KR20040057851A - Method and device for transferring work of square plate - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method and a device for transferring a square sheet-like work is provided to carry or take out the work to a heat treatment system by hands of a robot with removing a moving process or a moving mechanism of a rack for a substrate thermal treatment between a cooling device and the heat treatment system. CONSTITUTION: Plural position sensors(31,32,33) of a transfer device(1) are installed at the predetermined place except for hands(7) of a robot. For an alignment device, a method for transferring a square sheet-like work(4) is composed of steps for detecting position and angle of a short side(80) of one side by plural position sensors; calculating position difference of the work for the hands and angle difference for an arm telescoping shaft based on the detected position and angle; regulating the posture of the work to be parallel to the arm telescoping shaft according to the calculated angle difference; detecting the position of a short side(81) of the other side adjacent to the short side of one side by at least one position sensor; computing position difference of the work for the hands according to the detected position of the short side of the other side; and correcting horizontal and vertical movement amount of the work by the conveying robot and receiving the work in a predetermined position according to the computed position difference between the short sides of both sides.

Description

TECHNOD AND DEVICE FOR TRANSFERRING WORK OF SQUARE PLATE}

The present invention provides a conveying method and a conveying apparatus for conveying a rectangular plank-like work such as a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display from a position where a work is taken out to a storage position. It is about.

As shown in Fig. 9, this kind of conveying apparatus heat-processes a plurality of rectangular plank-shaped workpieces W accommodated in a carrier such as a storage cassette 4 or a centering stage. 5 (Hot air circulation heating type clean oven: 120-250 ° C) Transfers from the opening of the inlet to the predetermined stage of the internal support shelf 51 in the prescribed order. One by one in hand 407 of robot 401 is transported while being adsorbed. From the workpiece after the heat treatment time has elapsed, one by one is placed horizontally on the hand 407 and taken out while being adsorbed.

At this time, in order to prevent the work W from interfering with the edges or the edges of the workpiece W to prevent damage or dust due to collision or contact with the edges, walls, etc. of the cassette 4 or the support shelf 51, transfer the workpiece to an appropriate position and direction. The adjustment (alignment) is performed, and there are a mechanical alignment method and a non-contact alignment method.

In the mechanical alignment method, as shown in Fig. 8, a work W, such as a glass substrate, is placed on the centering stage 501 in advance, and the alignment is performed by press-fitting from the end face of the work by a centering unit 502 or the like. It is conveyed or conveyed later. In this case, the centering unit 502 is known to be pressurized with a cylinder, a ball screw, or the like.

On the other hand, in the non-contact alignment method, the rotation angle (θ) of the workpiece is detected by non-contact detection of the edge of one side of the rectangular workpiece by two position sensors which are provided at the bottom of the hand of the transfer robot at a predetermined distance in the horizontal direction. ) And the displacement amount (X) in the longitudinal direction, and by detecting a non-contact edge of the other side of the rectangular work piece by a separate position sensor installed at one place of the alignment device. Knowing the displacement amount Y of the robot arm, it is known to align and adjust the position and the direction of the workpiece by the robot arm's expansion and contraction angle and rotation angle and horizontal movement of the robot, respectively. See Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-144165.

In the mechanical alignment method shown in FIG. 8, a space or a facility for the centering stage 501 is required separately, and the occupied area of the clean room is large, resulting in high cost and additional processes. It is not economical because it consumes a lot of extra space or time, and the turn-around time is longer, and the investment in processing materials increases. In addition, since the centering unit 502 mechanically presses the side of the work, sliding occurs at the contact portion between the work W and the work support 503, which may cause dust or breakage. In addition, there is a possibility that alignment cannot be accurately performed due to warpage of the work W, and these problems become more and more serious in consideration of the recent situation in which the substrate is enlarged.

In the non-contact alignment method, since two position sensors are provided at the bottom of the hand, the heat resistance of the sensor becomes a problem and cannot be used for transfer from the heat treatment apparatus. That is, the heat resistance temperature of the position sensor is generally lower than the temperature of the heating furnace or the temperature of the workpiece W (120 to 250 ° C.) to be taken out, or is not actually tolerated in terms of reliability and lifespan at that temperature, and also heat treatment. In some cases, the sublimation generated from the substrate adheres to the position sensor and becomes inoperable, causing problems in heat resistance and reliability.

