KR100928020B1 - Synthetic substrate loading method in cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a cassette used for producing carbon nanotubes, the cassette of the present invention includes vertical axes installed vertically; Comprising a support for supporting a composite substrate so that the composite substrate is stacked and stored on the vertical axis; Each of the supports includes support members having a buffer block for supporting an edge portion of the composite substrate and for mitigating an impact generated when the composite substrate is placed.

Description

SYNTHESIZING SUBSTRATE LOADING METHOD FOR CASSETTE

1 is a schematic view showing an example of a carbon nanotube production system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating the substrate storage unit and the first transfer device of FIG. 1.

3 is a side view of the substrate storage portion.

4 is a perspective view showing a cassette of the substrate storage portion;

5 is an enlarged view illustrating a main part of the support member of the second support part in an enlarged manner.

6A and 6B are views for explaining a process in which a composite substrate is placed on a cassette.

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

100: reaction chamber

200: station

300: first transfer device

400: substrate storage

420: cassette

500: catalyst coating unit

600: recovery unit

700: second transfer device

The present invention relates to a carbon nanotube production automation facility for mass production of carbon nanotubes, and more particularly, to a method for loading a composite substrate in a cassette used for producing carbon nanotubes.

Carbon nanotubes (carbon nanotubes) is formed by combining three carbon atoms adjacent to one carbon atom to form a hexagonal ring, and the hexagonal ring is a honeycomb-shaped plane is rolled to form a cylindrical or tube.

Carbon nanotubes have properties that can exhibit metallic conductivity or semiconductor conductivity depending on their structure. As a material, it can be widely applied to various technical fields, and it is attracting attention as a new material of the future. For example, carbon nanotubes can be applied to electrodes of electrochemical storage devices such as secondary cells, fuel cells or supercapacitors, electromagnetic shielding, field emission displays, or gas sensors.

The carbon nanotubes are synthesized on a synthetic substrate, and the loss of carbon nanotubes synthesized on the synthetic substrate is caused by an impact generated during the transfer of the synthetic substrate.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for loading a composite substrate in a cassette used to produce carbon nanotubes that can mitigate the impact of the cassette and the composite substrate.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for loading a synthetic substrate in a cassette used for producing carbon nanotubes which can minimize the loss of carbon nanotubes.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for loading a composite substrate in a cassette used for producing carbon nanotubes which can improve productivity.

According to a feature of the present invention for achieving the above object, the cassette used for producing carbon nanotubes are vertical axis is installed vertically; Comprising a support for supporting a composite substrate so that the composite substrate is stacked and stored on the vertical axis; Each of the supports includes support members having a buffer block for supporting an edge portion of the composite substrate and for mitigating an impact generated when the composite substrate is placed.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the support member includes a fixed block fixed to the vertical axis; And a support block installed in the fixed block with the buffer block therebetween.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the buffer block is a shock absorbing material such as urethane or rubber.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the cassette is lowered at a speed slower than the speed at which the synthetic substrate is loaded when the synthetic substrate is loaded.

According to another aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, a method for loading a composite substrate in a cassette having a support portion is the synthetic substrate is horizontally moved by a carrier robot is located on the support of the cassette; Comprising a synthetic substrate positioned above the support portion is vertically lowered by the carrier robot is loaded on the support portion of the cassette; Immediately before the synthetic substrate is loaded on the support of the cassette, the cassette is vertically lowered at a slower speed than the vertical descending speed of the synthetic substrate.

According to another aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, a synthetic substrate loading method in a cassette comprises the steps of horizontally moving the composite substrate to the upper portion of the support of the cassette; Vertically descending the composite substrate to be loaded onto the support; The cassette is lowered vertically slower than the synthetic substrate descends.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the synthetic substrate is a base plate (base plate) through which the synthesis of carbon nanotubes.

For example, embodiments of the present invention may be modified in various forms, and the scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited by the embodiments described below. This example is provided to more completely explain the present invention to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the shapes of elements in the drawings and the like are exaggerated to emphasize clearer explanations.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6B. The present invention provides a carbon nanotube production system 1 capable of automated and mass production.

1 is a schematic view showing an example of a carbon nanotube production system of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the system 1 has a composite substrate 10, a reaction chamber 100, and a post-process chamber.

