JPH06183511A - Clean stocker - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To maintain the clean atmosphere in a house even in the case of happening unexpected power interruption by providing an emergency power supply unit for continuing a feed of power by switching a power supply of a blower to a battery. CONSTITUTION:A clean stocker has a blower 6 for supplying clean air through a high performance filter 5 toward an article storehouse, partitioned in a housing 1 with a front surface door 2, and a backup gas supply pipe 8 connected to a clean gas source 9 to draw in the gas into the housing 1, and also providing an emergency power supply unit 13 for continuously operating the blower 6 at the time of happening unexpected power interruption. When supply of power disappears in a station by unexpectedly happening power interruption during steady operation, the emergency power supply unit 13 detects happening of power interruption to instantaneously close a battery 14 in a power supply circuit of a drive motor FM for the blower 6. In this way, the blower 6 is continuously operated with no interruption by receiving a feed of power from the battery 14, simultaneously to issue an alarm by actuating an alarm lamp 15 and a buzzer 16.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a clean stocker for storing silicon wafers in the field of semiconductor manufacturing, for example.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a semiconductor manufacturing process, a clean stocker is used to temporarily store a silicon wafer in a clean space until it is transferred to the next step.
This clean stocker is a blower that supplies clean air through a high-performance filter to the inside of an article storage defined by a housing with a front door, and a backup that is connected to a clean gas source and drawn into the housing. The conventional clean stocker and the operation control circuit thereof are shown in FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b).

First, in FIG. 4 (a), 1 is a housing of a clean stocker, 2 is a front door, 3 is an article storage compartment defined inside the enclosure 1, 4 is a storage shelf, 5 is an article storage cabinet 3 A high-performance filter placed behind the air-conditioner, 6 a blower installed in the wind tunnel leading to the high-performance filter 5, 7 a pre-filter provided in the air inlet of the housing 1, 8 an external clean gas source (nitrogen gas ) A gas supply pipe connected to 9 and drawn into the inside of the housing, 10 is an opening / closing cock (manual type) of the gas supply pipe 9,
Reference numeral 1 is an operation panel for operation control.

With this structure, the articles 12 such as silicon wafers are stored side by side on the shelves 4 of the article storage 3. Then, during normal use, the blower 6 is operated with the front door 2 open, and the air sucked from the surroundings through the pre-filter 7 is cleaned through the high-performance filter 5 and then supplied into the storage compartment 3 of the article. However, the inside of the refrigerator is kept clean. The flow of clean air ventilated in the clean stocker is indicated by an arrow. On the other hand, when the power source in the office is to be interrupted by a preliminary inspection, the front door 2 of the housing 1 is closed in advance and the opening / closing cock 10 of the gas supply pipe 9 is opened to pressurize clean gas into the stocker. And blower 6
It is designed to prevent intrusion of dust from outside while the machine is stopped.

FIG. 4 (b) shows an operation control circuit for the blower 6, in which FM is a fan fan motor, HCCB is a circuit breaker connected to a local power source, MC is an electromagnetic contactor, and TH is TH. The thermal relay and SW are push-button switches for turning on and off.

[0006]

By the way, in the clean stocker having the above-mentioned structure, the blower 6 is stopped when a power failure occurs without notice due to a power failure or the like.
Contaminated air containing dust intrudes into the inside of the clean stocker from the surroundings to contaminate the article 12 being stored with particles.
When such an unexpected power failure occurs, maintenance personnel close the front door 2 of the clean stocker and open / close the cock 1.
Although 0 is opened and an emergency measure is introduced to introduce clean gas into the refrigerator, if there is no ventilation of clean air for a short time from the time of power failure until the clean gas supply is started, There is a possibility that contaminated air may enter the inside of the refrigerator from the surroundings and cause particle contamination.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to prevent a power failure so that the inside of a clean stocker can be continuously maintained in a clean atmosphere even if a power failure occurs unexpectedly. It is to provide a clean stocker with functions.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the clean stocker of the present invention comprises an emergency power supply device for switching the power supply of the blower to a battery and continuing the power supply when an unexpected power failure occurs. And Further, the above-described embodiment has the following configuration.

