KR100960145B1 - Apparatus for transporting an item in conveyor system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A transferring device for a conveyer system is provided to monitor each conveyor module on a real time basis, reduce manufacturing costs by normalizing the conveyor module, and increase the speed for transferring objects. CONSTITUTION: A transferring device for a conveyer system comprises conveyor modules(110,140) and a host(150). The conveyor module comprises a driving roller, a motor(112), and a controller(120). The driving roller is positioned along the transfer path of an object. The motor drives one or more among multiple driving rollers. The controller controls the operation of the motor. The host is electrically connected to the conveyor modules and controls the transfer of the object.

Description

Apparatus for transporting an item in conveyor system}

The present invention relates to a conveyor system, and more particularly, to a conveying device in a conveyor system for providing an optimized conveying according to the size of the conveying material and the length of the conveying path in the conveyor system.

The use of 300 mm (12 inch) wafers in the semiconductor wafer production process results in dramatic improvements in production efficiency compared to 200 mm (8 inch) wafer production processes. The productivity of semiconductors can be as high as 2.25 times that of 12-inch wafers compared to 8-inch wafers in terms of wafer size differences.

The 450mm wafers currently under development will also increase productivity by 2.25 times that of 300mm wafers.

Due to changes in the production efficiency of semiconductor wafers, each process technology must be supported and all production processes must be automated. Accordingly, there is a need for a high-speed transfer conveyor system that allows the flow of logistics between processes to smoothly transfer and interface between devices, such as a high-speed transfer of a feed such as a 300 mm wafer front opening unified pod (FOUP).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in an effort to provide a conveying apparatus for a conveying system in a conveyor system for providing an optimized conveying according to a size of a conveying object and a length of a conveying path in a conveyor system.

In addition, a technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a conveying device for conveying in a conveyor system having a function of a stocker (buffer) as a buffering function of the conveyor module itself.

In addition, the technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a conveying material conveying apparatus in a conveyor system for providing a high-speed conveying and deceleration of the conveying itself by independent control of the conveyor module itself.

In the conveyor system according to an embodiment of the present invention, the conveying device is a plurality of drive rollers disposed along a conveyance path of the conveyed material, at least one motor for driving at least one of the plurality of drive rollers, and the motor A plurality of conveyor modules each comprising a controller for controlling the operation of; And a host electrically connected to the conveyor modules to control the transfer of the conveyance, wherein the host is one of the conveyor modules to the conveyor module from which the conveyance arrives. A transfer instruction command for instructing a transfer is sent to the controllers of the conveyor modules, and when the transfer instruction instruction is received from the host to the controllers, each of the controllers is configured to receive the transfer of the transfer received by the communication between the controllers. It is characterized by independently controlling the conveying speed of the conveyed material on the basis of the information on the position.

Each of the conveyor modules may include one or more position sensors for obtaining information regarding the position of the conveyed material.

Each of the conveyor modules may include an Ethernet communication module for communication between the controllers.

Each of the conveyor modules may have the same transport length and are continuously disposed along the transport path of the transport material, and may be configured to be detachable from each other according to the length of the entire transport path of the transport material.

Each of the controllers comprises: a first controller for controlling a conveying speed of the conveyed material; And a second controller for controlling one or more of rotational movement of the conveyance, an interface with an over head transport (OHT), identification of additional information of the conveyance, or communication with another controller.

The first conveyor module, which is one of the conveyor modules, receives information regarding the entry of the conveyed product from a third conveyor module connected to deliver the conveyed product to the first conveyor module, and the information regarding the entering of the conveyed product. It is possible to adjust the conveying speed of the first conveyor module based on.

The first conveyor module, which is one of the conveyor modules, receives information regarding the exit of another transport material separate from the transport material from a second conveyor module connected to receive the transport material from the first conveyor module, and The conveying speed of the first conveyor module may be adjusted based on the information regarding the exit of another conveyed object.

Each of the conveyor modules further includes an LED display module for indicating whether there is a failure or malfunction, and the controllers may determine whether the conveyor modules have a failure or malfunction and transmit the same to each LED display module of the conveyor modules. .

At least one of the conveyor modules may further include a turn module for rotating the conveying object, and a controller of the conveyor module including the turn module may control rotational conveyance of the turn module.

