TWI822287B - Apparatus for lifting and pulling a packaging bag - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention disclosed an apparatus for lifting and pulling a packaging bag, including a receiving platform, a lifting device and a pulling device. The lifting device is capable of lifting a rear section of the packaging bag from a bag slot up to a pulling position. The pulling device is capable of taking over the rear section of the packaging bag at the pulling position from the lifting device, and to drag the rear section of the packaging bag from the pulling position towards the back of the receving platform for a distance, and then release the rear section of the packaging bag, so that the packaging bag lies flat on the receiving platform.

Description

Equipment used to lift and pull a packaging bag

The present invention relates to an automated packaging system for packaging a wafer cassette in a packaging bag, and particularly to equipment for lifting and pulling the packaging bag.

The semiconductor industry often uses wafer boxes to load wafers. For example, front opening unified pods (FOUP) can protect wafers during transportation within the factory, and front opening shipping boxes (FOSB) ) loading wafers protects the wafers during transportation between fabs. During transportation, each wafer box is usually packed in a special packaging bag to prevent dust from the external environment from entering the interior and causing contamination that affects the yield. At present, the special packaging bags include aluminum bags, anti-static bags, plastic bags, etc., with different characteristics and can be determined according to the needs.

In the packaging operation of using the special packaging bag to package the wafer box, it is urgent to set up automated equipment in each operation area to reduce human intervention and promote the efficiency of the overall packaging operation.

In view of how to reduce the need for human intervention in a packaging operation using a packaging bag, the present invention provides a new device for lifting and pulling the packaging bag to avoid or reduce human intervention in the lifting and pulling of the packaging bag, thereby promoting The overall productivity of this packaging operation.

Furthermore, the equipment used to lift and pull the packaging bag includes a connector A collection platform, a lifting device and a bag pulling device. The lifting device is located in front of the receiving platform and is used to lift a rear section of the packaging bag to a pulling position higher than the receiving platform. The bag pulling device can transfer the rear section of the packaging bag from the lifting device at the pulling position, drag the rear section of the packaging bag from the pulling position to the rear of the receiving platform for a certain distance, and then release it. The rear section of the packaging bag is such that the packaging bag lies flat on the receiving platform.

1. 1a: packaging bag

10:wafer box

11:Back edge

111:Rear section

12:Front edge

121: Front section

21: Receiving platform

21a, 21b: Tablet

210: Directional passage

211:Through hole

210a:rear edge

210b: Side edge

22:First positioning plate

23:Second positioning plate

24: Bag roller

240:Push bag component

241: Friction protruding piece

3: Bag moving device

4: Lift the device

400:Packaging platform

41: Vacuum adsorption components

411: Vacuum nozzle

42: Clamp assembly

43:Drive components

421:Pneumatic clamping jaw

421a: clamp mouth

5: Bag pulling device

51: Bag clip component

511:Clamp

511a: clamp mouth

512: Drive module

512a:Substrate

512b:Flange rail

512c: slider

512d: drive department

513:Push board

513a: Inclined support surface

513b: Horizontal support surface

6: Bag slot

Figure 1 shows a schematic top plan view of a preferred embodiment of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of the appearance of an article 10 to be packaged and a packaging bag 1 used to package the article 10 .

3 and 4 schematically show the situation in which a vacuum suction component 41 sucks the packaging bag 1 in the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figures 5 and 6 schematically show the cooperative operation of a clamping jaw assembly 42 and a vacuum adsorption assembly 41 in the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

7 and 8 schematically show the situation in which the clamping jaw assembly 42 clamps the packaging bag 1 .

FIG. 9 schematically shows a three-dimensional appearance view of a bag-drawing device 5 in the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figures 10 to 12 schematically show the action process of the bag pulling device 5.

13 to 14 schematically show the positioning process of a positioning device in the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 shows a three-dimensional appearance diagram schematically showing a set of bag rollers 24 of the positioning device.

Figure 1 shows a preferred embodiment of the equipment of the present invention, which includes a receiving platform 21, a lifting device 4 and a bag pulling device 5. Figure 2 shows a packaging bag 1 lifted and pulled by the device of the present invention. It is in an unexpanded state and has a flat shape. here In the embodiment, the packaging bag 1 includes a closed rear edge 11 , an open front edge 12 , a rear section 111 close to the rear edge 11 , and a front section 121 close to the front edge 12 . The packaging bag 1 is used to store a wafer box 10, but can also be used to store other items. The wafer box 10 may be a front-opening universal wafer box (FOUP), a front-opening wafer transport box (FOSB) or other types of boxes.