Therefore, in order to employ the conventional non-contact alignment method for transfer to the heat treatment apparatus, as shown in FIG. 9, the cooling apparatus 9 is disposed in front, and the substrate is placed on a heat treatment shelf 504 which moves between the cooling apparatus and the heat treatment apparatus. Although the problem of the heat resistance and the reliability of the position sensor 408 is solved by conveying, it requires a moving mechanism and a process of a separate heat treatment shelf, and the arrangement | positioning of an apparatus was limited and it was not efficient.

In the exposure apparatus, a non-contact method is used in which a rectangular substrate is placed on a movable stage capable of rotating and moving in the X and Y coordinate directions, respectively, to define the external shape of the substrate. And the coordinate axis of one of the coordinate axes orthogonal to each other in the reference coordinate system is detected at two points, so that the deviation of the reference coordinate system is detected and moved to the target position. In this regard, it is known to include a position detecting means of a substrate to be detected at one point (see, for example, Japanese Patent No. 3254704).

However, the exposure apparatus discloses a technique for performing positive alignment at a place to be treated, and cannot perform dynamic alignment as required when transferring to the heat treatment apparatus. That is, in dynamic alignment (not applicable to processing or storage areas), it is possible to correct the difference between the direction and the position of the work during each operation time in a series of repetitive motions in which the work is moved to their positions one by one to the correct position in the correct direction. It is required to transfer, but since the technique disclosed with respect to the exposure apparatus is not so, the position detecting means is hardly employed.

Therefore, the present invention intends to solve the above situation is an alignment method that does not cause an alignment difference due to dust generation, breakage, warpage, etc. of the workpiece, and the heat resistance and reliability of the position sensor even in the transfer to the heat treatment apparatus. And the transfer method and transfer device which can be directly transferred to or taken out of the heat treatment apparatus by the robot's hand without omitting the moving mechanism or moving process of the substrate 504 for heat treatment of the substrate between the cooling apparatus 9 and the heat treatment apparatus 5. It is in doing it.

1 is a plan view showing the configuration of a conveying apparatus according to a representative embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a side view of the conveying apparatus of Figure 1;

3 is an explanatory diagram showing a transfer robot.

4 is a block diagram showing the system configuration of the transfer apparatus.

5 is a schematic view for explaining an embodiment of a transfer processing procedure.

6 is a schematic view for explaining a modification of the transfer processing procedure.

7 is a schematic view for explaining another modification of the transfer processing procedure.

8 (a) and 8 (b) are explanatory views showing a conventional mechanical alignment method by the centering unit.

9 is a plan view showing a conventional non-contact alignment type transfer apparatus.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

1: transfer device 2: transfer robot

4: cassette 5: heat treatment apparatus

6: arm 7: hand

9 cooling device 10 mounting table

11: control device 20: expectation

21: first arm 22: second arm

23: guide rail 24: drive unit

25: conveying mechanism 31, 32, 33: position sensor

40: opening 50: heating furnace

51, 52: support shelf 80, 81: short side

401: carrier robot 407: hand

408 position sensor

501: centering stage

502: centering unit

503: work support

504: lathe for heat treatment A: arm expansion and contraction

W: Substrate

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, the present invention includes an arm rotatably pivotally supported and a telescopic arm and a hand installed at its tip. A transfer robot for transferring the work from the position where the work is taken out to the storage position; alignment means for adjusting the position and posture of the work supported by the hand; and the work supported by the hand. A method of conveying a rectangular plank-shaped workpiece by a conveying apparatus having a plurality of position sensors corresponding to one side of one side of the side, wherein the plurality of position sensors are described above. It is provided in places other than a hand, The said alignment means uses the said several position sensor to adjust the position and angle of the said one short side. A step of detecting, a step of calculating an amount of position difference with respect to the hand of the work and an angle difference with respect to an arm expansion and contraction arm based on the detected position and angle; and the calculation Adjusting the posture of the workpiece to be parallel with the arm stretching axis based on the angle difference amount; and detecting a position of the other short side adjacent to the one short side by at least one position sensor; And calculating a position difference amount with respect to the hand of the workpiece based on the detected position of the other short side, and the workpiece by the carrier robot based on the calculated position difference amounts of the one side and the other short side. Comprising a step of correcting the amount of movement of the horizontal and vertical of the storage to accommodate the workpiece at a predetermined position It provides a method of conveying a rectangular plank-shaped work characterized in that. Here, the position difference amount means the amount of difference in the vertical direction when the detected short side is the horizontal side of the workpiece, and the amount of difference in the horizontal direction when the detected short side is the vertical side of the workpiece. It is the axis when it becomes.

