JPH07314370A - Vacuum chuck, and sucking method of subject of suction in vacuum chuck - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a vacuum chuck capable of sucking a subject of suction whose sucking surface is smaller in area than the surface on the side sucking the subject of suction of a plate material. CONSTITUTION:An upper surface 5b of a plate material 5 is applied through a sheet member 8 on a work W, and air is sucked through a suction passage 4, so the work W is adsorbed through the sheet member 8 onto the plate material 5. In the case of the work W of which adsorbed surface is smaller than an area of the upper surface 5b of the plate material 5, air is sucked through the suction passage 4, so air flows from a part of the plate material 5 where it is not applied to the work W toward a lower surface 5a of the plate material 5. Flow of this air is restricted to such a degreee that the work W can be sufficiently adsorbed by the sheet member 8 provided on the upper surface 5b of the plate material. A sufficient suction force to adsorb the work W onto the plate material 5 is thus applied to the work W, thereby the work W can be adsorbed by the upper surface 5b of the plate material 5 through the sheet member 8 even in the case of the work W of which adsorbed surface is smaller than the area of the upper surface 5b of the plate material 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vacuum chuck and a method of adsorbing an object to be adsorbed on the vacuum chuck.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a vacuum chuck used for transporting a work, a vacuum chuck disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 1-118942 is known. A recess is formed on the lower surface of the chuck body of the vacuum chuck. And
A plurality of suction holes are formed between the recess and the chamber formed in the chuck body, and the suction hole communicates the recess with the chamber. In addition, a connection passage that connects the chamber and the outside of the vacuum chuck is formed in the chuck body. A soft perforated plate having soft and fine holes is attached to the recess, and the lower surface of the soft perforated plate is formed flat. The lower surface of the soft porous plate projects slightly below the lower surface of the chuck body.

When the soft porous plate is brought into contact with, for example, a thin film-like work and air is sucked from the connection passage, the work is adsorbed to the lower surface of the soft porous plate by its suction force. Further, when a work is adsorbed on the soft porous plate, the soft porous plate contracts upward due to the suction force for adsorbing the work, and the lower surface of the soft porous plate is at the same height position as the lower surface of the chuck body. Therefore, even if the work is a thin film, the work can be adsorbed without bending.

[0004]

However, when the area of the portion of the work to be adsorbed is smaller than the area of the lower surface of the soft perforated plate, the soft perforated plate is brought into contact with the work and air is sucked out from the connection passage. A large amount of air is sucked into the chamber from the portion of the perforated plate that is not in contact with the work. Therefore, there is a problem that a suction force sufficient to suck the work does not work on the work and the work cannot be suctioned.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and a first object is to adsorb an adsorbent having an adsorbing surface smaller than the area of the surface of the plate material on the side for adsorbing the adsorbent. It is to provide a vacuum chuck capable of performing.

A second object of the present invention is to adsorb an adsorbate whose adsorbing surface is smaller than the area of the surface of the plate material on the side for adsorbing the adsorbate, and at the same time, at a low cost. It is to provide a vacuum chuck capable of adsorbing.

Further, a third object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily adsorb an object to be adsorbed, which is smaller than the area of the surface of the plate material on the side for adsorbing the adsorbed material, even in the already manufactured vacuum chuck. (EN) Provided is a method of adsorbing an object to be adsorbed in a vacuum chuck.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 draws air from one surface of a plate material having a large number of through holes communicating with both the front and back surfaces of the plate material so that the other In a vacuum chuck for adsorbing an object to be adsorbed on a surface, a large number of through holes that are smaller than the through holes and extend in the same direction as the through holes are formed on the other surface of the plate body, and the total opening area of the through holes is formed. Is smaller than the total opening area of the through holes.

According to a second aspect of the invention, in the vacuum chuck according to the first aspect, the sheet member is formed of paper.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the vacuum chuck is provided with a plate member having a large number of through holes that communicate with both front and back surfaces, and air is sucked from one surface of the plate member to adsorb an object to be adsorbed on the other surface. In the method of adsorbing an object to be adsorbed in a vacuum chuck, a large number of through holes that are smaller than the through holes of the plate material and extend in the same direction as the through holes are formed on the other surface of the plate material, and the total opening area of the through holes is formed. Adsorbs a sheet member smaller than the total opening area of the through holes, and adsorbs an object to be adsorbed on the sheet member.

