JPH11168128A - Robot for transferring thin-type substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely grasp a large thin-type substrate, and to transfer the substrate so that it will not be damaged by its deflection. SOLUTION: A transferring robot M is constituted of a body part 2, a hand linear movement part 3, and a hand part 5. The hand part 5 is connected to two links 32 and 32 that are constituted at the hand linear movement part 3 and are provided in parallel. The hand linear movement part 3 includes the link 32, a movable block, an arm, and a groove-shaped cam for moving the hand part 5 linearly. The hand part 5 and the hand linear movement part 3 is made turnable by a motor, pulleys 9 and 11, and a belt 12 around a rotary shaft 8 that is arranged and fixed at the shaft-supporting part of the hand linear movement part 3. Then, the hand linear movement part 3 is actuated, the hand part 5 is moved for picking up a substrate W which is accommodated horizontally in a cassette C, and the substrate W is sucked and grasped by the hand part 5. Then, when the hand part 5 is moved linearly outside the cassette C, the rotary shaft 8 is turned by the motor, and the substrate W is converted into vertical direction before being transferred to a specific position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a robot for transporting a thin substrate disposed in a clean room, and more particularly to an improved robot for transporting a large-sized thin substrate to a next process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a thin glass substrate (hereinafter, referred to as a substrate) used for a liquid crystal substrate or the like is formed in a size of about 550 × 650 mm even if it is large, and is provided in a plurality of stages in a cassette in a clean room. It is placed and stored. In order to perform each processing of the substrate, a robot is arranged to take out the substrate one by one from the cassette and transport it to the next process. This transfer robot M1
Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 14, the substrate W1 is moved linearly by driving the three arms 61, 62, 63 disposed on the upper portion of the main body 60 to bend. Was configured as follows. The substrate W1 is disposed in the cassette C1 in the horizontal direction, and the arm (hereinafter referred to as a hand) 63 disposed at the forefront of the three arms 61, 62, and 63 of the robot M1 has moved to the lower surface side of the substrate W1. Thereafter, the lower surface of the substrate W1 is sucked, and the substrate W1 is driven to be transported to the next process cassette C2 while keeping the substrate W1 horizontal.

[0003]

However, recently, the size of the substrate itself has been increased in accordance with an increase in the demand. In particular, the size of a substrate on the market is about 20% or more larger than that of a conventional substrate, and a new problem has been raised in the transfer by a robot. That is, when the size of the substrate itself is increased, the bending generated in the substrate itself also increases, and the portion to be attracted by the robot hand 63 becomes unstable, and the stress generated on the substrate by increasing the attraction force is reduced. It's getting bigger. If the substrate is conveyed in this state, there is a possibility that a problem such as generation of a crack from an adsorbed portion of the substrate with a lot of stress, unstable adsorption, or the like may occur.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and can stably hold when sucked by a robot hand, and hardly bends by setting the substrate in a vertical direction during transport. It is an object of the present invention to provide a transfer robot that can transfer in a state.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a thin substrate transfer robot according to the present invention is configured as follows. That is, a transfer robot for transferring a thin substrate arranged in a clean room to a next process, wherein the hand robot grips an end surface of a thin substrate arranged in a horizontal direction and has hand direction changing means arranged in the transfer robot. Thereby, the thin substrate is arranged in a vertical direction,
In this state, the substrate is conveyed to the next step, and is converted into a vertical direction or a horizontal direction again, and the substrate is stored at a predetermined position.

The transfer robot is a transfer robot for holding a thin substrate horizontally stored in a cassette in a clean room and transferring the thin substrate to the next step, wherein the transfer robot grips an end surface of the thin substrate. A hand, a hand linear moving means for horizontally moving the hand arranged in a horizontal direction, and a hand moving on a machine base and rotating at least the hand linear moving means together with the hand from a horizontal direction to a vertical direction A main body having direction changing means, and configured to grip an end surface of a thin substrate disposed horizontally in the cassette,
After the hand is moved linearly, the hand is transported to the next step in a state where the hand is arranged in a vertical direction.