Here, the position of the other short side adjacent to the one short side may be detected by at least one position sensor among the plurality of position sensors that detect the position and angle of the one short side.

Moreover, it is preferable that the one short side of the said workpiece | work is a short side located in the hand tip side of a workpiece | work.

More specifically, there is provided a robot which is rotatably pivotally supported and extends in the radial direction, and a hand provided at the tip thereof, the transfer robot which transfers the work from the position where the work is taken out to the stowed position, and the work supported by the hand. A transfer method of a rectangular plank-shaped workpiece by a transfer apparatus having alignment means for adjusting position and posture and a plurality of position sensors corresponding to one side short side of the workpiece supported by the hand, wherein the transfer robot is placed on the hand. And a plurality of vertical movements for moving the supported workpiece in the longitudinal direction along the arm elastic axis, horizontal movements for moving the workpieces in the horizontal direction, and rotational movements for rotating the workpieces by rotation of the arm or hand. Phase sensor It is provided in a place other than a hand, and the said alignment means is based on the position and angle detected by the said several position sensor according to the said longitudinal movement, and the position difference amount of the longitudinal direction of the said workpiece | work, and the angle difference with respect to an arm stretching axis | shaft. A step of calculating an amount, a step of adjusting the posture of the workpiece to be parallel to an arm elastic axis by the rotational movement based on the calculated angle difference amount, and at least one of the plurality of position sensors according to the horizontal movement. Calculating the position difference amount in the horizontal direction of the workpiece based on the position of the other short side detected by one position sensor; and the transfer robot based on the calculated position difference amounts in the longitudinal direction and the horizontal direction. By adjusting the amount of movement of the workpiece There is also provided a method for transferring a rectangular plank-shaped work, comprising the step of storing the work at a predetermined position. Here, the vertical direction refers to a direction along the arm elastic axis that moves the workpiece when it is taken out or stored, and the horizontal direction refers to a direction orthogonal to the vertical direction, in which the transfer robot moves between the taken out position and the stored position. Say the direction.

In addition, the present invention includes a transfer robot which is rotatably pivotally supported and extends in the radial direction, and a hand provided at its distal end, and which transfers the workpiece from the position from which the workpiece is taken out to the stowed position, and the workpiece supported by the hand. A device for conveying a rectangular plank-shaped workpiece by means of a transfer device having alignment means for adjusting position and posture, and a plurality of position sensors corresponding to one side short side of the workpiece supported by the hand, wherein the plurality of position sensors include: It is provided in places other than a hand, and the said alignment means detects the position and angle of the said one short side by the said plurality of position sensors, and based on it, the position difference amount with respect to the said hand of the said workpiece | work, and arm expansion-contraction about Calculate the angle difference In addition to adjusting the posture of the work so as to be parallel to the arm stretching axis, the position of the other short side adjacent to the one short side is detected by at least one position sensor, and based on the position difference amount of the work relative to the hand. And calculating the amount of horizontal and vertical movement of the workpiece by the carrier robot based on the calculated position difference amounts of the one short side and the other short side, thereby storing the workpiece at a predetermined position. It also provides a conveying device for the shaped work.

Here, the alignment means preferably detects the position of the other short side adjacent to the one short side by at least one position sensor among the plurality of position sensors that detect the position and angle of the one short side.

