JPH10258935A - Automatic rack moving device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To exactly and smoothly position a rack on a rack arrangement base. SOLUTION: This automatic rack device is constituted of a rack transfer device 1 which is mounted with a rack 5 and moves on a prescribed track and a rack arrangement base 6 which is fixed and arranged in the vicinity of the track of this rack transfer device 1. When the rack transfer device 1 is positioned on the track in the vicinity of the rack arrangement base 6, an arm 3 mounted with the rack 5 moves to the side of the rack arrangement base 6, is made to move to the side of the present device after the arm 3 further lowers and a table 4 which is capable of freely rotating the rack 5 around the center shaft is provided on the mounted surface of the rack 5 in the arm 3 of the rack transfer device 1. In the rack arrangement base 6, a groove allowing the lowering of the arm 3 of the rack transfer device 1 is formed on the surface and a guide provided with a taper for sliding the rack 5 to be placed at least the angular part of the rack 5 and positioning the rack 5 at a prescribed location is provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic rack moving apparatus, for example, in the manufacture of a liquid crystal display device, automatically moves a rack containing a plurality of glass substrates serving as its base material to a processing apparatus in each process. The present invention relates to an automatic rack moving device for causing the rack to move.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An apparatus of this type includes a rack transfer apparatus which mounts a rack and moves on a predetermined track, and a rack arrangement which is fixedly disposed near a predetermined position of the track of the rack transfer apparatus. It is composed of a table and a table.

A processing device is arranged near each rack placement table. This processing device automatically takes out each glass substrate in the rack placed on the rack placement table by a robot or the like, and for example, deposits or applies a photoresist. And the like, and when it is completed, it is automatically stored in the rack.

[0004] When the rack transfer device is positioned on the track near the rack placement table, the arm on which the rack is mounted moves to the rack placement table side, and after descending further, moves to its own device side. It is configured to move to.

[0005] The rack placement table has a surface
A guide formed with a groove that allows the arm of the rack transfer device to descend, and provided with a taper for sliding the rack at a predetermined position at least at a corner of the rack to be mounted. Is provided.

That is, the arm on which the rack is mounted descends on the rack placement table and is positioned in the groove on the surface of the arm, so that the rack previously mounted on the arm is placed on the surface of the rack placement table. State. In this case, the rack slides on a taper formed inside each of the guides provided on the surface of the rack placement table and is arranged at a predetermined position in the guide.

[0007]

However, in recent years,
As the size of the glass substrate itself increases with the size of the liquid crystal display device, the weight of the rack increases in the above-described automatic rack moving device, which causes the rack to ride on, for example, one of the guides. There has been a problem in that, for example, the rack may not be accurately placed at a predetermined position on the rack placement table, as in a state.

If such a problem occurs, it becomes difficult for the processing apparatus to automatically take out each glass substrate in the rack placed on the rack placement table, and measures have been taken. Was.

Further, even when the rack is arranged at a predetermined position on the rack placement table, there is also a disadvantage that the rack receives considerable vibration when sliding on the guide.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic rack moving device which enables a rack to be accurately and smoothly positioned on a rack placement table.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Among the inventions disclosed in the present application, the outline of a representative one will be briefly described.
It is as follows.

Means 1. A rack transfer device that mounts a rack and moves on a predetermined track; and a rack placement table fixedly disposed near the track of the rack transfer device. The arm on which the rack is mounted moves to the rack placement table side when it is positioned on the track near, and then moves to its own device side after further descending, and the rack placement table has a surface A groove for allowing the arm of the rack transfer device to descend, and a taper for sliding the rack at a predetermined position at least at a corner of the rack to be mounted. A guide on the mounting surface of the rack in the arm of the rack transfer device, the table being capable of freely rotating the rack around its central axis. It is an feature.

In the automatic rack moving device thus constructed, when a part of the bottom surface of the rack comes into contact with, for example, the taper of one guide during the lowering of the rack, the free movement of the rack is caused by the reaction force at the time of the contact. Rotation is performed by the action of the table, and as a result, the slide smoothly slides while abutting on the taper of each guide, and is accurately positioned at a predetermined position on the rack placement table.