The lifting device 4 is located in front of the receiving platform 21 and is used to lift the rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1 to a pulling position higher than the receiving platform 21 (see Figure 10). The bag pulling device 5 can transfer the rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1 from the lifting device 4 in the waiting position (see Figure 11), and drag the rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1 from the waiting position to the rear of the receiving platform 21 a certain distance, and then release the rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1 so that the packaging bag 1 lies flat on the receiving platform 21 (see Figure 13)

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1 , the receiving platform 21 may include a directional channel 210 that passes through the front and rear, and two flat plates 21 a and 21 b of equal height located on both sides of the directional channel 210 .

The lifting device 4 includes a vacuum suction component 41 that can move up and down, a clamping jaw component 42 that can move up and down and forward and backward, and a driving component 43 for driving the vacuum suction component 41 and the clamping jaw component 42 to move as mentioned above. In this embodiment, the vacuum suction assembly 41 may include four vacuum suction nozzles 411 , and the clamping jaw assembly 42 may include one air pressure clamping jaw 421 . However, the number of vacuum nozzles 411 and pneumatic clamping claws 421 is not limited to the above and can be adjusted as needed. As for the driving assembly 43, it includes a mechanism for raising and lowering the vacuum adsorption assembly 41 and the clamping jaw assembly 42 together, a mechanism for raising and lowering the vacuum adsorbing assembly 41 independently, and a mechanism for independently moving the clamping jaw assembly 42 forward and backward. Their power sources can be changed according to the needs. Choose oil, pneumatic or motor power source.

As shown in Figures 3 and 4, a stack of packaging bags 1a is placed in a bag slot 6 waiting to be taken out, and the packaging bag 1 is located at the top of the stack of packaging bags 1a. Driven by the driving assembly 43, the vacuum adsorption assembly 41 first descends to a position where it can suck the rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1, and then sucks the rear section 111. At this time, the clamping jaw assembly 42 also descends together.

Then, as shown in FIG. 5 , the vacuum suction assembly 41 rises, thereby lifting the rear section 111 of the sucked packaging bag 1 and separating it from the stack of packaging bags 1 a. At this time, the clamping jaw assembly 42 also rises together.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 6 , the vacuum adsorption assembly 41 continues to rise to a clamping position alone, so that the rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1 is aligned with the clamping opening 421a of the open air pressure clamping claw 421 .

Next, the pneumatic clamping jaws 421 of the clamping jaw assembly 42 advance toward the rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1, and then, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, clamp the rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1 at the clamping position.

Finally, the clamping jaw assembly 42 is driven by the driving assembly 43 to rise to a pulling position higher than the clamping position. As shown in FIG. 10 , the pulling position is also higher than the receiving platform 21 . At this time, the packaging bag 1 is waiting for the bag pulling device 5 to pull it at the pulling position, which will be described later.

In this embodiment, after the clamping claw assembly 42 clamps the rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1, the vacuum adsorption assembly 41 releases the rear section 111 and no longer sucks it, but is not limited to this.

In this embodiment, as shown in Figures 1 and 9, the bag pulling device 5 is located behind the receiving platform 21, and the bag pulling device 5 may include a bag clamping component 51 located above the flat plates 21a and 21b of the receiving platform 21, and A moving driving mechanism (not shown in the figure) is located below the flat plates 21a and 21b and connected to the bag clamping assembly 51. However, if the space above the receiving platform 21 permits, the mobile driving mechanism can also be disposed above the flat plates 21a and 21b. In any case, driven by the moving driving mechanism, the bag clamping assembly 51 can be at a starting point position behind the receiving platform 21 (see FIG. 10 ) and an end position in front of the receiving platform 21 (see FIG. 10 ) along the directional channel 210 . 11) Move back and forth between. After the bag clamping assembly 51 reaches the end position, it will clamp the rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1 that is already in the pulling position. At this time, the clamping claw assembly 42 of the lifting device 4 releases the rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1 to complete the process. The rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1 is handed over to the bag clamping assembly 51 . Immediately afterwards, the bag clamping assembly 51 pulls the packaging bag 1 back to the starting position, and then releases the rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1 when it is about to return to the starting position, so that the entire packaging bag 1 lies flat on the receiving platform 21 .

