JPH09150912A - Cargo storage equipment with cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent semi-conductors such as wafers stored in shelves from being contaminated with sticking of chemical substances, and concurrently enhance yield. SOLUTION: When air 4A outside of a shelf device 10 is sucked in through an air sucking part 22 with an air supply device 20 operated, air 4A passes through chemical filters 23. Air is thereby cleaned into air 4A containing no chemical substance by entirely arresting various kinds of chemical substances by the chemical filters 23. After air has been cleaned into clean air 28 where no chemical substance is mixed, by feeding air to filters 18 from their back face sides, clean air 28 is made to flow in toward the front face side opposite to a taking in-and-out device 30 from the back face side of each block housing space 16.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a load storage facility with a clean device used for storing dust such as semiconductors or an article (load) that is extremely sensitive to temperature changes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this kind of equipment, for example, a load storage equipment in a clean room as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-192005 is provided. That is, this conventional facility is capable of traveling on a shelf having a plurality of compartment storage spaces in the vertical direction and the lateral direction in a clean room, and on a fixed path along the front surface of the shelf, and loading the compartment storage space with load. A loading / unloading device for loading and unloading is provided. The shelf has an open front surface facing the loading / unloading device, and a filter is disposed on the entire rear surface. Further, in the lower part of the shelf, the air that sucks the air in the clean room into the main body of the shelf and flows the clean air from the rear side of the filter through the filter to each compartment storage space toward the front side facing the loading / unloading device A supply device is provided.

According to this conventional structure, the air in the clean room is passed through the filter by the operation of the air supply device to become clean air, and this clean air is carried in from the rear surface side in each compartment storage space of the shelf. By flowing out toward the front side facing the output device, the dust generated in the loading / unloading device portion is prevented from moving to the shelf side.

[0004]

However, according to the above-mentioned conventional equipment, the chemical substances in the air (chemical contamination) cannot be sufficiently captured by the filter,
Therefore, when the products stored on the shelves are semiconductors such as wafers, chemical substances adhere to the semiconductors to be contaminated and the yield is greatly adversely affected.

Therefore, the first aspect of the present invention is to provide a load storage facility with a clean device capable of sufficiently trapping chemical substances in the air. Further, the invention according to claim 2 is to provide a load storage facility with a clean device capable of supplementing chemical substances more sufficiently.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a load storage facility with a clean device according to a first aspect of the present invention is a shelf having a plurality of compartment storage spaces in the vertical and horizontal directions. The device and a shelf that can travel on a fixed path along the front surface of the shelving device, and that is provided with a loading and unloading device for loading and unloading loads from and into the plurality of compartment storage spaces in the vertical direction and the lateral direction, and the shelving device shelf, After opening the front surface facing the loading / unloading device and arranging a filter on the entire rear surface side, the air outside the shelf device is sucked into the shelf device and is passed through the filter from the rear surface side of the filter to form clean air. An air supply device is provided for discharging this clean air toward the front side facing the loading / unloading device to each compartment storage space, and a chemical fan is installed in the air suction part from outside the shelf device. It is obtained by characterized by providing a Luther.

Therefore, according to the invention of claim 1, the air outside the shelf device can be sucked through the air suction portion by the operation of the air supply device, and at that time, the air is passed through the chemical filter, so that various chemical substances, etc. Can be sufficiently supplemented by a chemical filter, and thus air free of chemical substances can be obtained. Then, air is supplied to the filter from the rear side to make clean air that does not contain chemical substances, and then this clean air is directed from the rear side of each compartment to the front side facing the loading / unloading device. Can be leaked.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the load storage facility with a clean device, in the configuration according to the first aspect, the filter disposed on the rear surface side of the shelf is a chemical filter. It was done.

Therefore, according to the second aspect of the present invention, the air in which the chemical substances are not mixed is passed through the chemical filter again, so that various chemical substances can be more sufficiently captured.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the load storage facility with a clean device is characterized in that it is installed in a clean room in the configuration according to the first or second aspect.

Therefore, according to the invention of claim 3, clean air can be sucked from the outside of the shelving device and passed through the chemical filter.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
A state of being installed in a clean room will be described based on FIGS. 1 to 4.

