JPH0772013B2 - Clean tube transfer device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a clean tube device that conveys highly clean conveyed objects, and more particularly to a clean tube provided with a clean booth for maintenance and inspection.

[Prior Art] Generally, in order to convey an object such as a semiconductor wafer that requires high cleanliness, when conveying in a clean room by a clean conveyor or when conveying between buildings,
A clean tube as shown in Fig. 7 is also used.

In a clean tube 1 shown in FIG. 7, a rectangular tube-shaped main body 2 is divided into a transport tunnel 4 and a traveling drive tunnel 5 by using a separator 3, and a carriage 7 is attached to a drive mechanism 6 arranged in the drive tunnel. After being connected, the conveyed object is placed on the carriage 7 and conveyed. Further, a high-precision filter 8 is arranged at the outlet on the ceiling surface of the transport tunnel 4 so as to maintain the cleanliness inside the tunnel at a constant standard.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The conventional clean tube has the following drawbacks, and an improvement is desired.

In other words, the clean tube is installed in the general room or outdoors to connect the building to the building as described above, and the inside of the tube maintains a certain degree of cleanliness. , Can only be done when the line is stopped. Also, when repairing a minor malfunction of the drive unit, etc., there is contamination of contaminated air as described above,
It is necessary to stop all the lines before doing so, and it takes a lot of time and effort.

The present invention has been made in order to eliminate the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object thereof is to provide a clean tube that can be maintained and inspected without stopping the line.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the clean tube transfer device of the present invention is a clean tube transfer device for driving a carriage in a clean space in a tube by a drive device arranged in the tube body. In the above, a side wall of the tube body is provided with openings that can be opened and closed at regular intervals, and a side portion of the tube body is provided with a clean booth that is movable along the tube body and has an air cleaning means, and A work opening provided with a contact device is provided on the opening side of the tube body of the clean booth.

[Operation] In the clean tube transfer device having the above-described configuration, the carriage travels in the tube by the drive device arranged in the tube. And in the event of failure, maintenance or inspection,
After moving the clean booth to the relevant location, the tube and booth are brought into close contact with each other by the adhesion device arranged in the clean booth, the tube side opening and the booth side work opening are communicated, and repair or maintenance from the booth side is performed. Perform an inspection.

[Examples] The present invention will be specifically described below based on the illustrated examples.

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a part of the same, in which a reference numeral 10 is a clean tube, and a tube main body 12 arranged between buildings 11 and 11. The clean booth 13 and the air blower 14 movably arranged on the side of the tube are the main constituent members.

As shown in FIG. 2, the tube 12 main body is arranged between buildings 11 by connecting a plurality of rectangular tube-shaped tube units 15. As shown in FIG. 3, each unit 15 comprises four side walls composed of a panel 18 in which a front surface and a back surface of a heat insulating material 16 such as urethane are sandwiched between stainless steel surface plates 17 and 17, and four side walls are formed by separators 19 and 20 in the height direction. It is divided into three layers, that is, a traveling room 21, a drive room 22, and a duct room 23. The traveling room 21 is a compartment in which a carriage 25 connected to a driving device 24 arranged in the driving chamber 22 travels with a conveyed object placed thereon, and a blower 14 is provided on the ceiling surface.
An air supply port 26 connected to is formed, and a HEPA filter 27 is installed on the lower surface thereof. The drive chamber 22 is provided with a drive device 24 for moving the carriage 25. The drive device 24 is composed of a traveling rail 29 laid on a bracket 28 and a traveling drive unit 30 traveling along the rail 29. The traveling drive unit is formed from a power supply rail (not shown) laid on the bracket 28. It is driven by the supply of electricity. Further, a central air passage 31 is bored in the longitudinal direction in the central portion of the separator 19 which divides the traveling chamber 21 and the driving chamber 22, and the air passage 31 is provided for supporting a dolly which is vertically fixed to the center of the traveling driving portion 30. The bracket 32 is inserted, and the carriage 25 is supported on the upper part thereof.

The duct chamber 23 is partitioned by the drive chamber 22 and the separator 20, and the separator 20 is provided with exhaust holes 33 at regular intervals, and the clean air blown from the ceiling surface of the traveling chamber 21 is discharged from the traveling chamber 21. The structure is such that the air flows into the drive chamber 22 through the central air passage 31, and then through the exhaust hole 33, through the duct chamber 22 while sequentially decreasing the cleanliness, and then from the exhaust hole 33 into the duct chamber 23. The air with reduced cleanliness entering the duct chamber 23 is connected to a blower 14 equipped with air purifiers arranged at regular intervals as shown in FIG. The air is blown out into the traveling chamber 21 from the air supply port 26 arranged in the chamber 21.