At least one of the conveyor modules further includes an interface module for transferring the conveyed material to an over head transport (OHT) or receiving the conveyed material from the OHT, wherein the controller of the conveyor module including the interface module includes: The operation of the interface module can be controlled.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the conveyor system can provide an optimized conveying according to the size of the conveyed material and the length of the conveying path, and in the conveyor system having a function of a stocker as a buffering function of the conveyor module itself Providing a conveying device of the conveyance, by the independent control of the conveyor module itself has the effect that can provide the self-control and the high-speed conveying of the deceleration of the conveyed material.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the process equipment stocker system, using the transfer path of the OHS (Over Head Shuttle), OHT (Overhead Hoist Transport) system for the transfer of inter-process logistics between each equipment Through the flow, there is an effect that can increase the productivity by rapid, accurate transfer.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the transfer speed and acceleration speed of the conveyed material is fast, excellent price competitiveness through standardization and low cost per conveyor module, real-time monitoring for each conveyor module, the weight of the conveyor module Lightweight and simple structure has the effect of easy installation and maintenance.

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

1 is a view showing a conveying device in the conveyor system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to Figure 1, the conveying material conveying apparatus 100 in the conveyor system according to an embodiment of the present invention transfers the conveyed material, such as FOUP (Front Opening Unified Pod) incorporating a semiconductor wafer to a desired position As an apparatus for carrying out, the conveyed material is conveyed through a plurality of conveyor modules (110, 140) that are continuously connected to each other mechanically. The conveyor modules 110 and 140 have the same transport length and are continuously disposed along the transport path of the transport material, and may be configured to be detachable from each other according to the length of the entire transport path of the transport material.

The conveyance transfer device 100 in the conveyor system includes conveyor module 1 110, conveyor module 2 140, and host 150.

Conveyor module 1 110 is a unit module constituting the entire transport path, the motor 112, the transfer unit 114, the connection unit 116, the position sensor 118, the controller 120 and the Ethernet module 130 It includes.

The motor 112 is a driving roller (not shown) included in the conveying part 114 to convey the conveyed material from the conveyor module (not shown) located in front of the conveyor module 1 (110) to the conveyor module 2 (140). Or the like).

The transfer unit 114 is to mechanically support the transfer or transfer the transfer to another conveyor module, and may be configured in various ways according to the embodiment. An exemplary embodiment of the transfer unit 114 will be described later with reference to FIG. 3.

Preferably, the conveying part 114 may be configured to have the same straight length (ie, conveying length) for the plurality of connected conveyor modules. For example, the width x length of the conveying part 114 is configured to be equal to 50 cm x 50 cm for the plurality of conveyor modules, and the width x length of the conveyed material (for example, FOUP) is 40 cm x By configuring to be 40cm, it can be configured so that one conveyance is located in one conveying unit. In this case, the conveyance length of the conveyor module 1 110 will be approximately 100 cm (the length of the connection can be ignored).

On the other hand, in the embodiment of Figure 1, the conveyor module 1 (110) includes two transfer parts, in this case, the conveyor module 1 (110) may be two conveyed objects are located. In addition, the total conveying length of the conveyor module 1 (110) is approximately equal to the sum of the straight lengths of the two conveying parts (114).

The connector 116 mechanically connects the conveyor module 1 110 with the conveyor module 2 140. The connecting portion 116 may be configured to easily attach and detach a plurality of conveyor modules from each other, and physical impact and particles when the conveyed material is transferred from the conveyor module 1 110 to the conveyor module 2 140. It can be configured to minimize the occurrence of.

The position sensor 118 detects information about the position of the conveyed object being conveyed by the conveyor module 1 110 and transmits the information to the controller 120. According to an embodiment, a plurality of position sensors may be arranged in one conveyor module, and a plurality of position sensors may be arranged in one conveying unit. For example, in the embodiment of FIG. 1, a left position sensor, an intermediate position sensor, and a right position sensor are disposed in the transfer unit 114. In this case, the left position sensor detects whether the conveyed object is entered, the intermediate position sensor detects whether the conveyed object is located at the correct position of the conveyed part, and the right position sensor detects whether the conveyed object is advancing. However, the position of the position sensor is not limited to the above embodiment, and may be disposed at various positions and used for obtaining various information according to the embodiment.

The controller 120 receives a transfer instruction command for instructing the transfer of the transfer object from the host 150 to be described later. When the transfer instruction is received to the controller 120, the controller 120 receives information about the position of the transfer through the communication line from the controller of another conveyor module including the controller included in the conveyor module 2 (140) or Or send information about the position of the conveyed material to the controller of another conveyor module.

The controller 120 provides information about the position of the conveyed object obtained from the position sensor 118 included in the conveyor module 1 110 or the position of the conveyed object obtained from the position sensor of another conveyor module including the conveyor module 2 140. Based on the information on the control the conveying speed of the conveyed material in the conveying unit 114 of the conveyor module 1 (110) independently.

