KR20100024741A - Transferring apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A conveying apparatus is provided to improve productivity by reducing tact time due to the transfer of objects to be transferred and remarkably increase the footprint of equipment. CONSTITUTION: A conveying apparatus comprises a first conveying unit(100), a second conveying unit(200), and a lifter. The first conveying unit conveys objects at a first height. The second conveying unit conveys objects at a second height which is higher than the first height. The lifter is placed between the first and the second conveying unit. The liter transfers the objects from the first conveying unit to the second conveying unit. The lifter raises the objects to the first and the second height.

Description

Conveyer {TRANSFERRING APPARATUS}

The present invention relates to a conveying apparatus, and more particularly, it is possible to prevent a significant increase in the foot print of the equipment while increasing the conveying speed of the object to be conveyed compared to a conveying apparatus having a conventional lifter, In general, the present invention relates to a transfer apparatus capable of improving productivity by reducing a tact time due to transfer of a workpiece.

The conveying device is a device for conveying the object to be conveyed. Here, the object to be transported includes a substrate including a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP) and organic light emitting diodes (OLED), a wafer for semiconductors, a tray for receiving and supporting a substrate or a wafer. Not only can be a cassette, but also a variety of logistics, including a general box (box). However, for convenience of description, hereinafter, the LCD substrate will be limitedly described.

Recently, the flat panel display (FPD) has begun to emerge as the electronic display industry is rapidly developing among the semiconductor industry. A flat panel display is a thinner and lighter image display device than a cathode ray tube (CRT), which is mainly used as a display for a TV or a computer monitor. Such planar displays include substrates such as LCD, PDP and OLED.

Among them, LCDs inject liquid crystals, which are solid and liquid intermediates, between two thin upper and lower glass substrates, and change the arrangement of liquid crystal molecules by the electrode voltage difference of the upper and lower glass substrates to generate contrast and display numbers or images. It is a device using a kind of optical switch phenomenon. LCDs are now widely used in electronic clocks, electronic calculators, TVs, notebook PCs, electronic products, automobiles, aircraft speed displays and driving systems.

Previously, LCD TVs have a size of about 20 to 30 inches, and monitors have a mainstream size of 17 inches or less. In recent years, however, the preference for large TVs of 40 inches or larger and large monitors of 20 inches or larger has increased.

Therefore, manufacturers of LCDs have come to produce wider glass substrates. Currently, research has been conducted to increase the size of glass substrates to the 7th generation having a width of 1950/2250 mm, the 1870/2200 mm, or the 8th generation having more than 2160/2460 mm.

On the other hand, LCD is generally made of glass (Glass) material is very brittle to the impact from the outside. Therefore, if the LCD can be efficiently stored and transported from the pre-processing stage to the post-processing stage without manufacturing the LCD, it will not only improve productivity but also maintain the flat display quality. .

In particular, as mentioned above, in recent years, as the size of the LCD (hereinafter referred to as the substrate) increases and becomes thinner, such as the 7th generation or the 8th generation, special care is required in storing and transferring the substrate, especially in the transfer. It is becoming. Conventional conveying devices are known to be mainly applied in roller type, but are not necessarily so.

On the other hand, in the case of transferring the substrate through the transfer apparatus, the substrate may be transferred on the same height line, but for example, the substrate that was transferred on the line of one layer height is two or more heights (two-layer height). In some cases, it is necessary to transfer the substrate to a line having a height of two floors by raising it to. This is the case when there is an interference device in the transfer line of the substrate or when the substrate needs to be introduced into another facility at a position of two floors.

Conventional transfer apparatus for transfer of the substrate, the first transfer unit for transferring the substrate on the line of the first height, the second transfer unit for transferring the substrate on the line of the second height, the first and second transfer unit It is provided with a lifter provided between the substrate to be conveyed from the height of the first floor to the second floor (up). The lifter is applied to, for example, an elevator or the like capable of a simple up / down operation.

