KR100657790B1 - Battery Charging And Exchanging Apparatus For Automated Guided Vihecle - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a battery charging / replacing device for an unmanned carrier using a lead acid battery. The battery charging / replacing device includes a battery stacker configured in two rows and two stages, a battery feeder connected to a vertical drive motor, and a transfer fork connected to a left and right drive motor. Of the four battery compartments, three battery compartments contain the battery being charged and the other one is empty. Therefore, the discharged battery is taken out of the four lead-acid batteries constituting the battery of the unmanned carrier and put into an empty storage box, and another battery which has already been charged is taken out of the storage box and supplied to the unmanned carrier. That is, unlike the conventional method, there is no time required for charging the battery, and only the discharged battery and the charged battery need to be replaced.

Unmanned Carrier, Battery, Charge, Lead Acid Battery

Description

Battery Charging and Replacement Device for Unmanned Carrier {Battery Charging And Exchanging Apparatus For Automated Guided Vihecle}

1 and 2 are schematic views showing a battery charging and replacing apparatus of an unmanned carrier vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 1 is a supply operation of the discharge battery, Figure 2 is a discharge operation of the rechargeable battery.

<Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings>

1, 2, 3, 4: Battery 10: Battery compartment

11: up and down drive motor 12: battery feeder

12 ': Transfer fork 13: Left and right drive motor

14: controller

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and more particularly, to a battery charging and replacing apparatus for an unmanned carrier vehicle in charge of transporting a product between process lines in a semiconductor manufacturing process.

Unmanned carriers such as automated guided vehicles (AGVs), laser guided vehicles (LGVs) and rail guided vehicles (RGVs) are responsible for the real-time logistics flow of automated semiconductor manufacturing processes. In such an unmanned carrier, all operations are performed by a command of a host computer using a battery as a driving source.

Typically, a battery used in an unmanned carrier vehicle is a nickel-cadmium battery, which is a highly efficient battery that can be charged for 10 minutes and used for 50 minutes. However, nickel-cadmium batteries have excellent efficiency at room temperature, but during the winter season, the use time drops sharply to 30 minutes, which makes it difficult to transport products in real time. In addition, nickel-cadmium batteries are costly and time consuming to purchase.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to maximize the operation rate by minimizing the time loss required for charging the battery of the unmanned carrier.

Another object of the present invention is to reduce the cost and duration of battery purchase of an unmanned carrier.

In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides a battery charging / replacing device for an unmanned carrier using a number of lead-acid batteries as a battery. The battery charging / replacement apparatus of the present invention includes at least two or more battery stacks capable of loading batteries, and a transport means for supplying the battery of the unmanned transport vehicle to the battery stack or discharging the battery of the battery stack to the unmanned transport vehicle.

The battery compartment includes at least one or more first battery compartments in which the battery is being charged, and at least one or more second battery compartments that are empty so that the battery can be supplied. The battery is supplied to the battery compartment and at the same time, the rechargeable battery is discharged from the first battery charger and provided to the unmanned carrier. The conveying means may be formed of a battery feeder connected to the vertical drive motor and a transfer fork connected to the left and right drive motors.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail an embodiment of the present invention.

In general, unmanned carriers have a built-in sensing circuit that detects the remaining capacity of the battery, and if the remaining capacity of the battery falls below the threshold during the operation of the unmanned vehicle, the sensing circuit detects it and sends a warning signal to the host computer. do. Upon receiving the warning signal, the host computer moves the unmanned carrier to the battery charging / replacement device.

The unmanned carrier vehicle to which the present invention is applied uses a plurality of lead acid batteries rather than a conventional nickel-cadmium battery. In the following embodiment, the battery charging / replacement device is applied to LGV (Laser Guided Vehicle) using four lead-acid batteries of 130 amps, 12 volts.

1 and 2 is a schematic view showing a battery charging and replacing device for an unmanned carrier vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 illustrates a supply operation of a discharge battery, and FIG. 2 illustrates a discharge operation of a rechargeable battery.

As shown, the battery charging / replacement device includes a battery compartment 10, a vertical drive motor 11, a battery carrier 12, a transfer fork 12 ′, a left and right drive motor 13 and a controller 14. consist of. The battery compartment 10 is composed of two rows and two stages, and up to four batteries may be loaded. The vertical driving motor 11 is a driving means for moving the battery carrier 12 up and down, and the left and right driving motors 13 are driving means for moving the transport fork 12 'from side to side. The battery transfer table 12 and the transfer fork 12 ′ are transfer means for supplying a discharge battery to each storage box 10 or discharging a rechargeable battery from each storage box 10. The controller 14 is a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) connected to the up and down drive motor 11 and the left and right drive motor 13, the load button and the discharge button is formed.

