KR20070107907A - Automatic guided system - Google Patents

Abstract

An automatic guided system is provided to prevent error due to a position error between a charging terminal and a terminal for power to maximize operation efficiency of an entire production line. An automatic guided system(50) includes a sensing device, a reading device, a power supplying device, a driving device, and a controlling device. The sensing device senses information of a code equipped in an automated guided vehicle. The reading device reads a location of the automated guided vehicle by using the sensed information transmitted from the sensing device. The power supplying device supplies power for charging to the automated guided vehicle. The driving device moves a terminal for power(52) of the power supplying device front and rear or from side to side. The controlling device controls the driving device, so that the terminal for power is connected with a terminal of the automated guided vehicle, and controls the power supplying device, so that power for charging is supplied to the terminal for charging of the automated guided vehicle.

Description

Unmanned Carrier Charging Device {Automatic Guided System}

1 is an exemplary view showing an example in which an unmanned carrier is used in a liquid crystal display processing line in a clean room.

2 is an external configuration diagram of a conventional unmanned transport vehicle.

Figure 3a is an embodiment external configuration of the unmanned carrier charging device according to the present invention.

Figure 3b is a view showing the internal configuration of an embodiment of an unmanned carrier charging device according to the present invention.

4 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of an unmanned carrier vehicle applied to the present invention.

5 is an exemplary view showing a state of charging power to an unmanned carrier using the unmanned carrier charging device according to the present invention.

Figure 6 is another exemplary view showing a state of charging power to the unmanned carrier using the unmanned carrier charging device according to the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings>

30: unmanned return vehicle 34: charging terminal

34-1: Terminal 34-2: Barcode

50: unmanned carrier charging device 51: detection sensor

52: power supply terminal 53: moving part

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a charging device, and more particularly, to an unmanned carrier charging device capable of charging an unmanned vehicle (AGV) for moving a cassette containing various substrates in a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a semiconductor processing line. .

In general, a liquid crystal display (hereinafter referred to as "LCD") is a typical flat panel display that displays an image by adjusting an amount of light beam transmission to correspond to an image signal. In particular, LCDs are becoming more and more widespread due to light weight, thinness, and low power consumption. As such, LCDs are used as display devices for office automation devices and notebook computers. have.

On the other hand, the liquid crystal panel of the liquid crystal display device is a thin film transistor substrate (TFT substrate) (hereinafter referred to simply as a 'TFT substrate') receiving a driving signal, a color filter substrate (C / F substrate) including a color filter layer (hereinafter, Simply referred to as a 'C / F substrate' and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the thin film transistor substrate and the color filter substrate.

The manufacturing process of the liquid crystal display device having the above structure is largely divided into three processes, a substrate manufacturing process, a liquid crystal panel manufacturing process, and a module process.

First, the substrate manufacturing process is divided into a process of manufacturing a TFT substrate using a cleaned glass substrate and a process of manufacturing a C / F substrate, each of which comprises a signal line and a plurality of thin films on the lower glass substrate. Refers to a process for manufacturing a transistor and a pixel electrode, and a C / F substrate manufacturing process refers to a process for sequentially manufacturing a black matrix, a color filter layer, and a common electrode (ITO) on an upper glass substrate.

Next, the liquid crystal panel process is a process of manufacturing a liquid crystal panel by bonding a TFT substrate and a C / F substrate and injecting a liquid crystal therebetween, wherein the liquid crystal panel process is again an alignment film forming process, a rubbing process, and a cell gap. It consists of many unit processes such as a cell gap forming process, an assembly process, a cell cutting process, a liquid crystal injection process, and a polarizing film attachment process.

Finally, the module process is a process of connecting the liquid crystal panel and the signal processing circuit part, and the module process is also made of a number of unit processes.

On the other hand, the manufacturing process of the liquid crystal display device consisting of a number of unit processes as described above is generally performed in a clean room, a plurality of substrates that have been completed in any one process equipment is once loaded in a cassette (Casset) It is then transported to another process equipment in the clean room by an Automatic Guided Vehicle (AGV).

In other words, an unmanned transport vehicle is used to supply substrates used in the LCD manufacturing process to various process equipments. Unlike the general vehicles, the unmanned transport vehicle is an electric energy source as a power source considering environmental pollution prevention in a clean room. Use

1 is an exemplary view showing an example in which an unmanned transport vehicle is used in a liquid crystal display process line in a clean room, and FIG. 2 is an external configuration diagram of a conventional unmanned transport vehicle.

