KR20060059906A - Thin plate-supporting body - Google Patents

Abstract

A thin plate-supporting body for supporting ridges produced in a glass substrate (6) for a large-sized liquid crystal display device when the glass substrate (6) bending by its own weight is placed in position. The supporting body supports the ridges at each of rows of pin-shaped supporting members (16, 18). The substrate bends less when placed on the thin plate-supporting body. The thin plate- supporting body may be a fork-shaped end effecter and cassette of a robot.

Description

Thin Plate Support {THIN PLATE-SUPPORTING BODY}

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a support body, a plate body, a rod body, or a combination thereof in which a thin plate-like article bent by its own weight is loaded on a plurality of support members. More specifically, the loading stand for horizontally loading a glass plate, a plastic plate, etc., the cassette which accommodates them, and the fork-shaped end effector which these thin plate materials are loaded and supported when conveying these thin plates using a machine ( Robot hand).

Background Art In recent years, glass substrates used in liquid crystal displays, plasma displays, plasma drive liquid crystal displays, and the like, have been large in size due to the increase in the size of the display device itself and the productivity improvement by taking a large number. Since these glass substrates do not like dust, they should be supported by small members as far as possible. In addition, it has been thinned to 0.7 to 0.4 mm due to light weight, and when it is partially supported by loading it on a supporting member such as a pin in a horizontal state, it is bent by its own weight, and various studies have been made on the support thereof.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 9-80404 discloses a vacuum suction port formed not only on the periphery but also on the central part of a wide stage surface on which a glass substrate is loaded, thereby preventing the glass substrate from rising on the center of the stage. A method for reliably fixing a glass substrate on a plane has been proposed. However, this document does not describe the idea of minimizing the warpage of the glass plate when the stage surface is smaller than the glass substrate.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-109751 discloses that the width of the end effector for loading a glass substrate is made large so as not to come into contact with the tip of the substrate support pocket inside the cassette for storing the glass substrate so as to be close to the length of one side of the glass substrate. In addition, although the end effector is bifurcated, it is considered that the glass substrate does not come into contact with the base of the end effector even when the glass substrate is lowered from the crotch portion. However, a method of preventing the glass substrate from lowering is not proposed.

On the other hand, the bending of the glass plate is a big problem even in a cassette for storing a large number of glass substrates, and in a large-sized cassette for glass substrates in which a side is more than 1000 mm to 2000 mm in recent years, a small pocket is provided on the inner side of the left and right sides thereof. Instead, as shown in the cassette 5 of Fig. 3, a support having a comb-shaped pin 51 attached horizontally and having a length exceeding 200 mm as a base for supporting the substrate provided on the left and right inner side surfaces thereof is shown. Suppression is provided, such as providing a support pin at a plurality of locations including a central portion of the rod-shaped body in the width direction of the glass plate, such as a cassette disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei 11-35089. I'm doing research.

As for the enlargement of such a glass plate, as already described in the said Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 10-109751, it became a state which cannot cope simply by making it into two parts like the loading end effector 1 (FIG. 16). In the drawings, reference numeral 6 denotes a glass substrate, 11 denotes a main portion of the end effector, 14 denotes a synthetic rubber support member, 15 denotes a resin support member, and 21 denotes a robot arm.

In addition, depending on the type of large cassette, the base for supporting the substrate having the comb-shaped pins as well as in the case of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-35089 is referred to as the inner side as well as the left and right sides of the cassette inner side surface. In the case where the flat stage described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-80404 is used as an end effector, the cassette disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-35089 is not only interfered with the pins therein. In contact with the support pin (corresponding to the base) near the center, the glass substrate cannot be inserted all the way. In addition, in order to reduce the influence of the weight increase due to the enlargement of the glass substrate, the reduction of the weight of the end effector itself is also expected.

The inventor of the present application is a thin plate support on which a thin plate bent by its own weight is mounted, and in a thin plate support made of a plurality of support members and a base having the upper portion thereof, the thin plate forms a plurality of hills to bend. The present invention has found that by having a supporting member arranged and a means for reducing the amount of warpage of the thin plate, the amount of warpage of the thin plate can be greatly reduced.