Preferably, the hand linear moving means is rotatably supported by the hand at one end and is slidable at the other end in a direction substantially perpendicular to the moving direction of the hand. And two driving means rotatably driving the link about a connection point between the link and the block. Anything may be used.

[0008] More preferably, the hand direction changing means comprises: a supporting portion rotatably supporting the hand linear moving means; and a driving means for rotating a drive shaft fixed to the hand linear moving means. What is necessary is just to be characterized by having.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a transfer robot (hereinafter, referred to as a robot) M partially including a cross-sectional view, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a side view including a cross-sectional view of a part of FIG. 1, and the transfer robot M includes a main body 2 movably disposed on a gantry 1 and a main body 2. Hand linear moving part 3 which is arranged above the main body 2 and is configured to be rotatable with the main body 2
And a hand unit 5 disposed at the upper end of the hand linear moving unit 3.

The main body 2 comprises an upper section 21, a middle section 22, and a lower section 23. The upper section 21 is formed in a U-shape in which the front-rear direction in FIG. The feed screw 6 is screwed into the feed screw 6
Thus, it is arranged to be vertically movable with respect to the middle section 22. The feed screw 6 is driven by a motor 7 disposed in the middle section 22 to be vertically movable via a pulley and a belt. In addition, a rotating shaft 8 fixed to the hand linear moving unit 3 is rotatably supported between the walls 21a on both sides of the upper stage 21 on the upper stage 21 and outside one wall 21a (see FIG. 3).
Then, the pulley 9 is fixed to the drive shaft, and the belt 12 is wound between the pulley 9 and another pulley 11 supported by the wall 21a and driven by the motor 10. The motor 10 is arranged in the upper section 21, and the operation of the motor 10 causes the hand linear moving section 3 to rotate up and down around the rotation shaft 8.

The middle portion 22 has a round outer peripheral surface and is rotatably disposed with respect to the lower portion 23. And
The upper portion is formed in a hollow shape, and the feed screw 6 and the motor 7 described above are disposed. As shown in FIG. 3, the lower portion is formed with a large-diameter shaft portion 22a, and the lower stage portion 23 is provided with a bearing (not shown) via a bearing (not shown). It is pivoted. Further, a small-diameter shaft portion 22b is formed integrally with the large-diameter shaft portion 22a below the shaft portion 22a, and a motor disposed in the lower stage portion 23 via a pulley and a belt disposed in the lower stage portion 23. 13 is driven to rotate in the horizontal direction.

The lower portion 23 is formed in a rectangular shape in a plan view, has a hollow inside, and is provided with the motor 13 described above. As shown in FIG. 1, a leg 23a is formed on the lower portion of the lower portion 23 so as to engage with the rail 14 disposed on the gantry 1 and to be movable in the rail 14. I have. A motor 15 is disposed on the upper surface of the lower portion 23, and a pinion 17 meshed with a rack 16 formed on the side surface of the rail 14 to have the same length as the rail 14 is provided with a pulley,
It is connected to the motor 15 via a belt. The operation of the motor 15 causes the pinion 17 to move on the rack 16 so that the robot M is guided by the rail 14 and
Move up.

As shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, the hand linear moving section 3 includes a frame 31 having a projection 31a at a lower portion, and two links 32, 32 provided on the frame 31. Pins 33, 33 fixedly connected to one ends of the links 32, 32
And a movable block 36 that supports the pins 33, 33 so that they can rotate forward and backward, and is movably arranged in the frame 31 while being guided by the two shafts 35, 35. And
One end of an arm 38 is connected to the movable block 36 by a pin 37 disposed between the links 32, 32 on the lower surface side of the movable block 36 in order to move the movable block 36 and drive the links 32, 32 to rotate forward and reverse. And is connected to the link 32 by a gear mechanism described later. At the other end of the arm 38, a roller portion 39 whose lower portion is guided by a groove cam 31b formed in the frame body 31 is disposed, and an upper portion of the roller portion 39 is driven by a motor 40 so as to be swingable. 41 is engaged.