By this configuration, when the substrate conveyed on the line of the first height through the first transfer unit reaches the lifter, the substrate is raised to the second height by the lifting operation of the lifter, and then the second transfer unit is moved. Through it can be conveyed along the line of the second height.

By the way, in such a conventional conveying apparatus, the tact time generally increases because the first and second conveying units have to pause or do not perform any operation while the lifting and lowering operations of the lifter are in progress. There is a problem that the productivity is lowered.

In order to solve this problem, it may be considered to increase the speed of the lifter or to provide additional lifters in parallel, i.e., to increase the speed of the lifter. This can be somewhat limiting, and it is expected that it is not desirable to simply place the lifter in parallel (additional placement) because the foot print of the equipment is significantly increased and the cost is increased. Action is required.

An object of the present invention, while increasing the conveying speed of the object to be conveyed compared to the conveying device having a conventional lifter, it is possible to prevent a significant increase in the foot print of the equipment, the overall tact according to the conveyed object It is to provide a transfer device that can improve the productivity by reducing the time (tact time) than conventional.

The object is, according to the present invention, a first transfer unit for transferring the object to be transported on the line of the first height; A second transfer unit configured to transfer the object to be transferred on a line having a second height higher than the first height; And a portion provided between the first and second transfer units to transfer the object to be transferred from the first transfer unit to the second transfer unit, and load a plurality of the transferred objects along a height direction so as to be spaced apart from each other. And a lifter for up / down the object to be conveyed to the first and second heights.

Here, the lifter, a plurality of rotary shafts are spaced apart from each other; First contact supports coupled to the plurality of rotation shafts, the first contact supports being in contact with the first object to be transported; And a second contact support part provided to be up / down between the plurality of rotation shafts and contacted and supported by the second object to be transferred.

The first contact support part may be provided in a roller type coupled to the plurality of rotation shafts, and the second contact support part may be provided in a vacuum suction type.

The lifter may include a plurality of up / down columns disposed along an up-down direction and having an upper end coupled to the second contact support part; A column supporter supporting the plurality of up / down columns in a lower region of the plurality of up / down columns; And an up / down driving part connected to the column support part to drive the column support part up / down.

The plurality of up / down columns may be arranged in pairs between the rotating shafts, and a connection part for connecting a pair of up / down columns in a horizontal direction to form a tunnel structure together with the up / down columns is further provided. It may include.

The lifter may include: a main body part partially supporting the rotation shaft, the first contact support part, and the second contact support part; And a main up / down driving unit coupled to the main body to drive the main body up / down.

The lifter may further include a plurality of rotation driving units provided on the plurality of rotation shafts, respectively, to rotate the plurality of rotation shafts in a forward and backward direction.

The plurality of rotation driving units may be provided in any one of a contact individual driving motor method and a non-contact magnet method.

At least one buffered object waiting unit may be further provided in any one of the lifter side end region of the first transfer unit and the lifter side end region of the second transfer unit.

The object to be transferred may be a liquid crystal display (LCD) substrate.

According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent a significant increase in the foot print of the equipment, while increasing the conveying speed of the object to be conveyed compared to the conveying device having a conventional lifter, overall tact time according to the conveyed object The productivity can be improved by reducing the tact time.

In order to fully understand the present invention, the operational advantages of the present invention, and the objects achieved by the practice of the present invention, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention and the contents described in the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail by explaining preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. Like reference numerals in the drawings denote like elements.

Prior to the description of the drawings, the object to be described below is a substrate including a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP) and organic light emitting diodes (OLED), a wafer for a semiconductor, a substrate, and the like. In addition, it can be a tray or a cassette for accommodating and supporting a wafer, as well as various logistic products including a general box. However, for convenience of description, the following examples will be described as an LCD substrate.

1 is a schematic plan view of a transfer apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a lifter showing a lifting operation of a second contact support, and FIG. 4 is An enlarged perspective view of the lifter showing the lowering operation of the second contact support, Figures 5 to 12 are side views showing the operation of the transfer device according to an embodiment of the present invention step by step.