As suggested in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-109751, a thin plate such as a glass substrate is not bent to have one curved portion or one acid portion, but the present inventors have described a plurality of acid portions in the thin plate. By forming it, it was found that the height of the peak, that is, the amount of warpage can be reduced, and also a means for reducing the height of the plurality of peaks, that is, a means of reducing the amount of warpage of the thin plate.

First, in order to form a plurality of peaks, for example, if a plastic plate of about 1 m square and a thickness of about 1 mm is placed on a parallel bar for gymnastics having a distance of about 60 cm, two peaks are formed by bending. Even when a rigid material such as a glass substrate is thin, when it is stored on nine upright bars of the same height, such as the cassette proposed in FIG. 1 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-35089, nine peaks or three ridges Formed a dog and broke it. An object of the present invention is to provide a support capable of keeping the thin plate flat as much as possible by further providing a means for reducing the amount of warp to the thin plate bent in its own weight by forming a plurality of peaks and the like.

One means for reducing the amount of warpage is to arrange a plurality of support members so that the tops of the support members have different heights from the reference horizontal plane of the thin plate support. For example, a plurality of peaks are formed by changing the heights of the tops of the peaks, the slopes, and the members supporting the curved portions. It is not necessary to support all the height here, and since thin plates, such as a glass substrate, have some rigidity, for example, there also exists a means of supporting only the said slope part by single or multiple support members. At this time, the top of the support member may be inclined along the inclination of the thin plate. Here, the reference horizontal plane may be a horizontal plane including a part of a base such as an upper surface or a lower surface of the base, or a horizontal plane including a part of the base installation portion, as long as the reference horizontal plane is a constant horizontal plane for determining the height of the top portions of the plurality of support members. The reference plane can be set arbitrarily.

In the present invention, there are no limitations on the shape if there are a plurality of acid portions formed by the thin plate. For example, in order to form the peaks of the plurality of independent peak-shaped thin plates aligned, the supporting members are arranged so as to support the tops of the peaks of each peak. In addition, in order to form a wave-shaped ridge group consisting of a plurality of linear ridges, which are a kind of ridges, in order to support the plurality of ridges, the supporting members are arranged in a column shape so that the support member spacing in the thermal phase is wider than that of the hot. . Alternatively, in order to form a surface group of circular ridges having a circular wave pattern shape on the surface, the support members may be arranged in a concentric circle shape, and the space between supporting members on each circumference may be wider than that between each circumference.

In the case where there are a plurality of ridges, the curvature can be made small even if it is a thin plate having a large area. The direction in which the linear ridges are formed may be arbitrarily set such that the base is viewed from one direction in parallel, orthogonal, or diagonal.

The support member of the present invention is a point-shaped part or a part that supports a thin plate with a small area. The shape may be provided with any supporting member such as a button shape, a hemispherical shape, or the like on a button shape, a cylinder shape, a hemispherical shape, a square plate shape, a long side bar piece, or an upright bar shape. This support member may be a small support for simply stacking a thin plate, or a vacuum suction port may be formed in part.

The means for reducing the amount of warpage may be characterized in that the support member group in which one ridge portion is arranged in a plurality of rows. Herein, the plurality of rows may be on parallel lines or on straight lines that form a small angle, or may be arranged on a plurality of gentle curves. In this case, as a means of further reducing the amount of warpage, it is possible to arrange the support member to lower the height of the ridge line by widening the interval of a plurality of rows of the support members supporting one ridge portion. Here, the support members may be arranged adjacent to each other in the heat, may be arranged alternately, or may be the same interval or different interval on the same column.

Further, the means for reducing the amount of warpage may be higher than or equal to that of the other rows in the top of any of the supporting members in the plurality of rows. In particular, when two side ridges are formed so that the inner part of the thin plate is drooped downward, the supporting member positioned in the outermost column in the column direction among the two rows of supporting members on the base for supporting the thin plate is raised, or, on the contrary, If it is too low, a means for lowering the outer support and raising the inner support to shallow the grain stem, or one or both of the front and the end of the row, even in the same row, may be raised or dropped. Means for reducing the amount of warpage of both sides, support member driving means for arbitrarily changing the height of the support member in accordance with the thickness and the warpage of the sheet, and means for adjusting the inclination angle of the sheet to the top of the support member Can be.