The roller portion 39 includes a shaft portion 39a, an upper roller 39b disposed above the shaft portion 39a,
A lower roller 39c disposed below the shaft portion 39a. The shaft portion 39a is rotatably supported by the arm 38, and the upper roller 39b is formed in a groove portion 41a formed in the drive lever 41. And the lower roller 39c is formed at the lower portion of the frame 31 described above.
b.

The drive lever 41 is fixed to a pin 42 rotatably supported by the frame 31. The pin 42 is connected to a motor 40 fixed in the frame 31 via a pulley and a belt. The motor 40 may be directly connected to the pin 42.

Further, on the lower surface side of the movable block 36, the spur gears 44, 44 are disposed and fixed below the pins 33, 33.
And a pin 3 disposed between the arm 38 and the movable block 36.
7 and a spur gear 45 disposed and fixed at a lower portion of the lower gear 7. The spur gear 45 is engaged with the spur gears 44 on both sides. The spur gear 44 is attached to each of the links 32, 32, but may be attached to only one of the links 32.

The other ends of the links 32, 32 are rotatably supported by the hand unit 5, and the two links 32, 32 are arranged in parallel. Therefore, the drive lever 41 rotated by the motor 40 rotates the arm 38 along the groove cam 31b to move the movable block 36,
The links 32, 32 are swung about the pins 33, 33 by a spur gear 44 that is rotationally transmitted via a spur gear 45 on the arm 38 side. At this time, the hand unit 5 connected to the tip of the link 32 is moved linearly by making the vertical movement amount associated with the swing of the link 32 equal to the movement amount associated with the movement of the movable block 36. Can be

Further, a projection 31a is provided at a lower portion of the frame 31.
Is formed integrally with the frame 31, and the above-described rotating shaft 8 is fixed to the projection 31 a while being rotatably supported by the wall 21 a of the upper step 21 of the main body. Therefore, the hand unit 5
The hand linear moving unit 3 is configured to be rotatable up and down with respect to the main body 2.

The hand unit 5 includes a hand 51 and a hand 51.
A link connecting portion 52 formed at the base of the hand (right side in FIG. 1), two substrate suction cylinders 53, 53 provided at the distal end of the hand 51, and provided near the center. The link 32 is connected to the link connection part 52,
The substrate suction cylinders 53, 53 are connected to a vacuum pump (not shown) and protrude above the hand 51, and the substrate receiving portions 54, 54 protrude above the hand 51. The front and rear (left and right directions in FIG. 1) both end surfaces of the substrate W are positioned between the substrate suction cylinder 53 and the substrate receiving portion 54, and the suction cylinder 53 operates to suction-hold both side end surfaces of the substrate W.

Next, the operation of the robot M configured as described above will be described mainly with reference to FIG. 4, FIG. 6, and FIGS.

First, the robot M is moved to the position of the cassette C. The pinion 17 is rotated by operating the motor 15 disposed on the upper surface of the lower portion 23 of the main body. Since the pinion 17 is meshed with the rack 16 fixed to the rail 14, the robot M itself is moved, and the position where the hand unit 5 of the robot M faces the position of the cassette C in which the substrate W is stored. (See FIG. 7).

Subsequently, by operating the motor 40 for rotating the drive lever 41 shown in FIG. 6, the drive lever 41 rotates counterclockwise, and the upper roller engaged with the groove 41a in FIG. 39b is moved from the position A to the position B by being guided by the groove cam 31b. Then the roller 39a
Is moved in the groove of the drive lever 41 with the movement of the upper roller 39,
The pin 37 at the other end presses the movable block 36. Then, the movable block 36 is guided by the shaft 35 and A1
To B1. At the same time, the gear 45 fixed to the arm 38 is rotated clockwise, and the spur gears 44, 44 meshed with the spur gear 45 are rotated counterclockwise.
With the movement of the movable block 36, the two
The links 32, 32 rotate counterclockwise about the pins 33, 33. At this time, the lengths of the link 32 and the arm 38 are set so that the hand unit 5 is moved linearly.