As shown in these figures, the conveying apparatus of this embodiment includes a first conveying unit 100 for conveying a substrate on a line of a first height h1 (see FIG. 2), and a first higher than the first height h1. The first and second substrates (FIG. 8) are provided between the second transfer unit 200 and the first and second transfer units 100 and 200 for transferring the substrate on a line having a height 2 (h2, see FIGS. 5 to 12). Reference) is transferred from the first transfer unit 100 to the second transfer unit 200, and the first and second substrates are spaced apart from each other along the height direction to the first and second heights h1 and h2. And a lifter 300 for up / down the first and second substrates.

Both the first transfer unit 100 and the second transfer unit 200 serve to transfer the substrate to the X-axis, and as shown, may be applied in a roller type. That is, the first transfer unit 100 and the second transfer unit 200 are coupled to the plurality of rotation shafts 110 and 210 and the plurality of rotation shafts 110 and 210 to rotate the plurality of rotation shafts 110 and 210 individually. It is provided with a plurality of drive rollers (120, 220) coupled to each of the individual drive motor (130,230), and each of the plurality of rotation shafts (110,210) rotatably supporting the substrate.

Accordingly, when the plurality of rotational shafts 110 and 210 are rotated by the plurality of individual driving motors 130 and 230 and the driving rollers 120 and 220 coupled thereto are rotated, the substrate in contact with the upper surface of the driving rollers 120 and 220 is the driving rollers 120 and 220. It can be transported in the X-axis direction along the rotational direction.

However, since the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, the first transfer unit 100 and the second transfer unit 200 may be replaced by a conveyor type or a stage type. In particular, in the case where the first transfer unit 100 and the second transfer unit 200 are applied in a stage type, it may be advantageous to apply an air levitation module (not shown) together to raise a predetermined height of the substrate.

The plurality of driving rollers 120 and 220 provided in the first transfer unit 100 and the second transfer unit 200 may be made of a flexible material so that scratches do not occur on the substrate. In addition, the plurality of rotation shafts 110 and 210 may be rotated together by a single drive motor (not shown) to facilitate control of the rotation speed thereof. However, the rotation shafts 110 and 210 may not necessarily be the same. Each of the plurality of rotation shafts 110 and 210 may be individually rotated by the 130 and 230.

Although not shown, the first transfer unit 100 and the second transfer unit 200 may be further provided with an alignment unit (not shown) for performing an alignment operation on the substrate to be transferred. Such an alignment part may be applied to a simple structure in which the alignment parts are correctly aligned by pressing both sides of the substrate by an operation of approaching and separating each other.

The first transfer unit 100 and the second transfer unit 200 are further provided with a plurality of entrance detection sensors S1 and S2 along the direction in which the substrate enters and is transferred. The plurality of entrance detection sensors S1 and S2 serve to generate a detection signal for reducing or stopping the speed of the rotation shafts 110 and 210 through individual control of the individual driving motors 130 and 230 based on the entry position of the substrate. Of course, in addition to this role, the entrance detection sensors (S1, S2) may also serve to provide a predetermined signal associated with the operation of the plurality of delivery units (300a, 300b).

Meanwhile, as described above, the lifter 300 is provided between the first and second transfer units 100 and 200 to provide the first and second substrates (see FIG. 8) from the first transfer unit 100 to the second transfer unit. It serves to deliver to (200).

In particular, the lifter 300 of the present embodiment is the interference equipment between the first and second transfer units (100,200) or the first and second substrates at the position of the height (h2) has to put the first and second substrate to the other equipment In this case, the first and second substrates conveyed along the first transfer unit 100 along the first height h1 are raised to the second height h2, and then the second transfer unit 200. It serves to deliver.

Since the lifter 300 serves to transfer two first and second substrates at a time, the foot print of the equipment is significantly increased while increasing the transfer speed of the substrate as compared with the conventional transfer apparatus. It is possible to prevent, and also to improve the productivity by reducing the tact time (tact time) due to the transfer of the substrate than conventional.

