JP2012089645A - Article conveyance vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow an article to be quickly transferred by a simple configuration without contaminating the article when the article is conveyed in an environment of low cleanliness.SOLUTION: An article conveyance vehicle 4 can convey a cassette C. The article conveyance vehicle 4 includes an article mounting part 15 capable of mounting the cassette C, and a cover member 17. The cover member 17 covers the article mounting part 15. The cover member 17 includes an opening 30, an intake opening 32, a first blowout opening 34, and a suction opening 36. The opening 30 allows loading and unloading of the cassette C. The intake opening 32 can intake external air. The first blowout opening 34 is disposed on a front side of the opening 30 in a travel direction, and can blow out air taken from the intake opening 32 so as to cover the surface of the opening 30. The suction opening 36 is disposed on a rear side of the opening 30 in the travel direction, and can suck air blown out from the first blowout opening 34 by second fan filter units 44.

Description

  The present invention relates to a conveyance vehicle, and more particularly to an article conveyance vehicle capable of conveying an article such as a cassette containing a substrate.

  In an article transport vehicle that transports articles in a clean space lower than the cleanliness required for a substrate such as a liquid crystal substrate housed in a cassette (an example of an article), a cover is conventionally provided on the loading platform (for example, Patent Document 1). A cover of a conventional article transport vehicle is provided with a shutter that can be opened and closed at an opening that delivers articles to and from the processing apparatus. Moreover, the 1st air blowing means which blows off air toward a processing apparatus is provided in the circumference | surroundings of opening. Furthermore, the 1st air ejection means which ejects downflow air to the upper edge part of opening is provided. In the conventional article transport vehicle, air is ejected by the first air ejecting means and the second air ejecting means before the processing apparatus arrives, and the shutter is opened so that contaminated air does not enter the periphery of the opening. As a result, the article can be transferred as soon as it reaches the processing apparatus, and the transfer time can be shortened.

JP 2004-60955 A

  In the conventional configuration, since the shutter is opened before reaching the processing apparatus, the cassette can be quickly transferred to and from the processing apparatus. However, since the shutter and the two air ejection means are provided in the opening, the configuration of the article transport vehicle is complicated.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to enable an article transport vehicle that transports an article in an environment with a low cleanness to be quickly transferred with a simple configuration without contaminating the article.

  Hereinafter, a plurality of modes will be described as means for solving the problems. These aspects can be arbitrarily combined as necessary.

An article transport vehicle according to an aspect of the present invention is an article transport vehicle capable of transporting an article, and includes an article placement unit and a cover member. The article placement unit can place an article. The cover member covers the article placement unit. The cover member has at least one opening, an intake port, a first blowout port, and a suction port. At least one opening can be used for loading and unloading articles. The intake port is provided on the outer surface and can take in outside air. The first air outlet is provided on the front side of the opening in the running direction, and the air taken in from the inlet can be blown out so as to cover the surface of the opening. The suction port is provided on the rear side of the opening in the running direction, and can suck the air blown from the first blower port by the suction fan.
In this article transport vehicle, for example, an article such as a cassette capable of storing a plurality of glass substrates is placed on the article placement section. The article placement portion is covered with a cover member. The cover member has at least one opening through which an article can be taken in and out. The article can be transferred to and from the processing apparatus through this opening. A first outlet is provided on the front side of the opening in the running direction so that air taken in from the inlet is blown out so as to cover the surface of the opening. Also, a suction port is provided on the rear side of the opening in the running direction to suck the blown air out by a suction fan. As a result, the blown-out air can be actively sucked to increase the air shutter capability. For this reason, even if a mechanical shutter is not provided in the opening, it is difficult for air to flow from the outside of the cover member through the opening to the internal article placement portion. Thereby, even if an article is transported in an environment with a low degree of cleanliness, the article can be quickly transferred with a simple configuration without contaminating the article.

  The cover member further includes a second air outlet capable of sucking air sucked from the air inlet and blowing it out to the article placement portion by the fan, and a filter disposed between the air inlet and the second air outlet. Also good. Thereby, the air sucked by the suction fan can be blown out to the article placement portion with the cleanliness increased by the filter. For this reason, the articles placed on the article placement section can be cleaned using the sucked air.

  The cover member may further include an air entrainment prevention portion provided at the rear of the opening in the traveling direction. Thereby, when the conveyance vehicle stops, it is possible to prevent entrainment of contaminated air that flows from the rear due to inertia. For this reason, the disturbance of the flow of the air shutter due to the entrainment flow is less likely to occur.