When the links 32, 32 rotate counterclockwise, the hand unit 5 is inserted into the cassette C,
It is moved directly below the substrate W (see FIG. 8). And FIG.
The motor 7 for raising the upper part 21 of the main body 2 is operated as shown in FIG. 3 and the upper part 21 and the hand part 5 are raised by rotating the feed screw 6. afterwards,
The substrate suction cylinder 53 is actuated by a vacuum pump (not shown) to hold both ends of the substrate W between the substrate suction cylinder 53 and the substrate receiving portion 54, and then further raised (two-dot chain line portion in FIG. 9).

Thereafter, when the motor 40 for rotating the drive lever 41 is rotated in the opposite direction to that described above, the drive lever 41 is rotated clockwise, and the roller 39 of the arm 38 moves from B to A, The movable block 36 is B
Move from A1 to A1. At the same time as the links 32, 32 rotate clockwise about the pins 33, 33, the hand unit 5 is linearly moved rightward while holding the substrate W, and is moved outward from the cassette C.

At the same time as the hand unit 5 is moved linearly and comes to an intermediate position of the movement stroke (the position in FIG. 9), the hand horizontal moving unit 3 is rotated clockwise (FIGS. 9 to 1).
0). This operation is performed by the upper part 2 of the main body 2 shown in FIG.
The operation of the motor 10 disposed on the pulley 1
1, the belt 12, the pulley 9 is rotated, and the rotating shaft 8 is rotated clockwise (see FIG. 1). At this time, the links 32 are further moved by the motor 40.

As shown in FIG. 11, when the hand 51 holding the substrate W is positioned vertically, the motor 4
0, the operation of the motor 10 is stopped. Then, the operation of the motor 15 causes the robot M to move on the rails 14 to a position of a next step (not shown). If necessary, the hand unit 5 may be appropriately rotated by a motor 13 disposed in the lower portion 23 of the main body unit 2 shown in FIG.

As described above, the substrate W is converted from the state supported horizontally in the cassette C to the vertical direction,
It will be conveyed to a predetermined position. Therefore, the substrate W can be transported in a direction that does not cause bending. further,
When transporting the substrate W, it is desirable that the robot M be moved along the thickness direction of the substrate W in order to avoid wind pressure.

In this embodiment, the configuration in the robot M for performing each operation is merely an embodiment, and the linear movement of the hand unit 5 and the conversion of the hand unit 5 from the horizontal direction to the vertical direction are performed. The present invention is not limited to this embodiment as long as it can be performed.

For example, as shown in FIGS.
The roller portion 39 that engages with the drive lever 41 may be directly attached to one of the links 32 constituting the hand linear moving portion 3. That is, the arm 38 in FIG. 4 is eliminated, and the drive lever 41 is directly connected to the link 32 so that the link 32 is driven to rotate.
In this case, the spur gears 44 and 45 attached to the lower surface side of the movable block 36 can be omitted. The upper roller 39b of the roller section 39 is provided with a groove 41 of the drive lever 41.
a, and the lower roller 39c of the roller portion 39 is
1 is engaged with the groove cam 31b, so that the drive lever 4
1 drives the link 32 to the pin 3 of the movable block 36.
3 can be rotated.

Further, as the hand linear moving section, the link 32 and the drive mechanism for driving the link 32 in the above-described embodiment are eliminated, and a known linear transfer mechanism (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-156743) can be adopted. . According to FIG.
As shown in (1), a linear transfer body 70 having a plurality of movable tables 71 and a lowermost fixed table 72 is mounted above the frame 31. This linear transfer body 70 includes a frame 31
The upper table is transferred with a larger stroke than the lower table by driving each movable table 71 with a rack and a pinion disposed between each table 71 or 72. It is configured to be able to. The work W is placed on the uppermost movable table 71 by disposing the substrate suction cylinder 53 and the substrate receiving portion 54.

[0032]

According to the present invention, the transfer robot grips the end face of the thin substrate disposed in the horizontal direction, and moves the thin substrate in the vertical direction by the hand direction changing means disposed in the transfer robot. In this state, the substrate is transported to the next process, and is converted into a horizontal direction again to act to store the substrate at a predetermined position. Therefore, especially when a large-sized substrate is transported, stable gripping is performed. , And can be conveyed in a state where bending is unlikely to occur. Therefore, damage to the substrate is extremely unlikely to occur.

