WO2016189975A1

WO2016189975A1 - Multistage shelf and overhead traveling vehicle system using same

Info

Publication number: WO2016189975A1
Application number: PCT/JP2016/061228
Authority: WO
Inventors: 孝憲泉
Original assignee: 村田機械株式会社
Priority date: 2015-05-26
Filing date: 2016-04-06
Publication date: 2016-12-01
Also published as: TW201704120A

Abstract

Provided is a compact multistage shelf equipped with a damping function. The multistage shelf is provided with upper and lower multistage cells that allows a transfer device to advance therein and transport articles therein and thereout while supporting upper portions of the articles. Each of the cells is provided with: a pair of shelf supports which are provided at a spacing equal to or larger than the width of the transfer device; at least a pair of damping members which are provided on the pair of shelf supports; and a shelf plate which is supported by at least the pair of damping members, and located at a position higher than the shelf supports.

Description

Multistage shelf and overhead traveling vehicle system using the same

The present invention relates to a multistage shelf used in an overhead traveling vehicle system or the like.

Patent Document 1 (JP4394027B) discloses a two-stage upper and lower side buffer for an overhead traveling vehicle system. Then, the overhead traveling vehicle temporarily places storage articles such as FOUP (Front Opening Unified Unified Pod) in the upper and lower cells of the side buffer.

JP4394027B

The side buffer is often hung from the ceiling side of the clean room. When the overhead traveling vehicle travels in the vicinity, the vibration of the traveling rail due to the traveling of the overhead traveling vehicle may be transmitted to the side buffer via the ceiling or the like. The vibration of the side buffer is transmitted to stored items such as FOUP, which may adversely affect the internal semiconductor wafer. Therefore, it is preferable to provide a damping member in the side buffer. However, if the damping member is simply provided, the size of the side buffer in the height direction increases.

An object of the present invention is to provide a multistage shelf having a vibration control function and compact in the height direction, and an overhead traveling vehicle system provided with the same.

The present invention is a multistage shelf in which the transfer device advances into the interior while supporting the upper part of the article and carries the article in and out, and is provided in multiple upper and lower stages, and the cell has a lateral width of the transfer apparatus. A pair of shelf supports provided with the above-mentioned gaps, at least a pair of vibration damping members provided on the pair of shelf supports, and a position supported by at least the pair of vibration damping members and higher than the shelf supports A shelf board is provided. The transfer device is preferably a transfer device mounted on a transport carriage, for example, a transfer device for an overhead traveling vehicle. The article stored in the multistage shelf is, for example, a carrier such as FOUP that accommodates semiconductor wafers, reticles, and the like. In such a use environment, the multistage shelf is easily shaken by traveling of the transport carriage, and the vibration may adversely affect the semiconductor wafer, the reticle, and the like. For this reason, it is important to suppress the vibration of the article to be stored.

In the present invention, the vibration of the shelf board is suppressed by the damping member, and the space below the shelf board raised by the damping member is used as the operation space of the transfer device. For this reason, a multistage shelf having a vibration damping function and compact in the height direction can be obtained.

Preferably, the pair of shelf supports are provided at the lower portions of both ends along the horizontal direction of the cell opening so as to extend along the depth direction of the cell, and the pair of vibration damping members are viscoelastic gel or vibration damping. The pair of vibration damping members made of rubber are disposed along the depth direction of the cell on the upper surface of the pair of shelf supports. If it does in this way, the space for the total height of the thickness of a shelf holder and the thickness of a damping member can be utilized for the operation space of a transfer device. Each damping member may be composed of one member extending in the depth direction of the cell, or may be composed of a plurality of members arranged along the depth direction. *

Preferably, the multi-stage shelf is a suspension type and includes an upper panel and a lower panel, and a shelf plate of the lowermost cell is attached to the lower panel via a vibration damping member. In the lowermost cell, the lower panel is provided without the shelf support and the vibration damping member is attached, so that a multistage shelf that is compact in the height direction and has high rigidity can be obtained. Furthermore, since a suspended multi-stage shelf is easily shaken by traveling of an overhead traveling vehicle or the like, it is important to reduce the vibration of the shelf board.