1 and 2, the clean room 1
Is configured such that clean air 4 is blown downward from the ceiling 2 side through a filter (high-performance filter) 3, and the lowered clean air 4 is sucked under the floor through a mesh type floor 5.

A pair of shelving devices 10 arranged side by side with a predetermined passage 6 are respectively provided with a lower frame 11, a shelf 12 integrated on the lower frame 11, and a front side of the shelf 12. Except for the lower frame 11, the cover-like enclosure 17 is provided around the shelf 12.
It is composed of The both shelves 12 are a box-shaped shelf body 13 whose front and rear surfaces are open, a plurality of vertical partition plates 14 arranged side by side in the shelf body 13, and a large number of sideways arranged in the vertical direction. The partition plate 15 and the partition plates 14 and 15 respectively form a plurality of compartment storage spaces 16 in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction. Then, in each of the compartment storage spaces 16, a load 9 made of a semiconductor or the like is supported.

In the shelf device 10, a high-performance filter (filter) 18 is arranged on the entire rear surface of the shelf main body 13, that is, the rear surface of the all-compartment storage space 16, and the rear surface of the high-performance filter 18 is provided. An air passage space 19 is formed between the enclosure wall body 17 and the surrounding wall body 17 located behind this. Inside the lower frame 11, the air 4A outside the shelving device 10 is shelved.
An air supply device (fan or the like) 20 that sucks into the air path 10 and supplies the air path space 19 is provided.

At the front surface of the lower frame body 11, at least a part thereof is opened to form a clean air suction portion 21 capable of sucking clean air from the passage 6 side, and at the rear surface thereof,
At least a part of the shelf device 10 is opened to form an air suction portion 22 capable of sucking air from outside the shelf device 10. A chemical filter (chemical filter) 23 is provided in the air suction section 22 from the outside of the shelf device 10.

The upper ends of the two shelving devices 10 are connected by an upper member 25 which also serves to close the upper part of the passage 6, and the two shelving devices 10 are connected.
The side ends are connected by a side member 26 that also closes the side of the passage 6, and the lower ends of the two shelving devices 10 are connected by a lower member 27 that opens the lower portion of the passage 6. The lower member 27 may also serve as the base frame of both shelf devices 10.

In the passage 6, there is provided a loading / unloading device 30 which can travel on a fixed path 7 along the front surface of the shelving device 10. That is, in FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, a pair of rails 32 are provided on the lower member 27 at the lower part of the passage 6 via a machine frame 31, and the main body 33 of the loading / unloading device 30 includes a plurality of wheels 34.
It is mounted on the rail 32 via. The main body 33 is provided with a traveling drive device 35 interlocking with the wheels 34. The traveling drive device 35 is composed of a DC servo motor or the like that is hard to generate an impact, and is lower than the lowermost compartment storage space 16. It is arranged to be located at.

From the central portion of the main body 33, a rectangular tubular body
36 is provided upright, the upper end of the rectangular tubular body 36 is closed by a top plate 37, the lower end is formed as a lower end open portion 38, and a vertical slit 39 is formed at the center of the front surface. A vertical penetrating portion 40 communicating with the lower end opening portion 38 is formed in the main body 33, and a suction device 41 such as an intake fan facing the penetrating portion 40 from below is arranged.

A movable body 42 is provided which is positioned inside and outside the rectangular cylindrical body 36 through the slit 39.
Are arranged so as to be able to move up and down along the rectangular tube body 36. That is, the LM guide type up-and-down guide device 43 is provided in the rectangular tubular body 36.
The elevating guide device 43 is provided with a guide rail 44 vertically attached to the inner surface of the rear portion of the rectangular tubular body 36, and a guided body which is guided by the guide rail 44 and attached to the rear portion of the movable body 42. It is composed of 45 etc.

