JPS59108616A - Conveyer apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To convey an article without generation of dust by moving a mover in an airtight cylinder and moving the article along the upper surface of the cylinder with magnetic coupling force with the mover. CONSTITUTION:When an electric current is applied to power feeding members 13, 14, a motor 16 is rotated to rotate a driving roller 17, so that a mover 15 is moved in a fixed direction along a rail 10 in an airtight cylinder comprising a base plate 1, a cover and a lid. In this case, permanent magnets 38a-38f mounted under the lower portion of a transport base 35 are attracted and moved by the movement of permanent magnets 32a-32f disposed on the mover main body 15, so that wheels 36a-36d are rolled on the upper surface of the cover 3, thereby for moving an article along the rail 10. As the article is thus conveyed, dust generated at a frictional part of the mover 15 is kept from going out of the cylinder, so that the article is conveyed without pollution of a clean room.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a conveyor device suitable for use in conveying integrated circuit wafers.

If dust or the like adheres to integrated circuits during manufacture, the yield will decrease, so the work is generally carried out in a clean room.

When conveying integrated circuit wafers within a clean room, using a conventional conveyor device has the disadvantage that dust is generated from abrasion from contact parts such as gears and belts of the device, contaminating the clean room.

The present invention has been made in order to eliminate these conventional drawbacks, and its primary objective is to provide a conveyor device that can transport objects without generating dust. .

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention moves a movable body into an airtight cylinder, and moves a carrier onto the upper surface of the cylinder by magnetic coupling force with the movable body. .

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on examples.

FIG. 1 is a partially sectional front view of an embodiment of a conveyor device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partially sectional side view thereof. 1 is a board formed long in the left-right direction in FIG. 1, 2 is a rubber leg that supports this board, and 3 is a cover made of a non-magnetic material such as aluminum and bent into a U-shape and formed long. 3 has a lower end fixed to the top of the image of the substrate 1 via a rubber sealing material 4. A lid 6 is fixed to the side edges of the substrate 1 and the cover 30 via a rubber sealing material 5.
The next board and cover are attached to the opposite end via a rubber sealing material 7 for connection using a connecting wire. Such a substrate 1. Cover 3° An airtight cylinder is formed by each rubber sealing material. A window 3a is formed on the side surface of the cover 3, and a transparent plate 9 is attached to the window 3a.
The movement of one turning body inside can be confirmed from the outside. A plurality of these cylindrical bodies are connected together to form a conveyor having a predetermined layout, as will be described later. Ii 6 is used only for the cylinders at both ends of this conveyor. When connecting the cylindrical bodies, only the upper surface of the cover 3 is connected in an airtight manner with the joining directions being different from each other so that a conveying body (to be described later) runs thereon, and the outer surface is formed to be flat.

A rectangular cylindrical rail 10 is provided along the longitudinal direction on the board 1, supported by a support 11, and two power feeders 13 and 14 are provided with an insulating sheet 12 in between. It is being

On the other hand, the movable body 15 has a deceleration mechanism (=j DC motor 16.
Drive roller 17. Rollers 18a and 18b provided at one angle to this drive roller 17, and an insulating arm 19. A strut arm 20 is attached.

A brush 21.22 is fixed to the insulating arm 19 and is in sliding contact with the power supply body 13.14, respectively, and the lightning and current flowing to the power supply body 13.14 are transmitted from this brush 21.22 to the lead wire. It is supplied to the motor 16 through the. A movable arm 24 is attached to the tip of the support column 20 so as to be rotatable about a fulcrum 23, and this movable arm 24 is pulled by a spring 25 in the direction of the arrow in FIG. is provided with an auxiliary roller 26. Also, at the bottom of the movable body main body 15 (r°C, fulcrum 27a
, A-A 28a is rotatably rotatable around 27b.
, 281) are attached, and this movable arm 28a,
28b is a spring 29a.

29b (29b is not shown) in the direction of the arrow in FIG.
, 30b are provided. Furthermore, possible 11it+
On the upper part of the main body 15, permanent magnets 32a, 32b, 32e and 32 as driving magnets are mounted on a support plate 31.
d, 32e, and 32f (32e and 32f are not shown) are provided.

On the other hand, guides 3Ja and 34b are provided at both ends along the longitudinal direction on the upper surface of the cover 3, and the guides 34a and 34b are provided at both ends along the longitudinal direction.
, 34b. This carrier is a carrier base 35. Cars 36a, 36b, 36e, 3
6d (36d is not shown), when the transport base 35 is shifted in the t111 direction (left and right direction in FIG. 2), the guide 34a,
Guide rollers 37a, 37b corresponding to 34b,
37c, 37d (37d is not shown), transport base 3
Permanent magnet 38 as a driven magnet provided at the bottom of 5
a, 38b, 38c and 38d, 38e, 3
8f (38e, 38f are not shown), and holders 39a, 39b, 39c, and 39d (39d not shown) provided at the four corners of the upper surface of the transfer base 35 for holding the silicon wafer. Here, the permanent magnets 32a to 32f are arranged at positions facing the permanent magnets 38a to 38f, respectively, and the opposing surfaces of the magnets facing each other across the top surface of the cover 3 have different polarities. They are magnetized and attract each other.