Preferably, a nozzle for supplying purge gas into the article is provided on the surface of the shelf plate, and does not overlap with the bottom surface of the shelf plate and the range where the transfer device enters the cell in plan view. A purge gas pipe is provided. In this way, the inside of the article can be purified with the purge gas, and the pipe is separated from the transfer device in the horizontal direction, so that the operation space of the transfer device is not reduced. *

Moreover, in the overhead traveling vehicle system of the present invention, the multistage shelf is provided between a pair of traveling rails for the overhead traveling vehicle, and the multistage shelf is provided with a transfer device for the overhead traveling vehicle from either side of the traveling rail. It is free to advance. If it does in this way, a multistage shelf can be used as a buffer between overhead traveling vehicles. Further, since the vibration of the shelf board can be suppressed, the adverse effect on the semiconductor wafer, reticle, etc. in the article to be stored can be reduced.

Preferably, an overhead traveling vehicle for long-distance transportation without a hoist travels on one of a pair of traveling rails, an overhead traveling vehicle with a hoist for short-distance transportation travels on the other traveling rail, and the other traveling rail The traveling rail is disposed so as to pass directly above the load port of the processing apparatus. In this way, articles can be loaded in the order of the overhead traveling vehicle for long-distance conveyance, the multistage shelf, the overhead traveling vehicle for short-distance conveyance, and the load port, and can be unloaded in the reverse order. Furthermore, the overhead traveling vehicle for long-distance conveyance does not require a hoist and is inexpensive, and the overhead traveling vehicle for short-distance conveyance has a hoist and can deliver articles to and from the load port by the hoist.

Preferably, the overhead traveling vehicle that is for long-distance conveyance and does not include a hoist includes the transfer device at a central portion in a traveling direction, and includes a pair of side plates at both front and rear end portions along the traveling direction. Includes a guide rail along the vertical direction, and the transfer apparatus includes a pair of linear guides guided by the guide rail at both ends along the traveling direction. If it does in this way, goods can be carried in / out between the upper and lower multistage cells by the transfer device moving up and down in the vertical direction along the guide rails.

Preferably, each of the pair of side plates has a first guide rail along the vertical direction, and is fixed to the first side plate and the second linear guide guided by the first guide rail. And a second side plate having a second guide rail along the vertical direction. The second side plate moves up and down together with the second linear guide, and the linear guide of the transfer device is the second side plate. The guide rail is configured to be guided. If it does in this way, a transfer device can be raised / lowered with a big stroke.

Front view of the multistage shelf of the embodiment Plan view of the multistage shelf of the embodiment Partially enlarged front view of a multi-stage shelf showing the carrier being transferred An enlarged plan view of the main part of an overhead traveling vehicle system with multi-level shelves Top view of the overhead traveling vehicle system Side view of long-distance overhead traveling vehicle and rail Front view of long-distance overhead traveling vehicle and rail Side view of overhead traveling vehicle and traveling rail for short distance transportation

The following is an optimum embodiment for carrying out the present invention. The scope of the present invention should be determined according to the understanding of those skilled in the art based on the description of the scope of the claims, taking into account the description of the specification and well-known techniques in this field.

FIGS. 1 to 3 show the multistage shelf 2 of the embodiment, FIGS. 4 and 5 show the overhead traveling vehicle system 24 of the embodiment, and FIGS. 6 to 8 show two types of overhead traveling vehicles of the overhead traveling vehicle system 24. 54 and 56 are shown. 1 to 3, the multistage shelf 2 includes an upper panel 4 and a lower panel 6, and the

panels

4 and 6 are panel-like members constituted by

frame bodies

5 and 5 ′ and a plate material. The upper and

lower panels

4 and 6 are connected by a column 8 and are suspended from a ceiling 9 such as a clean room by a column 10. In addition, although the multistage shelf 2 may be supported from the ground side, in that case, the column restricts the use of a floor space such as a clean room.