For example, the controller 120 of the conveyor module 1 110 receives information regarding the entry of the conveyed material from the connected conveyor module (not shown) to deliver the conveyed material to the conveyor module 1 110, and received the received information. The conveying speed of the conveyor module 1 110 may be adjusted based on the information about the entry of the conveyed material. Also, for example, conveyor module 1 110 receives information about the exit of another conveyance separate from the conveyance from conveyer module 2 140 connected to receive the conveyance from conveyor module 1110. And, the conveying speed of the conveyor module 1 (110) can be adjusted based on the received information about the exit of the conveyed material.

In addition, for example, when the information indicating that the conveyance is located in the transfer unit included in the conveyor module 2 (140) is received by the controller 120 of the conveyor module 1 (110), the controller 120 is a conveyor module 1 ( It is possible to reduce or stop the operation speed of the motor 112 so that the transport material located in the transport unit 114 of the 110 does not collide with the transport material located in the conveyor module 2 (140). In addition, if the conveyance is located in the conveying unit 114 of the conveyor module 1 (110), the controller 120 transmits the information about it to the conveyor module (not shown) connected to the front of the conveyor connected to the front The transfer from the module (not shown) may be controlled to stop the transfer after controlling the deceleration speed after approaching at the highest speed so as not to be transferred to the conveyor module 1 110 or colliding to the baron shear. .

In addition, the controller 120 may include a first controller 122 for controlling a conveying speed of the conveyed material, a rotational movement of the conveyed material, an interface with an over head transport (OHT), and identification of additional information of the conveyed object (for example, using an RFID tag. ), Or a second controller 124 for controlling additional operations, such as communicating with another controller. The identification of the additional information of the conveyed object will be described. For example, in the case where the conveyed object is a FOUP which is a kind of case containing a semiconductor wafer, an RFID tag storing information about the semiconductor wafer contained in the FOUP is attached to the outside of the FOUP. By arranging an RFID reader on one or more of the above-described plurality of conveyor modules, necessary information about the conveyed object may be obtained and transmitted to the host 150. Such additional operations may be configured to be controlled by the second controller 124 separately from the first controller 122 for controlling the motor speed. The rotational movement of the conveyed object by the turn module, the interface with the OHT by the interface module, and the communication with another controller by the Ethernet communication module will be described later.

The Ethernet communication module 130 supports the controllers embedded in the conveyor modules 110 and 140 to communicate with each other through a data bus. Since the internal configuration of the Ethernet communication module 130 is well known to those skilled in the art, a detailed description thereof will be omitted. According to the embodiment of FIG. 1, controllers embedded in each conveyor module may communicate with each other via a data bus by Ethernet modules.

The conveyor module 2 140 includes the same configuration as the conveyor module 1 110, and thus, further description thereof will be omitted.

The host 150 is electrically connected to the conveyor modules to control the transport of the conveyed material. For example, the host 150 may send a transfer instruction command for instructing the transfer from the conveyor module from which the transfer starts for the transfer among the conveyor modules 110 and 140 connected to the host 150 to the conveyor module where the transfer arrives. Transmit to the controllers of the conveyor modules. For example, the host 150 may send a transfer instruction command to the conveyor module 1 110 and the conveyor module 2 140 to transfer the transfer located on the conveyor module 1 110 to the conveyor module 2 140. Can be. In addition, the host 150 may transmit a transfer instruction command to the conveyor module 1 110 and the conveyor module 2 140 as well as other conveyor modules connected thereto.

Preferably, the host 150 provides only a transfer instruction command for instructing transfer from the conveyor module from which the transfer starts to the conveyor module at which the transfer arrives and a simple monitoring of the current transfer status, and the conveyor modules ( 110 and 140 may directly obtain necessary information by mutual communication without additional control of the host 150 to execute the transfer operation of the conveyed material. According to this, it is programmable in the controller included in the conveyor module, so that a quick response can be made when an immediate response is required, and the overall operation is determined by the program of the controller in each conveyor module, so that the program can be modified even if the conveyor system is changed. Since the host 150 controls only overall monitoring or transfer instruction commands, the host 150 takes less load due to program execution, and each conveyor module executes its own proper transfer operation to ensure real-time performance. By using all network resources uniformly, network bottlenecks are avoided and high performance host controllers are not required.