That is, as shown in Figure 1, the process line (clean room) of the conventional liquid crystal display device is a means for moving the cassette containing the substrate to the various process equipment 20, each process equipment required for each process equipment Unmanned carrier 9, rail 40 composed of spot marks 41 installed on the floor of the clean room for use as a recognition means for the movement of the unmanned carrier and a plurality of cassettes for managing It is configured to include a stocker (10).

Each of the process equipments 20 are installed in front of the rail 40 formed of a spot mark, and the driverless transport vehicle 9 moves each process equipment 20 along the rail 40. It serves to transport the cassette required for each process equipment (20).

That is, the unmanned transport vehicle 9 stops by moving to the position of each process equipment 20 on the rail 40 and then loads the cassette on which the substrate is loaded into each process equipment, or each Unloading from the process equipment.

To this end, as shown in FIG. 2, the unmanned transport vehicle 9 is provided with a robot arm 1, and the cassette arms loaded on the unmanned transport vehicle 9 are drawn out by the robot arm to process the respective equipments. Loaded into field 20. Each process equipment 20 then performs a process on the substrate loaded in the cassette transferred from the unmanned transport vehicle 9, the substrate is completed is loaded again in the cassette and then by the unmanned transport vehicle (9) It is moved to the next process equipment (20).

In this case, the unmanned transport vehicle 9 is for unmanned transfer of cassettes to the various process equipments 20 in a clean room, and prevents collision with each process equipment 20 and facilities in the clean room. To this end, various sensors, buttons, and the like are mounted as shown in FIG. 2.

That is, the unmanned carrier 9 is a robot arm 1 for loading and unloading a cassette into the process equipment, collision detection sensors for detecting a collision with various obstacles, impact, as shown in FIG. Bumper (2) for emergency stop in case of emergency, emergency stop switch (3) for emergency stop in case of impact, charging terminal (4) for charging power required for unmanned transport vehicle, emergency stop button for emergency stop ( 5) and a frame for mounting the various components, although not shown in the drawing, detecting a steering wheel and a spot mark of the rail installed on a lower surface of the frame. It further includes a spark mark detection sensor for.

At this time, the collision detection sensor, the position sensor 6 for determining the position of the unmanned carrier, the optical sensor 7 for detecting the contact with the various process equipment and obstacle detection for detecting other obstacles The sensor 8 etc. are used.

In addition, a control unit (IC) for controlling the various sensors and components inside the unmanned transport vehicle (9), a driving unit for driving the steering wheel and the robot arm (1) under the control of the control unit and necessary A storage unit for storing various kinds of information is provided.

In addition, the storage unit stores a work map of the unmanned vehicle 9, which is a program that sets a path and work contents to be moved by the unmanned vehicle 9, and is created by an administrator and then unmanned. It is stored in the storage unit of the carrier vehicle 9 and executed by the controller. That is, the work map stores information on the spot mark 41 on the rail 40 to which the unmanned transport vehicle 9 should move and work information to be performed, so that the control unit is located at the bottom of the clean room. The information of the installed spat mark 41 is read by the spat mark detection sensor and moved along the spat mark 41 set in the work map, and the cassette is loaded or unloaded into the preset process equipment 20.

On the other hand, the unmanned carrier 9 is using electric energy as a power source in consideration of environmental pollution prevention in a clean room as described above, for this purpose, the unmanned carrier 9 is a rechargeable battery (Battery) It is built-in and the charging terminal 4 is provided in the outside. That is, the unmanned carrier 9 may be repeatedly charged from the charging device at a predetermined point to maintain the power of a predetermined level or more.

In this case, in order to eliminate time loss due to the charging of the rechargeable battery, charging of the unmanned carrier 9 is performed when the cassette is transferred to the process equipment 20.

On the other hand, in order to charge the unmanned carrier, the charging device 15 is supplied with power for supplying power to the charging terminal of the unmanned carrier when the unmanned carrier is loading or unloading a cassette into the process equipment 20. The terminal is mounted, and the charging device 15 is configured integrally with the process equipment 20 as shown in FIG. 1 or is disposed independently on one side of the process equipment 20. In addition, the power supply terminal is located inside the charging device 15 when charging is not performed, and when charging is performed, the power supply terminal protrudes toward the charging terminal 4 of the unmanned transport vehicle 9 for the charging. It comes in contact with the terminal.

That is, while the unmanned transport vehicle 9 loads or unloads a cassette in a state where it stops at the point where the charging device 15 is located, it automatically transmits a charge start signal to the charging device or The charging device senses the state of the unmanned transport vehicle) or manually the power supply terminal protrudes toward the charging terminal of the unmanned transport vehicle, and charging is performed while the power supply terminal and the charging terminal 4 are in contact with each other.