The synthetic substrate 10 is used as a base plate on which carbon nanotubes (30 in FIG. 7) are synthesized. The composite substrate 10 on which the carbon nanotubes 30 are synthesized includes a silicon wafer, an induim tin oxide (ITO) substrate, coated glass (ITO-coated glass), soda-lime glass, corning glass, and transition metal. , Alumina and the like can be used. However, if the carbon nanotube 30 has sufficient rigidity for synthesizing (growing, producing), various kinds of synthetic substrates may be used in addition to the above-described substrates.

The reaction chamber 100 performs a process of generating carbon nanotubes 30 on the composite substrate 10, and the pre- and post-processing chambers are used for the composite substrate 10 loaded / unloaded from / to the reaction chamber 100. Pretreatment and post-treatment processes are carried out. The pretreatment step and the post-treatment step include a step of applying the catalyst 20 to the substrate, a step of recovering the carbon nanotubes 30 generated on the synthetic substrate, and the like. The pre- and post-processing chamber includes a station unit 200, a first transfer device 300, a substrate storage unit 400, a catalyst coating unit 500, a recovery unit 600, and a second transfer device 700.

The station unit 200 prevents the composite substrate 10 unloaded from the reaction chamber 100 from being exposed to the atmosphere. The first transfer device 300 loads / unloads the composite substrate into / from the reaction chamber 100. Substrate storage 400 stores a composite substrate that is loaded or unloaded into / from reaction chamber 100. The catalyst applicator 500 performs a process of applying the catalyst 20 on the synthetic substrate 10 before the synthetic substrate 10 is loaded into the reaction chamber 100. The recovery unit 600 performs a process of recovering the carbon nanotubes 30 generated on the synthetic substrate 10 unloaded from the reaction chamber 100 from the synthetic substrate 10. The second transfer device 700 transfers the synthetic substrate 10 between the substrate storage unit 400, the catalyst application unit 500, and the recovery unit 600.

According to an example, the station unit 200 is disposed side by side with the reaction chamber 100 on one side of the reaction chamber 100. The station unit 200 has a first area 240 and a second area 260. The first region 240 is disposed adjacent to the reaction chamber 100, and the substrate storage 400 is positioned in the first region 240. The second region 260 is provided in a direction opposite to the reaction chamber 100 with respect to the first region 240 and the first transfer device 300 is located. The reaction chamber 100 and the second region 260 are disposed in the same direction in the first direction 42. The first region 240 has an upper region 242 and a lower region 244. The upper region 242 is a region located on the same line as the reaction chamber 100 and the second region 260, and the lower region 244 is a second perpendicular to the first direction 42 from the upper region 244. It is an area extending in the direction 44. The first region 240 and the second region 260 are generally rectangular in shape. Due to the structure described above, the station 200 has a generally '??' shape. The catalyst applicator 500, the recovery part 600, and the second transfer device 400 are positioned adjacent to the station part 200, and have a lower area based on the upper area 242 of the first area 240. It is disposed side by side in a direction parallel to the first direction 42 at a position opposite to the (244). The second transfer device 400 is disposed at a position opposite to the first area 240 of the station unit 200. In addition, the second transfer device 400 is located between the catalyst applicator 500 and the recovery unit 600.

FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating the substrate storage unit and the first transfer device of FIG. 1. 3 is a side view of the substrate storage portion. 4 is a perspective view showing a cassette of the substrate storage portion;

2 to 4, the substrate storage unit 400 includes a cassette 420 for storing the composite substrate 10, vertical rails 442, horizontal rails 444, and moving frames 446. Have

The vertical rails 442 are disposed at corners of the first region 240, respectively. The vertical rails 442 have a long rod shape in the vertical direction and guide the vertical movement of the moving frame 446. Each vertical rail 442 is coupled with a bracket 448 that is moved up and down by a vertical drive (not shown) along the vertical rail 442. Each moving frame 446 is provided long along the first direction 42 and is disposed to face each other. The moving frame 446 is fixedly coupled to the bracket 448 and linearly moves up and down along the vertical rail 442 together with the bracket 448.