Further, a lifting drive device 46 is disposed in the rectangular tube body 36. That is, the lifting drive device 46 is hung between the upper wheel 47 arranged near the top plate 37, the lower wheel 48 arranged near the lower end opening 38, and the both wheels 47, 48. In addition, it is composed of a cord 49 fixed to the movable body 42, an inverter control motor 50 mounted on the main body 33, which is interlocked with the lower wheel 48. The rear side path of the cord 49 is located inside a protective body 51 attached to the rear outer surface side of the rectangular tubular body 36, and the protective body 51 is also open only at the lower end. A protective cover 52 is provided above the inverter control motor 50 and the traveling drive device 35.

Drums 53 and 54, which are biased by a spring or the like, are arranged at the upper and lower ends of the rectangular tube 36, respectively, and sheet curtains (nylon) wound on these drums 53 and 54 are used. The lower end and the upper end of 55, 56 are fixed to the movable body 42. A carriage 57 is integrated in the front part of the movable body 42, and the carriage 57 is integrated in the upper part of the carriage 57 with respect to the partitioned storage space 16 by laterally moving in and out.
A loading and unloading tool (fork body) 58 for loading and unloading is stored. The carriage 57 is provided with a loading / unloading implement driving device 59 including an inverter control motor.

The operation of the above embodiment will be described below. In the clean room 1, the clean air 4 blown down through the filter 3 descends, and the descending air is sucked under the floor 5, so that the cleanness in the clean room 1 is ensured.

In the shelf device 10, the air in the clean room 1
That is, the air 4A outside the shelf device 10 is sucked through the air suction portion 22, and the clean air 28 inside the passage 6 is
Is sucked through the clean air suction section 21, and these airs 4A and 28 become mixed air 29 and are supplied to the air passage space 19. At that time, the air 4A outside the shelf device 10 is sufficiently supplemented with various chemical substances (chemical contamination) and the like by passing through the chemical filter 23, so that the chemical substances are not mixed. It becomes air 4A and is mixed with clean air 28.

As described above, the mixed air 29 supplied to the air passage space 19 is supplied to the high performance filter 18 from the rear surface side, whereby the mixed air 29 passes through the high performance filter 18 and a chemical substance is mixed. Not clean air 28. And clean air 28 is each compartment storage space
At 16, the water flows out from the rear side toward the front side opposite to the loading / unloading device 30, so that each compartment accommodation space 16, that is, the load 9, can be cleaned and the adhesion of chemical substances to the load 9 can be prevented. You can A part of the clean air 28 in the passage 6 flows out under the floor through the lower member 27 and the like.

Under such conditions, a device for taking in and out
The loading / unloading of the load 9 into / from the intended compartment storage space 16 of the shelf 12 using the 30 is performed by the running operation of the loading / unloading device 30 on the fixed path 7, the raising / lowering operation of the carriage 57, and the loading / unloading tool 58. This can be done by a combination of a horizontal movement and a backward movement. At this time, when dust is generated and falls from the load 9 in the compartment storage space 16 or the loading / unloading tool 58 for loading / unloading the load 9, the dust is located below the horizontal partition plate.
Therefore, it is prevented from falling and accumulating on the load 9 stored in the lower compartment storage space 16.

Further, when the carriage 57 that supports the loading / unloading tool 58 and the like is raised and lowered, one of the sheet curtains 55 and 56 is automatically fed out and the other is wound up,
The slit 39 through which the movable body 42 passes is always sealed from the inside. Therefore, it is possible to prevent dust generated from the lifting guide device 43 and the lifting drive device 46 arranged in the rectangular tube body 36 from remaining in the rectangular tube body 36 and moving to the shelf 12 side.

Since the suction force is applied to the lower end open portion 38 by the suction device 41 that is operated at that time, the dust remaining inside the rectangular tubular body 36 rides on the suction flow, as described above. It is discharged from the open portion 38 to the floor 5 through the through portion 40, and is all sucked and removed under the floor 5. Further, during such an action, the inside of the rectangular tube body 36 tends to have a negative pressure, which can be eliminated by the inflow of the clean air 28 through the slit 39. Further, the inflow of clean air 28 from the outside to the inside can reliably prevent the outflow of dust through the slit 39. At that time, the inflow of the clean air 28 is regulated by the sheet curtains 55 and 56 and slit 39
Since it is performed substantially uniformly in the length direction of the above, it is possible to reliably remove dust generated at any position in the vertical direction within the rectangular tubular body 36.