  According to the present invention, a suction port is provided on the rear side of the opening in the running direction so that the blown air is sucked by the suction fan. As a result, the blown-out air can be actively sucked to increase the air shutter capability. For this reason, even if a mechanical shutter is not provided in the opening, it is difficult for air to flow from the outside of the cover member through the opening to the internal article placement portion. Thereby, even if an article is transported in an environment with a low degree of cleanliness, the article can be quickly transferred with a simple configuration without contaminating the article.

The top view of the conveyance system with which the article conveyance vehicle by one Embodiment of this invention drive | works. The side view of an article conveyance vehicle. The perspective view of an article conveyance vehicle. IV-IV sectional drawing of FIG. Sectional drawing equivalent to FIG. 4 of other embodiment.

(1) Transport System As shown in FIG. 1, the transport system 1 is configured to process, for example, a cassette C (refer to FIG. 2) as an article containing a plurality of large glass substrates S (refer to FIG. 2). It is an apparatus which conveys between the transfer parts 8 of several stations including an apparatus, a carrying-in port, and a carrying-out port. The transport system 1 includes a track 2 and an article transport vehicle 4. The track 2 is suspended from the ceiling. The circumference of the track 2 is a space with a relatively large amount of suspended particulates having a cleanness of about FED209D class 1000.

  The track 2 has, for example, an oval loop shape, and the article transport vehicle 4 travels clockwise on the track 2 as indicated by, for example, white arrows. The track 2 includes two traveling rails 11 and a traveling guide 12 integrally formed with the traveling rail 11. The traveling rail 11 has a flat surface, and the traveling guide 12 is formed to extend upward from the outer end of the traveling rail 11. The delivery unit 8 is disposed on the outer peripheral side of the loop-shaped track 2. The delivery unit 8 is provided with a scalar-type transfer device (not shown), and the cassette C placed on the article transport vehicle 4 can be taken in and out.

(2) Article Conveying Vehicle As shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, the article conveying vehicle 4 includes an article placing portion 15 on which the cassette C can be placed, a traveling portion 16, and a cover member 17. Have.

(2-1) Article Placement Unit The article placement unit 15 is provided in an article storage space 17 a formed inside the cover member 17. In this embodiment, the article placement unit 15 is provided inside the cover member 17, but may be provided on the traveling unit 16.

(2-2) Traveling unit The traveling unit 16 includes a traveling frame 20, a drive carriage 22 disposed on the lower surface of the traveling frame 20, and a driven carriage 24. The drive carriage 22 and the follower carriage 24 are bogies. The drive carriage 22 has a pair of left and right drive wheels 22a each driven by a motor. The driven carriage 24 has a pair of left and right driven wheels 24a. An outer guide roller 25 and an inner guide roller (not shown) arranged so as to sandwich the traveling guide 12 of the track 2 are provided on the front, rear, left and right of the driving wheel 22a and the driven wheel 24a, respectively. The inner guide roller is fixed, and the outer guide roller 25 can swing between a guide position that contacts the traveling guide 12 and a retracted position that moves upward away from the guide position. As a result, branch and merge are controlled.

(2-3) Cover member The cover member 17 is a substantially rectangular box-shaped member. The cover member 17 has an opening 30 through which the cassette C can be taken in and out, an intake port 32, a first outlet 34, a suction port 36, and a second outlet 38.

The opening 30 is formed on the outer side surface of the cover member 17 in the traveling direction. The opening 30 is formed in a rectangular shape with a size that allows the entire article storage space 17a to be exposed to the outside.
Above and below the opening 30, an air intrusion prevention unit 31 for preventing air from entering the article placement unit 15 from the opening 30 during traveling protrudes laterally from the opening 30 over the entire length of the opening 30 in the traveling direction. Is formed. The air intrusion prevention unit 31 is a plate-like member having a substantially parallelogram shape inclined rearward. At the rear of the air intrusion prevention unit 31, an air entrainment prevention unit 33 is formed for preventing air entrainment from the rear when the article transport vehicle 4 is stopped. The air entrainment prevention unit 33 is disposed obliquely inclined rearward from the rear part of the opening 30 so as to connect the rear parts of the upper and lower air intrusion prevention parts 31.

