JPH07107914B2 - Transport device in clean room - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a transfer device in a clean room used for transferring a wafer cassette in a semiconductor product manufacturing factory.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 5 is a schematic side view of a conventional transfer device in a clean room disclosed in JP-A-62-68005.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 1 denotes a traveling guide body having a rectangular cross section.
2 is a carrier that runs along the longitudinal direction of the traveling guide 1, 3a and 3b are robots arranged near both ends of the traveling guide 1, 4 is a wafer cassette, 5 is the traveling guide 1 in a clean room 6 It is a pillar fixed above the floor surface. A slit portion 1a is provided along the longitudinal direction at the upper end of the traveling guide body 1, a rail surface 1c is provided at the upper portion 1b of the traveling guide body, and a carriage 2a of the carrier 2 is accommodated in the upper portion 1b of the traveling guide body. The wheels 2b provided on the trolley 2a are attached to the rail surface 1c.
A mounting portion 2c, which is rotatably supported by the carrier 2 and is located outside the traveling guide body 1 of the carrier 2, is integrally formed with the carriage 2a by a connecting portion 2d inserted into the slit portion 1a. In addition, an air passage 1d whose both ends are closed is formed in the lower portion inside the traveling guide body 1, and the air passage 1d is connected to an exhaust duct 7 extending into the clean room 6 through the support column 5 and at the same time, in the traveling guide body. It is also connected to the upper part 1b, and a blower 8 is installed in the exhaust duct 7.

Next, the operation of the conventional in-clean-room transfer device configured as described above will be described.

Carrier 2 by handling one robot 3a
Wafer cassettes 4 are stacked on the mounting portion 2c of the carrier 2
The carrier 2 is driven from one end to the other end along the longitudinal direction of the traveling guide 1 while driving the trolley 2a by an appropriate means to roll the wheels 2b on the rail surface 1c of the traveling guide 1. Then, the robot cassette 3 is stopped and the wafer cassette 4 is unloaded from the mounting portion 2c by the handling of the other robot 3b. After that, the carrier 2 is made to travel, returned to one end of the travel guide body 1, and the above-described operation is repeated. During this operation, the blower 8 is driven to flow air through the slit portion 1a-the upper portion 1b of the traveling guide body-the air passage 1d-the exhaust duct 7 so that the wheels 2b of the carrier 2 roll on the rail surface 1c. The generated dust is discharged to the outside of the clean room 6 together with the air to prevent the dust from being discharged from the upper portion 1b of the traveling guide body through the slit portion 1a into the clean room 6.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

The conventional transfer device in a clean room is configured as described above, and since the blower 8 is installed in the exhaust duct 7, in the vicinity of the center of the traveling guide 1 far from the blower 8, as shown by the arrow in FIG. The inflow wind velocity from the slit portion 1a is insufficient. And when the inflow wind speed is insufficient, Carrier 2
When the vehicle runs, the dust-laden air in the upper inner portion 1b of the rail may be rolled up and may flow backward into the clean room 6. To prevent this, the output of the blower 8 must be increased. There was a point.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, in a clean room in which dust-containing air in the upper part of the traveling guide does not flow back into the clean room without increasing the output of the blower. The purpose is to obtain a carrier.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention, in the above-mentioned clean room conveyance device, the partition for partitioning the upper part of the travel guide body and the air passage formed along the longitudinal direction in the lower part of the travel guide body, small at a position close to the blower, and at a position far away. A large ventilation hole is provided so that the amount of intake air from each part in the longitudinal direction of the traveling guide body to the air passage is made uniform.

[Action]

The transfer device in the clean room according to the present invention changes the size of the vent hole provided in the partition for partitioning the air passage of the travel guide body depending on the position in the longitudinal direction of the travel guide body, and sucks air from each part in the longitudinal direction into the air passage. Since the air volume is made uniform, the inflow wind velocity of air from the slit part of the traveling guide body into the traveling guide body is also uniform, and even if the blower has a small output, the inflow wind velocity from the slit part is not insufficient. The dust can be reliably discharged to the outside of the clean room, the dust is not discharged from the slit portion into the clean room 6, and the clean room 6 is not contaminated with dust or the like.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

1 to 4, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 5 indicate corresponding parts, and 9 is a partition for partitioning the upper portion 1b of the traveling guide body and the air passage 1d. A small vent hole 9a is formed in the longitudinal center of the traveling guide 1 so that the air passage 1d can be sucked into the air passage 1d from each portion in the longitudinal direction of the traveling guide 1 by a uniform amount.
10 is an electric motor provided on the carriage 2a of the carrier 2 to rotate the wheels 2b, 11a is a current collector provided on the carriage 2a, 11b is a power supply line fixed to the upper portion 1b of the traveling guide body along the longitudinal direction, The current collector 11a is slidably in contact with the power supply line 11b.
As shown in FIG. 2, in the exhaust duct 7, a horizontal portion 7b communicating with a lower portion of a vertical portion 7a provided in the support column 5 penetrates the chamber wall 6a and is opened to a portion 12 outside the clean room 6. .

