KR20010006575A - substrate transfer apparatus and method of substrate transfer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To reduce the amount of deflection, when transferring a large square board. CONSTITUTION: Transfer arms 2 and 3 comprise first holding portions 2a and 3a extending in the direction orthogonal to the direction of transfer and second holding portions 2b and 3b extending from the first holding portions, in parallel with the direction of transfer. This allows the four sides of a glass board W to be held from below by the first and second holding portions 2a, 2b, 3a, and 3b. The transfer arms 2 and 3 are movable vertically. A pair of transfer arms or a part of pair of adjacent transfer arms enables overlap of one another in the vertical direction at stand-by positions.

Description

Substrate transfer apparatus and method of substrate transfer

The present invention relates to a transmission apparatus and a transmission method for transmitting an angled substrate or plate, for example, a glass substrate or plate used in a liquid crystal display device.

Conventionally, the glass substrate or plate used in the liquid crystal display is a glass substrate of a size required in the final product after applying the photo-resist thereon, drying and exposing and developing the large area of the glass plate or the substrate. It is formed by cutting part of.

After completing work at one work site, the plate must be moved to another process site by a transfer device in order to apply the large area glass plate to various forms of the process.

7 (a) and 7 (b) show a plane and a side of a conventional transmission device, respectively, wherein the transmission device comprises a pair of transmission arms 100 such that the hook 101 supports the angled substrate W at the bottom side surface portion. Is configured to be provided).

In order to transfer the angled substrate using the above-mentioned transmission device, the transmission arm 100 is arranged to be separated from the width of the substrate to some extent, and the height of the device is such that the hook 101 of the transmission arm has a support jig (pin, chuck, etc.) Adjusted to be positioned slightly below the angled substrate W supported by 102, the transfer arm 100 is moved in the horizontal direction to move the hook 101 to a position below the angled substrate W. FIG. Next, the transfer arm 100 is raised, or instead, the support jig 102 is lowered so that the angled substrate W is supported by the hook 101 and under this state, the transfer arm 100 is moved to the angled substrate ( W) is sent to the next place.

However, a glass substrate or plate used for a thin liquid crystal display having a thickness of about 0.7 mm has a large planar surface area and is suspended in a horizontal plane in which the center of the substrate is suspended downward as shown in FIG. It bends or crushes due to its own weight. In this case, sometimes the substrate will collide with the jig and the substrate will not be able to be transferred, or it will cause the substrate to crack.

In particular, in recent years, as the size of the display portion of a typical liquid crystal display is made larger, it has become common to utilize a glass plate or a substrate having a side length exceeding 1,000 mm before the cutting step. For example, to transfer a glass substrate having a size of 960 mm × 1100 mm × 0.7 mm by a conventional transmission device, the substrate is bent or crushed about 100 mm from the substrate plane at its center.

According to the invention which aims at solving the above mentioned disadvantages,

Can move in the open or closed horizontal direction, slide in the horizontal direction,

At a peripheral portion orthogonal to the transfer direction, the first fixing portion holding the angled substrate from below; And

At a peripheral portion parallel to the transfer direction, a substrate transfer apparatus for transferring an angled substrate including a pair of transfer arms each including a second fixing portion for fixing an angled substrate from below is provided.

With this structure, curvature at the center of the substrate can be suppressed, and the substrate is prevented from colliding with other member (s), thereby preventing the occurrence of cracking.

In the transmission device, the first and second fixing portions are provided in such a size as to suspend the angled substrate as close as possible to the four entire sides, so that the substrate can be raised and transmitted with a minimum curvature at the center.

In addition, the device is constructed such that the pair of transmission arms can move only in the horizontal direction, but the transmission arms can be moved up or down, thereby achieving a good efficiency and elasticity of the transmission device in which the chuck or pin supporting the substrate is moved up or down. can do.

In addition, a device configured to overlap the transmission arms or portions of the transmission arms adjacent to each other in a vertical direction can effectively utilize space.