Three battery stacks of the four battery stacks 10 are loaded with the battery being charged, and the remaining one battery stack is empty. Therefore, the discharged battery is taken out of the four lead-acid batteries constituting the battery of the unmanned carrier and put into an empty storage box, and another battery which has already been charged is taken out of the storage box and supplied to the unmanned carrier. That is, unlike the conventional method, there is no time required for charging the battery, and only the discharged battery and the charged battery need to be replaced.

A process of supplying a discharge battery of an unmanned carrier to a battery charging / replacement device will be described with reference to FIG. 1. Three batteries 1, 3, and 4 are already being charged in the battery compartment 10 of the battery charging / replacement device. When the load button of the controller 14 is pressed, the discharge battery 2 of the unmanned carrier is once moved to the battery carrier 12, and the battery carrier 12 is empty by the up and down drive motor 11. Go to 10).

Subsequently, the transfer fork 12 'is moved by the left and right drive motor 13 to move the discharge battery 2 into the stacking box 10. Subsequently, when the feed table 12 and the feed fork 12 'are slightly lowered by the up and down drive motor 11, the discharge battery 2 is loaded in the stacking box 10. The transport fork 12 'then exits the stack 10 and returns to its original position, and the transport table 12 also returns to its original position. In FIG. 1, the discharge battery 2 is indicated by a solid line when supplied into the storage box 10, and by a double-dotted line when the transfer fork 12 ′ returns after loading the battery 2.

Next, a process of discharging the rechargeable battery of the battery charging / replacement device will be described with reference to FIG. 2. When the discharge button of the controller 14 is pressed, the battery carrier 12 moves to the storage box 10 in which the rechargeable battery 4 to be discharged is located. Subsequently, the transfer fork 12 ′ moves into the storage box 10 and is positioned below the rechargeable battery 4. At this time, the transfer table 12 and the transfer fork 12 'are slightly lower than the rechargeable battery 4.

Subsequently, the feed fork 12 'lifts the rechargeable battery 4 while the feed table 12 and the feed fork 12' are slightly raised by the vertical drive motor 11. Subsequently, the transfer fork 12 'is returned to the original position by the left and right drive motors 13, and the transfer table 12 is also returned to the original position. In FIG. 2, the transfer fork 12 ′ is indicated by a solid line when moving into the storage box 10 and by a double-dotted line when lifting to discharge the rechargeable battery 4.

When the supply button or the eject button of the controller 14 is pressed to supply or discharge the battery, it is preferred that the controller 14 is provided with means for selecting or entering the desired location of the battery compartment 10. In addition, it is preferable that the above-described supply of the discharge battery and discharge operation of the rechargeable battery are continuously performed.

As described above, according to the battery charging / replacement apparatus of the present invention, time loss for charging the battery of the unmanned carrier vehicle does not substantially occur, and only a replacement time of the battery is required. Therefore, the operation rate of the unmanned carrier is maximized. In the case of LGV using four lead-acid batteries as an example in the embodiment, even in winter, unmanned carrier can be operated continuously for 4 hours, battery replacement time is only 5 minutes. Therefore, the operation rate of the unmanned carrier is improved by about 14% or more. In addition, since the unmanned carrier vehicle to which the present invention is applied uses a general lead acid battery, the cost and duration of battery purchase are greatly reduced.

Claims (2)

For an unmanned transport vehicle using a plurality of lead acid batteries as a battery, at least two or more battery stacks capable of loading the batteries, and supplying the battery of the unmanned transport vehicle to the battery stack or the battery of the battery stack It includes a transport means for discharging to the unmanned carrier, The battery compartment includes at least one or more first battery compartments in which the battery is being charged, and at least one or more second battery compartments that are empty to receive the battery, and the transfer means is a discharge battery of the unmanned carrier. The apparatus for charging and replacing a battery for an unmanned carrier, characterized in that for supplying to the second battery carrying box and at the same time to discharge the rechargeable battery from the first battery charging box to the unmanned carrier. The battery charging and replacing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transfer means comprises a battery transfer table connected to a vertical drive motor and a transfer fork connected to a left and right drive motor.

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