It is also possible to have at least one adsorption means between the support members. Thereby, a thin plate can be forcibly attracted to a support member, and the injury of a glass plate can be prevented. In particular, when the supporting members are of the same height, when the thin plates are pulled by installing the supporting members with the suction means between the two rows of supporting members, the height of the top of the ridge is pressed, and the height of the grain stem is increased, thereby reducing the warpage. It is preferable because it can be done.

In addition, the means for reducing the amount of warp may support the ridge and be arranged in a direction orthogonal to the ridge direction, and may be a rod-shaped support member that is smaller than the ridge width. The top surface of the rod-shaped support member may be horizontal or may be aligned with the curved surface of the thin plate forming the ridge. That is, the upper surface of the rod-shaped support member may be inclined in accordance with the rear surface of the thin plate which is bent and inclined.

The thin plate support body which made the height difference of several mountain part or ridge part small in the thin plate by the above means can be used as a fork-shaped end effector for conveyers. The number of bases of the fork-shaped end effector is 2 to 3 or more, and each base may be arranged on the same plane or on different planes of different heights.

In the case where the base of the end effector is three or more, at least one of them may have one row of support members, and the action of the support members may be a simple loading stand or a loading stand and may have a suction means. The base of the end effector may have a long plate shape, an angled rod shape, a round rod shape, an angled pipe shape, a round pipe shape, or the like, and may be the same or different in thickness from the tip and the bottom.

In the comparative example shown in Fig. 16, a large glass substrate cassette 5 in which a comb-shaped pin 51 of a thin plate support is protruded laterally on both inner sides thereof is combined with a conventional V-shaped end effector. Since the distance between the two base outer sides of the end effector cannot be sufficiently widened, the glass substrate is formed on one ridge as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, the inventor of the present application forms a plurality of thin plate supporting horizontal protrusions in at least one of the side portions of the bases of the end effectors, thereby arranging the supporting members in a column shape on the bases and the plurality of low heights. Succeeded in expressing the ridge warp of the ridge, and thus could develop a new end effector for thin plate conveyance. In addition, adjusting the length of the horizontal projection to the size of the cassette is effective as a means of reducing the warpage.

Here, the horizontal projection is a plurality of comb-shaped pins in the horizontal plane in the thin sheet storage cassette when the end effector is inserted into the thin plate storage cassette and stopped at the position where the thin plate is loaded. It is preferable that the thickness is sufficiently smaller than the distance, and the thickness of the horizontal projection is sufficiently smaller than the distance between the shelf ends of the cassette. As a result, the end effector can freely move in the cassette, and it is possible to carry in and out of the cassette and the processing chamber without disturbing a large thin plate with little warpage. In this case, the thin plate supporting horizontal projection may be flush with the upper surface height of the effector base, or may be a small plate piece attached to the effector base.

Next, the inventors of the present application use the end effector of the present invention as one part and mount it on a normal thin plate conveying robot having a computer, thereby using a computer as orbital computing means and driving means and a sensor for detecting a position. It is possible to control the trajectory of the end effector so that the thin plate bent by its own weight does not contact the inner surface of the large cassette or other glass substrates, and to carry and load the sheet at the target place. The system has also been realized. The conveying machine which mounts the end effector of this invention is not limited to the said robot, but can be applied to all the machines which convey thin plate bent by self weight, such as a multi-joint robot, an arm conveyer, a conveyor conveyer, and the like.

In the present invention, any one or both of the rubber support member and the plastic support member may be disposed at the required position on the end effector as well as the upper surface of the horizontal projection for the thin plate support. Further, by arranging a plurality of supporting members having a vacuum suction port, the thin plate may be fixed to the end effector, or the state of warpage may be controlled.

In addition, although the end effector of this invention keeps horizontally and mounts a thin plate, it is preferable to carry out the conveyance direction front side a little low in order to avoid that a thin plate flutters in the wind during conveyance. In addition, when a thin plate is adsorbed and fixed to an end effector by a known means, the thin plate may be held vertically or inverted.

As another example of the thin plate support of the present invention, there is a cassette in which a thin plate is stacked on at least one shelf end for each sheet. That is, the support members arranged in the plurality of rows or the rod-shaped support members are erected and mounted on a beam or a flat plate, and a plurality of peaks or ridges are formed on the thin plate by the means of the present invention, and they are warped. Reduce the amount. Here, when forming a ridge, the direction may be orthogonal to, or parallel to, the meandering direction of the thin plate. It is preferable to observe and measure the state where a thin plate is mounted in the support member arrange | positioned on a plurality of rows, and it bends a some ridgeline part by experiment, but you may calculate and calculate | require by material dynamic calculation.