In addition, according to the present invention,

Supporting a lower side of the angled substrate by a support jig;

Under the above conditions, the transfer arm pair is positioned upward with respect to the angled substrate, and the distance and the dimension are oriented in the transfer direction such that the opening or distance of the transfer arm pair apart from each other is larger than the dimension corresponding to the angled substrate. step;

Position the transfer arm pair down relative to the angled plate, close the transfer arm pair so that the transfer arm or portion moves directly underneath the angled substrate, and lower the angled substrate relative to the transfer arm pair, And positioning the substrate at the bottom periphery on the second fixing portion;

After moving the support jig to a position below the transfer arm pair, sliding the transfer arm pair holding the angled substrate so that they move simultaneously to prevent contact or collision between the support jig and the other transfer arm during later movement. The present invention provides a substrate transfer method using the substrate transfer apparatus defined above.

In addition, one or more may be used to position the transfer arm pairs to a position relatively higher than the angled substrates and to close or move them closer to each other about the size of the angled substrates in the direction oriented in the transfer direction, or The transmission arm pair can be activated (can be moved).

1 schematically shows a substrate transfer device according to the invention in a standby or non-operational state;

2 schematically shows the same substrate transfer device with a pair of transfer arms open;

3 schematically shows the same substrate transfer apparatus with the transfer arm pair positioned below the relatively angled substrate;

4 schematically shows the same substrate transfer device with the transfer arm pair in a position below the angled substrate and in a closed or movable state;

5 is a schematic view of the same substrate transfer device in which the transfer arm pair is in a fixed or suspended state with an angled substrate;

FIG. 6 schematically shows the same substrate transfer apparatus under simultaneous movement of a pair of transfer arms to hold and move on an angled substrate;

7 (a) and 7 (b) respectively show the plane and the side of a conventional transmission device.

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

1 schematically shows a substrate transfer device according to the invention in a standby state; 2 schematically shows the same substrate transfer device with the transfer arm pair in an open state; 3 schematically shows the same substrate transfer apparatus, with the transfer arm pairs respectively positioned below the angled plate or substrate; 4 schematically depicts the same substrate transfer device, with the transfer arm pair in a closed or moving state, respectively, under an angled substrate; 5 schematically shows the same substrate transfer device with a pair of transfer arms holding or suspended the angled substrate; FIG. 6 schematically shows the same substrate transfer device in a sliding state to move with or with an angled substrate secured with a pair of transfer arms.

Firstly, in the structure of the transmission device according to the present invention, a guide rail 1 along the working position of S1 and S2 is provided, and the guide rail 1 is attached with a pair of transmission arms 2 and 3. .

In the embodiment shown in the figure, a pair of transmission arms is attached to the guide rail 1, but a plurality of pairs of transmission arms can be attached to the guide rail 1.

The transmission arms 2, 3 comprise first fixing parts 2a, 3a extending in the direction perpendicular to the transmission direction and second fixing parts 2b, 3b extending from the fixing parts parallel to the transmission direction. The interval between the second fixing portions 2b and 2b of the transmission arm 2 and the interval between the second fixing portions 3b and 3b of the transmission arm 3 are slightly larger than the size of the glass substrate W in the width direction. Set short, these second fixing parts 2b, 2b, 3b and 3b extend in a direction facing each other from them and their corresponding transmission arms, respectively. In addition, the length of the fixing part in the direction extended from a transmission arm is set to be shorter than half (1/2) of the glass substrate W in a transmission direction.

In addition, the transmission arms 2, 3 are open or closed in the horizontal direction and can move upward or downward to slide so as to move along the guide rail 11 independently of each other. However, even if the transfer arms 2, 3 cannot be moved up or down individually, the glass substrate W can be transmitted without any problem by adjusting the support jig 4 such as pins, chucks, etc. up or down.

Next, the transmission method will be described by considering the starting point shown in FIG. 1 as being in a standby state. First, in the standby state, the transmission arms 2, 3 with the fixing parts 2b, 2b, 3b and 3b overlap each other in the vertical direction. In this state, space can be utilized effectively.

Also in the standby state, the transfer arms 2, 3 can be positioned above the glass substrate W. FIG.

Next, one transfer arm 2 is moved and slides through the space on the glass substrate W to the opposite position. As shown in Fig. 2, with this movement, the distance between the transfer arms 2, 3 becomes longer than the length of the glass substrate W in the transfer direction.