Means 2. In the configuration of the means 1, the table is characterized in that the rack on which the table is mounted can be freely rotated around its central axis, but can be slightly moved in a plane. is there.

[0015] The automatic rack moving apparatus thus constructed is more effective because the rack can be moved more freely.

[0016]

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of an automatic rack moving apparatus according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, there is a rack transfer device 1,
The rack transfer device 1 moves in, for example, the y-direction (a direction perpendicular to the paper surface) in the figure. This movement is performed, for example, by traveling on a rail 2 fixed on the ground. For this reason, the rack transfer device 1 is configured to be able to move along a preset track.

The rack transfer device 1 is provided with an arm 3, and a rack 5 is arranged on the arm 3 via a table 4 described later in detail.

The rack 5 contains a plurality of glass substrates serving as base materials of a liquid crystal display device, for example.

The arm 3 can be moved in the z-direction (vertical direction) and the x-direction in the figure by a mechanism for supporting the arm 3. For this reason, the rack 5 can be similarly moved with the movement of the arm 3.

The movement of the arm 3 is controlled by the rack transfer device 1
However, as shown in FIG.
Is performed after the rack transfer device 1 is stopped by moving to the side of the rack transfer device 1.

That is, the arm 3 of the rack transfer device 1 moved to the side of the rack placement table 6 is moved in the (-) x direction so that the rack 5 mounted thereon is positioned at the position shown by the dashed line 5 'in the figure. After that, it moves (falls) in the (-) z direction so that it is further positioned at the position shown by the dotted line 5 ''.

As shown in the perspective view of FIG. 3, a groove 7 for allowing the arm 3 (and the table 4) to descend is formed on the upper surface of the rack placement table 6. This is because, in order to position the rack 5 on the upper surface of the rack mounting table 6, the arm 3 (and the table 4) on which the rack 5 is mounted must be positioned below the upper surface of the rack mounting table 6.

The arm 3 disposed in the groove 7
The (and table 4) can move out of the rack table 6 by moving in the (+) x direction.

In this case, the rack 3 remains placed on the upper surface of the rack placing table 6. As shown in FIG. 3, an L-shaped guide 8 is attached to the upper surface of the rack placement table 6 so as to surround each square of the placement area of the rack 3 (within the dotted frame in the figure). .

Each of the guides 8 has a taper 8A formed on the side wall of the rack 3 on the side where the rack 3 is disposed, from the upper end to the upper surface of the rack mounting table 6, and this taper angle is approximately equal to the upper surface of the rack mounting table 6. It is 60 °.

That is, the rack 5 mounted on the arm 3
When the rack 3 descends, even if the rack 3 slightly shifts (position on the xy plane), the rack 5
At least one of the squares on the bottom surface of the rack 8 slides down the corresponding taper 8A of the guide 8, and when it contacts the upper surface of the rack mounting table 6, it is arranged at the position shown by the dotted frame in the figure. Will be.

In this case, when the glass substrate accommodated in the rack 5 is relatively small and the weight of the rack 5 itself is light, the function of the guide 8 described above is sufficiently exhibited, and the rack 5 is moved to a predetermined position. Is positioned with high accuracy.

However, when a large glass substrate is stored and the weight of the rack 5 itself, that is, the inertia thereof, becomes large, the guide 8 is disposed without smoothly sliding, and as a result, the rack 5 is placed at a predetermined position. It will not be positioned.

The table 4 is provided to eliminate such adverse effects.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the structure of the table 4. As shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1, first, there is a table main body 11 fixedly arranged on the arm 3, and on the upper surface of the table main body 11, there is provided a rotating plate 12 which is rotatably supported. .

That is, the rotating plate 12 is provided with a rotating shaft 13 extending along the center axis thereof and toward the table body 11, and the rotating shaft 13 is supported by a bearing 14 constituting a part of the table body 11. Have been axis.

The inner diameter of the bearing 14 (for example, 65 to 70)
mm) is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the rotating shaft 13 (for example, 60 mm).
2 can rotate with respect to the table main body 11 and can move slightly in all directions on the xy plane.

