Metal working – Plural diverse manufacturing apparatus including means for... – Separate tool stations for selective or successive operation...
Patent
1990-03-20
1992-01-28
Briggs, William
Metal working
Plural diverse manufacturing apparatus including means for...
Separate tool stations for selective or successive operation...
118719, 414217, B23Q 714, B65G 6500
Patent
active
050833642
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Description
The invention relates to a system for manufacturing substrates, in particular wafers, glass masks, and channels, having individual process stations for treating and/or processing the various substrates in a clean environment and having transport apparatus for transporting the substrates among the various process stations; the required chemicals, gases, liquids, data, and energy are supplied to and removed from the individual process stations via inflow and outflow lines.
From European Published Patent Document 35 844 A2, a manufacturing system is know in which a plurality of process stations are accommodated in a relatively large process space. These individual process stations are each in communication with the required inflow and outflow lines. Rearrangement of the process stations is practically impossible and requires expensive conversion, which necessitates stopping the manufacturing process for a long time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to avoid these disadvantages by improving a manufacturing system of the type referred to above in such a way that changing the process sequence, and in particular exchanging various process stations for one another, can be done simply, in a time-saving manner, without any substantial interruption in the course of manufacture.
To attain this object, the invention provides that all the inflow and outflow lines are carried in parallel in a media bus to process modules disposed in interchangeable process stations; that coupling boxes are disposed on the media bus at the grid spacing of the process modules; and that one countercoupling is provided at each of the readily interchangeable process modules, in accordance with the coupling boxes, and that by joining the coupling box and the countercoupling, the connections of the inflow and outflow lines are made and by separating the coupling box and the countercoupling these connections are broken.
By arrangement connection points of all the inflow and outflow lines in an "interface" in this way, a very fast, time-saving exchange of the various process modules is possible. The various process modules can be connected to the media bus in a practically arbitrary sequence depending on the purpose, so that process systems can be assembled or modified to meet the various needs, or for maintenance or repair, individual process modules can simply be replaced.
This makes a substantial increase in productivity possible while at the same time reducing the proportionate expense.
In a structurally particularly simple manner, couplings and/or plugs can be disposed in the coupling box and plugs and/or couplings associated with them may be provided complementarily in the countercoupling, each of these being connected to the corresponding associated inflow or outflow lines of the media bus or process module.
For secure simultaneous coupling or uncoupling of the couplings and plugs, the coupling boxes and countercouplings may be mutually guided, assuring simultaneous aligned joining of the individual plugs and couplings, with all the plugs and couplings joinable or disconnectable parallel to the mutual guides.
Fast, simple replacement of the process stations is made possible in that the plugs and/or couplings have self-closing valves for liquid or gaseous media, so that when the coupling box and countercoupling are disconnected, at least the inflow and outflow lines carrying pressure are closed, and when the coupling box and countercoupling are joined, the inflow and outflow lines of the media bus communicate throughout with the associated inflow and outflow lines of the process module. This makes special magnetic valve controls unnecessary.
In a structurally particularly simple feature, both the coupling box and the countercoupling may each have a coupling plate, in which case the plugs and couplings associated with one another may be provided on or in these coupling plates.
Depending on the intended use, not all the couplings or plugs need to be provided at th
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Breitschwerdt Gunther
Dorner Johann
Fruhauf Wolfgang
Gentischer Joseph
Kunze-Concewitz Horst
Briggs William
Convac GmbH
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