Meanwhile, in the embodiment of FIG. 1, only an embodiment in which two conveyor modules are connected has been described, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and a plurality of conveyor modules may be connected to each other in consideration of a usage environment such as the length of the entire transport path. .

2 is a view showing in detail the conveyor module constituting the conveyor system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2, the conveyor module 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention is a unit module constituting the conveying apparatus of the conveyed material of Figure 1, a plurality of modules are configured to be mechanically detachable. The conveyor module 200 includes a motor 202, a transfer unit 204, a connection 206, a position sensor 208, a controller 210 and an Ethernet communication module 218.

The motor 112 is for driving a driving roller (not shown) to receive the conveyed material from the conveyor module located at the front and to the conveyor module located at the rear.

The conveyer 204 is for mechanically supporting the conveyed material and conveying the conveyed material to another conveyor module, and may be configured in various ways according to the embodiment. An exemplary embodiment of the transfer unit 2044 will be described later with reference to FIG. 3.

The connection 206 mechanically connects the conveyor modules. The connection 206 may be configured to easily detach the plurality of conveyor modules from each other, and may be configured to minimize physical impact and particle generation when transported.

The position sensor 208 detects information about the position of the conveyed object being conveyed by the conveyor module, and transmits the information to the first controller 212 that controls the operation of the controller 210 or the motor 112. According to an embodiment, a plurality of position sensors may be arranged in one conveyor module.

The controller 210 receives a transfer instruction command instructing the transfer of the transfer object from a host (not shown). When the transfer instruction is received to the controller 120, the controller 210 receives information about the position of the conveyed object from the controller of another conveyor module through a communication line or relates to the position of the conveyed object to the controller of another conveyor module. Send the information.

The controller 210 independently controls the conveying speed of the conveyed object based on the information about the position of the conveyed object obtained from the position sensor 208 or the information about the position of the conveyed object obtained from the position sensor of another conveyor module.

The controller 210 controls the first controller 212 to control the conveying speed of the conveyed material and additional operations such as rotational movement of the conveyed material, an interface with the OHT, identification of additional information of the conveyed material, or communication with another controller. It may also be configured to include a second controller 214 to. The first controller 212 receives a position sensor input 216, which is information about the position of the conveyed object, from the position sensor 208 and communicates with the controller of another conveyor module via the Ethernet communication module 218 and the data bus. .

According to the conveyor module according to the embodiment of Figure 2, it is possible to easily adjust the transport length by connecting a plurality of the same conveyor module. In addition, even if a new conveyor module is connected, the transfer speed of the conveyed material can be easily controlled by communication between the conveyor modules without significantly modifying the host controller program.

3 is a view showing another embodiment of a conveyance device including a conveyor module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the conveyance conveying device 300 includes four conveyor modules (host not shown). The conveyor modules are provided on both sides of the support 304 disposed on both sides along the conveying direction of the conveyed material, a plurality of drive rollers attached to both sides of the support 304, and a drive belt 302 and both sides of the support 304 that surround the drive rollers. Connection shaft 306 for connecting across the wire, at least one or more drive motors 312 for driving at least one of the plurality of drive rollers 302, and CPU & CVM for controlling the operation of the drive motor 312. (Conveyor Module, first controller) board and an extra Conveyor Module (eCVM) board 314, which can be added as needed to control the additional operation described in FIG. 1, the position sensor 316 for detecting the position of the conveyed material. , LED board 318 for checking and visually indicating the failure or malfunction of the conveyor module, Switching Mode Power Supply (SMPS) 310 for supplying DC power to the conveyor module 300, SMPS (310) ), A cover 308 for accommodating the position sensor 316, the driving motor 312, the CPU & CVM (Conveyor Module) board 314, the LED board 318, and the like.

The support 304, drive roller and drive belt 302, and the connecting shaft 306 are examples of the conveying portions 114, 204 and the connecting portions 116, 206 described in FIGS. 1 and 2. The conveyed material entering the conveyor module is positioned above the driving roller and the driving belt 302 to move forward or backward according to the driving of the driving motor 312 or remain at a stop state. The driving roller to which the driving motor 312 is not connected may correspond to the connecting portions 116 and 206 of FIGS. 1 and 2 as an idle roller.

In addition, depending on the embodiment, only one SMPS 310, CPU & CVM and eCVM board 314, LED board 318, etc. may be arranged per plurality of conveyor modules. 3 illustrates an example in which one SMPS 310, a CPU & CVM and eCVM board 314, or an LED board 318 is disposed on two conveyor modules.