In addition, there is provided a rotatable arm which is pivotally supported and is provided in the radial direction and a hand installed at the tip thereof, the transfer robot which transfers the work from the position from which the work is taken out to the storage position, and the position and posture of the work supported by the hand. A transfer device for a rectangular plank-shaped work by a transfer device having alignment means for adjustment and a plurality of position sensors corresponding to one side short side of the work supported by the hand, wherein the transfer robot is configured to carry a work supported by the hand. The vertical movement to move in the longitudinal direction along the arm stretching axis, the horizontal movement to move the workpiece in the horizontal direction and the rotational movement to rotate the workpiece by the rotation of the arm or hand, the plurality of position sensors are Except hand Installed at a place, and the alignment means calculates the amount of positional difference in the longitudinal direction of the workpiece and the amount of angle difference with respect to the arm stretching axis based on the position and angle detected by the plurality of position sensors in accordance with the longitudinal movement. The position of the workpiece in the horizontal direction based on the position of the other short side detected by the at least one position sensor according to the horizontal movement as well as adjusting the posture of the workpiece in parallel with the arm elastic axis by the rotational movement. It is preferable to calculate the difference amount and to correct the amount of movement of the workpiece by the carrier robot in the horizontal and vertical directions based on the calculated respective position differences in the longitudinal direction and the horizontal direction to store the workpiece at a predetermined position. Yes.

(Example)

Next, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is an explanatory view showing the configuration of a transfer apparatus according to the present invention, and Figs. 1 to 7 are representative views showing a representative embodiment, in which 1 is a transfer apparatus and 2 is a transfer robot. ), 4 denotes a cassette, 5 denotes a heat treatment apparatus, 31 to 33 denote position sensors, and W denotes a substrate.

As shown in FIG. 1, the conveying apparatus 1 of this invention is installed in the arm 6 and the front-end | tip which are pivotally pivotable in the horizontal direction, and are expandable and contractable in the radial direction. The transfer robot 2 which consists of a hand 7 which becomes a hand 7, and moves to the storage position from the position which takes out the rectangular board-shaped workpiece | work W, and the position and attitude | position of the said workpiece | work W supported by the said hand 7 Alignment means for adjusting the pressure and at least two installed in suitable places other than the hand corresponding to the short side 80 of one side of the work W supported by the hand 7, The position sensors 31 and 32 and the position sensor 33 corresponding to the other short side 81 adjacent to the said one short side are provided.

And the alignment means is the amount of horizontal and vertical position difference and arm expansion and contraction of the workpiece (W) with respect to the hand 7 of the workpiece (W) by the position sensors 31, 32, 33 disposed in a suitable place other than the hand. In addition to adjusting the posture of the work so as to be parallel to the arm elastic axis A by calculating the angular difference amount with respect to the arm stretching axis A, correcting the horizontal and vertical movement amount based on the calculated position difference amount, the work is placed at a predetermined proper position. It is possible to take out the board | substrate directly in a high temperature heat processing apparatus, since it does not need to install a position sensor in the hand 7, since it is made to accommodate.

In the present embodiment, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display having a rectangular shape as a work is formed between the support shelf 51 of the heat treatment apparatus 5, the support shelf 52 of the cooling apparatus 9, and the cassette 4 which is an external carrier. Although an example of transferring glass substrate W is described, the present invention is characterized in that the substrate can be directly taken out of the heat treatment apparatus 5 by omitting the sensor from the hand as described above. It does not specifically limit in the form containing the conveyance of, It is similarly applicable even if it conveys between external carriers, such as a cassette, and process apparatuses other than a heat treatment apparatus, or conveys between processes other than a heat treatment apparatus.

In the transfer apparatus 1 of this example, specifically, the guide rail 23 which guides the said transfer robot 2 on the mounting table 10 installed in a clean room is installed in a horizontal direction. The heat treatment apparatus 5 for cooling the board | substrate which consists of the cassette 4 which accommodates the rectangular board | substrate W, and the heating furnace 50 for heating the board | substrate on both sides with the guide rail 23 in between. Cooling apparatuses 9 are arranged respectively, and the substrate W in the cassette is removed by the transfer robot 2 moving in the horizontal direction (Y-axis direction) along the guide rail 23, and moved to the front of the heat treatment apparatus 5, and then The substrate W is housed therein, and when the heat treatment is completed, the substrate W is taken out of the support shelf 51 in the apparatus and moved to the front of the cooling apparatus 9 before the cooling. The board | substrate W is accommodated in the inside of apparatus 9, and when cooling is complete | finished, the board | substrate W is taken out from the support shelf 52 in that apparatus, and is stored in the cassette 4. In front of the cooling device, in this example, a suitable position on the mounting table 10, two position sensors 31 and 32 for detecting two positions of one short side of the substrate W and a position sensor 33 for detecting the other short side are provided.