Looking at the lifter 300 which plays such a role, the lifter 300 of the present embodiment is coupled to the main body 310 and the main body 310, the main up to drive the main body 310 up / down The / down driving unit 320, a plurality of rotary shafts 330 disposed to be spaced apart from each other in the main body portion 310, and a first contact support portion coupled to each of the plurality of rotary shafts 330 and the first substrate is in contact support ( 340 and a second contact support part 350 provided up / down between the plurality of rotation shafts 330 and in contact with the second substrate.

The main body 310 is a part forming the appearance of the lifter 300, and the remaining components are substantially coupled to the main body 310. Therefore, unlike the drawing, the main body 310 should be provided with a structure and peripheral structures for coupling the remaining components directly or indirectly. However, in the present embodiment, the main body 310 is schematically illustrated for convenience.

As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the main up / down driving unit 320 serves to integrally up / down the remaining components coupled to the main body 310, including the main body 310. The main up / down driving unit 320 may be easily implemented by an up / down cylinder or an up / down actuator, or a motor and ball screw combination structure, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 2, the plurality of rotation shafts 330 supports rods 340 as rod-shaped members whose ends are respectively coupled to the main body 310. Although five rotating shafts 330 are shown in the drawing, the number of the rotating shafts 330, the length of the rotating shaft 330, and the distance between the rotating shafts 330 may be appropriately designed according to the site.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, the first contact support part 340 is a part to which the first substrate is contacted and supported before the lifter 300 is up. In fact, in operation, the second substrate first enters in FIG. 8, is first supported by the first contact support 340, and finally is supported by the second contact support 350, and the first substrate comes in later to finally receive the second substrate. Although the first contact support portion 340 is in contact with the first contact support portion 340, for convenience of description, as shown in FIG. And a second contact support part 350.

The first contact support 340 is coupled to the plurality of rotating shafts 330, respectively, as shown. In this embodiment, the first contact supporting portion 340 is provided in a roller type. In this case, the roller-type first contact support part 340 may be rotated by a separate power source, and a plurality of rotation driving parts 331 are further provided for this purpose.

As shown in FIG. 1, the rotation driving unit 331 is provided on each of the plurality of rotation shafts 330 to rotate the plurality of rotation shafts 330 in the forward and reverse directions. The rotary drive unit 331 may be applied in any one of a contact type individual drive motor method or a non-contact magnet method. The former is a method of rotating the first contact support portion 340 by directly connecting the individual drive motor to each of the plurality of rotary shafts 330 to rotate the rotary shaft 330, the latter to be provided in each of the plurality of rotary shafts 330 The rotation axis 330 is rotated by a magnetic force of a pair of magnets spaced apart from each other to rotate the first contact supporting portions 340.

As shown in FIG. 8, the second contact support part 350 is a part to which the second substrate is contacted and supported before the lifter 300 is up. As described above, the first contact support part 340 may be provided in a roller type, whereas in the present embodiment, the second contact support part 350 may be provided in a vacuum suction type. That is, the second contact support part 350 is provided such that the second substrate is contacted and supported by the vacuum suction force. Of course, since the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, the second contact support part 350 may also be provided in a roller type.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the second contact support part 350 has an operation of moving down or up of the first contact support part 340 in the height direction to the lifter 300. Allow two substrates to be loaded.

To this end, a means for up / down the second contact support 350 is required, which means that a plurality of up / down columns 351 are arranged along the up-down direction and the upper end is coupled to the second contact support 350. ), A column support 352 supporting the plurality of up / down columns 351 in the lower region of the plurality of up / down columns 351, and a column support 352 connected to the column support 352 to up the column support 352. The up / down driving unit 353 for driving / down and the connecting unit 354 for connecting the pair of up / down columns 351 in the horizontal direction can be easily implemented.

The plurality of up / down columns 351 are arranged in pairs between the rotation shafts 330. In the present embodiment, since five rotary shafts 330 are provided, a plurality of up / down columns 351 may be provided in total.