(1) An alarm lamp such as an alarm lamp or a buzzer that operates by receiving power from an emergency power supply when a power failure occurs is provided. (2) Door closing means for automatically closing the front door by receiving power from the emergency power supply when a power failure occurs, and a solenoid valve of a gas supply pipe for opening the valve to start supply of clean gas into the refrigerator A control means is provided for stopping the operation of the blower after starting the supply of the clean gas.

[0010]

With the above configuration, when a power failure occurs unexpectedly in a steady operation state in which the blower is operated by receiving power from the on-site power supply and clean air is blown into the article storage, the loss of power is detected. The emergency power supply operates instantaneously to switch the power supply to the battery and continuously operate the blower to supply clean air to the inside of the refrigerator. The battery has a capacity that allows the blower to continuously operate for at least several minutes.

In the configuration of the above paragraph (1), an alarm signal is output from the emergency power supply device by using the battery as an emergency power source at the same time as the occurrence of a power failure, and an alarm lamp or a buzzer issues an alarm to notify maintenance personnel of the power failure. . This allows maintenance personnel to rush to the place where the clean stocker is installed, close the front door of the housing, and open the open / close cock of the gas supply pipe to execute emergency measures to supply clean gas into the storage without delay. it can. Note that the operation of the blower is stopped after starting the supply of the clean gas to prevent unnecessary discharge of the battery.

Further, according to the configuration of the above item (2), when a power failure occurs, the battery is used as an emergency power source to drive the front door that has been opened so as to close the front surface of the article storage compartment to the closed position, and the gas supply pipe. Open the solenoid valve to start supplying clean gas into the refrigerator. Further, the operation of the blower is automatically stopped after a certain time has passed since the start of supplying clean gas. As a result, the necessary emergency measures can be automatically executed without bothering the maintenance staff. As the door closing means, a motor driving method or various driving methods using an air cylinder, a biasing spring or the like as a driving source can be used.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings of each embodiment, the same members corresponding to those in FIG. 4 are designated by the same reference numerals. Embodiment 1 FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b) show an embodiment corresponding to claims 1 and 2 of the present invention, in which the clean stocker does not continuously operate the blower 6 when an unexpected power failure occurs. A blackout emergency power supply unit 13 is newly added. This emergency power supply device 13 is combined with a battery 14 as shown in FIG.
Further, an alarm lamp 15, a buzzer 16 and the like are externally connected to the emergency power supply device 13 as alarm means for issuing an alarm upon occurrence of a power failure.

In such a configuration, if a power failure unexpectedly occurs during the steady operation of the clean stocker and the on-site power source is lost, the emergency power supply device 13 detects the power failure and detects the battery 1
4 is instantly turned on to the power supply circuit of the drive motor MF of the blower 6. As a result, the blower 6 receives electric power from the battery 14 and continuously operates without interruption, and at the same time, the alarm lamp 15 and the buzzer 16 operate to issue an alarm.

On the other hand, the maintenance staff who receives this alarm rushes to the place where the clean stocker is installed, closes the front door 2 of the clean stocker, and further opens the open / close cock 10 of the gas supply pipe 8 to open the clean gas source (nitrogen gas). Clean gas is supplied under pressure from 9 into the clean stocker, and then the push button switch SW (OFF) is pressed to take emergency measures to stop the operation of the blower 6.

As a result, the clean air supply from the clean air supply to the clean stocker by the operation of the blower 6 is continuously performed without interruption, so that the atmosphere inside the article storage 3 is always kept clean. To be done. Embodiment 2: Next, an embodiment corresponding to claims 1 and 3 of the present invention, which is a further development of the above-mentioned Embodiment 1, is shown in FIG. 2, FIG.
It shows in (b). This embodiment differs from the first embodiment in the following points. That is, a solenoid valve 17 is connected to the gas supply pipe 8 drawn into the clean stocker in place of the manual opening / closing cock, and the front door 2 of the stocker is a spring-biased automatic door as shown in FIG. It is configured as a closed door.

Here, the front door 2 in FIG. 3 is a slide type door which is divided into two right and left for each shelf, and is normally urged by a tension spring 18 in the closing direction, and is usually a release solenoid. It is held in the open position by a stopper 20 that is interlocked with 19. As the closing means for the front door 2, a driving method using a motor and an air cylinder can be adopted in addition to the spring biasing method shown in the figure. Further, in the operation control circuit shown in FIG. 2, the solenoid valve 17 and the operation coils 17a and 19a corresponding to the release solenoid 19 are external to the emergency power supply device 13 together with the auxiliary relay Ry for controlling the stop of the fan motor FM. It is connected.

