JPS58149193A - object transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an object transfer device, and more particularly to a one-piece transfer device with low impact and mechanical strength.

Generally, when automatically transferring and supplying a workpiece to a processing station from above, there are two methods: (1) a method in which the workpiece is suspended from a hook-shaped nozzle, or (2) A method is adopted in which a gripping mechanism grips and fixes the object to be processed and then transfers the object.

The second method is often used when relatively high transfer positions and transfer speeds are required.

That is, the vertically movable head section with a gripping mechanism is lowered, the workpiece is transferred to the processing station, and after being processed there, the workpiece is gripped again, raised, and held, and the vertically movable head section is moved. A method is adopted in which the workpiece is transferred to the next polishing station by rotating or moving the workpiece horizontally.

With this type of transfer method, if the transfer position shifts to a position other than the regular machining station position for some reason, the previous workpiece may remain at the regular machining station position. In such a case, when the vertically movable head section grips the workpiece to be transferred and descends, it will interfere with (collide with) obstacles or the remaining workpieces and press them.

This may cause damage to the workpiece or the vertical movement head S.
Otherwise, there is a risk of damaging the machining station.

In particular, when transporting weak electronic components or fragile IUs such as silicon wafers, they often deform and break even with a weak pressing force.

This results in disadvantages such as a reduction in processing yield and a reduction in the loss of force of damage to the transfer device or processing station equipment itself, resulting in a drastic reduction in production efficiency.

Conventionally, as a measure to improve these drawbacks, (1) when the vertically movable head section is lowered, the applied knee 1
9) A method for detecting an obstacle in the remaining workpiece; (2) A load detection method for detecting a pressing force of a gripping part or an arm of a workpiece; (3) A method for detecting overload in the lowering drive unit: It is considered necessary to detect an abnormality and stop the lowering transfer operation.

However, when the workpiece is transferred when the processing station is used for cleaning, such as a chemical solution tank or a water treatment tank, the workpiece is inside the tank.

For this reason, it is often difficult to directly detect shifts in the transfer position or obstacles using the method (1) above, and it is also difficult to detect the load and overload using the methods (2) and (3) above. There has been a problem in that there is no detector that can maintain sufficient reliability against the influence of the atmosphere and is easy to maintain. Furthermore, there has been the problem of increased control and coordination complexity.

The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned problem, and an object of the present invention is to transfer the gripped workpiece to the processing station by moving the workpiece or the transfer device, and the processing station machine. An object of the present invention is to provide an object transfer device having a simple and reliable overload prevention mechanism to prevent damage to the object.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention prevents an excessive pressing force from being applied to the obstacle even if the object/workpiece gripped by the gripping mechanism collides with the obstacle while being transferred downward to the processing station. The vertically movable head portion having a gripping mechanism is configured to be freely rotatable only in the upward direction so as not to cause any adverse effects on the user.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG. 81, FIG. 2, and FIG. 3.

Fig. II1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a partially sectional front view of the embodiment, and Fig. W43 is a right front view of Fig. 1s2.

A gripping mechanism 1 that opens and closes to grip a storage container 9 that stores a workpiece IO and a person are disposed at the tip of an arm 2 that is held by a vertically movable head 3. An opening/closing mechanism (not shown), such as an air cylinder and a link force, is housed inside the vertically movable head 3.

On the other hand, a 7-landing 4 with a flat upper surface is provided at its top, and the lid 7 is moved up and down in the direction of the arrow A and the opening by a drive and guide mechanism (not shown), and horizontally traverses in the direction of the arrow E and . establish.

1. A bearing 12 having a shaft 6 is fixed to the bottom surface of the vertically movable head 3, and a support member 5.5A for supporting the shaft 6 is fixed to the 7-landing 4. With the above configuration, the vertically movable head 3 is supported by the upper surface A of the seven landings 4 and the bearing 12. As a result, the arm 2 and the vertically movable head 3 can be freely rotated about the shaft 6 in the two directions indicated by the arrow C in the vertical plane.

13 is attached to the flange 4, and the vertically movable head 3
11 is a position detector for the vertically movable head 3. Reference numeral 8 corresponds to a processing station tank, which is a tank for chemicals or water for processing the workpiece 10 (hereinafter referred to as a tank). Usually, a plurality of processing tanks 8 are arranged in parallel with the traverse direction of the lifter 7, that is, in the direction of the arrows H and F.

The plurality of processing tanks 8, the vertically movable head 3, and their driving mechanism are arranged in a whole casing (not shown) having an exhaust duct.

The present invention is constructed as described above, and in normal operation, the gripping mechanism 1. After the storage container 9 gripped by the IA is laterally transferred to the upper center of the processing tank 8, the vertically movable head 3 is lowered in the direction of arrow A to fix the storage container 9 in the processing tank.

To complete the process, the vertically movable head 3 is raised again in the direction of the arrow, and then moved in the direction of the arrow, and the same process is performed in the next step (not shown). Note that the above-mentioned operations are automatically controlled by a control device (not shown).