[0010]

Therefore, according to the first aspect of the invention, when the other surface of the plate material is brought into contact with the object to be adsorbed through the sheet member and air is sucked from one surface of the plate material, the object to be adsorbed by the suction force. Is adsorbed to the other surface of the plate material via the sheet member.
Further, in the case where the adsorption surface is smaller than the area of the surface of the plate material on the side of adsorbing the adsorption object, when air is sucked from one surface of the plate material, the adsorption object does not contact the other surface of the plate material. Air flows from the part toward the other surface of the plate.
The flow rate of this air can be suppressed to such an extent that the adsorbent can be sufficiently adsorbed by the sheet member provided on the other surface of the plate material. Therefore, a suction force of a magnitude that sufficiently adsorbs the adsorbed material to the adsorbed material acts on the adsorbed material, and even if the adsorbed surface is smaller than the area of the surface of the plate material on the side that adsorbs the adsorbed material, The object to be adsorbed is adsorbed to the other surface of the plate material via the sheet member.

According to the invention of claim 2, in addition to the function of the invention of claim 1, since the sheet member is made of paper,
It is possible to manufacture at low cost a vacuum chuck capable of adsorbing an object to be adsorbed whose adsorption surface is smaller than the area of the surface of the plate material on the side adsorbing the object to be adsorbed.

According to the third aspect of the invention, when the sheet member is brought into contact with the other surface of the plate member and air is sucked from the one surface of the plate member, the sheet member is attracted to the other surface of the plate member.
If the plate material is brought into contact with the object to be adsorbed through the sheet member such that the adsorption surface is smaller than the area of the surface of the plate material on the side for adsorbing the object to be adsorbed, the object to be adsorbed will be the plate material through the sheet member. Is adsorbed on. That is, since the flow rate of the air flowing from the part of the other surface of the plate material which is not in contact with the object to be adsorbed to the other surface of the plate material is suppressed to such an extent that the object can be sufficiently adsorbed by the sheet member, The object to be adsorbed is adsorbed to the plate material. Therefore, if the sheet member is attached to the other surface of the plate material, the already manufactured vacuum chuck can be
It is possible to easily adsorb an adsorbent having a smaller adsorbing surface than the area of the surface of the plate material on the side on which the adsorbent is adsorbed.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment embodying the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS.
It will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the chuck body 2 of the vacuum chuck 1 is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and a plurality of suction grooves 3 having a width of 3 mm are formed so as to cross each other in a square shape on the upper surface thereof. Has been done. Further, the chuck body 2 is formed with a suction passage 4 extending in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction thereof, and the suction passage 4 is communicated with suction holes 3a respectively formed at the intersecting portions of the suction grooves 3. There is.

A plate member 5 is adhered to the upper surface of the chuck body 2 with an epoxy resin adhesive so as to cover each suction groove 3. Since the epoxy resin adhesive is applied only to the outer edge portion of the lower surface 5a of the plate member 5, air does not leak from the joint surface between the plate member 5 and the chuck body 2.
Further, the plate member 5 is formed such that the upper surface 5b thereof is flat.

Since the plate member 5 is formed by pressing particles of copper, stainless steel, resin or the like, as shown in FIG. 3, the plate member 5 has a large number of through holes 6 communicating the upper and lower surfaces 5a and 5b thereof. Are formed. The through holes 6 have an average diameter of about 100 μm and are formed about 5300 per 1 cm ² . The ratio of the total opening area of the through holes 6 to the area of the upper surface 5b of the plate member 5 (hereinafter referred to as the porosity of the plate member 5) is 42%. Further, a seal portion 7 in which the through hole 6 is not formed is provided on the outer side portion of the plate member 5.

A sheet member 8 made of, for example, paper and having a substantially U-shaped cross section is provided on the upper side of the plate member 5 so as to cover the upper surface 5b and the side faces of the plate member 5. A mounting portion 9 is formed on the outer edge of the lower end of the sheet member 8 so as to project in a direction opposite to the plate material 5, and the lower surface of the mounting portion 9 is attached to the chuck body 2
The sheet member 8 is attached to the chuck body 2 by being fixed to the upper surface of the chuck body 2. Further, a suction portion 10 is provided in a portion of the sheet member 8 corresponding to the upper surface of the plate member 5, and a large number of through holes 11 as shown in FIG. 3 penetrating the sheet member 8 in the vertical direction are formed in the suction portion 10. Has been done. The diameter of the through hole 11 is about 10 μm. The ratio of the total opening area of the through holes 11 to the area of the upper surface of the adsorption portion 10 (hereinafter referred to as the porosity of the sheet member 8) is X%, which is a value smaller than 42% of the porosity of the plate member 5.