However, the battery charging method of the unmanned carrier 9 as described above, the charging terminal 4 mounted on the wireless carrier 9 when the position of the unmanned carrier 9 is out of a predetermined range from a predetermined point. ) And the charging mismatch between the power supply terminals supplying the charging power is not performed properly, which may cause the production process to be delayed due to the accidents caused by the unforeseen accidents such as sparking and the action of the charging warning. .

Therefore, in the related art, a method of correcting a moving path of the unmanned carrier vehicle through the work map or the like is used so that the charging terminal of the unmanned carrier vehicle can be stopped to coincide with the power supply terminal of the charging device. Correction can completely eliminate the above problems because errors can occur due to the environment inside the clean room (e.g., inaccurate spark marks or the condition of the floor of the clean room) or the electrical circuit error of the unmanned vehicle itself. There is a problem that can not be solved.

In addition, in order to solve the above problems, a method of mounting a sensor or the like in the unmanned transport vehicle 9 to accurately determine the position of the power supply terminal of the charging device has been used. In this case, the unmanned transport vehicle 9 There is a problem in that a function of safely transporting a cassette equipped with a plurality of substrates, which is an inherent function, to each process equipment 20 is difficult to be achieved. That is, even if the unmanned transport vehicle 9 correctly identified the position of the process equipment 20 to carry the cassette, the process equipment if the position is readjusted to determine the position of the power supply terminal of the charging device 15 as described above. There is a problem that an accurate loading or unloading process of the cassette into (9) is difficult to be achieved accurately.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention for solving the above problems is, unattended conveyance that can detect the position of the charging terminal of the unmanned carrier, and perform the charging by correcting the position of the charge supply terminal to the position of the charging terminal, It is to provide a car charging device.

In order to achieve the above object, the unmanned carrier charging device according to an embodiment of the present invention, the sensing means for detecting information of the code provided in the unmanned carrier; Reading means for reading the position of the unmanned carrier using the sensing information transmitted from the sensing means; Power supply means for supplying charging power to the unmanned transport vehicle; Driving means for moving the power supply terminal of the power supply means forward, backward, leftward or rightward in the direction in which the charging terminal of the unmanned transport vehicle is located; And controlling the driving means according to the reading information of the reading means so that the power supply terminal is connected to the terminal of the unmanned transport vehicle, and controlling the power supply means to supply the charging terminal to the charging terminal of the unmanned transport vehicle. It includes a control means for supplying.

Further, in the present invention, the control means, the power supply is driven by driving the drive means to correct the separation distance between the charging terminal of the unmanned carrier and the power supply terminal read by the reading means. Characterized in that the terminal can be moved left and right by the separation distance.

In addition, the unmanned carrier charging device according to another embodiment of the present invention, the sensing means for detecting information of the code provided in the unmanned carrier; Reading means for reading the position of the unmanned vehicle using the sensing information transmitted from the sensing means; Power supply means for supplying charging power to the unmanned transport vehicle; Drive means for moving the power supply terminal of the power supply means back and forth in a direction in which the charging terminal of the unmanned transport vehicle is located; The driving means is controlled in accordance with the reading information of the reading means so that the power supply terminal is connected to the terminal of the unmanned transport vehicle, and the power supply means is controlled to supply charging power to the charging terminal of the unmanned transport vehicle. Control means for supplying; A frame in which the respective means are arranged; And moving means for movably fixing the frame to a wall or a pillar, wherein the frame is located by the driving means driven according to a control signal of the control means, wherein the charging terminal of the unmanned transport vehicle is located. It is characterized in that it is moved left and right along the moving means in the direction.

Further, in the present invention, the control means, the drive means to drive the drive means to correct the separation distance between the charging terminal of the unmanned carrier and the power supply terminal read by the reading means, the frame is Characterized in that it can be moved left and right by the separation distance along the moving means.

The present invention may further include a sensor capable of sensing the unmanned transport vehicle, and when the sensing information about the unmanned transport vehicle is transmitted from the sensor, the control means drives the sensing means, so that the sensing means is provided. Characterized in that the code can be read.

In the present invention, the code is characterized in that the bar code.

Other objects and features of the present invention in addition to the above objects will become apparent from the description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

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

Figure 3a is an external configuration of an embodiment of an unmanned vehicle charging apparatus according to the present invention, Figure 3b is an internal configuration of an embodiment of an unmanned vehicle charging apparatus according to the present invention.