In the case where the thin plate support of the present invention is an end effector, since it is large and needs to be loaded and carried promptly, it is preferable to form mainly using a material having a high inelasticity such as a carbon fiber reinforcement material. It is preferable to use pitch-based carbon fiber with the highest inelasticity among fibers. Similarly, in the case where the thin plate support of the present invention is a thin plate storage cassette, it is preferable to use the above-mentioned carbon fiber reinforced material or glass fiber reinforced material of light weight and high strength in order to convey the cassette which accommodated many glass plates. Moreover, in order to reduce weight, it is preferable to process and use these fiber-reinforced materials in pipe form. As the support member, there are a hard resin support member, a synthetic rubber support member, a support member having an adsorption port, and the like.

In addition, the thin plate referred to in the present invention is not only a glass substrate for liquid crystal display, but also a plastic substrate, a glass substrate for plasma display, a glass substrate for plasma driving liquid crystal display, a glass substrate for an organic electroluminescent display, a glass substrate for an inorganic electroluminescent display, or a metal plate. The known thin plate bent by its own weight is shown.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is an example of a sheet processing system provided with a conveying machine having an end effector which is a thin plate support of the present invention, and a cassette for storing a glass substrate which is a thin plate support of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an embodiment of the present invention and is a plan view showing the end effector in a state where a glass substrate is inserted into a cassette.

3 is another embodiment of the present invention and is a plan view showing the end effector in a state where a glass substrate is inserted into a cassette.

4 (a) and 4 (b) are vertical cross-sectional views each showing a state in which the glass substrate is horizontally supported by the end effector of the present invention, and (c) is an end effector having a narrow base spacing between two end effectors. The vertical cross section of the comparative example which supported the glass substrate.

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view of the end effector of an embodiment using the support member of the present invention (a) is the case of three bases, (b) is the case of four bases.

6 is a cross-sectional view of an end effector according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is an example in which the types of support members and their arrangements are changed.

7 is a cross-sectional view of various bases in which a support member having a suction hole in a middle row and two support members are arranged on both sides of a support according to the present invention, (a) a base being each rod, and (b) a base being angled Pipe, (c) is an example where the base is an H-shaped material.

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view of various bases in which a support member made of resin is arranged in a middle row and two rows of synthetic rubber support members are arranged on both sides of a support of the present invention, (d) is a C-type material, and (e) is a support member. (F) is an example provided with the support member of the top part which has adsorption and inclined, and has the plate piece provided.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of an example in which a glass plate having a high support member and a low support member attached to the end effector having two bases of the present invention with less drooping down the left and right sides is mounted.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of an end effector having two bases of the present invention, and is an example in which a plate-shaped angled pipe having two rows of supporting members having different heights is used as the base.

Fig. 11 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the end effector of the present invention supports a glass substrate in a glass substrate storage cassette having a conventional comb-shaped base.

12 is a perspective view showing an example of the cassette of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of the cassette of FIG. 12 and is an example of storing a glass substrate.

14 is a perspective view of another example of the glass substrate storage cassette of the present invention.

Fig. 15 is an elevation view of a glass substrate storage cassette of the present invention having a plurality of bases in a comb-tooth shape inside.

16 is a plan view of an example in which a conventional end effector is combined with a conventional large cassette.

Below, the example of the best embodiment of this invention is demonstrated based on FIG. In addition, the following embodiment does not limit the scope of the present invention. That is, those skilled in the art can adopt other embodiments within the scope of the principles of the present invention.

1 shows a chemical treatment system for a liquid crystal substrate as an example of the thin plate processing system of the present invention. In the processing system of this embodiment, the robot-type conveying machine 2 having the end effector 1 mounted on the arm 21 as a hand pulls out the thin glass substrate 6 from the cassette 5 to process such as development. It enters into the processing apparatus 4. Next, after completion of the processing, the robot transfer machine 2 takes the glass substrate 6 out of the processing apparatus 4, conveys it to the cassette 5, and loads it on the shelf end in the cassette 7. This cassette is also a thin plate support of the present invention described in FIG.