Next, the operation of the above-mentioned vacuum chuck 1 for adsorbing a work whose adsorption surface area is smaller than that of the upper surface 5b of the plate 5 will be described. The plate member 5 of the vacuum chuck 1 is brought into contact with the work W as the object to be adsorbed shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. 2 via the sheet member 8. The area of the suction surface of the work W is about half the area of the upper surface 5b of the plate member 5. When air is sucked out from the suction passage 4, the suction holes 3a,
The air in the through hole 11 with which the workpiece W contacts through the suction groove 3 and the through hole 6 is sucked to the plate member 5 side, and the suction force acts on the suction surface of the workpiece W. Further, in the portion of the sheet member 8 which is not in contact with the work W, the air outside the vacuum chuck 1 flows into the suction groove 3 through the through hole 11 and the through hole 6. Since the porosity X% of the sheet member 8 having the through holes 11 is smaller than the porosity 42% of the plate member 5, the flow rate of the air flowing into the suction groove 3 is larger than that in the case without the sheet member 8. Less. Therefore, the suction force acting on the suction surface of the work W becomes large enough to suck the work W onto the plate member 5, and the work W is sucked onto the plate member 5 via the sheet member 8 by the suction force.

In this case, the porosity of the sheet member 8 is X%.
20 to 25% as an optimal value range, 15 to 30% as a preferable range, and 10 to 35% as a practicable range
Can be given.

As described above in detail, in this embodiment, since the sheet member 8 having the porosity X% smaller than the porosity 42% of the plate member 5 is provided on the upper surface 5b of the plate member 5, the area of the adsorption surface is the plate member 5.
The work W smaller than the area of the upper surface 5b can be adsorbed.

Further, since the sheet member 8 is formed of paper, the vacuum chuck 1 capable of adsorbing the work W whose adsorption surface area is smaller than the area of the upper surface 5b of the plate member 5 can be manufactured at low cost.

Further, since the upper surface 5b of the plate member 5 is formed flat, for example, even when a thin film-like work is adsorbed, the work W can be adsorbed without being curvedly deformed.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but may be embodied by being modified as follows. (1) The sheet member 8 does not have to be fixed to the chuck body 2. That is, the sheet member 8 is brought into contact with the upper surface 5b of the plate member 5, air is sucked out from the suction passage 4, and the upper surface 5b of the plate member 5 is sucked.
The sheet member 8 is adsorbed on. Then, after that, the work W whose suction surface area is smaller than that of the upper surface 5b of the plate member 5 may be suctioned. In this case, depending on the area of the suction surface of the work W, the sheet member 8 may or may not be sucked onto the plate member 5. That is, when the area of the suction surface of the work W is the same as or larger than the area of the upper surface 5b of the plate member 5, the work W can be directly sucked without adsorbing the sheet member 8 to the plate member 5, and the work can be more reliably performed. W can be adsorbed. Further, even in the case of a vacuum chuck that has already been manufactured, by adhering the sheet member 8 to the plate material, it is possible to easily adsorb the work W whose adsorption surface area is smaller than the upper surface area of the plate material.

Alternatively, a plurality of sheet members 8 may be overlapped and adsorbed to the plate member 5. That is, the porosity of the sheet members 8 decreases due to the stacking, and the work W having a smaller suction surface area than the upper surface 5b of the plate member 5 can be suctioned as the sheet members 8 are stacked. In this case, if the number of the sheet members 8 to be stacked is adjusted according to the area of the suction surface of the work W, the work can be sucked even if the area of the suction surface of the work W changes.

(2) In this embodiment, the sheet member 8 is made of paper, but instead of this, the sheet member 8 may be made of cloth. In this case, unlike the paper, the cloth is not easily torn, so that it is possible to prevent the sheet member 8 from being damaged when the work W is attracted.