In addition, one of the side panels 18 of the tube unit 15 that constitutes the tube body 12 is provided with an opening 34 for maintenance and inspection using the clean booth 13 described later, and this opening can be opened and closed freely. Door 35 is attached. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 36 is a window provided on the door 35 for visually recognizing the inside, and a transparent synthetic resin plate is fitted therein.

Next, the clean booth 13 will be described. The clean booth 13 has a tube body as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG.
Movable on 12 sides. That is, a pair of rails 37, 37 are laid parallel to the main body on the side of the tube main body 13, wheels 38 pivotally supported on the booth 13 are placed on the upper surface of the rails, and the rails 37 are moved along the rails 37. Booth 13
Is composed of a sub room 39 and a main room 40. The size of the booth 13 is almost the same as that of the tube unit 15 which constitutes the tube body, and like the tube unit, a panel 43 in which a urethane type heat insulating material 41 is sandwiched by a stainless steel surface plate 42 is used. It is shaped like a box. As shown in FIG. 2, the booth 13 uses a partitioning member 44 in its interior to form a sub-room 39 having a small area and a main room 40 serving as a work space having a larger area.
And a door 45 for entering from the outside is attached to the sub-room 39 side, and the chambers are communicated with each other by a door 46 provided in the partition member 44. Each of the above rooms,
A duct 48 is formed between the wall surface 13a and a stainless steel panel 47, and this duct has a grating 49 arranged on the floor surface, an air purifying device 50 arranged on the ceiling surface, and a HEPA filter arranged at this outlet. The clean air that is communicated with the filter 51 is circulated through the grating 49, the duct 48, and the cleaning device 50.

The air cleanliness of each room is the same as that of the running room 21 of the main body of the clean tube in the main room 40, the sub room 39 is a spare room for entering the main room, and is provided with an air shower device 39a, It is designed to maintain a slightly lower degree of cleanliness.

Further, on the wall surface of the clean room body 12 side of the main room 40, a tube unit constituting the tube body 12
A working opening 51 is formed at a position facing the opening 34 provided on the fifteen, and an openable / closable door 52 is attached to this opening. Further, a contact device 53 with the clean tube body 12 is arranged outside the opening 51.

As shown in FIG. 4, the contact device 53 is composed of a bellows-like tubular body 54 which is attached to the outside of the opening 51 and is expandable and contractible, and a driving means 55 for extending and retracting the tubular body 54. The bellows-shaped cylindrical body 54 is fixed to the outside of the opening 51 by using a fixing plate 55, and a rubber packing 58 is attached to the front four sides via a support member 57. Next, the driving means 56 for expanding and contracting the bellows-shaped tubular body 54 will be described. That is, brackets 59 are fixed to the four corners of the opening 51 on the outer side of the bellows-like tubular body 54, bearings 60 are attached to the tips of the brackets, and a shaft 62 around which a coil spring 61 is wound is inserted into the bearing 60. Then, one end of a support member 57 attached to the tip of the bellows-shaped cylindrical body 54 is fixed to the tip of the shaft 62. Further, a roller 63 is axially supported at the end of the shaft 62 so as to come into contact with a cam plate 66 having an inclined surface 65 provided on a slide shaft 64 arranged so as to be orthogonal to the shaft 62. As shown in FIG. 6, the slide shafts 64 are arranged in parallel at the upper and lower portions of the opening 51 by using bearings 67. As described above, the shafts 62 attached to the brackets 59 are located at positions where they are in contact with the rollers 63. The cam plate 66 is fixed. A screw portion 68 is loosely fitted to one end of the lower slide shaft 64, the screw portion is screwed into a female screw bearing 69, and a handle 70 is attached to the end portion. When the handle is rotated and the lower slide shaft 64 slides in the axial direction, the upper and lower slide shafts are connected by a connecting rod 71 so that the upper slide shaft is also synchronized with this (see FIG. 5 and FIG. (Fig. 6).

[Operation] Next, the operation of the clean tube of the present embodiment having the above configuration will be described.

The clean air is blown down from the air supply port 26 provided in each tube unit 15 by the blower device 14 to the traveling chamber 21 through the HEPA filter 27, and the traveling chamber is maintained at a predetermined air cleanliness level. Then, a carriage 25 connected to a drive device 24 travels inside a traveling chamber 21 kept at a predetermined cleanliness with a conveyed object placed thereon. Meanwhile running room 21
The clean air inside is narrowed down in the central air passage 31,
The air flows into the drive chamber 22 at a lower air pressure than the traveling chamber, and dust and the like generated in the drive chamber are mixed into the duct chamber from the exhaust hole 33 provided in the separator 20 that divides the drive chamber 22 and the duct chamber 23. The air flows into the air blower 23 and then into the air blower 14 from the duct to repeat the circulation.