Next, by lowering the transfer arms 2, 3 or lifting the glass substrate W, the transfer arms 2, 3 are positioned below the glass substrate W, as shown in FIG. Also in this case, the transmission arms 2, 3 are aligned at their respective heights.

Next, the transmission arms 2 and 3 are closed. That is, the transmission arms 2, 3 are moved close to each other in the horizontal direction. The amount of movement is determined by the four side portions of the glass substrate W overlapping the first and second fixing portions 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b of the transmission arms 2, 3.

By lifting the transmission arms 2, 3 or lowering the fixing jig 4, the glass substrate W is moved downwards from the four sides by the first and second fixing parts of the transmission arms 2, 3. Supported. That is, the glass substrate W is in a state in which almost all peripheral portions of the bottom surface of the glass substrate W are supported by the upper surface portions of the fixing portions 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b of the transfer arms 2, 3. Will be.

In this case, since the plurality of holes 5 are opened on the fixing portions 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b to use vacuum suction, vacuum suction is effective when fixing or stopping the glass substrate W. Can prevent movement.

Then, there is a relative position between the transmission arms 2, 3 and the fixed jig 4 so that they are not disturbed with each other, the transmission arms 2, 3 move upwards, or otherwise the fixed jig moves downwards, As shown in Fig. 6, the transmission arms 2, 3 move and slide simultaneously until reaching the processing position as a unit. In other words, the relative positions of the transmission arms 2, 3 are maintained by constant sliding or moving to the processing position S2.

Next, the substrate W is moved to the fixing jig 4 at the processing position S2 by moving the transfer arm as opposed to the above-described movement.

As described above, the substrate transfer apparatus according to the present invention includes a first fixing portion for fixing the periphery of the angled substrate from the bottom perpendicular to the transfer direction, and a second fixing portion for the periphery of the angled substrate from the bottom parallel to the transfer direction. A fixation is provided so that the four peripheries of the substrate, angled from the bottom, possibly as a whole, can be fixed or contacted, so that the center of the substrate is prevented from bending or warping, preventing collision with other members during substrate transfer and stopping or transferring Prevents cracking or cracking of the substrate.

According to an embodiment, when transferring a glass substrate having dimensions of 960 mm × 1100 mm × 0.7 mm to a conventional transmission device, a 100 mm deflection bend from the substrate plane occurs at the center, but the deflection is performed using the transmission device according to the present invention. If less than 10 mm.

Further, in the waiting area, the structure in which the transmission arm pairs or portions of the transmission arm pairs adjacent to each other overlap in the vertical direction enables effective space utilization.

Claims (6)

A substrate transfer apparatus for angled substrate transfer, Movable in a horizontal direction which is open or closed about each other, and by sliding in a horizontal direction, 1 fixing portion for fixing the angled substrate at the bottom in the peripheral portion perpendicular to the transfer direction of the substrate; And And a pair of transfer arms comprising a second fixing portion for fixing the angled substrate at the bottom in a peripheral portion parallel to the transfer direction of the substrate. 2. The substrate transfer apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first and second fixing portions are sized to fix the four sides of the angled substrate to be almost completely sealed. The substrate transfer apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transfer arm pair is movable upward or downward. 4. A substrate transfer apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the transfer arm pair or a portion of the transfer arm pair are adjacent to each other and overlap in a vertical direction. A transfer method using the substrate transfer apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, Supporting a lower side of the angled substrate by a support jig; Under the above conditions, the transfer arm pair is positioned upward with respect to the angled substrate, and the distance and the dimension are oriented in the transfer direction such that the opening or distance of the transfer arm pair apart from each other is larger than the dimension corresponding to the angled substrate. step; Position the transfer arm pair down relative to the angled plate, close the transfer arm pair so that the transfer arm or portion moves directly underneath the angled substrate, and lower the angled substrate relative to the transfer arm pair, And positioning the substrate at the bottom periphery on the second fixing portion; Moving the support jig to a position relatively below the transfer arm pair, and then sliding the transfer arm pair suspending the angled substrate, thereby simultaneously moving. 6. A substrate transfer as claimed in claim 5, wherein the transfer arm pairs are separated at intervals greater than the dimensions of the angled substrate in the transfer direction so that one of the pairs of transfer arms moves oppositely by passing a space above the angled substrate. Way.