The multi-stage shelf 2 is, for example, a three-stage shelf up and down and includes an uppermost cell 12, a middle cell 13, and a lowermost cell 14, but may be two or four or more. Further, for example, three rows of cells 12 to 14 are provided along the horizontal direction, but the number of rows is arbitrary, and for example, two or more rows are preferable. The cells 12 to 14 can carry in and out stored articles from both the front and back sides.

The cells 12 to 14 are provided with a plate-like shelf board 16, and the shelf board 16 is provided with, for example, three positioning pins 18 to position the bottom of the stored article. In addition, the kind and arrangement | positioning of the member for positioning are arbitrary, For example, you may position with guides other than the pin 18. FIG. Further, a plurality of sets of pins 18 may be arranged in accordance with the size of the article so that articles of different sizes can be stored. Since the inner area surrounded by the pins 18 is not indispensable for storing (supporting) the article, a U-shaped notch 32 shown in FIG. 2 may be provided for weight reduction.

The shelf plates 16 of the uppermost and

middle cells

12 and 13 are attached to a pair of left and right shelf holders 20 attached to the support column 8 via at least a pair of damping members 22. And the space | interval of the shelf supports 20 and 20 is larger than the horizontal width of the top plate 86 of the slide fork 64 which is a transfer apparatus. Further, the shelf plate 16 of the lowermost cell 14 is attached to the lower panel 6 via at least a pair of vibration damping members 22 without using the shelf holder 20.

The damping member 22 is made of a viscoelastic gel, a damping rubber, a spring, a damper, etc., and is preferably a viscoelastic gel that is easy to install. The thickness of the damping member 22 is H. The vibration damping member 22 prevents the vibration of the multi-stage shelf 2 from being transmitted to the shelf plate 16 and does not affect the semiconductor wafer or the like in the carrier 60 of the stored article.

Also, it is preferable that the bottom of the multistage shelf 2 is made higher than the top surface of the processing apparatus 30 that is a clean room facility so that the multistage shelf 2 does not hinder the loading and unloading of the processing apparatus 30. Furthermore, in the cells 12 to 14, it is preferable to provide a fence 23 on the opening surface to the outside of the shelf 2 to prevent the stored articles from falling due to an earthquake or the like. However, a plate or the like may be provided as a fall prevention member instead of the fence 23 on a surface that is not used for delivery of stored articles, for example, on the left and right side surfaces in FIG.

FIG. 3 shows delivery of a carrier 60 such as FOUP that is a stored article between the shelf 2 and the overhead traveling vehicle. An upper portion of the carrier 60 has a flange 62 protruding upward, and the slide fork 64 of the overhead traveling vehicle grips the flange 62 by an openable / closable chuck 88. The slide fork 64 includes a base plate 84, a middle plate 85, and a top plate 86, and has a three-stage structure. A chuck 88 is provided on the bottom surface of the top plate 86. Since the vibration damping member 22 exists between the shelf holder 20 and the shelf board 16, the space corresponding to the height H can be used for the advancement / retraction and the elevation of the slide fork 64. For this reason, the size of the height direction of the multistage shelf 2 can be suppressed. The carrier 60 is provided with three grooves for coupling with the pin 18 at the bottom, and is lowered together with the slide fork 64 and positioned by the pin 18. *

The multistage shelf 2 includes a purge gas supply path, a sensor for detecting the presence or absence of the carrier 60, a sensor for detecting whether the carrier 60 is positioned at the correct position by the pin 18, an ID reader for reading the ID of the carrier 60, and the carrier 60 A turntable for turning the vehicle 180 degrees, means for communicating with an overhead traveling vehicle, and the like may be provided. The purge gas supply path is shown in FIG. A purge gas such as nitrogen gas or clean dry air is supplied from the pipe 34, and the nozzle 39 at the tip of the pipe 34 is coupled to an inlet (not shown) provided at the bottom of the carrier 60. When a sensor (not shown) that detects the presence or absence of the carrier detects the carrier 60, the flow control valve 38 opens to supply purge gas, and the opening degree of the flow control valve 38 is adjusted according to the flow rate measured by the flow meter 36.