In the cassette 4, openings 40 are formed on the front surface of the cassette 4 in contact with the guide rails, and the inner surfaces of the left and right side walls are shown in the figure at predetermined intervals along the vertical direction. Unsupported pieces are formed so as to protrude, and the side ends of each substrate are joined to the corresponding left and right support pieces so that a plurality of substrates W are arranged horizontally in the cassette 4 in a vertical direction. Is housed.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the transfer robot 2 moves up and down with respect to the base 20 and the base 20 which are installed to be movable in the horizontal direction (Y-axis direction) along the guide rail 23. (Iii) an arm 6 supported to be rotatable horizontally, and a hand 7 rotatably connected to the arm 6, wherein the arm 6 includes: a first arm 21 rotatably supported on a base 20; It consists of a second arm 22 rotatably supported at the tip end of the first arm 21, the hand 7 is connected to the tip end of the second arm 22.

On the other hand, the arm and the hand can adopt other structures as long as they can be stretched and rotated.

Such a transfer robot 2 has a longitudinal direction (X-axis direction) along the expansion and contraction axis of the arm 6 for the substrate W adsorbed and supported on the hand 7 when taken out or stored as indicated by the arrow in the figure. Vertical movement to move in a straight line), horizontal movement along the guide rail 23 along the arm 6 and the base 20, and horizontal movement to move the arm 6 and the hand 7 as shown in FIG. It is comprised so that the up-and-down movement which moves to the up-down direction (Z-axis direction) with respect to the base 20, and the rotational movement which rotates the direction of the said board | substrate W by the rotation of the said arm 6 or the hand 7 are possible.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing the system configuration of the transfer apparatus 1, wherein the transfer robot 2 is a transfer unit 25 such as the arm 6 or the hand 7 and a drive unit such as a motor for driving the transfer mechanism 25. 24, the transfer robot 2 is controlled to operate by an external control device 11. That is, the control device 11 controls the substrate W by a control command input by an operator through a user interface, a work command from a remote host station, or based on a control program stored in a storage unit of the device. The operation of the transfer robot 2 is controlled so that the substrate is loaded into and taken out of the heat treatment apparatus 5, and the substrate is mounted at a constant position of the cassette or the next process equipment, and the detection signals from the position sensors 31, 32, 33 are inputted. It is what constitutes the alignment means which concerns on this invention.

The position sensor 31 (32, 33) uses a reflective sensor or an optical sensor composed of a light emitter and a light receiver, and in the case of a reflective sensor, projection ( Iii) the light is reflected to detect the short side of the substrate, and in the case of the light transmitting / receiving type, the light is sensed by the light receiver by shielding the light projected from the light emitter at the short side of the substrate. Is detected.

In this example, two reflective sensors for projecting light beams from the lower side of the substrate W upwards are installed in succession so as to be parallel to the transverse direction along the rails corresponding to one side short side 80 of the substrate W and a predetermined position corresponding to the other short side. One is installed in. Position information detected by each position sensor is input to the control apparatus 11 which is the said alignment means.

In addition, if there is no interference with a board | substrate, the said position sensor may be provided in the upper side of a board | substrate, and may be provided so that a light beam may be projected from upper side to lower side. It is also possible to use other non-contact sensors or contact sensors.

5 is a schematic view for explaining an embodiment of a transfer processing procedure by the transfer apparatus 1 of this embodiment.

The transport robot 2 which supports the substrate W on the hand 7 and pulls it out of the support shelf 52 contracts the arm 6 so that the light projected upward from the position sensor 32 when one short side 80 of the substrate W passes through the position sensor 32. By reflecting the reflected light to the substrate W, the passing position of the one short side, for example, the relative position with respect to the hand is detected (S101), and the detected position information is transmitted to and stored in the control apparatus 11 described above.

In S101, after the one short side 80 passes through the sensor 32, the arm is further contracted to detect the passing position of the one short side 80 in the same manner by the sensor 31 (S102), and the detected position information is transmitted to and stored in the control device 11. The controller 11 calculates the inclination of the substrate W with respect to the arm expansion and contraction and the amount of position difference of the substrate in the longitudinal direction (X-axis direction) with respect to the hand 7 after correcting the inclination based on the stored two positional information. do.