Both ends of each moving frame 446 are fixedly installed on brackets facing each other in the first direction 42, and the moving frames 446 are moved up and down together with the bracket 448. The horizontal rail 444 is fixedly installed on the moving frame 446. Each horizontal rail 444 is provided long along the second direction 44, and the horizontal rails 444 are disposed to face each other. The horizontal rail 444 is provided over the entire area of the first region 240, and the cassette 420 is mounted on the horizontal rail 444 to be movable in the second direction 44 along the horizontal rail 444.

As shown in Fig. 2, the cassette 420 is moved horizontally between the standby position indicated by the dotted line and the loading / unloading position X2 indicated by the solid line (just before the first gate valve 222 connected to the reaction chamber). It also moves linearly up and down. The standby position X1 is a position in the lower region 244 of the first region 240 and the loading / unloading position X2 is a position in the upper region 242 of the first region 240. The cassette 420 is loaded / unloaded position (X2) when loading / unloading the composite substrate 10 into / from the reaction chamber 100 and when transferring the composite substrate 10 by the second transfer device 700. Is moved to, and when waiting to lower the temperature of the composite substrate 10 is moved to the standby position (X1).

3 is a perspective view of the cassette 420. The composite substrate 10 to be loaded into the reaction chamber 100 and the composite substrates 10 unloaded from the reaction chamber 100 are stored in the cassette 420. Referring to FIG. 3, the cassette 420 has supports 422, an upper plate 424 and a lower plate 426, and vertical axes 428. The upper plate 424 and the lower plate 426 are generally provided in a rectangular shape and are disposed to face each other up and down. The vertical axes 428 connect four corner portions of the upper plate 424 and the lower plate 426 facing each other. Support portions 422 supporting the composite substrate 10 are installed on the vertical axis 428 so that the composite substrate 10 is stacked and stored in the cassette 420.

The supports 422 are grouped into two groups. The supports 422a (hereinafter referred to as the first support) belonging to the first group support the composite substrates 10 to be loaded into the reaction chamber 100, and the supports 422b (hereinafter referred to as the second support) belonging to the second group react. The unloaded composite substrates 10 are supported from the chamber 100. In an example, four first support parts 422a and four second support parts 422b are provided, and the first support parts 422a are provided to be positioned above the second support parts 422b.

The vertical space between the second supports 422b is wider than the vertical space between the first supports 422a. Due to the structure described above, the carbon nanotubes 30 (CNT) generated on the upper surface of the unloaded synthetic substrate 10 from the reaction chamber 100 are in contact with the adjacent composite substrate 10 while reducing the overall height of the cassette 420. It can provide enough space to prevent it.

The composite substrates 10 stored in the first support portions 422 of the cassette 420 are loaded into the reaction chamber 100 by the first transfer device 300. Four synthetic substrates 10 are placed in the boat 160 of the reaction chamber 100. The first transfer device 300 sequentially loads and unloads the composite substrate into / from the reaction chamber 100 one by one. When the loading of the synthetic substrates 10 is completed, a process for generating the carbon nanotubes 30 is performed in the reaction chamber 100. During the process in the reaction chamber 100, another four composite substrates 10 are waiting for the first support portion 422 of the cassette 420 after applying the catalyst in the catalyst coating portion 500. When the production process of the carbon nanotubes 30 in the reaction chamber 100 is completed, the synthetic substrate 10 in a high temperature state is unloaded from the reaction chamber 100 by the first transfer device 300 to draw the cassette 420. The second support part 422b is stored in the high temperature synthetic substrate 10 and undergoes a cooling process for a predetermined time in the second support part 422b. Cooling is achieved by natural cooling. Optionally, forced cooling may be achieved using cooling means such as cooling water.

The composite substrates 10 on which the carbon nanotubes 30 are formed are waited at the second support portions 422b of the cassette 420 until they fall below a predetermined temperature. The cassette 420 on which the synthetic substrates 10 are located is located inside the station unit 200. Since the inside of the station part 200 is filled with inert gas, the synthetic substrates 10 waiting in the cassette 420 are not in contact with outside air (especially oxygen). For example, the synthesis substrate 10 that has been processed in the reaction chamber 100 may not be in a state where the temperature falls below a predetermined temperature. The produced carbon nanotubes 30 react with oxygen in the atmosphere to cause deformation. In the present invention, in order to prevent such a problem, the unloaded synthetic substrate 10 in the reaction chamber 100 is provided with a station part 200 filled with an inert gas as described above so as not to come into contact with oxygen.