4 and 5 show the layout of the overhead traveling vehicle system 24. FIG. An overhead traveling vehicle 54 for long distance conveyance travels along the traveling rail 50 for long distance transportation, and an overhead traveling vehicle 56 for short distance transportation travels along the traveling rail 52 for short distance transportation. The traveling rail 52 passes directly above the load port 58 of the processing device 30, and the multistage shelf 2 is disposed between the traveling

rails

50 and 52 so that there are cells 12 to 14 facing the load port 58 in plan view. Yes. The overhead traveling vehicle 54 for long-distance conveyance conveys the carrier between the multistage shelf 2 and another multistage shelf 2 or a stocker (not shown), and delivers the carrier to the cells 12 to 14 and the like. The overhead traveling vehicle 56 for short-distance conveyance conveys the carrier between the multistage shelf 2 and the load port 58 and delivers the carrier between the cells 12 to 14 and the load port 58.

The traveling rail 50 for long-distance conveyance is mainly an interbay route, and a large number of overhead traveling vehicles 54 travel and are arranged so as to enter the U-shape in the bay as shown in FIG. The short-distance conveyance traveling rail 52 is disposed outside the long-distance conveyance traveling rail 50 in the bay, and a small number of overhead traveling vehicles 56 of about one to several units travel. For this reason, the overhead traveling vehicle 54 for short-distance conveyance is unlikely to arrive at the load port 58 due to traffic congestion. The traveling rail 52 for short distance conveyance may be arranged only in one bay or may be arranged to extend to another bay as shown in FIG.

Referring back to FIG. 4, the overhead traveling vehicle 54 for long-distance conveyance does not transfer the carrier to the position immediately below. On the other hand, the overhead traveling vehicle 56 for short-distance conveyance transfers the carrier to and from the load port 58 at a position immediately below. Therefore, a plate-like, net-like, fence-like, etc. fall-preventing member 42 is provided so as to protrude from the bottom of the shelf 2 to the lower part of the traveling rail for long-distance conveyance. Further, a shelf 44 dedicated to the overhead traveling vehicle 54 for long distance conveyance may be provided on the right side of the traveling rail 50 for long distance conveyance. The shelf 44 is the same as the shelf 2 except for the following points. In the shelf 44, drop prevention members such as a plate shape, a fence shape, and a net shape are provided on the three upper and lower and right side surfaces in FIG. 4, and the fall prevention member 42 is provided on the left side surface in FIG. For this reason, it is not necessary to provide the fence 23 in the left side surface in FIG. 4 in the shelf 44, and the height per shelf of the shelf 44 can be made small. Further, the fall prevention member 42 may protrude from the bottom of the shelf 44 to the lower part of the traveling rail for long distance conveyance.

The overhead traveling vehicle 54 carries the carrier in and out of the cells 12 to 14, and the overhead traveling vehicle 56 carries the carrier between the

cells

12 and 14 and the load port 58. Since there are, for example, three cells 12 to 14 facing the load port 58, the three cells are dedicated to the load port 58 facing each other, and one or two of them are temporarily transferred from the load port 58. The remainder is assigned for temporary storage of the carrier to be carried into the load port 58 for storage. There are also cells 12 to 14 at a position between the

load ports

58 and 58. These cells are, for example, general-purpose cells that do not correspond to a specific load port.

In FIG. 4, the carrier is carried out and carried into the load port 58a by using two

overhead traveling vehicles

54a and 56a and a cell row 59. The overhead traveling vehicle 54a for long-distance conveyance is used for the articles to be carried in the row 59 at the timing when the processed carrier is carried out to the load port 58a of the processing device 30 or just before the carrier is carried out. Next, a carrier to be processed by the processing apparatus 30 is carried into the cell. When the processed carrier is carried out to the load port 58a, the overhead traveling vehicle 56a for short-distance conveyance picks up the carrier from the load port 58a and carries the carrier into the cell for unloaded articles in the row 59. Next, the overhead traveling vehicle 56a for short distance conveyance takes out the carrier to be supplied to the load port 58a from the cell for incoming goods in the row 59 and supplies it to the load port 58a. In parallel with this, the overhead traveling vehicle 54a for long-distance conveyance takes out the carrier from the cell for unloading articles and conveys it to the cell for unloading articles in the next processing step.