The upper surface of the table body 11 and the rotating plate 1
A plurality of balls 15 are arranged between the rotation plate 2 and the ball 2 so that the rotation and movement of the rotating plate 12 can be extremely smoothly performed by the balls 15.

The table body 11 has a rotating plate 12
At the side opposite to the side where the
And a shaft 16 arranged substantially coaxially with the shaft.

The rotating shaft 13 has a conical shape at the tip end, the diameter of which increases stepwise and narrows further, and the shaft body 16 has a
A conical concave portion is formed so as to be able to contact the inclined surface of the conical portion of the rotating shaft 13.

Further, the shaft body 16 can be moved in the (-) z direction (arrow direction) in the figure against the compression spring 18 by driving an electromagnetic coil 17 provided around the shaft body 16. .

That is, when the rack 5 is transferred to the rack transfer apparatus 1, the electromagnetic coil 17 is turned off, so that the arrangement of the shaft 16 is as shown in the figure. The shaft body 16 moves in the (+) z direction by the action of the compression spring 18 to integrate the rotary plate 12 and the table main body 11, so that the rotary plate 12 cannot rotate and move (move in the xy plane). ing.

Thus, the rack 5 can be mounted on the rotary plate 12 at a predetermined position. The electromagnetic coil 17 is turned on when the rack 5 is moved to the rack placement table 6 side and further lowered.

That is, when the electromagnetic coil 17 is turned on, the pressurization of the rotating shaft 13 of the shaft 16 is released. This means that the table body 11 of the rotating plate 12
Of the table body 1 is released.
1 (used in this specification to mean a slight rotation about the rotation axis 13) and a state in which it can move slightly in all directions in the xy plane.

For this reason, when a part of the bottom surface of the rack 5 comes into contact with, for example, the taper of one guide 8 when the rack 5 is lowered, the rack 5 is freely moved by the reaction force at the time of contact, and as a result, As a result, it smoothly slides while abutting on the taper of each guide 8, and is accurately positioned at a predetermined position on the rack placement table.

More specifically, as shown in FIG.
When the rack 5 is displaced as shown in FIG.
Since the table 4 has the above-described function, the rack can smoothly slide on the tapered surface of the guide 8 while moving in the direction of the arrow in the figure.

In the above-described embodiment, the rack 5 can rotate and move in the xy plane by the operation of the table 4. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it goes without saying that the table 4 may be configured to rotate only.

This is because a sufficient effect can be obtained even if only the configuration in which the rotation is performed is provided. This is also because the movement in the xy plane is also performed by backlash inevitably generated in the moving mechanism of the arm 3.

The above-described automatic rack moving device has been described for use in manufacturing a liquid crystal display device. However, it is needless to say that the present invention is not necessarily limited to those used for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device.

[0047]

As is apparent from the above description,
ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to the automatic rack moving apparatus by this invention, a rack comes to be correctly located on a rack arrangement stand smoothly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of a table provided in an automatic rack moving device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of an automatic rack moving device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a rack placement table of the automatic rack moving device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing the operation of the automatic rack moving device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Rack transfer device, 3 ... Arm, 4 ... Table, 5 ... Rack, 6 ... Rack placement table, 8 ... Guide.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A rack transfer device that mounts a rack and moves on a predetermined track, and a rack placement table fixedly arranged near a track of the rack transfer device, wherein the rack transfer device is An arm on which the rack is mounted moves to the rack placement side when it is positioned on a track near the rack placement table, and further moves to its own device side after descending; The platform has a groove formed on the surface thereof to allow the arm of the rack transfer device to descend, and the rack is slid at least at a corner of the rack to be mounted and positioned at a predetermined position. And a table on the mounting surface of the rack in the arm of the rack transfer device, the table being capable of freely rotating the rack around its central axis. An automatic rack moving device characterized by being carried out. 2. The table can not only freely rotate the rack on which it is mounted around its central axis, but also
2. The automatic rack moving device according to claim 1, wherein the automatic rack moving device is configured to be slightly movable in a plane.