Now, when a failure occurs in the tube body 12 or maintenance / inspection becomes necessary, the clean booth 13 is moved to the tube unit 15 portion for repair, and the procedure will be described.

As described above, the clean booth 13 is moved to the portion of the tube unit 15 requiring repair or the like. Next, when the handle 70 arranged in the contact device 53 is rotated, the slide shaft 64 moves in the axial direction, and the cam plate 66 fixed to this shaft contacts the roller 63 at the end of the shaft 62 supported by the bracket. When the handle is further rotated to move the slide shaft, the shaft 62 to which the roller 63 is attached moves to the clean tube unit 15 side against the elastic force of the spring 61 due to the slope 65 of the cam plate 66, and the tip of this shaft is Support member 57
Since it is connected to the bellows-shaped cylindrical body 54 via the, the cylindrical body 54 moves to the tube unit 15 side, and the packing 58 attached to the front end adheres to the tube unit 15. In this state, the cleaning devices 50 arranged in the subroom 39 and the main room 40 of the clean booth 13 are driven to clean the air in each room. Then, when the cleanliness of the tube unit 15 is 100, for example, when the cleanliness of the subroom 39 reaches about 1000, the door 45 is opened and a worker enters the subroom 39, and the door 45 is closed to clean the main room 40. Wait until the temperature is about the same as tube unit 15. Since the time required for cleaning each room can be predicted by the capacity of the air cleaning device 50 arranged in each room, it is sufficient for the worker to enter each operation after a certain time has elapsed. When the cleanliness of the main room 40 becomes similar to that of the tube unit 15, the worker opens the door 46, enters the main room 40, and closes the door 46. Next, the door attached to the working opening 51 of the main room 40
Open 52 and then the door of the opening 34 on the tube unit 15 side.
35 is opened to connect the tube unit 15 and the main room 40 to each other, and then repair, maintenance and inspection are performed. When the work is completed, the reverse operation, that is, the tube unit
The door 35 on the 15th side is closed, then the door 46 on the main room 40 side is closed, and the worker leaves the clean booth 13 via the subroom 39.

It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and design changes can be made without changing the gist of the invention.

[Advantages of the Invention] As described above, the present invention has a clean booth attached to a clean tube, and this booth is equipped with a cleaning device for maintaining the same degree of air cleanliness as that of the tube. Maintenance and inspection can be performed without polluting the tube even during operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partially omitted plan view of the same as above, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the contact device, FIG. 5 is a side view of the same,
FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing the driving means of the above, and FIG. 7 is a view showing a conventional type. 10: Clean tube transfer device 11: Building, 12: Tube body 13: Clean booth, 14: Blower device 15: Tube unit, 16: Insulation material 17: Surface plate, 18: Panel 19, 20: Separator, 21: Running room 22: Drive room, 23: Duct room 24: Drive device, 25: Carriage, 26: Air supply port 27: HEPA filter, 28: Bracket 29: Travel rail, 30: Travel drive unit 31: Central airway, 32: Carriage Support bracket 33: exhaust hole, 34: opening, 35: door 36: viewing window, 37: rail, 38: wheel 39: subroom, 40: main room 39a: air shower device 41: heat insulating material, 42: surface plate , 43: Panel 44: Partition material, 45, 46, 52: Door 47: Panel, 48: Duct 49: Grating, 50: Cleaning device 51: Working opening, 53: Adhesion device 54: Bellows tubular body, 55: Drive means 56: Fixed plate, 57: Support member 58: Packing, 59: Bracket 60, 67: Bearing, 61: Coil spring 62: Shaft, 63: Roller 64: Slide shaft, 65: Slope, 66: Cam 68: threaded portion, 69: internal thread bearing 70: handle, 71: connecting rod

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A clean tube transfer device for driving a carriage in a clean space in a tube by a drive device arranged in the tube body, wherein the side wall of the tube body is provided with openings that can be opened and closed at regular intervals. A work with a clean booth that can move along the tube body and is equipped with air cleaning means on the side of the tube body, and with a contact device on the opening side of the clean booth on the tube body. A clean tube transport device having an opening for use. 2. The clean tube transfer device according to claim 1, wherein the clean booth is divided into a subroom and a main room, and each room is provided with an air cleaning means.