Fig. 2 is an embodiment of the end effector for thin plate conveyance of the present invention, and a plan view showing the end effector 1 having the horizontal projections 12 inserted under the glass substrate in the cassette 5; to be. Each of the two bases 11 was formed into an almost rectangular shape having a long shape, and five horizontal projections 12 were provided on the outer side of the bases 11, respectively. On the surface of each base 11, there is one synthetic rubber support member 14 to each horizontal projection 12, three resin support members 15 on the inner side of the base 11, and a vacuum suction hole ( 13) were attached, and a sensor 17 (reflective sensor in this example) for detecting the cassette 5 and the glass substrate 6 was attached to the bottom of each of the main parts of the effector 11. . When the upper surfaces of the two bases 11 at the same height are used as reference planes, the heights of the respective supporting members 13, 14, and 15 are all the same.

Before the present embodiment, in order to fit the large cassette 5 in which the comb-shaped pin 51 is long, the support member 14 or the support member 15 is disposed only on two rectangular bases 11 to form a glass substrate. Even if it mounted on the end effector 1, although it was only one mountain like FIG.4 (c), the horizontal protrusion part 12 provided with the support member 14 was provided, and the comb-shaped pin 51 was removed from the tip. By protruding to the inner side, the glass substrate formed two ridges on the row of the support member 14 and the row of the support member 15 and the support member 13, and the amount of warpage was greatly reduced.

In addition, since the horizontal protrusion 12 and the comb-shaped pins 51 interfere with each other at the same height, when the end effector 1 is inserted into the cassette 5, between the comb-shaped pins 51 in the vertical direction. It inserts and stops between the horizontal directions of the comb-tooth pin 51, and then moves upwards to lift the glass substrate. This stacking operation results in a glass substrate having a central portion formed in a valley shape on the comb-shaped pin 51 of the cassette 5, which forms a low ridge on the base 11 of the end effector, thereby greatly reducing the amount of warpage. It becomes a flat shape. When removing the glass substrate from the cassette, the end effector 1 horizontally moves between the comb-shaped pins 51 in the vertical direction. When inserting the glass substrate into the cassette, this operation may be reversed.

As a specific example of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the end effector 1 for accommodating the glass substrate 6 in the cassette 5 was designed and manufactured to the following dimension. The material is a pitch-based carbon fiber composite material.

<Inner dimension of the cassette 5>

Frontage 1126 mm x height 900 mm x depth 1300 mm,

<Dimensions and Number of Comb-Shaped Pins 51 of Substrate Supports>

Comb-shaped pins: 24 pins of length 233 mm x width 15 mm x height 14 mm, with synthetic rubber caps at the ends.

Spacing (inner dimensions) of each comb-shaped pin: 22 mm,

Board support: Arrange and install 11 sets vertically on both inner and inner sides

<Glass substrate for liquid crystal display>

Dimensions: 1100mm in width X 1250mm in height X thickness 0.6mm, downward bending in cassette: 13mm

<End effector>

Base 11: width 54 mm x thickness 10 mm x length 1037 mm, two,

Horizontal projection 12: width 30 mm x length 28 mm x thickness 5 mm,

End effector base part: 640mm in width X approximately 300mm in depth,

Inner spacing of two bases: arranged in parallel at 456 mm.

<Arrangement of support member>

The arrangement position is shown in FIG. A synthetic rubber support member 14, a synthetic resin support member 15, and a suction support member 13 having a vacuum suction port were disposed, and a sensor 17 was provided at the bottom of the effector.

Effector base inner support member row spacing: 472 mm,

Distance between two effector bases (on horizontal projections) Support member hot distance: 608 mm.

When the glass substrate 6 is supported at the center portion thereof by using the end effector 1 of the embodiment shown in Fig. 2, the glass substrate 6 has two mountain shapes as shown in Fig. 2B. The height difference (hb) of the uppermost part and the lowest part was 4.3 mm. Further, the end effector 1 itself has a warp of 3.1 mm and a total of 7.5 mm, and the horizontal protrusions 12 are formed of glass substrates with respect to a 22 mm gap between the upper and lower comb-shaped pins 51 of the cassette 5. 6) can be loaded and these pins can be exchanged without any trouble, and the glass substrate 6 can be carried in and out.