As in the above-described embodiment, the low-temperature air 4A in the clean room 1 is sucked from the air suction portion 22, and the slightly high-temperature clean air 28 in the passage 6 is used.
Air is sucked from the clean air suction unit 21, and a part of the slightly hotter clean air 28 in the passage 6 is discharged to the underfloor, so that the circulating air in the shelf device 10 is supplied to the air supply device (fan) 20. It is possible to prevent the temperature from being gradually raised by passing through. Therefore, even if the load 9 is a semiconductor that is very sensitive to minute temperature changes, it can be suitably stored in the shelf device 10.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. That is, the filter arranged on the rear surface side of the shelf 12 is also constituted by the chemical filter 60.

According to this alternative embodiment, mixed air
By passing 29 through the chemical filter 60, the various chemicals are more fully captured. In the above-described embodiment, the air supply device 20 is provided separately from the high-performance filter 18 and the chemical filter 60 arranged on the rear surface side of the shelf 12, but this is a high-performance filter. The 18 or chemical filter 60 may be divided into a plurality of parts, and an air supply device may be integrally provided in each of the divided parts.

In the above-described embodiment, the pair of shelving units 10
Although the combination form of the storage device and the loading / unloading device 30 is shown, this may be a combination form of one shelf device 10 and the loading / unloading device 30.

In the above-described embodiment, the upper portion of the passage 6 is closed by the upper member 25. However, this forms an open portion in the upper member 25 so that a portion of the clean air 4 is kept in the passage 6. You may let it flow down.

[0034]

According to claim 1 of the present invention described above, various chemical substances can be sufficiently captured by the chemical filter by passing the air sucked from the outside of the shelf device through the chemical filter by the operation of the air supply device. , It can be air without chemical substances mixed. Then, by supplying air to the filter, it can be made into clean air that does not contain chemical substances, and can flow out from the rear side of each compartment storage space toward the front side facing the loading / unloading device. It is possible to clean the inside, that is, the load, and prevent the adhesion of the chemical substance to the load. Therefore, when the products stored on the shelves are semiconductors such as wafers, it is possible to prevent the semiconductors from being contaminated by chemical substances, and it is possible to carry out load storage suitable for yield.

According to claim 2 of the present invention described above,
By passing the air in which no chemical substance is mixed through the chemical filter again, various chemical substances can be more sufficiently captured.

According to the third aspect of the present invention described above, clean air can be sucked from the outside of the shelving device and passed through the chemical filter.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway front view of a load storage facility with a clean device, showing an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway side view of the load storage facility with the clean device.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway side view of a loading / unloading device portion in the load storage facility with the clean device.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway plan view of a loading / unloading device portion in the load storage facility with the clean device.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the present invention and is a partially cutaway front view of the load storage facility with a clean device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Clean room 4A Air 7 Fixed route 9 Load 10 Shelving device 12 Shelf 13 Shelf body 16 Compartment storage space 17 Enclosure 18 High-performance filter 19 Air passage space 20 Air supply device 21 Clean air suction part 22 Air suction part 23 Chemical filter 28 Clean Air 29 Mixed air 30 In / out device 57 Carriage 58 In / out tool 60 Chemical filter

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A shelf device having a plurality of compartment storage spaces in the vertical and horizontal directions, and a plurality of compartment storage spaces that can travel on a fixed path along the front surface of the shelf device in the vertical and lateral directions. A loading / unloading device for loading and unloading a load is provided for the shelf of the shelving device, the front surface facing the loading / unloading device is opened, and a filter is arranged on the entire rear surface side to shelve the air outside the shelving device. After sucking into the device and making clean air from the rear side of the filter through the filter, an air supply device is provided to make this clean air flow into the compartment storage space toward the front side facing the loading / unloading device. A load storage facility with a clean device, which is equipped with a chemical filter in the air suction part from the outside of the device. 2. The filter arranged on the rear side of the shelf is constituted by a chemical filter.
Load storage facility with the described clean device. 3. The load storage facility with a clean device according to claim 1 or 2, which is installed in a clean room.