First, the external configuration of the unmanned carrier charging device (hereinafter, simply referred to as 'charging device') is a power supply terminal 52 for supplying power to the unmanned carrier vehicle through forward and backward movement, as shown in FIG. 3A. ), A moving part 53 formed with a space in which the power supply terminal can move in the front, rear, left and right directions, a sensing sensor 51 for detecting a position of an unmanned carrier, and a frame including the components. .

In addition, the internal configuration of the charging device 50, as shown in Figure 3b, the detector 61 including the sensor, the driver 63 for moving the power supply terminal in front, rear, left and right, from the detector Reader 65 for reading the position of the unmanned carrier using the transmitted sensing information, Power supply 64 for supplying power to the unmanned carrier through the power supply terminal, Various information necessary for driving the charging device It comprises a reservoir 66 for storing the controller and a controller 62 for controlling the operation of the respective devices (61, 63 to 66) as a whole.

On the other hand, the driver 50 may move only the power supply terminal 52 to the front and rear, left and right as described above, while moving the power supply terminal 52 back and forth while moving the charging device 50 itself left and right. You can also

The operation of the charging device 50 having the above configuration is described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

4 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of an unmanned carrier vehicle applied to the present invention.

At this time, the configuration of the unmanned transport vehicle 30 applied to the present invention shown in FIG. 4 is the conventional unmanned transport vehicle 9 described above with reference to FIG. 2 except for the configuration of the power supply terminal 34. It includes the same configuration as that of.

That is, the unmanned transport vehicle 30 applied to the present invention, as shown in Figure 4, the robot arm 31, collision detection sensors, bumper (Bumper) 32, emergency stop switch 33, charging terminal 34, an emergency stop button 35, a frame, a steering wheel, a spark mark detection sensor, a control unit (IC), a driving unit and a storage unit, and the like, wherein the charging terminal 34 is Bar code (34-1) connected to the power supply terminal 52 of the unmanned carrier charging device 50 to receive power from the power supply terminal 52 and the bar code detected by the detection sensor 51 ( 34-2). In this case, various types of codes may be included in the unmanned transport vehicle 30, instead of the barcode 34-2, and detected by the sensing sensor 51 of the charging device to analyze the distance of the unmanned transport vehicle 30. Can be used.

5 is an exemplary view showing a state of charging power to an unmanned transport vehicle by using the unmanned transport vehicle charging apparatus according to the present invention, in particular, the power supply terminal 52 of the charging device 30 to the front, rear, left and right The state in which the unmanned transport vehicle 30 is charged in the state of being moved and connected to the terminal 34-1 of the unmanned transport vehicle 30 is shown.

That is, when the unmanned transport vehicle 30 stops near the process equipment 20 to load or unload a cassette, the sensor 51 of the charging device 30 is filled with the unmanned transport vehicle 30. The barcode 34-2 of the terminal 34 is read. In this case, the operation of the detection sensor 51 may be automatically performed as the barcode 34-2 is detected, or a sensor capable of detecting the approach of the unmanned transport vehicle 30 may include the charging device ( 50, the sensor may be executed according to the control signal of the controller 62 when the sensor is detected. On the other hand, as the detection sensor 51 may be used a reader or a camera that can read the bar code (34-2).

The barcode detection state as described above is illustrated in FIG. That is, in the state where the unmanned transport vehicle 30 is stopped, the detection sensor 51 reads the information of the barcode 34-2 of the unmanned transport vehicle 50, and the barcode information read from the detection sensor is read by the reader. Read by 65.

On the other hand, according to the information read from the reader 65, the controller 62 determines how far apart the terminal 34-1 and the power supply terminal 52 of the unmanned carrier 30. According to the determined information, the driver 63 is driven to move the moving part 53 left and right.

That is, since the distance between the barcode 34-2 and the terminal 34-1 and the distance between the detection sensor 51 and the power supply terminal 52 are kept constant, the information of the barcode 34-2 is maintained. In this case, the separation distance between the terminal 34-1 and the power supply terminal 52 can be defined. Accordingly, the power supply terminal 52 is moved by the separation distance to correct the separation distance.

When the power supply terminal 52 is moved left and right along the separation distance, as shown in (b) of FIG. 5, the power supply terminal 52 and the terminal 34-1 of the unmanned transport vehicle are the same. In this case, the controller 62 drives the driver 63 to advance the power supply terminal 52 toward the terminal 34-1. Meanwhile, when the power supply terminal 52 and the terminal 34-1 are connected, the controller 62 drives the power supply 64 to charge the unmanned transport vehicle 30.