Comparative Example

In FIG. 2, the support member 14 was moved to the outer side on the base 11, without forming the horizontal projection part 12, and the end effector shown in the figure was produced. Therefore, the space | interval of the row which the support member 14 arranges on the outer side of the two bases 11 becomes small, and is 552 mm. As a result of loading the glass substrate 6 thereon, the glass substrate 6 was bent to one peak as shown in Fig. 4 (c) and floated at the position of the support member 15. The height difference (hc) of the uppermost part and the lowest part was 39 mm, The warp of the end effector 1 itself was 3.8 mm. Therefore, since the upper and lower pins 51 are 22 mm, carrying in and out of the cassette 5 cannot be performed.

Thus, as can be seen from the results of the above examples and comparative examples, the warp of the glass substrate 6 could be reduced from 39 mm to 4.3 mm to almost one-ninth by using the end effector of this example. In addition, since a large number of glass substrates 6 can be stored in a large cassette, it is possible to contribute to productivity improvement and cost reduction of the liquid crystal display.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the synthetic rubber agent provided on the two bases 11 of the rectangular end effector 1 with the short comb-shaped support pin 51 which is the base for glass substrate support in the cassette 5 is short. The glass substrate 6 is an example in which the glass substrate 6 is bent in two mountain shapes by forming a ridge on a column composed of a row of the support members 14 and a support member 13 made of a resin and a support member 13 having a suction hole. Also with this end effector 1, the warpage of the glass substrate is greatly reduced compared to the case of one acid.

4 (a) and 4 (b) are vertical cross-sectional views showing a state in which the end effector 1 of the embodiment of the present invention is supported horizontally with the glass substrate 6 supported thereon, and the glass substrate 6 is divided into two lower sections. It is bent in a mountain shape, and the elevation difference (ha, hb) is all smaller than the elevation difference (hc) of FIG. Here, in Fig. 4 (b), it is a cross section perpendicular to the extending direction of the end effector 1 shown in Fig. 2, and is mounted on the base 11 of the end effector and the supporting members 14, 15 of the same height thereon. The glass substrate 6 is bent in two mountain shapes. 4A shows a row of high supporting members 16 on the horizontal projections 12 provided on the outer side of the two bases 11 and a low supporting member 18 provided on the inner side of the base 11. The glass substrate forms a bent state by the heat of). In the case of Fig. 4A, the height difference becomes smaller than in the case of (b) by means of reducing the warpage of the present invention that the height of the supporting member is changed, so that ha &lt;

5 is an example of a thin plate support on which a glass substrate is mounted on a plurality of bases 11 of the present invention, and is a cross-sectional view perpendicular to the extending direction of the base 11. FIG. 5A illustrates an example in which the end effector 1 includes three bases 11, and FIG. 5B illustrates an example in which the base 11 is four. In this case, the height of the supporting member is fixed to the base 11, and the bending of the base 11 is changed by changing the height of the base 11 itself, which is effective for supporting the glass substrate around one side or more than 2m.

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view perpendicular to the base extending direction of the thin plate support of the present invention, in which a glass substrate 6 having three sides 11 with a glass plate 6 having a side exceeding 1800 mm is loaded. At the base 11 of the central portion, the synthetic rubber support members 14 are arranged at the same height in two rows, and the rows of the support members 13 having the suction holes therebetween are arranged at the same height. The support member 13 is provided with a means for attracting and attracting the vertices of the ridges of the curved glass plate 6 from behind, and for reducing the warpage, that is, the vertices are not raised. Next, on the base 11 of both sides, a normal support member 14 is arranged in the outer row, and a row of the support member 13 having the suction port is arranged in the inner row, so that the glass substrate 6 floats thereon. In order to prevent it from adhering and attracting | pulling, and at the same time to prevent the left and right ends from falling off, the means which reduce a curvature is also implemented here.

FIG. 7 shows an example in which two rows of the support members 14 and rows of the support members 13 are provided on the base 11 of the present invention.

(a) is made of each rod having a simple base 11, the simplest structure, relatively light specific gravity, high elastic modulus, a ceramic material, a carbon fiber reinforcing material, and a glass fiber reinforcing material. The base 11 may be a thin plate.

(b) is used for large end effectors because the base 11 is an angled pipe and is light in the middle. The material may be a metal such as aluminum alloy or steel, but is preferably produced using a carbon fiber reinforcing material having a high modulus of elasticity. Angled pipes can be reduced in weight while maintaining high rigidity.