The column support part 352 supports eight up / down columns 351 so that the eight up / down columns 351 may be up / down at a time. Of course, since the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, it is not necessary to provide the column support 352 if the up / down operation of the up / down columns 351 is possible.

The up / down driving unit 353 may be easily implemented by an up / down cylinder or an up / down actuator, or a combination of a motor and a ball screw like the main up / down driving unit 320 described above. Will be omitted.

The connection part 354 connects the pair of up / down columns 351 in the horizontal direction together with the up / down columns 351 to form a Korean letter 'c' shaped tunnel structure. If such a tunnel structure is applied, there is an advantage that interference does not occur during the transfer operation of the substrates. However, since the scope of the present invention does not need to be limited thereto, the connection part 354 may be omitted even when omitted in configuration.

Referring to FIGS. 5 to 12, the operation of transferring the substrate from the line of the first height hi to the line of the second height h2 through the transfer device having the above configuration will be described below. .

First, as shown in FIG. 5, the substrate is transferred on the line of the first height h1 through the driving roller 120 of the first transfer unit 100. In this case, the lifter 300 is disposed parallel to the first transfer unit 100, that is, on the line of the first height h1, and the second contact support part 350 is down of the up / down drive part 353. ) Is disposed below the first contact support 340.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6, the substrate transferred through the driving roller 120 of the first transfer unit 100 is first contacted with the first contact support 340 of the lifter 300. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, the second contact support part as the up / down columns 351 rise between the rotating shafts 330 by an up operation of the up / down driving part 353. 350 is lifted up holding the substrate supported by the first contact support 340. In the state as shown in FIG. 7, the second contact support unit 350 adsorbs the substrate by a vacuum suction force, and in parallel with this operation, a new substrate is lifted through the driving roller 120 of the first transfer unit 100. ) To the side.

Next, the transferred new substrate is transferred to the first contact support 340 and contacted with the first contact support 340 as shown in FIG. 8. Referring to FIG. 8, although the second substrate is already disposed on and in contact with the second contact support part 350, the peripheral structure of the second contact support part 350 is again provided. In other words, since the lines formed by the second contact support part 350, the up / down column 351, and the connection part 354 form a tunnel structure, the first substrate, which is a new substrate, passes through the tunnel structure and the first contact support part 340. There is no force to be supported by contact.

After two substrates are stacked on the lifter 300 as shown in FIG. 8, the lifter 300 is up as shown in FIG. 9. That is, as the lifter 300 is up due to the operation of the main up / down driving unit 320, the two loaded substrates are up on the line of the second height h2.

Next, as shown in FIG. 10, the rotary driving unit 331 provided on the rotary shafts 330 of the lifter 300 is operated to rotate the rotary shafts 330, and the first contact support unit 340 is linked thereto. As the substrate is rotated in one direction, the substrate on the first contact support part 340 is transferred to the driving roller 220 of the second transfer unit 200. In this case, the driving roller 220 of the second transfer unit 200 also rotates by the individual driving motor 230.

After the lower substrate is transferred to the second transfer unit 200 among the two stacked substrates, as shown in FIG. 11, the second contact support 350 that supports the upper substrate is the up / down driving unit 353. Is lowered by the down operation.

When the second contact support part 350 that supports the upper substrate is down and further downwards between the first contact support part 340, the substrate that is in contact with the second contact support part 350 naturally occurs. Is moved onto the first contact support 340.

After the upper substrate is moved onto the first contact support 340, as shown in FIG. 12, the rotation driving units 331 provided on the rotation shafts 330 of the lifter 300 operate to rotate the rotation shafts 330. As the first contact support part 340 is rotated in one direction in conjunction with the rotation, the substrate on the first contact support part 340 is transferred to the driving roller 220 of the second transfer unit 200.

As such, when the transfer of both substrates is completed, the lifter 300 is lowered to the position of FIG. 5 again to transfer the other substrates while repeating the above-described operation.