The intake port 32 includes, for example, four first FFUs (Fan Filter Units) 40 provided on the front side surface of the cover member 17 in the traveling direction. For example, the four first FFUs 40 are arranged side by side vertically and horizontally, and take in external air and filter it. The intake port 32 is connected to the first outlet 34. In order to connect the intake port 32 and the first air outlet 34, a first duct 42 that guides the air taken in by the first FFU 40 to the first air outlet 34 is provided between the first FFU 40 and the first air outlet 34. It has been. The first duct 42 is formed by being partitioned by the article placement portion 15 and the front wall 17b.
The first blow-out port 34 is formed in the form of a vertically elongated slit on the front side in the running direction of the opening 30. The first blowout port 34 can blow out the air taken in from the intake port 32 in a plane so as to cover the surface of the opening 30.

  The suction port 36 is formed in the form of a vertically elongated slit on the rear side of the opening 30 in the traveling direction. The suction port 36 is connected to, for example, four second FFUs 44 that suck the planar air blown from the first blower port 34. For example, the four second FFUs 44 are arranged side by side vertically and horizontally. Between the suction port 36 and the second FFU 44, a second duct 46 for sucking air by the fan of the second FFU 44 is provided. The second duct 46 is formed along the inner side surface of the rear wall 17 c of the cover member 17.

  The second blow-out port 38 is provided for cleaning the air sucked from the suction port 36 and blowing it out from the rear to the article placement unit 15. The air blown out from the second blowout port 38 fills the pin mounting portion 15, partly flows to the outside of the cover member 17 from the opening 30, and partly sucked into the suction port 36 again. The second outlet 38 has a second FFU 44. The second FFU 44 has a function for sucking air through the suction port 36 and a function for cleaning the sucked air with a filter and blowing it out to the article placement unit 15.

(3) Operation of the article transporting vehicle When the transport system 1 accepts a transport request for the cassette C, the article transporting vehicle 4 is moved to the delivery unit 8 of a desired station. As soon as the article transport vehicle 4 is turned on, the first FFU 40 and the second FFU 44 are operated. The first FFU 40 and the second FFU 44 are always operating regardless of whether or not the cassette C is transported. When the first FFU 40 and the second FFU 44 are operated, outside air is taken in from the take-in port 32 and blown out in a film shape so as to cover the surface of the opening 30 from the first blow-out port 34. The blown-out air is forcibly sucked by the suction port 36 by the fan of the second FFU 44, and the capability of the air shutter is increased. This makes it difficult for outside air to flow into the article placement portion 15 from the opening 30.

  Air intrusion prevention portions 31 are provided above and below the opening 30. This makes it difficult for air to enter the opening 30 from above and below the opening 30 during traveling, and makes it difficult for air blown out from the first outlet 34 to escape in the vertical direction of the opening 30.

  The air sucked in by the suction port 36 is purified by the filter of the second FFU 44 and blown out from the fan of the second FFU 44 constituting the second blowout port 38 to the article placement unit 15. The air blown out fills the article placement unit 15 and removes foreign matter adhering to the cassette C and the glass substrate. Further, a part flows out from the opening 30 to the outside. Further, a part is sucked from the suction port 36.

  When the article transport vehicle 4 reaches the transfer section 8 of a desired station and stops, an air flow from the rear of the article transport vehicle 4 is generated due to inertia. However, an air entrainment preventing portion 33 is formed at the rear portion of the opening 30, and air that moves forward so as to be entrained from the rear is returned to the rear by the air entrainment preventing portion 33, and is difficult to reach the opening 30. This makes it difficult for contaminated air to enter the article placement unit 15 from the opening 30 when stopped. When the stop is completed, the cassette C is unloaded or loaded by the transfer device of the delivery unit 8 and moved to the delivery unit 8 of the next station.

(4) Features The above embodiment can be expressed as follows.

(A) The article transport vehicle 4 can transport a cassette C as an article. The article transport vehicle 4 includes an article placement unit 15 and a cover member 17. The article placement unit 15 can place the cassette C. The cover member 17 covers the article placement unit 15. The cover member 17 has at least one opening 30, an intake port 32, a first blowout port 34, and a suction port 36. At least one opening 30 is capable of inserting and removing cassette C. The intake port 32 is provided on the outer surface of the cover member 17 and can take in outside air. The first blow-out port 34 is provided on the front side of the opening 30 in the traveling direction, and can blow out the air taken in from the take-in port 32 so as to cover the surface of the opening 30. The suction port 36 is provided on the rear side of the opening 30 in the traveling direction, and can suck air blown from the first blower port 34 by the second FFU 44 (an example of a suction fan).
In this article transport vehicle, for example, a cassette C capable of storing a plurality of glass substrates is placed on the article placement section 15. The article placement unit 15 is covered with a cover member 17. The cover member 17 has at least one opening 30 through which the cassette C can be taken in and out. The delivery unit 8 and the cassette C can be delivered through the opening. A first outlet 34 is provided on the front side of the opening 30 to blow out air taken in from the inlet 32 so as to cover the surface of the opening 30. In addition, a suction port 36 for sucking the blown-out air by the second FFU 44 is provided on the rear side of the opening 30. As a result, the blown-out air can be actively sucked to increase the air shutter capability. For this reason, even if a mechanical shutter is not provided in the opening 30, it becomes difficult for air to flow from the outside of the cover member 17 through the opening 30 to the internal article placement portion 15. Thereby, even if the cassette C is transported in an environment with a low degree of cleanliness, the cassette C can be quickly transferred with a simple configuration without being contaminated.

