Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor having impinging fluid to feed – shift or discharge... – Having cleaning means
Reexamination Certificate
2002-09-30
2003-08-12
Valenza, Joseph E. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor having impinging fluid to feed, shift or discharge...
Having cleaning means
C198S750110, C414S940000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06604624
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a work conveying apparatus for a clean room and, more particularly, to a work conveying system for transporting works between processing chambers in an intra-clean room production line for, e.g., semiconductor parts, liquid crystal display panels, medicines, chemicals, or processed food.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The yield of semiconductor integrated circuits, liquid crystal display panels, and the like lowers by adhesion of dust. Also, medicines, chemicals, processed food, and the like are desirably produced in a germ-free, sanitary environment. For this purpose, intra-clean room production lines are operating in a wide variety of fields including such production departments. Various techniques have been developed for diverse processing chambers and conveying systems to be installed in a clean room.
(First Prior Art)
FIG. 1
is a perspective view showing an example of conventionally proposed intra-clean room production facilities. Reference numeral
1
denotes the floor surface of a clean room. In this clean room, a plurality of processing chambers
2
are arranged in order. An interface apparatus
3
for loading and unloading works into and from each processing chamber
2
is installed adjacent to each processing chamber
2
. On the clean room floor surface
1
, a guide path (track)
4
is laid down to pass in front of each interface apparatus
3
. An automatic guided vehicle (AGV)
5
runs on the floor along this guide path
4
.
In this clean room, works are conveyed from the interface apparatus
3
of one processing chamber
2
to the interface apparatus
3
of another processing chamber
2
by the automatic guided vehicle
5
. Each interface apparatus (work loading/unloading apparatus)
3
shields the interior of the processing chamber
2
from the clean room. The works loaded into the processing chamber
2
by the interface apparatus
3
are subjected to predetermined processing meeting the purpose of the processing chamber
2
. The works processed in the processing chamber
2
are extracted from the processing chamber
2
by the interface apparatus
3
and loaded onto the automatic guided vehicle
5
. The works thus completely processed in one processing chamber
2
are transported to the next processing chamber
2
, loaded into this processing chamber
2
by the interface apparatus
3
, and subjected to predetermined processing. In this manner, works are sequentially subjected to predetermined processing in the clean room.
When a work conveying system with this arrangement is used, however, it is necessary to secure in the clean room a sufficiently wide transfer area capable of allowing the automatic guided vehicle
5
to safely run without colliding against the processing chambers
2
, the interface apparatuses
3
, or maintenance workers, in addition to the installation area of the processing chambers
2
and the interface apparatuses
3
. In other words, to allow continuous operation by reducing the rate of inconveniences in the intra-clean room production line, maintenance of diverse apparatuses such as the processing chambers
2
and the interface apparatuses
3
is necessary. Therefore, a sufficient area is required to permit safe maintenance with no collisions against the automatic guided vehicle
5
.
For this reason, a clean room using the work conveying system as shown in
FIG. 1
occupies a large area on the floor. This increases the installation cost and operation cost per unit volume of the clean room, resulting in a very expensive clean room as a whole.
(Second Prior Art)
FIG. 2
is a perspective view showing another conventional installation in a clean room. This intra-clean room installation uses an overhead type automatic guided vehicle
7
. That is, an overhead rail
6
is laid below the ceiling of the clean room, and the monorail type automatic guided vehicle
7
runs along this overhead rail
6
. This automatic guided vehicle
7
runs above each interface apparatus
3
along its front surface.
In this intra-clean room installation, the automatic guided vehicle
7
passes at a level above a floor surface
1
, which is much higher than human heights. Hence, the possibility of collisions between this automatic guided vehicle
7
and maintenance workers and the like is zero. Accordingly, an area below the space in which the automatic guided vehicle
7
runs can be used to perform, e.g., maintenance of processing chambers
2
and inspection of works. Consequently, the floor area of the clean room can be reduced, and this can reduce the installation cost and operation cost of the clean room. This type of clean room is disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-312322.
(Third Prior Art)
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-250836 has disclosed a system in which an automatic guided vehicle disposed in the upper space of a clean room runs above interface apparatuses. With this arrangement, it is necessary to secure only a maintenance area for performing maintenance between processing chambers each having the interface apparatus. A floor area occupied by the maintenance area is smaller than that of the area for running the automatic guided vehicle. Therefore, when the automatic guided vehicle runs above the interface apparatuses and it is only necessary to secure the maintenance area between the individual processing chambers, the necessary floor area can be smaller than the intra-clean room installation shown in FIG.
2
. This can further reduce the cost of the clean room.
Unfortunately, the transfer path is fixed in any of the work conveying systems used in the conventional intra-clean room facilities as described above. When the transfer path of the work conveying system is thus fixed, the installation positions of the processing chambers and interface apparatuses are limited by this transfer path. So, it is not necessarily possible to optimally arrange the processing chambers and interface apparatuses in the clean room. That is, the interface apparatus adjacent to the processing chamber must be installed immediately below, or in the vicinity of, the transfer path installed in the clean room. Also, the position and direction of the processing camber depend on the position of the interface apparatus, i.e., they cannot be freely changed. Even when a new processing chamber is to be added, the arrangement of individual processing chambers and their interface apparatuses cannot be freely designed, so the installation positions may be unavoidably changed. Especially in an expensive clean room, the space cannot be given any margin from the beginning. This makes designing the installation positions more and more difficult.
In the fields of semiconductor devices and liquid crystal display panels, the lifecycles of products shorten year by year by the advent of new methods and new structures. Hence, the factory installations must be refined frequently. This factory installation refinement is desirably performed at minimum cost. In practice, however, the existing work conveying system restricts the installation positions of interface apparatuses. Therefore, considerable limitations are still imposed on replacement, change of the arrangement, and addition of processing chambers or interface apparatuses when the process is changed, and the cost increases accordingly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made to solve the above technical problems, and has as its object to provide a clean room work conveying system capable of reducing limitations on the installation positions of apparatuses in a clean room, and allowing effective use of the space in the clean room.
According to the present invention, there is provided a work conveying system for conveying works in a clean room, comprising a work holder for holding works, and moving means for moving the work holder.
In the work conveying system of the present invention, the moving means desirably moves the work holder in an arbitrary three-dimensional direction in a space above the floor of the clean room.
Since the work holder for holding a
Hirakawa Takenori
Hirata Yasunari
Yamamoto Akemichi
Hirata Corporation
Valenza Joseph E.
LandOfFree
Work conveying system does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Work conveying system, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Work conveying system will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3123185