In such a configuration, the drive roller 1T is connected to the rail 10
The upper surface of the auxiliary rollers 30a and 30b are the springs 2
The tension of the rollers 18a and 29b makes contact with the lower surface of the rail 10, and clamps the rail 10 at three points from above and below. The movable body is movably supported by the rail 10 by contacting the other side surface of the rail 10 and sandwiching the rail 10 at three points from the left and right sides. Here, the drive roller 17 and rollers 18a and 18b
The center of rotation of the auxiliary rollers 26, 30a, and 30b is fixed to the main body 15, but the centers of rotation of the auxiliary rollers 26, 30a, and 30b are movable relative to the main body 15. By changing the distance, the movable body can move smoothly along the rail 10.

When current is supplied to the power supply bodies 13 and 14, the motor 16 rotates, which causes the drive roller 1T to rotate and the movable body to move on the rail 10 in a predetermined direction.

At this time, the permanent magnets 38a to 38f are attracted and moved by the movement of the permanent magnets 32a to 32f, so that the carriages 36a to 36d roll on the upper surface of the cover 3 and move along the rail 10. In this case, even if the carrier deviates to the left or right, it continues to move on the cylindrical body because of the guides 34a and 34b.

In such conveyor devices, the movable body, which has many frictional parts, is located in an airtight cylinder, so even if dust is generated due to wear of each roller, power supply, brush, etc., this dust will be absorbed by the cylinder. The clean room will not be contaminated. A slight amount of friction occurs between the top surface of the cover outside the cylindrical body and the wheel of the conveyor, but the outer surface of the top surface of the cover is treated with molybdenum impregnation (for example, Fujimite treatment by Fujikura Electric Cable Co., Ltd.) to prevent the wheel of the conveyor from exceeding the surface of the cover. It has been confirmed that if made from high molecular weight polyethylene, both have very high wear resistance and will not generate any problematic dust.

In this embodiment, current is supplied to the motor from the outside using the power supply body and the brush, but the power supply body and the brush may be omitted by mounting a battery on the movable body.

Furthermore, although the movable arms 28a and 28b are configured to rotate separately, they are integrated into a spring 29a.

29b can also be combined into one. Further, although the permanent magnet uses attractive force, it is also possible to drive the conveying body by moving the movable body using repulsive force.

As shown in FIG. 3, such a conveyor device consists of a linear cylinder 411, a curved cylinder 42. A plurality of cross-shaped cylinders 43 and the like can be combined and connected to form any desired layout. As shown in FIG. 4, the cylindrical body 43 is
The rails are arranged in a cross shape, and the rail 43 in the center
A is designed to rotate 90 degrees around a fulcrum, and can form a continuous rail in any orthogonal direction.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 5, a cylinder 44 bent in the vertical direction
If these are connected, it is also possible to configure the conveyor device three-dimensionally.

In this way, the indoor conveyor layout can be freely designed by arbitrarily combining the cylindrical bodies, and the room can be used effectively. In addition, since it is small and lightweight, it can be installed on the wall or ceiling of a room.

As described above, according to the conveyor device of the present invention, the conveyance drive mechanism portion is housed in the airtight cylindrical body to move the movable body, and the conveyance body placed on the cylindrical body is magnetically coupled to the movable body. By moving the cylinder according to the above, dust generated in the transport 1 drive mechanism does not leak out of the cylinder, making it possible to transport silicon wafers, etc. in clean rooms, etc. without generating dust. It has excellent effects.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a partially sectional front view of an embodiment of the conveyor device according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a partially sectional side view thereof, Fig. 3 is a plan view showing an example of the arrangement of cylinders, and Fig. 4 is FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of the cross-shaped cylinder, and is a front view showing another arrangement example of the cylinder. 1@@@@board, 3 mock・9・cover, 4,5゜7・II
@-Rubber seal material, 10...Rail, 13.14.
Φ-・Power supply body, 1511...Movable body main body, 16...
- Motor, 17... Drive roller, 18a + 18
b fist meeting e m o-ra, 21.22-... brush,
25, 29a, 29b・-Fist・Spring, 26
, 30a, 30b * e @ 11 auxiliary roller, 32a to 32f, 38a to 48f... permanent magnet,
34a. 34b8/ll11 guide, 35...Transportation base, 3
6IIL~36d...-e car, 37a =-3rd @
*611 Guide roller, 39a-39d...Q holder. Patent applicant Tokyo Cathode Laboratory Co., Ltd. Agent Masaki Yamakawa (and one other person) Figure 1 Figure 3 Figure 4 "7°

Claims (1)

[Claims] A cylinder formed in a long, airtight cylindrical shape, a rail provided along the longitudinal direction within the cylinder, a movable body supported by the rail so as to be movable along the longitudinal direction, and the movable body. a motor provided on the movable body to move the motor, a means for supplying current to the motor, a drive magnet provided on the upper part of the movable body, and a motor disposed on the upper surface of the cylindrical body so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction. A conveyor device that includes a mounted conveyor and a driven magnet provided below the conveyor and on which a driving magnet and a magnetic force act.