The inclination of the substrate is calculated from the position information of the position sensors 31 and 32 stored in advance and the position difference amount along the longitudinal direction between the two positions, and is controlled from the control device 11 to the driving unit 24 based on the angle difference amount. The control signal is transmitted and the angle is corrected by rotating the hand 7 so that the substrate W is adjusted in a posture parallel to the arm stretching axis (Sl03).

The transfer robot 2 further moves in the lateral direction (Y-axis direction) to the front of the cassette 4 after further contracting the arm, but in the middle thereof, the other side of the substrate W adjacent to the one side 80 of the substrate W is parallel to the X-axis direction. The passing position of the other short side 81 is detected by the position sensor 33 (S104), and the information of the passing position is transmitted to the control device 11 to calculate and store the amount of position difference in the horizontal direction (Y-axis direction) of the substrate W. do.

The transfer robot 2 which completed the measurement by the position sensors 31, 32, and 33 as mentioned above moves to the predetermined position which opposes the cassette 4 along a horizontal direction (Y-axis direction). The stop position at this time is corrected and determined by the position difference amount of the substrate in the Y-axis direction calculated above. The stationary transport robot 2 rotates 180 degrees while contracting the arm 6 to accommodate the substrate W in the cassette 4 (S105), moves the arm 6 up and down to a predetermined height according to the storage position, and then moves it vertically (X). The arm 6 is expanded in the axial direction to accommodate the substrate W in the cassette 4 (S106). The amount of movement (the stationary position of the arm 6) of the substrate W along the longitudinal direction at the time of storing is corrected and determined by the amount of position difference in the longitudinal direction.

Each board | substrate W accommodated in the support shelf 52 in multiple stages is adsorbed by the hand robot 7 sequentially by the conveyance robot 2, and is conveyed to the cassette 4, and accommodated in the above-mentioned order. In addition, it is preferable to perform the alignment process in the transfer from the cassette 4 to the heat treatment apparatus 5 and the transfer from the heat treatment apparatus 5 to the cooling apparatus, respectively. In this case, two or more position sensors in front of the support shelf 51 of the cassette 4 or the heat treatment apparatus are similar. It is desirable to install it. In this case, of course, it is also possible to use two or more position sensors installed in one place.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view illustrating a procedure of a modification example of detecting the passing position of the other short side 81 using the position sensors 31 of the two position sensors 31 and 32 detecting the passing position of the one side short side 80. As shown in FIG. According to this example, the three difference amounts can be measured by at least two position sensors, thereby reducing the number of parts.

In the steps S201 to S203, the position sensors 31 and 32 respectively detect the passing positions of the short side 80 of the substrate W taken out from the support shelf 52 of the cooling apparatus, and the inclination and the longitudinal direction of the substrate W are determined by the position information. The process of correcting the inclination by calculating the position difference amount of is similar to the process of S101 to S103 described above.

The transfer robot 2 moves along the horizontal direction to the side position of the predetermined sensor where the sensor 31 is not located in the moving region of the substrate W along the longitudinal direction, and the other short side 81 of the substrate W faces the position sensor 31. After inflating the arm 6 in the longitudinal direction, the controller 6 moves the transverse direction toward the position sensor 31 similarly to the detection of the one short side 80, and transmits the information on the passing position of the other short side 81 detected by the sensor 31 to the control device 11. By transmitting, the amount of position difference in the horizontal direction of the substrate W is calculated and stored (S204).

FIG. 7 is a schematic view illustrating a procedure of a modification in which two position sensors 31 and 32 are continuously installed in parallel with the longitudinal direction (X-axis direction) along the arm elastic axis.

After the substrate W is removed from the cassette, the transfer robot 2 moves the substrate W toward the sensors 31 and 32 after shrinking the arm 6 in the longitudinal direction (X-axis direction) to a position where the short side 81 of the substrate W faces the position sensors 31 and 32. It moves to the horizontal direction (Y-axis direction), the position sensor 31 detects the passage position of the short side 81 (S301), and stores the said position information in the control apparatus 11. As shown in FIG. Next, the transfer robot 2 is further moved in the horizontal direction, and the position sensor 32 similarly detects the passing position of the short side 81 (S302), and stores the positional information in the control device 11.