Also, the transfer robot has a main body having a hand for gripping the end surface of the thin substrate, a hand direction changing means for moving on the machine base and rotating at least the hand from a horizontal direction to a vertical direction, A hand linear moving means is provided between the main body and the hand and linearly moves the hand arranged in the horizontal direction. Then, the thin substrate disposed in the cassette in the horizontal direction is gripped at its end face, and the hand is moved linearly. Then, the thin substrate is transported to the next process in a state where it is disposed vertically. Therefore, when the substrate is taken out of the cassette, the substrate is moved in a straight line, and when the substrate is ejected from the cassette, the substrate can be converted from the horizontal direction to the vertical direction and transported. It does not interfere with the cassette. Furthermore, while being able to hold | grip reliably, a board | substrate can be conveyed in the state which is hard to produce bending. Therefore, damage to the substrate hardly occurs.

Further, the hand linear moving means is rotatably supported by a frame, a block disposed above the frame and rotatably supported at one end by a hand, and rotatably supported by a block slidable at the other end. Since it is configured to include two links to be supported and a driving means for driving the link to be rotatable about a connection point between the link and the movable block, the substrate is securely loaded in the cassette. Can be taken from

Further, the hand direction changing means has a support for supporting a drive shaft fixed to a lower portion of the frame of the linear moving means, and a drive means for rotating the drive shaft. The hand can be easily changed from the horizontal direction to the vertical direction.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial front sectional view of a transfer robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of the same side.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing details of a hand horizontal moving unit in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a front sectional view in FIG. 4;

6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the operation of the transfer robot of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a view showing the operation of the transfer robot of FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the operation of the transfer robot of FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a view showing the operation of the transfer robot of FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is a view showing the operation of the transfer robot of FIG. 1;

FIG. 12 is a partial plan view showing another form of the hand horizontal moving unit.

13 is a sectional view taken along line XX in FIG.

FIG. 14 shows a conventional transfer robot.

FIG. 15 is a schematic view showing another embodiment of the hand linear moving section according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Stand 2 ... Body part 3 ... Hand linear moving part 5 ... Hand part 7 ... Motor (hand direction conversion means) 8 ... Rotation axis (hand direction conversion means) 9, 11 ... Pulley (hand direction conversion means) 12 ... Belt (Hand direction changing means) 32 ... Link 36 ... Movable block 38 ... Arm 39 ... Roller 40 ... Motor 41 ... Drive lever M ... Transport robot W ... Substrate C ... Cassette

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A transfer robot for transferring a thin substrate arranged in a clean room to a next step, wherein the hand grips an end surface of a thin substrate arranged in a horizontal direction and is disposed in the transfer robot. By the direction changing means, the thin substrate is arranged in the vertical direction, and is transported to the next step in that state, and the substrate is stored in a predetermined position by being changed in the vertical direction or again in the horizontal direction. Transfer robot. 2. A transfer robot for holding a thin substrate horizontally stored in a cassette in a clean room and transferring the thin substrate to a next step, wherein the transfer robot comprises: a hand for holding an end face of the thin substrate; Hand moving means for moving the hand horizontally and linearly, and hand direction changing means for moving on a machine base and rotating at least the hand linear moving means together with the hand from a horizontal direction to a vertical direction. A main body portion, and gripping the end surface of the thin substrate horizontally disposed in the cassette, moving the hand linearly, and then vertically disposing the hand in the next step A transfer robot for a thin substrate, wherein the transfer robot is configured to transfer the thin substrate. 3. The hand linear moving means is pivotally supported at one end by the hand so as to be rotatable by the hand, and is rotated by the other end to a block slidable in a direction substantially perpendicular to the moving direction of the hand. It is characterized by comprising two links that are movably supported on a shaft, and driving means that drives the links so as to be rotatable around a connection point between the links and the block. The transfer robot for a thin substrate according to claim 2. 4. The hand direction changing means has a support portion rotatably supporting the hand linear movement means, and a driving means for rotating a drive shaft fixed to the hand linear movement means. 4. The method according to claim 2, wherein
A transfer robot for the thin substrate described in the above.