As such, according to the present embodiment, the footprint of the equipment can be prevented from being significantly increased while increasing the conveying speed of the substrate to be conveyed compared to the conveying apparatus (not shown) equipped with the conventional lifter, and the conveyed overall. It is possible to improve the productivity by reducing the tact time due to the transfer of the substrate as water.

13 is a side view of a conveying apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to this figure, unlike the above-described embodiment, the lifter 300 side end region of the first transfer unit 100 and the lifter 300 side end region of the second transfer unit 200 are separated by two. A buffer object waiting unit 400a, 400b is further provided.

When the buffer waiting object (400a, 400b) is further provided as shown in Figure 13, the transfer of the substrate to be transported can be made more quickly and quickly can be expected to reduce the tact time.

Although the description is omitted in the above-described embodiment, adsorption means for adsorbing the substrate may be further provided around the first contact support. When the suction means is provided, the substrate may be removed from the roller-type first contact support part while the substrate is lifted up by the lifter, or the scratch may be blocked due to the shaking of the substrate. .

As described above, the present invention is not limited to the described embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, which will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, such modifications or variations will have to be belong to the claims of the present invention.

1 is a schematic plan view of a transfer apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a perspective view of FIG. 1.

3 is an enlarged perspective view of the lifter showing the lifting operation of the second contact support.

4 is an enlarged perspective view of the lifter showing the lowering operation of the second contact support.

5 to 12 are side views showing the operation of the transfer apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention step by step.

13 is a side view of a conveying apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

100: first transfer unit 200: second transfer unit

110,210: rotating shaft 120,220: driving roller

130,230: Individual driving motor 300: Lifter

310: main body 320: main up / down drive unit

330: rotation axis 340: first contact support

350: second contact support 351: up / down column

352: column support 353: up / down drive

354 connection

Claims (10)

A first conveying unit which conveys the object to be conveyed on a line of a first height; A second transfer unit configured to transfer the object to be transferred on a line having a second height higher than the first height; And It is provided between the first and the second transfer unit to transfer the object to be transferred from the first conveying unit to the second conveying unit, and the plurality of the conveyed object in the height direction to be spaced apart from each other by the first And a lifter for up / down the object to be conveyed to a second height. The method of claim 1, The lifter, A plurality of rotating shafts spaced apart from each other; First contact supports coupled to the plurality of rotation shafts, the first contact supports being in contact with the first object to be transported; And And a second contact support part provided to be up / down between the plurality of rotary shafts and contacted and supported by a second object to be transferred. The method of claim 2, The first contact support portion is provided with a roller type coupled to the plurality of rotating shafts, the second contact support portion is characterized in that the transfer device is provided with a vacuum suction type. The method of claim 2, The lifter, A plurality of up / down columns disposed along a vertical direction and having an upper end coupled to the second contact support; A column supporter supporting the plurality of up / down columns in a lower region of the plurality of up / down columns; And And an up / down drive unit connected to the column support unit to drive the column support unit up / down. The method of claim 4, wherein The plurality of up / down columns are arranged in pairs between the rotating shafts, And a connecting portion connecting a pair of up / down columns in a horizontal direction to form a tunnel structure with the up / down columns. The method of claim 2, The lifter, A main body part partially supporting the rotating shaft, the first contact support part and the second contact support part; And And a main up / down driving unit coupled to the main body to drive the main body up / down. The method of claim 2, The lifter further comprises a plurality of rotation driving units provided on the plurality of rotation shafts to rotate the plurality of rotation shafts in the forward and reverse directions. The method of claim 7, wherein The plurality of rotary drive unit, characterized in that the transfer device is provided in any one of a contact type individual drive motor method and a non-contact magnet method. The method of claim 1, And at least one buffered object waiting unit is further provided in any one of the lifter side end region of the first transfer unit and the lifter side end region of the second transfer unit. The method of claim 1, The transported object is characterized in that the liquid crystal display (LCD) substrate.

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