The control apparatus 11 calculates the inclination of the board | substrate W with respect to the arm expansion-and-contraction based on the said two position information memorize | stored, and the position difference amount of the horizontal board | substrate in the horizontal direction after correcting this inclination. The inclination of the substrate is calculated based on the position difference amount along the transverse direction, the angle is corrected based on the angle difference amount, and the substrate W is adjusted to a posture parallel to the arm stretching axis (S303).

Next, in the state of S303, the transfer robot 2 is further moved in the horizontal direction (Y-axis direction) to securely capture the substrate W by the position sensors 31 and 32. In this example, both position sensors 31, After positioning at the upper side of 32 (S304), the arm 6 is further contracted to recognize the position where the position sensor 31 cannot capture the reflected light, thereby detecting the passing position of the short side 80 of the substrate W (S305). The amount of position difference in the X-axis direction of the substrate W with respect to the hand 7 is calculated and stored.

In the transfer processing procedure of this embodiment, the angle correction of the substrate W is made by the rotation of the hand, but may be made by the rotation of the arm. In addition, the cassette 4, which is a place to be transferred, may be installed side by side on the same side as the cooling apparatus 9 with respect to the rail 23, or a cooling apparatus may be provided on a side orthogonal to the cassette 4 at the rail end, or side by side. In this case, the 180 degree rotation of the transfer robot becomes unnecessary, and when it is installed on the orthogonal side, the transfer robot is rotated 90 degrees at the rail end.

In addition, in the above embodiment, for the sake of simplicity, an example in which the longitudinal direction and the horizontal direction are detected by two or one sensor has been described. However, the longitudinal direction and the horizontal direction need not be two or one sensor. Inclination or positional difference may be calculated based on well-known statistical processing of detection data by many sensors.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the disclosure of the above embodiment, but includes various modifications.

According to the present invention as described above, by detecting at least two positions of one short side of the workpiece by at least two position sensors provided in a suitable place other than the hand of the robot, it is possible to calculate the amount of position difference in the vertical direction or the horizontal direction. In addition, the inclination is corrected, and the position difference amount in the horizontal direction or the vertical direction is calculated by detecting one position of the other short side of the workpiece by one position sensor, and based on these position difference amounts, Since the amount of horizontal and vertical movement at the time of movement is corrected, the position sensor is not necessary for the hand, and the problem of heat resistance and reliability of the position sensor does not occur even when transferring to the heat treatment apparatus.

Therefore, the transfer mechanism and the transfer process of the substrate cassette between the cooling device and the heat treatment device, which were required in the conventional non-contact alignment method, can be omitted, and the robot hand can be directly stored and taken out of the heat treatment device. The wider the width of the array, the more efficient the clean room can be used, and the tact time can be greatly reduced.

It goes without saying that the centering stage and the alignment process such as the conventional mechanical alignment are also unnecessary, and the alignment difference caused by dust generation, breakage, warpage, etc. of the workpiece does not occur.

Claims (7)