Meanwhile, the composite substrates 10 waited for a predetermined time in the second support parts 422b of the cassette 420 are transferred to the recovery part 600 by the second transfer device 700 through the second gate valve 224. Transferred. After the carbon nanotubes 30 have been recovered from the recovery part 600, the synthetic substrate 10 is coated with the catalyst 20 from the catalyst applicator 500, and again, the first support part 422a of the cassette 420. ) Is stored.

5 is an enlarged view illustrating a main part of the support member of the second support part in an enlarged manner.

As shown in FIG. 5, the second support portion 422b of the cassette 420 has four support members 423 supporting the edge portion of the composite substrate 10. The support member 423 includes a fixed block 423a fixed to the vertical shaft 428, a buffer block 423b installed on the fixed block 423a, and a support block 423c installed on the buffer block 423b. Include. The support block 423c is provided with a mounting groove 423d so that the edge portion of the composite substrate can be stably placed. And the buffer block 423b is preferably made of a urethane or rubber material having an elastic force to mitigate the impact generated when the composite substrate 10 is placed on the support member 423. As described above, the support member 423 is mitigated by the shock absorbing block 423b when the composite substrate 10 is placed, so that a part of the carbon nanotubes synthesized on the composite substrate 10 is separated from the impact (isolated). I can prevent that).

In particular, when the cassette 420 is loaded on the support member 423 of the second support 422b, the composite substrate 10 withdrawn from the reaction chamber 100 by the first transfer device 300 (transfer robot) is loaded. Since the composite substrate descends together at a slower speed than the loading speed (falling speed), the composite substrate 10 is more stably placed on the second support portion 422b of the cassette 420. This method can expect the same effect as slowing the falling speed of the first transfer device (300).

6A and 6B are views for explaining a process in which a composite substrate is placed on a cassette.

Looking at the process of loading the synthetic substrate on the support of the cassette as follows.

First, the first transfer device 300 withdraws the synthetic substrate 10 synthesized with carbon nanotubes from the reaction chamber 100. Then, the extracted synthetic substrate 10 is horizontally moved to position the second support portion 422b of the cassette 420 above. When the composite substrate 10 is positioned above the second support portion 422b of the cassette 420, the composite substrate 10 is vertically lowered by the first transfer device 300 to be placed on the second support portion 422b of the cassette. You lose. At this time, the cassette 420 is lowered at a slower speed than the vertically lowered speed of the synthetic substrate 10 just before the composite substrate 100 is loaded on the second support 422b. In order to reduce the shock generated when is placed) is moved at a speed slower than the moving speed of the composite substrate 10, the composite substrate 10 is stably without a large impact on the second support portion 422b of the cassette 420 To be placed.

According to the present invention, when the synthetic substrate is loaded into the cassette, the impact is alleviated by the buffer block, thereby preventing the carbon nanotubes synthesized from the synthetic substrate from being separated by the impact.

In addition, the present invention is to move the cassette at a slower speed than the movement speed of the composite substrate in order to reduce the impact generated when the composite substrate is placed, the composite substrate is synthesized to the composite substrate by being placed stably without a large impact on the cassette The carbon nanotubes can be prevented from being separated by the impact.

In addition, the present invention can minimize the loss of carbon nanotubes.

Claims (7)

delete delete delete delete A method for loading a composite substrate in a cassette having a support portion: The composite substrate being horizontally moved by a carrier robot and positioned above the support of the cassette; Comprising a synthetic substrate positioned above the support portion is vertically lowered by the carrier robot is loaded on the support portion of the cassette; And the cassette is vertically lowered at a slower speed than the vertically lowered speed of the synthetic substrate immediately before the synthetic substrate is loaded on the support of the cassette. In the synthetic substrate loading method in the cassette: Moving the composite substrate horizontally above the support of the cassette; Vertically descending the composite substrate to be loaded onto the support; The method of loading a composite substrate in a cassette, characterized in that the cassette is lowered vertically slower than the synthetic substrate descends. The method of claim 6, The synthetic substrate is a synthetic substrate loading method in a cassette, characterized in that the base plate (base plate) is made of the synthesis of carbon nanotubes.

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