In the clean stocker having such a structure,
If a power failure unexpectedly occurs during steady operation, the emergency power supply device 13 instantaneously operates as described in the first embodiment, the power source of the fan motor FM is switched to the battery 14, and the blower 6 is continuously operated without interruption. At the same time, the operating coils 17a and 19a and the auxiliary relay (timer) Ry are excited by receiving power from the battery 14. This allows
The solenoid valve 17 of the gas supply pipe 8 which has been closed until now opens to start supplying clean gas from the clean gas source 9 to the clean stocker, and the release solenoid 19 in FIG. 3 releases the stopper 20 to urge the spring 18. Thus, the front door 2 is closed and the front surface of the article storage 3 is closed. After a certain time, the auxiliary relay Ry operates in a timed manner and the electromagnetic contactor
The MC is tripped and the fan motor FM of the blower 6 is stopped. As a result, the stocker storage 3 of the clean stocker
Is switched from a state in which the clean air is blown in the refrigerator by the blower 6 to a state in which it is purged by the clean gas, and thereafter, a clean atmosphere is maintained by continuous pressurized supply of the clean gas. Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to automatically deal with the case where the maintenance staff is not present at the site.

[0019]

As described above, the structure of the present invention has the following effects. (1) According to claim 1 of the present invention, even if an unexpected power failure occurs during the steady operation of the clean stocker, the emergency power supply device operates instantaneously to continuously operate the blower in an uninterruptible manner. It is possible to continuously blow clean air into the storage to keep the atmosphere in the storage clean and protect articles such as silicon wafers stored in the storage from particle contamination.

(2) According to claim 2 of the present invention,
In addition to the effect of item (1) above, an alarm can be issued to the outside at the same time as the occurrence of a power outage, and maintenance personnel can be urged to perform the emergency work necessary to switch the air blowing inside the stocker of the clean stocker to the clean gas supply. (3) Further, according to the configuration of claim 3 of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the above-mentioned item (1), even if the maintenance staff is absent at the site, a clean air is generated by the blower at the same time as the occurrence of the power failure. A series of operations required for switching from the supply to the clean gas supply can be automatically executed, and the reliability of maintenance management is further improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram corresponding to a first embodiment of the present invention,
(A) is a cross-sectional view of the configuration of the clean stocker, (b) is its operation control circuit diagram

FIG. 2 is an operation control circuit diagram of the clean stocker according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an automatic closing front door adopted in a second embodiment of the present invention, (a) is a plan view showing a door closing mechanism,
(B) is a front view of the entire clean stocker

4A and 4B are configuration diagrams of a conventional clean stocker, in which FIG. 4A is a sectional view of the configuration of the clean stocker, and FIG. 4B is an operation control circuit diagram of the blower in FIG. 4A.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Clean Stocker Case 2 Front Door 3 Goods Storage 5 High Performance Filter 6 Blower 8 Gas Supply Pipe 9 Clean Gas Source 10 Opening Cock 12 Goods 13 Emergency Power Supply 14 Battery 15 Alarm Lamp 16 Alarm Buzzer 17 Solenoid Valve 18 Door Biasing spring 19 Release solenoid 20 Stopper

Claims (3)

[Claims] Claims: 1. A clean stocker for maintaining a space in a storage room for storing articles in a clean state, and a blower for supplying clean air through a high-performance filter to a storage box defined in a housing with a front door, and A backup gas supply pipe connected to a clean gas source and drawn into the housing and equipped with an emergency power supply device that switches the power supply of the blower to a battery and continues power supply when an unexpected power failure occurs Clean stocker that is characterized. 2. The clean stocker according to claim 1, further comprising alarm means such as an alarm lamp and a buzzer which are activated by receiving power from an emergency power supply when a power failure occurs. 3. The clean stocker according to claim 1, wherein a door closing means for automatically closing a front door by receiving power from an emergency power supply when a power failure occurs, and a clean gas supply to the inside of the warehouse by opening a valve. A clean stocker comprising: a solenoid valve of a gas supply conduit for starting the operation of the gas supply pipe;