  (B) The cover member 17 includes a second air outlet 38 through which air sucked from the air inlet 36 can be blown out to the article placement unit 15, and a second FFU 44 disposed between the air inlet 36 and the second air outlet 38. (An example of a filter). Thereby, the air sucked in by the second FFU 44 can be blown out to the article placement unit 15 with an increased cleanness. For this reason, it is possible to clean the cassette C placed on the article placement unit 15 using the sucked air.

  (C) The cover member 17 further includes an air entrainment prevention portion 33 provided at the rear portion of the opening 30 in the traveling direction. Thereby, when the article transport vehicle 4 stops, it is possible to prevent entrainment of contaminated air that flows from the rear due to inertia. For this reason, the disturbance of the flow of the air shutter due to the entrainment flow is less likely to occur.

(5) Other Embodiments Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. In particular, a plurality of embodiments and modifications described in this specification can be arbitrarily combined as necessary.

(A) In the above embodiment, the second outlet 38 of the article transport vehicle 4 is also used as the second FFU 44 at the rear part of the article placement section 15 and air is blown out from the rear of the article placement section 15. The invention is not limited to this.
In FIG. 5, the second outlet 138 of the cover member 117 of the article transport vehicle 104 is provided on the right side of the article placement section 115. On the other hand, the position of the second FFU 44 is the same as in the above embodiment. Therefore, a third duct 148 for connecting the second FFU 44 and the second outlet 138 is provided. The third duct 148 is partitioned by the article placement portion 15 and the intermediate wall 117d. Thereby, air can be blown out toward the opening 30 from the right side of the article placement unit 115, and the air flow in the article placement unit 115 becomes smooth.
The second FFU 44 may be disposed on the right side of the article placement unit 115. In this case, the length (width) of the cover member in the left-right direction increases, and the installation area of the transport system increases.

  (B) In the above embodiment, the opening 30 is provided only on one side of the cover member 17, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, an opening may be provided on both sides of the cover member, and the first blowout port and the suction port may be provided on the left and right openings.

  (C) In the above embodiment, all the air sucked by the first FFU 40 is flowed to the first outlet, but a part of the air may be flowed to the article placement portion.

  (D) In the above-described embodiment, the article placement unit 15 is provided in the cover member 17, but may be provided in the traveling unit 16.

  The present invention is widely applicable to an article transport vehicle having a cover member.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Conveyance system 2 Track | truck 4 Goods conveyance vehicle 8 Delivery part 11 Traveling rail 12 Traveling guide 15 Article mounting part 16 Traveling part 17 Cover member 17a Goods storage space 17b Front wall 17c Rear wall 20 Traveling frame 22 Drive bogie 22a Drive wheel 24 Follower Carriage 24a Follower wheel 25 Outer guide roller 30 Opening 31 Air intrusion prevention part 32 Intake port 33 Air entrainment prevention part 34 First outlet 36 Suction inlet 38 Second outlet 40 First FFU
42 1st duct 44 2nd FFU
46 Second duct 104 Article carrier 115 Article placing portion 117 Cover member 117d Intermediate wall 138 Second outlet 148 Third duct

Claims (3)

An article transport vehicle capable of transporting articles,
An article placement section capable of placing the article;
A cover member that covers the article placement section,
The cover member is
At least one opening into and out of the article;
An intake port provided on the outer surface and capable of taking in outside air;
A first air outlet provided on the front side of the opening in the running direction and capable of blowing air taken in from the inlet so as to cover the surface of the opening;
An article transporting vehicle having a suction port provided on the rear side in the traveling direction of the opening and capable of sucking air blown from the first blower port by a suction fan. The cover member is
A second blowout port capable of blowing out the air sucked from the suction port to the article placement unit by the suction fan;
The article transport vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising a filter disposed between the suction port and the second outlet. The cover member is
The article transport vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising an air entrainment prevention portion provided at a rear portion of the opening in the traveling direction.

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