JPH10303274A - Unmanned carrying vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable mounting a large number of works without enlarging a running truck. SOLUTION: In an unmanned carrying vehicle wherein a work transfer robot 2 is mounted on a running truck 1 which mounts a work W on a deck and carries the work, an elevating rack 6 which has a plurality of steps of work accommodating parts 7 in the vertical direction is installed on the deck, and the elevating rack 6 can be aligned at the height of a hand 5 of the transfer robot 2 with an elevating mechanism 10. Jetting vents 9 of cleaning air is arranged on the backside of the work accommodating parts 7, and cleaning air is jetted in the work accommodating parts 7 with a blast fan 20 installed on the running truck side. For elevating the elevating rack 6, a blast duct 18 of the running truck side and a blast duct 8 of the rack side are connected by using an expansion duct 22.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an unmanned transfer vehicle mainly used for transferring a wafer cassette in a clean room.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a clean room for manufacturing semiconductors, an unmanned carrier equipped with a transfer robot carries a wafer cassette (a container for accommodating a large number of wafers). Conventionally, during this transfer, a plurality of wafer cassettes (for example, 4
Pieces) were transported side by side.

[0003]

However, in the case where a large-diameter cassette is adopted according to the recent technical trend, in order to arrange a plurality of cassettes on the loading platform in a plane, the loading platform or the transfer robot must be enlarged. You have to do
As a result, the traveling vehicle itself must be large.
Therefore, there is a possibility that the demand for effective use of the space in the clean room is violated.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide an automatic guided vehicle capable of loading a large number of large-diameter cassettes without increasing the size of a traveling vehicle itself.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic guided vehicle having a transfer robot for transferring a work between a carrier and the outside, on a traveling carriage for carrying the work on a carrier. In the loading platform, a shelf having a plurality of work storage sections in the vertical direction is provided, and an elevating mechanism for positioning the hand with respect to the work storage section by raising or lowering one of the shelf and the hand of the transfer robot. It is characterized by having been provided.

A second aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the first aspect, the elevating mechanism is a mechanism for elevating the shelf.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in accordance with the second aspect of the present invention, a work inlet / outlet is provided at a front surface of the work storage portion, and an air supply for blowing clean air into the work storage portion from an outlet provided at a back surface of the work storage portion. A device is provided.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect, the air blower is constituted by a blower duct and a blower fan, the blower fan is installed on the traveling bogie side, and the shelf side blower duct and the traveling bogie side are provided. It is characterized in that it is connected to an air duct by a telescopic duct that expands and contracts when the shelf is moved up and down.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect, the air duct on the side of the traveling vehicle is provided so as to pass through a driving portion of the lifting mechanism and a driving portion of the transfer robot. .

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fifth aspects, a container is provided in a clean room and transports a large number of wafers as the work.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of the automatic guided vehicle of the embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a plan view. This automatic guided vehicle is mainly provided in a clean room of a semiconductor manufacturing facility, and has four or three wheels 1a as a main body.
The vehicle 1 is provided with a traveling vehicle 1 that travels on the vehicle. A transfer robot 2 that transfers the work W to and from the outside is mounted on the traveling vehicle 1.

The transfer robot 2 has a main shaft 3 extending upward from the main body driving unit 2a and an arm 4 which is horizontally moved at the upper end of the main shaft 3 and a workpiece W is provided by a hand 5 provided at the end of the arm 4. It can be grasped. The transfer robot 2 does not particularly have a lifting mechanism for moving the position of the hand 5 up and down (has a slight adjustment mechanism), and the hand 5 can be operated at a substantially constant height. . The work W here is a wafer cassette accommodating a large number of wafers.

In addition, a loading space is secured in a part of the traveling vehicle 1, and an elevating rack 6 having a plurality of work storage sections 7 in a vertical direction is arranged in the space. The elevating rack 6 is fixed to the upper end of the elevating rod 11, and is moved up and down by extending and retracting the elevating rod 11 by the driving unit 10 a of the elevating mechanism 10, and is positioned at the height of the hand 5 of the transfer robot 2. Is done. The elevating rack 6 is provided with a two-stage work storage section 7 that can store two works W in the left-right direction. The work storage unit 7 is open on the front side facing the transfer robot 2 side as an entrance for the work W, and the back side communicates with the air duct 8 through the air outlet 9 to which the air purification filter 9a is attached. I have. The ventilation duct 8 on the shelf side is secured between the rear wall 6a of the lifting shelf 6 and the work storage unit 7, and extends downward.

On the other hand, on the upper surface of the traveling vehicle 1, a main body driving section 2a of the transfer robot 2 and a driving section 10a of the lifting mechanism 10 are provided.
The cover 14 is covered so as to cover the
The rod 11 of the elevating mechanism 10 and the main shaft 3 of the transfer robot 2 protrude upward through the through holes 15 and 16 provided in the robot. An air duct 18 on the traveling vehicle 1 side is secured inside the cover 14, and one end of the air duct 18 on the transfer robot 2 side is formed by a through hole 23 formed in the cover 14 so that the work storage unit 7 is closed. It communicates with the upper space 24 of the transfer robot 2 in front.

At the other end of the blower duct 18 on the lifting mechanism 10 side, there is provided a blower fan 20 for sending air upward from an opening 19 at the other end. The opening 19 of the air duct 18 on the traveling vehicle 1 is located directly below the opening 8a at the lower end of the air duct 8 on the shelf side.
The spaces are connected by a bellows-shaped telescopic duct 22. Here, the work storage unit 7 is controlled by the air cleaning filter 9a, the air ducts 8 and 18, the telescopic duct 22, and the air fan 20.
An air supply device 30 that blows clean air into the work storage section 7 from the outlet 9 on the back surface of the air conditioner is configured. In FIG. 1, the flow of air is indicated by dotted arrows.