(c) The base may be an H-type material, and the material may be a metal such as aluminum alloy or steel, but it is preferable to fabricate using a high elastic modulus ceramic material, a carbon fiber reinforcing material, a glass fiber reinforcing material, etc., and contribute to weight reduction. .

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view of various bases in which a support member made of resin is arranged in the middle row and two rows of synthetic rubber support members are arranged on both sides of the support of the present invention, and Fig. 8 (d) is a C type material, and the material is aluminum alloy. Although metal, such as steel, may be sufficient, it is preferable to manufacture using the high elastic modulus ceramic material, carbon fiber reinforced material, glass fiber reinforced material, etc., and it contributes to weight reduction and cost reduction.

(e) is an example of an angled pipe having a plate piece 19 provided with supporting members 14 and 15, and manufactured by combining a ceramic material, a carbon fiber reinforcing material, a glass fiber reinforcing material, or a combination of high elastic modulus. It is desirable to contribute to weight reduction and cost reduction.

(f) is an example of the base 11 having an adsorption port and having a support member 13 inclined top, which is long horizontally in the direction of the ground and effective to lead the slanted bending of the sheet to the intended state. Do.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view showing an example in which the end effector of Fig. 3 is improved, and corresponds to Fig. 4 (a) which is a vertical sectional view in the extending direction of this end effector. That is, the glass substrate is bent into two mountain shapes by the row of the high support member 16 on the outside of the two bases 11 and the row of the low support member 18 provided on the inside of the base 11. In this case, as described above by comparing Figs. 4A and 4B by means for reducing the warpage of the present invention that the height of the supporting member is changed, the height difference can be made smaller than in the case of Fig. 3. Could.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view illustrating an example in which the end effector of FIG. 9 is further improved for a large glass plate. FIG. That is, five pieces of plate pieces 19 are attached to the two bases 11, and an example of the supporting member 16 having a height of 5 mm on the outside and the lower supporting member 18 having a height of 4 mm are provided on the inner side. The glass substrate is bent into two mountain shapes by an example (the hot distance of each support member 18 on two bases is 600 mm). In this case, in addition to the means for reducing the warp of the present invention that the height of the support member is changed, the means for reducing the warp by increasing the hot distance of the support member on one base is 300 mm. The height difference of the 1800 mm x 2200 mm x 0.6 mm glass plate of the larger board could be made smaller than about 10 mm, and it could load. The end effector of this figure can be used in combination with the cassette of this invention shown in FIG. 12, and the cassette proposed by Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 11-35089.

Fig. 11 is a cross-sectional view perpendicular to the extending direction of the end effector of the scene in which the glass substrate 6 is loaded on the end effector 1 of the present invention in the cassette 5 with the comb-shaped pin 51. Figs. On the comb-like pin 51 in the cassette 5, the glass substrate 6 is largely curved in a valley shape. This end effector is characterized by a lower support member 18 arranged on the upper inside of each of the two bases, and a high support member 16 arranged on the upper side of the horizontal projection 12 provided on the outer side, and in the case of FIG. In comparison, the left and right ends of the glass substrate 6 are lowered downward. In addition, in the example of this figure, the top surface of the support member 16 and the support member 18 is designed so that the ridge part may intentionally incline, and is matched with the inclination.

12 is a perspective view when the thin plate support of the present invention is a glass substrate storage cassette 7. The glass substrate is taken out from the left front side or the right inner side of FIG. Three sets of two supporting members are arranged on the plurality of beams 52, which are provided at the base of the cassette 7, and rods having the resin supporting members 15 mounted on the heads are vertically arranged. Three sets of two rows are arranged. The stacked glass substrates were formed with ridges in the direction perpendicular to the beam 52 in the direction of taking out and placing them, so that the amount of warpage was remarkably small even in the cassette. The cassette of this figure is effective for accommodating a flexible glass substrate having one side exceeding 1 m or having a thickness of 0.6 mm or less.

Fig. 13 is a sectional view of Fig. 12 as seen from the direction in which the thin plate support of the present invention is a glass substrate accommodating cassette 7 and the glass substrate is inserted and taken out. Glass substrates are formed by forming three ridges on the supporting members 15 arranged in two rows at the same height on the bar piece 53.