The transfer device in the clean room of this embodiment has a power supply line 11b.
The electric current is supplied to the electric motor 10 from the collector 11a, and the electric motor 10 is rotated in the forward and reverse directions to rotate the wheels 2b on the rail surface 1c, thereby reciprocating the carrier 2 in the longitudinal direction of the traveling guide 1. Further, by driving the blower 8, air flows in the route of the slit 1a-the upper portion 1b of the traveling guide body-the vent hole 9a-the air passage 1d-the exhaust duct 7, so that the wheels 2b of the carrier 2 roll on the rail surface 1c. The dust generated in the upper portion 1b of the traveling guide body is discharged together with air to the portion 12 outside the clean room 6.

In this embodiment, the size of the ventilation hole 9a of the partition 9 is such that the diameter of the vent hole 9a near the support 5 near the blower 8 is d, and the travel guide 1
Is formed by a round hole with a diameter D near the center of
It has a relationship of D. Therefore, the air passage near the column 5
The air flowing through 1d is squeezed because the diameter of the vent hole 9a is small,
Since the air flowing through the air passage 1d near the center of the traveling guide body 1 has a small resistance due to the large diameter of the ventilation hole 9a,
The inflow wind velocity V from the slit portion 1a decreases in the portion close to the column 5, increases in the vicinity of the central portion of the traveling guide body 1, and averages over the entire longitudinal direction. Therefore, the blower 8
Even if the output of the carrier is not increased, the dust-laden air in the upper portion 1b of the travel guide body is prevented from being wound up by the traveling of the carrier 2 into the clean room 6 from the slit portion 1a.

The configuration and operation of this embodiment other than those described above are as follows.
This is the same as the conventional one shown in FIG.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the partition for partitioning the upper part of the travel guide body and the air passage is provided with a small vent hole at a position close to the blower and a large vent hole at a position far from the air blower, and the air passage is provided from each portion in the longitudinal direction of the travel guide body. Since the intake air amount to the air is made uniform, the wind speed of the air in the clean room flowing into the upper part of the travel guide body from the slit part can be made uniform over the entire length of the travel guide body, without increasing the output of the blower. The dust-containing air does not flow back into the clean room from the upper part of the traveling guide body, and the clean room is not polluted.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a transfer device in a clean room according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are II-II of FIG.
Line, III-III line enlarged cross-sectional view, FIG. 4 is an enlarged vertical side view of the same portion, and FIG. 5 is a schematic side view of a conventional transfer device in a clean room. 1 ... travel guide, 1a ... slit, 1b ... upper part of travel guide, 1c ... rail surface, 1d ... air passage, 2 ... carrier, 2a ... carriage, 2b ... wheel, 2c ... … Placement, 2d
...... Connecting part, 5 …… Post, 6 …… Clean room, 7 ・ ・ ・
… Exhaust duct, 8 …… Blower, 9 …… Partitioner, 9a …… Vent hole. The same reference numerals in the drawings indicate the same or corresponding parts.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rectangular cross-section having a rectangular cross section, which is installed extending in a clean room, has slits along its length formed on its upper surface, and is arranged on both sides of the interior in the vertical direction, and is spaced apart from each other along the length. A traveling guide body having opposed rail surfaces and having an air passage formed below the inside of the rail surface, and a wheel rolling on the rail surface are provided and arranged above the traveling guide body. A carrier having a carriage and a mounting portion disposed above the traveling guide body by a connecting portion inserted from the carriage to the slit portion, and an air blower for exhaust are provided to communicate with the traveling guide body to drive the traveling. An exhaust duct that is arranged apart from each other along the length of the guide body, and an exhaust duct that is provided near the lower side of the rail surface and divides the upper part inside the traveling guide body from the air passage. Cleanroom transport system that includes a divider to equalize the amount of exhaust to the air passage in the interior upper part of the longitudinal direction each part of the formed large vents at small distance position is the running guide member in the near position.