Next, the operation will be described. In order to exchange the work W between the lifting shelf 6 and the outside, first, the height of the target work storage unit 7 is adjusted to the height of the hand 5 of the transfer robot 2 by the lifting mechanism 10. I do. In this state, by driving the transfer robot 2 and operating the arm 4 in a horizontal plane, the work W can be stored in the elevating shelf 6,
The work W can be taken out from the lifting shelf 6. During traveling, the elevating rack 6 may be held at the position when the work is put in and out, but it is lowered and held at the lower end position for ensuring stability.

By driving the blower fan 20 separately from the operation of handling the work W, clean air can be blown from the back of the work storage unit 7 into the work storage unit 7. At this time, the air is sucked into the ventilation duct 18 from the through hole 23 of the cover 14 on the transfer robot 2 side, and the driving unit 2a of the transfer robot 2 and the lifting mechanism 1
0, is sent upward by the blower fan 20, passes through the telescopic duct 22 and the blower duct 8 on the shelf side, and is blown out to the work storage section 7 through the filter 9a. Then, the blown air flows out of the front surface of the work storage unit 7 into the upper space 24 of the transfer robot 2, and a part thereof is again sucked into the air blowing duct 18 on the traveling vehicle 1 side and circulates. By supplying the air that has been cleaned by passing through the filter 9a from behind the work storage unit 7, the inside of the work storage unit 7 is maintained in a clean atmosphere. As a result, the influence of contamination on the wafer is reduced. It is reduced.

In the case of this apparatus, since the blower fan 20 is not provided on the elevating rack 6 but is provided on the traveling carriage 1, the load on the elevating operation of the elevating rack 6 can be reduced. Further, since the air duct 18 on the traveling carriage 1 and the air duct 8 on the lifting shelf 6 are connected by the telescopic duct 22, the blowing fan 2 is always irrespective of the lifting operation and the lifting position of the lifting shelf 6.
0 can be sent to the outlet 9 of the lifting shelf 6. Further, the air blow duct 18 on the traveling carriage 1 side is connected to the drive unit 10 a of the lifting mechanism 10 and the main body drive unit 2 of the transfer robot 2.
a, the drive units 10 a and 2 a can be cooled by the wind passing through the duct 18.

If the specifications of the transfer robot 2 can be easily changed, a lifting mechanism may be provided on the transfer robot 2 side. In that case, since the shelf is fixed, the telescopic duct 22 is not required. Further, the position of the blower fan 20 may be set on the shelf side.

[0020]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the work can be stacked in multiple stages in the vertical direction, so that even if the diameter of the work becomes large, the work space can be stacked in the horizontal direction. Expansion can be suppressed. Therefore, a large number of large-diameter cassettes can be loaded without increasing the size of the traveling vehicle itself, and the space in the clean room can be effectively used. .

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the transfer robot does not support multi-stage stacking, but raises and lowers the shelf to cope with multi-stage stacking, so that the movement of the transfer robot is complicated. As a result, the transfer capacity can be improved by shortening the transfer time.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since clean air is blown from behind the work storage units provided in multiple stages on the shelf, contamination of the work such as the wafer cassette can be reduced.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the blower fan of the air supply device is installed not on the shelf side but on the traveling trolley side, it is possible to reduce the load on the lifting mechanism on the shelf side. Further, since the air duct on the traveling trolley side and the air duct on the shelf side are connected by the expansion / contraction duct, the wind can be sent from the traveling trolley side to the shelf side irrespective of the elevation of the shelf. According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the air duct on the side of the traveling vehicle is provided so as to pass through the drive unit of the transfer robot and the drive unit of the elevating mechanism, the transfer robot is driven by air sent into the work storage unit. And the drive unit of the lifting mechanism can be cooled. Further, the automatic guided vehicle according to the present invention can exert its effect particularly when it is arranged in a clean room and transports a wafer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Traveling trolley 2 Transfer robot 2a Main body drive part 5 Hand 6 Elevating shelf 7 Work storage part 8 Blow duct 10 Lift mechanism 10a Drive part 18 Blow duct 22 Telescopic duct 20 Blow fan 30 Blow device W Work

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An unmanned carrier equipped with a transfer robot for transferring a work between a carrier and an outside on a traveling carrier that carries a workpiece on a carrier and transports the workpiece between the carrier and the outside. An unmanned transport vehicle, comprising: a shelf having a work storage section; and a lifting mechanism for positioning the hand with respect to the work storage section by raising or lowering one of the shelf and the hand of the transfer robot. 2. The automatic guided vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said elevating mechanism is a mechanism for elevating a shelf. 3. A work inlet / outlet is provided on a front surface of the work storage unit, and an air supply device for blowing clean air into the work storage unit from an air outlet provided on a back surface of the work storage unit is provided. Item 6. The automatic guided vehicle according to Item 2. 4. The air blower is composed of a blower duct and a blower fan, the blower fan is installed on the traveling trolley side, and the shelf is moved up and down between the shelf side blower duct and the traveling trolley side blower duct. 4. The automatic guided vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the vehicle is connected by a telescopic duct that expands and contracts. 5. The automatic guided vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the air duct on the side of the traveling vehicle is provided so as to pass through a drive unit of the lifting mechanism and a drive unit of the transfer robot. 6. The unmanned transport vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the unmanned transport vehicle is provided in a clean room and transports a container containing a large number of wafers as the work.