Fig. 14 is a perspective view of the glass substrate accommodating cassette 7 around 1m in width of the front surface of the present invention, and the cassette 5 used in Fig. 2 is modified as follows. That is, a cap-like support member 15 of the present invention having an inclined downward direction toward the center of the cassette is attached to the tip of the comb-shaped pin 51 on which the glass substrate 6 is loaded. The comb-shaped pin 51 of length 350mm was newly provided in the center of an inner surface as 233 mm of length newly.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view of the glass substrate storage cassette 5 of FIG. 14 in which the comb-shaped pins 51 are vertically arranged at the center of the inner surface. The comb-shaped pin 51 of length 350mm was newly provided in the center of the inner surface. With the improvement of the present invention, the amount of warpage of the glass substrate was bent into two acids, and the amount of warpage decreased.

16 is a plan view of a comparative example in which a conventional large cassette is combined with a conventional end effector. This end effector was narrow, and when loading a glass plate, it became one mountain as shown in FIG.4 (c), and the height difference was also large.

As mentioned above, although demonstrated based on the illustration, this invention is not limited to the above-mentioned example, It can change suitably within the range as described in a claim.

According to the present invention, when conveying or stacking a thin plate such as a large glass substrate for a liquid crystal display that is warped by its own weight, the plurality of support members are arranged on the base such that the thin plate forms and bends a plurality of peaks or ridges. The amount of warpage could be reduced. Further, when a plurality of ridges are not formed only by providing a plurality of rows of support members on two long bases 11, horizontal projections 12 are formed outside the base 11, When the row of support members 14 were arranged thereon, and the support members 13 and 15 were attached to the inner upper portion of the base 11, ridges were generated on the glass substrates on the two bases 11, respectively. Further, the amount of warpage could be further reduced by widening the hot distance of the supporting member supporting one ridge.

Also, if there is a difference in the draping down even in the glass substrate supported to form the plurality of the ridges or the ridges, if the height of the row of the supporting member disposed on the larger side is higher than that of the supporting member in the other row, the draping is lowered. This lift raises and lowers the level.

In the case of a large glass substrate having a side of about 2m, the base of the end effector is often 4 or more.However, the end effector provided with the protrusion on the outside of the present invention may be provided with two or more horizontal protrusions by installing the protrusion on the main part of the effector. It can be reduced to three, contributing to cost reduction.

In addition, when the thin plate support of the present invention is a cassette for a glass substrate, the amount of warpage of the glass substrate can be reduced, so that the number of shelves which are the base of the cassette can be increased, productivity can be improved, or the number of shelves is the same. The height of the cassette can be made low, and the weight can be reduced and the cost can be realized.

In addition, the thin plate held in the end effector according to the present invention may be not only a glass substrate for liquid crystal display but also various thin plate-like objects such as a glass substrate for plasma display, a plastic plate, and a metal plate.

Claims (12)

A thin plate support on which a thin plate bent due to its own weight is mounted, comprising: a thin plate support having a plurality of support members and at least one base provided thereon, A support member disposed such that the thin plate forms a plurality of peaks and bends; and And a means for reducing the amount of warpage of said thin plate. The thin plate support according to claim 1, wherein the means for reducing the amount of warp includes a top of the support member at a different height from the reference horizontal plane of the thin plate support. The thin plate support according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the means for reducing the amount of warp is inclined with respect to a horizontal plane of the contact surface of the support member with the thin plate. The thin plate support according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein at least one of the support members has adsorption means. The said thin plate is formed by the said support member in any one of Claims 1-4 which formed the some ridge part, and arrange | positioned one of the said ridge parts in 2 or more rows, It is characterized by the above-mentioned. Sheet support. The method of claim 1, wherein the thin plate forms a ridge, The means for reducing the amount of warpage is a thin plate support, characterized in that the top of the support member at the same height from the reference horizontal plane of the thin plate support. The thin plate support according to claim 5 or 6, wherein three or more ridges of the thin plate are formed. 8. The thin plate support according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein at least one of the support members according to any one of claims 5 to 7 has adsorption means. The thin plate support according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the thin plate support is an end effector for a thin plate transfer machine. The robot for thin plate conveyance provided with the end effector of Claim 9. The thin plate support according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the thin plate support is a thin sheet storage cassette. The thin sheet processing system provided with the thin plate support in any one of Claims 1-8.

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