In this way, after the carrier is removed from the load port 58a of the processing apparatus 30, the next carrier is carried in in a short time. Accordingly, the throughput of the processing device 30 is improved. The

overhead traveling vehicles

54 and 56 can execute two processes of carrying out and carrying in the carrier in a short time while stopped.

6 and 7 show the structure of the overhead traveling vehicle 54 for long-distance conveyance. A traveling carriage 70 having a power receiving unit 72 travels within the traveling rail 50, and the upper frame 74 is supported on the traveling carriage 70 by a shaft. A pair of front and

rear side plates

75, 75 are supported by the upper frame 74 along the traveling direction, and the side plate 78 moves up and down together with the linear guide 77 along a vertical guide rail 76 provided on the side plate 75. In order to raise and lower the slide fork 64 with a large stroke, a vertical guide rail 79 is provided on the side plate 78 to raise and lower the linear guide 80.

Rotating mechanism 82 is fixed to a pair of

linear guides

80, 80 and moves up and down, and slide fork 64 is attached to the lower part of rotating mechanism 82. The slide fork 64 is rotated by the rotation mechanism 82 so as to match the load port. The rotating mechanism 82 may not be provided. In the slide fork 64, the base plate 84 is fixed to the rotation mechanism 82, the top plate 86 can be moved back and forth in the right and left sides of the traveling direction of the overhead traveling vehicle 54, and the middle plate 85 has a half stroke of the top plate 86. Advances and retreats to the left and right sides. A chuck 88 is provided at the bottom of the top plate 86 to hold the flange 62. A scalar arm or the like may be used instead of the slide fork 64. If the lift stroke of the slide fork 64 may be small, the side plate 78 to the linear guide 80 need not be provided.

FIG. 8 shows the structure of the overhead traveling vehicle 56 for short-distance conveyance. A traveling carriage having a power receiving unit (not shown) is provided in the traveling rail 52, and the rotating mechanism 82 and the slide fork 64 are moved up and down by the

double side plates

75 and 78, the guide rails 76 and 79, and the

linear guides

77 and 80. . Further, the slide fork 64 is rotated by the rotation mechanism 82. In order to deliver the carrier 62 to and from the load port 58, a hoist 90 is provided at the bottom of the top plate 86, and the lifting platform 92 including the chuck 88 is moved up and down by a suspension material such as a belt 91. Note that the rotation mechanism 82 need not be provided, and the side plate 78 to the linear guide 80 need not be provided when the lifting stroke may be small.

The embodiment has the following characteristics.
1) The vibration damping member 22 suppresses the vibration of the

multistage shelves

2 and 44 caused by traveling of the overhead traveling vehicle from propagating to the stored article (carrier 60), and reduces the vibration of the article inside the carrier 60.
2) In the

cells

13 and 14, the space in which the slide fork 64 can move up and down is increased by the height of the damping member 22. For this reason, the

multistage shelves

2, 44 having a small height as a whole are obtained.
3) In the cell 14, the lower panel 6 is provided instead of the shelf holder 20, and the shelf board 16 is attached via the damping member 22. For this reason, the rigidity of the

multistage shelves

2, 44 can be increased.
4) By suspending the

multistage shelves

2, 44 from the ceiling 9, the space below the

multistage shelves

2, 44 can be used for other purposes.
5) By arranging the

multistage shelves

2 and 44 between the traveling

rails

50 and 52, the overhead traveling vehicle 54 is dedicated to long-distance conveyance, and the overhead traveling vehicle 56 is dedicated to conveyance between the

multistage shelves

2 and 44 and the load port 58. I can concentrate on it.
6) Since the traveling rail 52 for short-distance transport requires only a small number of overhead traveling vehicles 56, the overhead traveling vehicle 56 is less congested.
7) The overhead traveling vehicle 54 for long distance transportation does not require a hoist.
8) The