In this embodiment, as shown in Figure 9, the bag clip assembly 51 may include a Two clamping jaws 511 (for example, two pneumatic clamping jaws) in an open state and a driving module 512. When the two clamping claws 511 reach the end position, they are driven by the driving module 512 to move relatively far apart, and then clamp the rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1 (see Figure 12). The two clamping claws 511 also return to the open state when they are about to reach the starting position, thereby releasing the rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1, and then move relatively closer to each other under the driving of the driving module 512 to return to a smaller width apart. status (see Figure 9). The number of the aforementioned clamping jaws 511 can also be only one or more, depending on the requirements.

In this embodiment, the driving module 512 may include a base plate 512a connected to the moving driving mechanism, a convex rail 512b provided on the base plate 512a, and two sliding sleeves that are sleeved on the convex rail 512b and connected to the two clamping jaws 511 respectively. The block 512c and the two driving parts 512d (for example, two pneumatic cylinders) are arranged on the base plate 512a and drive the two sliding blocks 512c to slide along the flange 512b in opposite directions. With the above configuration, the base plate 512a and the aforementioned components disposed on it can move back and forth between the starting position and the end position, and the two sliders 512c are pushed or pulled in opposite directions by the two driving parts 512d. It will drive the two clamping jaws 511 to move away from each other or move closer to each other.

Referring to FIG. 10 , when the clamping jaw assembly 42 rises to the pulling position, the bag clamping assembly 51 moves toward the clamping jaw assembly 42 from the starting position. Please note that the clamping jaws 511 of the bag clamping assembly 51 and the pneumatic clamping jaws 421 of the clamping jaw assembly 42 are staggered in position. Therefore, as shown in Figure 11, when the bag clamping assembly 51 reaches the end position, the bag clamping assembly 51 The clamping jaw 511 will not hit the pneumatic clamping jaw 421, and the rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1 just enters the clamping opening 511a of the clamping jaw 511. Then, as shown in FIG. 12 , the two clamping claws 511 move away from each other relatively under the push of the driving module 512 , and then clamp both sides of the rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1 together. Then, as shown in FIG. 13 , the bag clamping assembly 51 pulls the packaging bag 1 back to the starting position, and then releases the rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1 so that the entire packaging bag 1 lies flat on the receiving platform 21 . In this embodiment, the bag clamping assembly 51 releases the rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1 with the two clamping claws 511 just before returning to the starting position. However, it can also release the two clamping claws 511 after reaching the starting position. Rear section 111.

In order to ensure that the two clamping jaws 511 can be in the end position as shown in Figure 11 Just to include the rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1 into its clamping mouth 511a, the bag clamping assembly 51 can further include a push plate 513 protruding forward, and the push plate 513 has an inclined supporting surface 513a inclined backward. A horizontal supporting surface 513b is connected to the inclined supporting surface 513a. In this embodiment, the push plate 513 is connected to the base plate 512a of the driving module 512, and protrudes forward and then folds back flat to form the above-mentioned inclined support surface 513a and horizontal support surface 513b. When the bag clamping assembly 51 reaches the end position, as shown in Figures 11 and 12, the portion of the packaging bag 1 adjacent to the rear section 111 will lie flat on the horizontal support surface 513b and along the inclined support surface 513a. In this way, The rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1 will be able to maintain or be close to a horizontal state because this part is supported by the push plate 513, so that the clamping openings 511a of the two clamping claws 511 can be smoothly included in the rear section 111 of the packaging bag 1. . A push plate 513 like this is needed for softer packaging bags 1, but for harder packaging bags 1, it may be less necessary to configure this push plate 513. In short, the push plate 513 is not a necessary configuration of the present invention.

In a packaging operation using the packaging bag 1, after the packaging bag 1 is moved to the receiving platform 21 as described above, it can be moved to a packaging platform 400 adjacent to the receiving platform 21 by a bag moving device 3 (see Figure 1). (See Figure 1). Then, the front edge 12 of the packaging bag 1 is expanded by a bag unfolding device (not shown in the figure) to form a bag mouth. A push rod device (not shown in the figure) then pushes an object (such as the above-mentioned wafer box 10) into the packaging bag 1 from the bag opening. Then, a heat-pressure sealing device (not shown) performs a heat-pressure sealing operation on the front section 121 of the packaging bag 1 containing the item to close the bag mouth, so that the item is completely sealed by the packaging bag 1 . However, the aforementioned packaging operation details are not the focus of this case and cannot be elaborated further.