Next, (1) Electrical 1* of the control device may occur due to mechanical failure, etc.
Holding the storage 11169, the nine vertically movable head 3 moves the processing tank 8
Even if (2) the vertical movement head 3 comes to a stop in a position other than the ball chain position, or (2) the vertical movement head 3 comes to a stop in the normal position, the book will be The operation of the embodiment will be explained.

When the lifter 7 and the vertically movable head 3 descend in the direction of arrow A, in the case of (1) above, the storage container 9 moves into the processing tank 8.
or other obstacles, and in the case of (2) above, the storage containers will collide with each other.

In such a case, the arm 2 and the vertically movable head 3 are connected to the storage container 9 and the gripping mechanism 1. Via IA, it receives a reaction force in the direction indicated by arrow G in FIG. As a result, as shown by the two-dot chain line, as the lifter 7 descends, the air 7-2
Then, the vertically movable head 3 rotates about the shaft 6 in the direction of arrow C, and the arm 2 rises.

Therefore, it is possible to release the excessive pressing force exerted by the storage containers on the obstruction, and to prevent mutual damage to the storage containers or to the storage containers and the processing tank.

That is, if the storage container 9 collides with some obstacle while the vertically movable head 3 and lifter 7 are forcibly lowered by a drive mechanism (not shown), the arm 2 automatically , begins to rotate clockwise about axis 6. The arm 2 continues to rotate in the convex direction of the arrow until the lifter 7 stops descending at the lower limit position.

Therefore, the pressing force applied to the storage container and the obstacle is only the reaction force required to push up the rotating part about the shaft 6.

The above-described pressing force can be achieved by providing a pressing spring 13 that partially supports the weight of the rotating parts such as the arm 2 and the vertically movable head 3, or by providing the vertically movable head 3 with a pressure spring 13 on the side opposite to the arm with respect to the shaft 6. By adding a balance weight (not shown) so that it is located at , it is possible to adjust the angle as desired.

In addition, when regulating the maximum rotation angle of the arm 2 or when wanting to detect an abnormality early and quickly, the position detector 11 detects an arbitrary rotation amount and immediately stops the forced lowering operation. You can do it like this.

The position detector 11 in this case may be of any type as long as it can detect 9 degrees of lifting of the bottom surface of the vertically movable head 3 (preferably on the side where the displacement is large) from the top surface A of the 7-landing 4. It is possible to use a drip-proof limit switch with a simple structure.

According to this embodiment, even when the vertically movable head 3 descends to the lowest point and the arm 2 rises to its maximum angle at any traverse position, the rotating part itself does not damage the peripheral equipment. If there is no influence such as interference, even if the position detector 11 does not operate due to a failure, this will not lead to damage. Therefore, in such a case, the position detector 11 can be omitted.

After the storage container 9 was placed in the processing tank 8 and the workpiece 10 was processed, the lifter 7 was raised in the direction of the arrow by a drive device (not shown) in order to transfer it to the next processing tank. In this case, the vertically movable head 3 receives moments about the shaft 6 in the two directions indicated by the arrows.

However, in this case, since the bottom surface of the vertically movable head 3 is supported by the top surface A of the 7-land 4, the arm 2 will not rotate counterclockwise excessively, and the storage container 11 will be reliably forced. can be raised.

As is clear from the above, according to the present invention, even if a transfer control abnormality occurs when vertically moving a gripped workpiece, the above-mentioned simple overload prevention mechanism can be used. If you adopt it, you can move the workpiece, or transfer and process it 11!
Since damage to the 1IIIi device can be reliably prevented, processing yield can be improved and losses due to equipment damage can be prevented, which has the effect of improving production efficiency.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a partially sectional front view of the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a right side view of Fig. 2. 1. 1. Gripping mechanism, 2. Arm, 3. Vertical movement head, 4. Franch, 6. Shaft, 7. Lifter, 8.
・Processing tank, 9・Storing 11 container, 10... Wrinkled product, 11
Position detector, 13...press spring holder Michihito Hiraki

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In an object transfer device that grasps, suspends, raises, and lowers an object to be transported, a lifter is attached to the upper part of the lifter so as to be able to rotate within a vertical plane. An object transfer device comprising: an arm having a gripping mechanism for an object to be transferred at its tip; and means for preventing the arm from rotating downward by more than a predetermined angle. (2) In an object transfer device that grasps, suspends, raises, and lowers the object to be transported, the lid
an arm attached to the upper part of the lifter so as to be rotatable in a vertical plane and having a gripping mechanism for the object to be transferred at its tip; and an arm that prevents the arm from rotating downward by more than a predetermined angle. An object characterized by comprising: means for detecting that the arm has risen upward by a predetermined angle or more; and means for stopping the lowering operation of the lifter in accordance with the output of the detecting means. Transfer device.