overhead traveling vehicles

54 and 56 can access the upper and lower three-stage or four-stage

multistage shelves

2 and 44 by a mechanism for moving the slide fork 64 such as the side plate 75 and the linear guide 80 up and down.
9) With the

overhead traveling vehicles

54 and 56 stopped traveling, two processes of carrying out the carrier from the load port 58 and carrying the carrier into the load port 58 can be executed in a short time.
10) If the fall prevention member 42 is provided from the bottom of the shelf 2 or the bottom of the shelf 44 to the lower side of the traveling rail 50 for long distance conveyance, the carrier can be prevented from falling without the fence 23 against an earthquake or the like.

2,44 Multi-level shelf 4 Upper panel 5, 5 'Frame 6

Lower panel

8, 10 Post 9 Ceiling 12-14 Cell 16 Shelf 18 Pin 20 Shelf receiver 22 Damping member 23 Fence 24 Ceiling traveling vehicle system 30 Processing device 32 Notch 34 Pipe 36 Flow meter 38 Flow control valve 39 Nozzle 42

Fall prevention member

50, 52 Traveling rail
54,56 Overhead vehicle 58 Load port 59 Row of cells 60 Carrier 62 Flange
64 Slide fork (transfer device) 70 Traveling carriage 72 Power receiving unit 74

Upper frame

75, 78 Side plate
76, 79

Guide rail

77, 80 Linear guide
82 Rotating mechanism 84 Base plate 85 Middle plate 86 Top plate 88 Chuck 90 Hoist
91 Belt 92 Lifting platform
H Height of damping member

Claims

The transfer device advances to the inside while supporting the upper part of the article, and the cell for carrying in and out the article is a multistage shelf provided in upper and lower stages,
The cell includes a pair of shelf supports provided at an interval greater than the width of the transfer device, at least a pair of vibration suppression members provided on the pair of shelf supports, and at least a pair of vibration suppression members. A multi-stage shelf, characterized by being provided with a shelf plate that is supported and located at a higher position than the shelf holder.
The pair of shelf supports are provided to extend along the depth direction of the cell at the lower part of both ends along the horizontal direction of the cell opening,
The pair of damping members are made of viscoelastic gel or damping rubber, and the pair of damping members are arranged on the upper surface of the pair of shelf supports along the depth direction of the cell. The multi-stage shelf according to claim 1.
The multi-stage according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it is a suspension type and comprises an upper panel and a lower panel, and a shelf plate of the lowermost cell is mounted on the lower panel via a damping member. shelf.
A nozzle for supplying purge gas into the article is provided on the surface of the shelf board,
A purge gas pipe is provided along a bottom surface of the shelf plate so as not to overlap with a range in which the transfer device enters the cell in a plan view. One of the multistage shelves.
The multistage shelf according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is provided between a pair of traveling rails for an overhead traveling vehicle, and the overhead traveling vehicle transfer device can be advanced from any traveling rail side. There is an overhead traveling vehicle system.
An overhead traveling vehicle for long-distance conveyance and without a hoist travels on one of a pair of traveling rails, and an overhead traveling vehicle with a hoist for short-distance conveyance travels on the other traveling rail, and the other traveling rail is The overhead traveling vehicle system according to claim 5, wherein the overhead traveling vehicle system is disposed so as to pass directly above a load port of the processing device.
The overhead traveling vehicle for hoisting and not equipped with a hoist is
The transfer device is provided at the center in the running direction,
A pair of side plates are provided at both front and rear ends along the running direction,
Each side plate has a guide rail along the vertical direction,
The overhead traveling vehicle system according to claim 6, wherein the transfer device includes a pair of linear guides guided by the guide rails at both ends along the traveling direction.
Each of the pair of side plates is
A first side plate having a first guide rail along the vertical direction and fixed;
A second linear guide guided by the first guide rail, and a second side plate having a second guide rail along the vertical direction,
The second side plate moves up and down with the second linear guide,
The overhead traveling vehicle system according to claim 7, wherein the linear guide of the transfer device is configured to be guided by the second guide rail.