In any case, it can be seen from the above description that through the lifting and pulling of the equipment of the present invention, the process of lifting and pulling the packaging bag 1 from the bag trough 6 to the receiving platform 21 is automated and does not require human intervention, so human intervention can be avoided or reduced. The packaging bag 1 is lifted and pulled to promote the overall work efficiency of the packaging operation.

Preferably, the bag moving equipment of the present invention may further include a positioning device for positioning the packaging bag 1 lying flat on the receiving platform 21, so that the packaging bag 1 is transferred by the bag moving device 3 only after the positioning is completed. Go to packaging platform 400. In this example, As shown in FIG. 1 , the positioning device includes at least a first positioning plate 22 standing on the receiving platform 21 and a push bag assembly 240 disposed below the receiving platform 21 . The first positioning plate 22 is adjacent to and parallel to a rear edge 210a of the receiving platform 21. The bag pushing assembly 240 has a pushing part that exposes the receiving platform 21. The pushing part is used to push the packaging bag 1 on the receiving platform 21 to the first position. plate 22, so that the rear edge 11 of the packaging bag 1 can be positioned against the first positioning plate 22.

For example, the bag pushing assembly 240 may include one or more rollers or pulleys disposed below the receiving platform 21. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, there are two first positions arranged in a row along the transverse direction. Plate 22 and six bag-picking rollers 24 arranged in two rows along the longitudinal direction. Each bag-moving roller 24 is partially exposed on the surface of the receiving platform 21 for allowing the packaging bag 1 to lie flat. For example, a through hole 211 is formed on the flat plates 21a and 21b of the receiving platform 21 corresponding to each position of the bag-moving rollers 24, such as As shown in FIG. 15 , a portion of each bag-moving roller 24 is exposed through the corresponding through hole 211 , and these exposed portions constitute the above-mentioned pushing portion that can be used to move the packaging bag 1 . Preferably, each bag dialing roller 24 also has a plurality of friction protruding pieces 241 distributed at intervals along the circumference. Each friction protruding piece 241 can be made of a plastic sheet, a silicone sheet or a rubber sheet. When the bag roller 24 rotates, the corresponding through holes 211 will be exposed in sequence and rubbed against the packaging bag 1 to achieve the purpose of urging the packaging bag 1 to move. The advantage of this configuration is that the friction protrusion piece 241 can be replaced when it is worn out, without replacing the entire bag dialing roller 24.

Preferably, as shown in FIG. 1 , the positioning device may also include at least one second positioning plate 23 standing on the receiving platform 21 . In this embodiment, there are two second positioning plates 23 arranged in a row along the lateral direction, and they are adjacent to and parallel to one side edge 210b of the receiving platform 21 . The through holes 211 are obliquely distributed in a positioning area between the first positioning plates 22 and the second positioning plates 23 in the same direction, and they are spaced apart from each other in both the transverse and longitudinal directions. The bag-picking roller 24 also tilts in the same direction as the corresponding through hole 211 . The inclination angle θ of these through holes 211 is preferably 55 degrees. In any case, the number, distribution and inclination angle of the through holes 211 and the bag-picking rollers 24 can be changed according to the needs, and are not limited to the above.

The configuration of the above-mentioned positioning device is to take into account that the bag being pulled by the bag pulling device 5 is The packaging bag 1 on the receiving platform 21 may not be exactly at the desired position and needs to be positioned. However, if there is no such requirement, there is no need to configure the positioning device.

In this embodiment, when the bag pulling device 5 pulls the packaging bag 1 to the positioning area of the receiving platform 21, the packaging bag 1 will just cover the bag pulling rollers 24, and the packaging bag 1 can be as shown in Figure 13 indicates that the desired position has not yet been reached. At this time, a roller driving mechanism (not shown in the figure) of the bag pushing assembly 240 can be used to drive the bag pushing rollers 24 to rotate clockwise (see FIG. 15 ), and thus push the packaging bag 1 toward the first positioning plate 22 Move diagonally to the direction of the second positioning plate 23 . Once the rear edge 11 and one side edge 13 of the packaging bag 1 abut against the first positioning plate 22 and the second positioning plate 23 respectively, the packaging bag 1 reaches the desired position and is positioned without deflection.