A arm is pivotally pivotally supported and has a radially expandable arm and a hand installed at its tip, from the position at which the work is taken out to the stored position. A transfer robot for transferring, alignment means for adjusting the position and posture of the work supported by the hand, and a short side of one side of the work supported by the hand As a method of conveying a rectangular plank-shaped workpiece by a conveying device having a plurality of position sensors corresponding to The plurality of position sensors are provided at a place other than the hand; The alignment means, Detecting the position and angle of the one short side by the plurality of position sensors; Calculating an amount of position difference with respect to the hand of the workpiece and an angle difference with respect to an arm telescopic arm based on the detected position and angle; Adjusting the posture of the workpiece to be parallel to the arm elastic axis based on the calculated angle difference amount; Detecting a position of the other short side adjacent to the one short side by using at least one position sensor; Calculating a position difference amount with respect to the hand of the workpiece based on the detected position of the other short side; A step of storing the workpiece at a predetermined position by correcting the horizontal and vertical movement of the workpiece by the carrier robot based on the calculated positional differences between the one short side and the other short side; Transfer method of the rectangular plank-shaped workpiece characterized in that it comprises a. The method of claim 1, And a position sensor of at least one of the plurality of position sensors that detects the position and angle of the one short side to detect the position of the other short side adjacent to the one short side. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The short side of one side of the said workpiece | work is a short side located in the hand tip side of a workpiece | work, The conveyance method of the rectangular board-shaped workpiece | work characterized by the above-mentioned. A transport robot having a rotatably pivotally supported arm that is movable in a radial direction and provided at a distal end thereof, the transfer robot configured to transfer the work from the position from which the work is taken out to the stowed position, and to adjust the position and posture of the work supported by the hand; A method of conveying a rectangular plank-shaped workpiece by a conveying apparatus having an alignment means for carrying out and a plurality of position sensors corresponding to one side short side of the workpiece supported by the hand, Longitudinal movement for moving the workpiece supported by the hand in the longitudinal direction along the arm elastic axis, horizontal movement for moving the workpiece in the horizontal direction, and rotational movement for rotating the workpiece by rotation of the arm or hand are possible. To configure The plurality of position sensors are provided at a place other than the hand; The alignment means, Calculating a position difference in the longitudinal direction of the workpiece and an angle difference in the arm stretch axis based on the positions and angles detected by the plurality of position sensors according to the longitudinal movements; Adjusting the posture of the workpiece to be parallel to the arm elastic axis by the rotational movement based on the calculated angle difference amount; Calculating the amount of position difference in the horizontal direction of the workpiece based on the position of the other short side detected by at least one position sensor of the plurality of position sensors according to the transverse movement; And a step of storing the workpiece at a predetermined position by correcting the horizontal and vertical movement amounts of the workpiece by the transfer robot based on the calculated respective position difference amounts in the longitudinal direction and the horizontal direction. How to transport plank work. A transport robot having a rotatably pivotally supported arm that is movable in a radial direction and provided at a distal end thereof, the transfer robot configured to transfer the work from the position from which the work is taken out to the stowed position, and to adjust the position and posture of the work supported by the hand; As a conveying device of a rectangular plank-shaped work by a conveying device having an alignment means for aligning and a plurality of position sensors corresponding to one side short side of the work supported by the hand, The plurality of position sensors are provided at places other than the hand, The said alignment means detects the position and angle of the said one short side by the said plurality of position sensors, and calculates the position difference amount with respect to the said hand of the said workpiece | work and the angle difference amount with respect to an arm elastic axis based on it, and the said workpiece | work The position of the other short side adjacent to the one short side by using at least one position sensor as well as adjusting the posture of the body to be parallel to the arm elastic axis, and calculating the amount of position difference with respect to the hand of the workpiece based thereon. And based on the calculated positional differences between the one short side and the other short side, the horizontal and vertical movements of the workpiece by the carrier robot are corrected to accommodate the workpiece at a predetermined position. Feeding device of the workpiece. The method of claim 5, The alignment means is configured to detect the position of the other short side adjacent to the one short side by at least one position sensor among a plurality of position sensors for detecting the position and angle of the one short side. Device. A transport robot having a rotatably pivotally supported arm that is movable in a radial direction and provided at a distal end thereof, the transfer robot configured to transfer the work from the position from which the work is taken out to the stowed position, and to adjust the position and posture of the work supported by the hand; As a conveying device of a rectangular plank-shaped work by a conveying device having an alignment means for aligning and a plurality of position sensors corresponding to one side short side of the work supported by the hand, The transfer robot is capable of vertical movement for moving the work supported by the hand in the longitudinal direction along the arm elastic axis, horizontal movement for moving the work in the horizontal direction, and rotational movement for rotating the workpiece by rotation of the arm or the hand. Configured to The plurality of position sensors are provided at places other than the hand, The alignment means calculates an amount of positional difference in the longitudinal direction of the workpiece and an angled difference with respect to the arm elastic axis based on the position and angle detected by the plurality of position sensors in accordance with the longitudinal movement. By adjusting the posture of the workpiece so as to be parallel to the arm stretching axis and calculates the amount of position difference in the horizontal direction of the workpiece based on the position of the other short side detected by the at least one position sensor according to the horizontal movement And a rectangular plank-shaped workpiece characterized in that the workpiece is stored at a predetermined position by correcting the horizontal and vertical movement amounts of the workpiece by the carrier robot based on the calculated positional differences in the longitudinal and horizontal directions. Conveying device.