information performed between the ID card T, which is a storage medium with a wireless communication device attached to the side surface of the cargo loading section 7 of the mobile vehicle 1, and the communication device IT supported on the side surface of the guide rail 2, It also performs communication such as exchange of weight information and the like, and processing such as checking whether or not there is a load by the presence sensor LD.

As shown in FIG. 6, the clean unit 21 cleans dust around the main body portion 6 generated by friction between the guide wheels 2 and the running wheels 10 and the rolling wheels 11 provided on the main body portion 6 of the moving vehicle 1. This is an air purifying device for preventing dust from scattering into the clean room by sucking together with the air. As described above, the duct formed by the wide concave portion at the bottom of the guide rail 2 and the base plate 18 serves as an intake passage. The base plate 18 is provided with communication ports 18a which connect the duct and the upper space thereof in places, and the bottom wall of the guide rail 2 has the clean unit 2
A communication port 2b with 1 is provided.

Therefore, the clean air in the clean room is sucked in through the opening formed between the pair of left and right upper covers 3a, and the communication port 18a provided in the base plate 18 together with the dust generated around the moving vehicle main body 6 is sucked. , The duct, a communication port 2b provided on the bottom wall of the guide rail 2
It is sucked into the clean unit 21 through the.

As shown in FIG. 7, the clean unit 21 is provided with an intake fan 22 and an air filter 23, and purifies the air sucked from the upper opening through the air filter 23 and then discharges it downward from the lower surface. Therefore, an opening is formed in the lower cover 3c of the guide rail 2. Further, the clean unit 21 is screwed to the bottom surface of the guide rail 2 by a pair of L metal fittings 24 attached to the front and rear. A power supply 25, a control box 26, and the like are housed in a small room beside the fan 22 and the air filter 23.

The net 23a of the air filter 23 is exposed on the bottom surface of the clean unit 21 as shown in FIG.
An operation lamp 27, an abnormal lamp 28 and the like are provided next to it. These lamps 27 and 28 can be seen from the opening of the lower cover 3c of the guide rail 2.

The clean unit 21 is available in three sizes, large, medium and small. The station rail unit STU has a large size, the intermediate rail unit SRU has a large size, and the curved rail unit HCU has a large size. A small is put on. The one shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 is a large clean unit. By the way, the large clean unit has three intake fans 23.

Other examples will be listed below. The material and manufacturing method of the guide rail cover are not limited to those by extrusion molding of aluminum as in the above embodiment. For example, the cover member may be made of all resin by injection molding or vacuum molding. The method of dividing the cover member into a plurality of cover members and the method of supporting the guide rail can be variously changed.

The specific structure of the air purifying device and the structure for mounting it on the bottom surface of the guide rail are not limited to those in the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified. For example, the suction fan 22 and the air filter 23 may be arranged side by side in the longitudinal direction instead of vertically.

The present invention can also be applied to a magnetic levitation type transportation facility for levitation of a moving vehicle with respect to a guide rail by magnetic force.

It should be noted that reference numerals are given in the claims for convenience of comparison with the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the structures of the accompanying drawings by the entry.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a moving vehicle, a guide rail, etc. of a transportation facility according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a part of the transportation facility.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a moving vehicle.

[Fig. 4] Side view of a moving vehicle

FIG. 5 is a partial view showing a wheel unit of a moving vehicle.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of an air purifying device mounting portion.

FIG. 7 is a side view of a mounting portion of the air purification device.

FIG. 8 is a bottom view of the air purifier.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a moving vehicle, a guide rail, and an air purifying device of a transportation facility according to a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mobile vehicle 2 Guide rail 3 Cover 6 Main body part 7 Load loading part 8 Connecting member 21 Air purification device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A guide rail (2) for guiding a moving vehicle (1) for load transportation is provided in a clean room in which clean air is ventilated from a ceiling side toward a floor side, and the moving vehicle (1) is provided. ) Is composed of a main body portion (6) traveling along the guide rail (2), a load loading portion (7) located above the main body portion (6), and a connecting member (8) for connecting them, An air purifying device (21) for sucking and purifying air around the portion (6) is a conveyance equipment for a clean room attached to the guide rail (2), and covers the entire guide rail (2). A cylindrical cover (3) is provided, and an opening through which the connecting member (8) is inserted is provided in an upper wall of the cover (3) along the longitudinal direction, and a bottom surface of the guide rail (2). Space enclosed by the lower wall of the cover (3) The air purification device (21) transport facility for clean rooms housed.