21: Receiving platform

21a, 21b: Tablet

210: Directional passage

211:Through hole

210a:rear edge

210b: Side edge

22:First positioning plate

23:Second positioning plate

24: Bag roller

240:Push bag component

241: Friction protruding piece

3: Bag moving device

4: Lift the device

400:Packaging platform

41: Vacuum adsorption components

411: Vacuum nozzle

42: Clamp assembly

43:Drive components

421:Pneumatic clamping jaw

5: Bag pulling device

511:Clamp

Claims (10)

An equipment for lifting and pulling a packaging bag, wherein the packaging bag has a closed rear edge and a rear section close to the rear edge. The equipment includes: a receiving platform; a lifting device located on the receiving platform The front part is used to lift the rear section of the packaging bag to a pulling position higher than the receiving platform; and a bag pulling device can transfer the rear section of the packaging bag from the lifting device at the pulling position. , and drag the rear section of the packaging bag from the pulling position to the rear of the receiving platform for a certain distance, and then release the rear section of the packaging bag so that the packaging bag lies flat on the receiving platform. The equipment of claim 1, wherein the lifting device includes: a vacuum adsorption component that can move up and down, and can rise to a clamping position after sucking the rear section of the packaging bag; a clamping claw component that can Lift and move forward and backward, and can clamp the rear section of the packaging bag at the clamping position and then rise to the pulling position higher than the clamping position; and a driving component for driving the vacuum adsorption component and The jaw assembly performs the above movements. The equipment as described in claim 1 or 2, wherein the receiving platform includes a directional channel running through the front and rear, and two channels located on both sides of the directional channel. Two flat plates of equal height. The bag pulling device is located behind the receiving platform and includes: a bag clamping component, which is located above the two flat plates of the receiving platform and can be located at the same point behind the receiving platform along the directional channel. Move back and forth between the position and an end position in front of the receiving platform, and after reaching the end position, clamp the rear section of the packaging bag, then move to the starting position, and release it when it is about to return to the starting position. The rear section of the packaging bag; and a moving driving mechanism, located under the two flat plates of the receiving platform and connected to the bag clamping component, for driving the bag clamping component to perform the above-mentioned movement. The device as described in claim 3, wherein the bag clamping component includes: two clamping claws that can move relatively far away when reaching the end position, and then clamp the rear section of the packaging bag, and are about to reach the starting point. When the package bag is in position, the rear section of the packaging bag is released, and then moves relatively close to each other; and a driving module is connected to the two clamping jaws to drive the two clamping jaws to perform the above movement. The device of claim 4, wherein the bag clamping component includes a push plate that protrudes forward and has an inclined support surface that is inclined backward and a horizontal support surface that is connected to the inclined support surface. The device according to claim 4, wherein the driving module includes: a base plate connected to the moving driving mechanism; a convex rail disposed on the base plate; Two slide blocks are slidably sleeved on the flange rail and are respectively connected to the two clamping jaws; and two driving parts are provided on the base plate and drive the two slide blocks in opposite directions to slide along the flange rail. The device of claim 6, wherein the bag clamping component includes a push plate connected to the base plate, the push plate protrudes forward and has an inclined support surface that is inclined backward and a horizontal level that is connected to the inclined support surface. support surface. The equipment according to claim 1, including a positioning device, the positioning device includes a first positioning plate standing on the receiving platform and a push bag assembly disposed below the receiving platform, the first positioning plate is adjacent to and Parallel to a rear edge of the receiving platform, the bag pushing component has a pushing part that exposes the receiving platform. The pushing part is used to push the packaging bag on the receiving platform toward the first positioning plate. The equipment of claim 1 includes a positioning device, which includes: a first positioning plate standing on the receiving platform, adjacent to and parallel to a rear edge of the receiving platform; a second positioning plate, Standing on the receiving platform, adjacent to and parallel to one side edge of the receiving platform; and a plurality of bag dialing rollers, arranged below the receiving platform, and each bag dialing roller system is partially exposed from the receiving platform to allow the packaging On the surface where the bag is lying flat, the bag-shifting rollers are spaced apart from each other and distributed in a positioning area between the first positioning plate and the second positioning plate, and the bag-shifting rollers are in the shape of The inclination in the same direction can urge the packaging bag to move diagonally in the direction of the first positioning plate and the second positioning plate when rotating in the same direction. The device as claimed in claim 8, wherein each bag dialing roller also has a plurality of friction protrusions distributed at intervals along the circumference.