In addition, FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment for linearly moving the conveyed material, but is not necessarily limited thereto. The conveyed material conveying device 300 may rotate the conveyed material, adjust the conveyance height through vertical operation (LIFT), or perform an interface operation with the OHT.

That is, the conveyor module may further include a turn module (not shown) for rotating the conveyed material. The turn module includes a motor for rotating the conveyed material, for example, 90 °, -90 °, or 180 ° as needed. In this case, the turn module may rotate feed the object by independent control of a controller (or a second controller for executing an additional operation) according to communication between the conveyor modules according to the transfer instruction command of the host.

In addition, the conveyor module may further include an interface module (not shown) for transferring the conveyed material to or from the OHT. The interface module executes the loading and unloading or conveying of the conveyed material at the interface between the OHT and the conveyor module under the control of the host or controller. The interface module may include a hand sensor for sensing the hand of the OHT upon loading and unloading the OHT and an in-position sensor for checking whether the conveyed material is in the correct position.

So far I looked at the center of the preferred embodiment for the present invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention can be implemented in a modified form without departing from the essential features of the present invention. Therefore, the disclosed embodiments should be considered in descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. The scope of the present invention is shown in the claims rather than the foregoing description, and all differences within the scope will be construed as being included in the present invention.

1 is a view showing a conveying device in the conveyor system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a view showing in detail the conveyor module constituting the conveyor system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a view showing another embodiment of a conveyance device including a conveyor module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (10)

A plurality of conveyor modules each comprising a plurality of drive rollers disposed along a conveyance path of a conveyed material, at least one motor for driving at least one of the plurality of drive rollers, and a controller for controlling operation of the motor; And A host electrically connected to the conveyor modules to control the transfer of the conveyed material, The host transmits a transfer instruction command to the controllers of the conveyor modules to instruct transfer of the conveyor module from the conveyor module from which the transfer starts, to the conveyor module where the transfer arrives. When the transfer instruction command is received from the host to the controllers, each of the controllers independently controls the transfer speed of the transfer based on information regarding the position of the transfer received by communication between the controllers. , The first conveyor module, which is one of the conveyor modules, has information indicating that another transport material separate from the transport material is located from a second conveyor module connected to receive the transport material from the first conveyor module. When received, reduce or stop the conveying speed of the first conveyor module so that the conveying object does not collide with the another conveying material, Each of the conveyor modules includes an Ethernet communication module for communication between the controllers, the host only provides monitoring of the transfer instruction command and the current transfer state, and the controllers provide the transfer instruction command and the current transfer state. Except for monitoring for the host and directly control the transfer of the conveyed goods by directly obtaining information for the conveyed goods by communication between the controllers without additional control of the host, Each of the conveyor modules have the same conveying length and are continuously disposed along the conveying path of the conveyed material, and are configured to be detachable from each other along the length of the entire conveying path of the conveyed material, The conveyance is a front opening unified pod (FOUP), a case in which a semiconductor wafer is embedded, and an RFID tag storing information about the semiconductor wafer is attached to the outside of the FOUP, and at least one of the plurality of conveyor modules is And a RFID reader for reading the RFID tag. The method of claim 1, Each of the conveyor modules includes at least one position sensor for obtaining information regarding the position of the conveyed material. delete delete The method of claim 1, wherein each of the controllers, A first controller for controlling a conveying speed of the conveyed material; And And a second controller for controlling one or more of rotational movement of the conveyance, an interface with an over head transport (OHT), identification of additional information of the conveyance, or communication with another controller. Water transfer device. The method of claim 1, The first conveyor module, which is one of the conveyor modules, receives information regarding the entry of the conveyed product from a third conveyor module connected to deliver the conveyed product to the first conveyor module, and the information regarding the entering of the conveyed product. And a conveying speed of the first conveyor module based on the control of the conveying system. delete The method of claim 1, Each of the conveyor modules further includes an LED display module for indicating whether there is a failure or malfunction, and the controllers determine whether the conveyor modules have a failure or malfunction and transmit the same to each LED display module of the conveyor modules. Conveying material conveying device in the conveyor system. The method of claim 1, At least one of the conveyor modules further comprises a turn module for rotationally moving the conveyance, wherein a controller of the conveyor module including the turn module controls the rotational transport of the turn module. Conveying device in The method of claim 1, At least one of the conveyor modules further includes an interface module for transferring the conveyed material to an over head transport (OHT) or receiving the conveyed material from the OHT, wherein the controller of the conveyor module including the interface module includes: A conveying device in a conveyor system, characterized in that for controlling the operation of the interface module.

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