(3) In this embodiment, the plate member 5 has a diameter of about 10
About 5300 0 μm through holes 6 were provided per 1 cm ² , and the porosity of the plate material 5 was 42%.
The porosity of the plate material 5 may be changed by changing the number per ² pieces. In this case, the diameter of the through hole 11 of the sheet member 8 or 1 cm
By appropriately changing the porosity X% of the sheet member 8 by changing the number per sheet ^2, it is possible to adsorb the work W whose adsorption surface area is smaller than that of the upper surface 5b of the plate member 5.

(4) In the present embodiment, the work W having the suction surface area which is about half the area of the upper surface 5b of the plate member 5 is sucked, but the work W having the suction surface area having any other value is sucked. May be. In this case, the work W can be adsorbed by appropriately changing the porosity X% of the sheet member 8.

(5) The work W may be larger than the plate member 5 and the work may be formed so that the holes extend in the vertical direction. In this case, there is a portion where the plate material 5 and the work are not in contact with each other by the amount of the holes formed, and air flows from the upper surface 5b to the lower surface 5a of the plate material 5 at that portion.
However, by providing the sheet member 8 on the upper surface 5b of the plate member 5, the work can be adsorbed.

Next, technical ideas other than the claims which can be understood from the above-mentioned embodiments will be described below together with their effects. (1) The vacuum chuck according to claim 1, wherein the sheet member is made of cloth.

In this case, it is possible to prevent the sheet member from being damaged when the object to be adsorbed is adsorbed. (2) In the method for adsorbing an object to be adsorbed in a vacuum chuck according to claim 3, a plurality of sheet members are laminated and adsorbed on one surface of the plate material to obtain a contact area between the object to be adsorbed and one surface of the plate material. A method for adsorbing an object to be adsorbed by a vacuum chuck that changes the number of sheet members according to the method.

In this case, if the number of sheet members to be stacked is adjusted according to the area of the adsorbing surface of the adsorbed material, the adsorbed material can be adsorbed even if the area of the adsorbing surface of the adsorbed material changes.

In the present specification, the sheet member is not limited to paper and cloth, and any material may be used as long as it is a sheet member having a large number of through holes.

[0032]

As described above in detail, according to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to adsorb an adsorbent having an adsorption surface smaller than the area of the surface of the plate material on the side on which the adsorbent is adsorbed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to adsorb an adsorbate having an adsorption surface smaller than the area of the surface of the plate material on the side on which the adsorbate is adsorbed, and at the same time, the adsorbate can be produced at low cost. Can be adsorbed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, even in a vacuum chuck that has already been manufactured, it is possible to easily adsorb an object to be adsorbed whose adsorption surface is smaller than the area of the surface of the plate material on the side that adsorbs the adsorbed material. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a vacuum chuck of this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a vacuum chuck of this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a plate member and a sheet member.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vacuum chuck, 5 ... Plate material, 5a ... Lower surface as one surface, 5b ... Upper surface as the other surface, 6 ... Through hole, 8 ... Sheet member, 11 ... Through hole, W ... Work as adsorption target .

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A plate material (5) having a large number of through holes (6) communicating with both the front and back surfaces (5a, 5b), by sucking air from one surface (5a) of the plate material (5), the other surface (5b) is covered. In a vacuum chuck for adsorbing an adsorbate (W), the through hole (6) is provided on the other surface (5b) of the plate material (5).
A sheet in which a large number of smaller through holes (11) extending in the same direction as the through holes (6) are formed and the total opening area of the through holes (11) is smaller than the total opening area of the through holes (6). A vacuum chuck provided with a member (8). 2. The vacuum chuck according to claim 1, wherein
A vacuum chuck in which the sheet member (8) is formed of paper. 3. A front surface and a back surface (5) are attached to a vacuum chuck (1).
a, 5b) is provided with a plate material (5) having a large number of through holes (6), and air is sucked from one surface (5a) of the plate material (5) to cover the other surface (5b). In the method of adsorbing an adsorbed material in a vacuum chuck for adsorbing an adsorbed material (W), the plate material (5) is attached to the other surface (5b) of the plate material (5).
A plurality of through holes (11) that are smaller than the through holes (6) and extend in the same direction as the through holes (6) are formed, and the total opening area of the through holes (11) is the opening of the through holes (6). A method for adsorbing an adsorbate in a vacuum chuck, which adsorbs a sheet member (8) smaller than the total area and adsorbs the adsorbate on the sheet member (8).