6 is another exemplary view showing a state of charging power to an unmanned carrier using the unmanned carrier charging device according to the present invention, in particular, the power supply in the state in which the charging device 30 itself is moved left and right The terminal 52 is moved back and forth to show a state in which the unmanned transport vehicle 30 is charged while being connected to the terminal 34-1 of the unmanned transport vehicle 30.

That is, when the unmanned transport vehicle 30 stops near the process equipment 20 to load or unload a cassette, the sensor 51 of the charging device 30 is filled with the unmanned transport vehicle 30. The barcode 34-2 of the terminal 34 is read. At this time, the operation and function of the sensor 51 is the same as in the description of Figure 5, the bar code detection state as shown in Figure 6 (a).

In the state where the unmanned transport vehicle 30 is stopped, the detection sensor 51 reads information of the barcode 34-2 of the unmanned transport vehicle 50, and the barcode information read from the detection sensor is read by the reader 65. Is read by

On the other hand, according to the information read from the reader 65, the controller 62 determines how far apart the terminal 34-1 and the power supply terminal 52 of the unmanned carrier 30. According to the determined information, the driver 63 is driven to allow the charging device 50 to be moved left and right through the moving part 53.

That is, in the embodiment shown in Figure 5, the moving part 53 is provided in the charging device 50, the power supply terminal 52 is moved back, front, left and right through the moving part 53. It is comprised so that it may be located in the position which faces the said terminal 34-1. However, in the embodiment shown in Fig. 6, the moving part 53 is connected to the charging device 50 through a column or wall surface outside the charging device 50, so that the power supply terminal 52 ) Simply moves back and forth, and the left and right movement for correcting the separation distance between the power supply terminal 52 and the terminal 34-1 is made by the left and right movement of the charging device 50 itself.

In detail, in FIG. 5, only the power supply terminal 52 of the charging device 50 is moved while the charging device 50 and the unmanned transport vehicle 30 are stopped, as shown in FIG. 5B. Although the charging state is set, in FIG. 6, the charging state is set by moving the power supply terminal 52 back and forth in a state in which the charging device 50 itself is moved left and right by a separation distance.

The unmanned conveying system according to the present invention as described above, by preventing errors that may occur due to the position error between the charging terminal of the unmanned carrier and the power supply terminal of the charging device, thereby maximizing the work efficiency of the entire production line The effect is that you can.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention should not be limited to the contents described in the detailed description of the specification but should be defined by the claims.

Claims (6)

Sensing means for sensing information of a code provided in an unmanned carrier; Reading means for reading the position of the unmanned vehicle using the sensing information transmitted from the sensing means; Power supply means for supplying charging power to the unmanned transport vehicle; Driving means for moving the power supply terminal of the power supply means forward, backward, leftward or rightward in the direction in which the charging terminal of the unmanned transport vehicle is located; And The driving means is controlled in accordance with the reading information of the reading means so that the power supply terminal is connected to the terminal of the unmanned transport vehicle, and the power supply means is controlled to supply charging power to the charging terminal of the unmanned transport vehicle. Unmanned carrier charging device including a control means for supplying. The method of claim 1, The control means, In order to correct the separation distance between the charging terminal of the unmanned carrier and the power supply terminal read by the reading means, the driving means is driven so that the power supply terminal can be moved left and right by the separation distance. Unmanned carrier charging device, characterized in that. Sensing means for sensing information of a code provided in an unmanned carrier; Reading means for reading the position of the unmanned vehicle using the sensing information transmitted from the sensing means; Power supply means for supplying charging power to the unmanned transport vehicle; Drive means for moving the power supply terminal of the power supply means back and forth in a direction in which the charging terminal of the unmanned transport vehicle is located; The driving means is controlled in accordance with the reading information of the reading means so that the power supply terminal is connected to the terminal of the unmanned transport vehicle, and the power supply means is controlled to supply charging power to the charging terminal of the unmanned transport vehicle. Control means for supplying; A frame in which the respective means are arranged; And A moving means for movably fixing the frame to a wall or a column, The frame is unmanned carrier charging device, characterized in that moved by the driving means driven according to the control signal of the control means, along the moving means in the direction in which the charging terminal of the unmanned carrier vehicle is located. . The method of claim 3, wherein The control means, In order to correct the separation distance between the charging terminal of the unmanned carrier and the power supply terminal read by the reading means, the driving means is driven to move the frame left and right by the separation distance along the moving means. Unmanned carrier charging device, characterized in that to be. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, Further comprising a sensor for detecting the unmanned carrier, And when the sensing information about the unmanned carrier is transmitted from the sensor, the control means drives the sensing means so that the sensing means can read the code. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, The code is an unmanned carrier charging device, characterized in that the bar code.

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