JP2000099148A - Conveyer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a conveyer capable of performing line-incoming processing without human intervention, reducing the labor and restarting operation in a short time. SOLUTION: Concerning a linear motor type conveyer (conveyer) provided with a track 2, truck 3 to be traveled on the track 2 and controller 25 for controlling the traveling of the truck 3, this device is provided with an information recording medium 15 installed at a prescribed position on the track 2 or on the truck 3 and a mark recognizing device (reading means) 16 provided on the other one so as to read information recorded on the information recording medium 15, the controller 25 is provided with a truck position detecting part 17 for detecting the position of the truck 3 based on the said information read by the mark recognizing device 16 and a traveling control part 26 for controlling the traveling of the truck 3 based on the detecting output of the truck position detecting part 17, and the traveling control part 26 is provided with a ground side controller 5 and a truck control part 23 provided on the side of the truck 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transfer device such as a linear motor transfer device for transferring components in a clean room for manufacturing semiconductors.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A linear motor type transfer apparatus for transferring parts in a clean room has the following general configuration. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 1 denotes a linear motor type transfer device (transport device). A track 2 is provided near the ceiling of the clean room, and a plurality of trucks 3 run on the track 2. An LIM (Linear Induction Motor) 4 which is a motor primary side is installed at an appropriate interval on the entire track 2, and a truck 3 is provided with a conductor plate (not shown) on the motor secondary side. The controller 5 controls the entire apparatus. When the controller 5 sequentially excites the LIM 4, the thrust is given to the truck 3 by the interaction with the conductor plate provided on the truck 3, and the truck 3 Can be driven and stopped. Each carriage 3 runs by inertia between the LIMs 4.

[0003] On the orbit, a speed sensor, ph
A detector (not shown) such as an oto sensor is provided, and the controller 5 can confirm the speed and the position of the carriage 3 with the detector. A station 6 where the truck 3 stops is provided at a key point of the track 2, and loading and unloading of wafer carriers and the like is performed on the stopped truck 3. In addition, the truck 3 is configured to carry out the incoming line process by carrying the truck 3 into a specific incoming station 7.

[0004] A process of transporting an article using the linear motor-type transport device 1 configured as described above will be described. First, at the time of system startup, at the incoming line station 7,
The initial position of each carriage 3 is registered in the controller 5. By recognizing the initial position of the carriage 3 by the controller 5, the controller 5 can control the transfer from the initial position to the transfer destination station 6.

In order to transport the articles, the articles to be transported are first loaded on the carriage 3 at the transport source station 6. After loading, the controller 5 issues a command to each LIM 4 so that each truck 3 moves to the target station 6.
The controller 5 conveys the carriage 3 to the transfer destination station 6 while confirming the speed and position of the carriage 3 with the detector provided on the track 2. After the transported article is unloaded at the transfer destination station 6, the carriage 3 waits until the next command. When a new bogie 3 is added, the traveling of each bogie 3 is temporarily stopped, and the new bogie 3 is entered at the entry station 7.

[0006]

In the above-described conventional linear motor type transfer apparatus 1, when the system is stopped for maintenance or the like, the controller 5 loses the position information of each of the carts 3, so that the controller 3 cannot control the carts 3. Can not. Therefore, in order to resume driving, all the trucks 3 must be manually moved to the entry station 7 and each truck 3 must be entered.

Here, as a means for detecting the position of the bogie 3 that has not entered the track, a detector conventionally provided on the track 2 can be used. This detector detects the position of the bogie 3. Although it is possible, it is not possible to identify which cart 3 has passed. Also, in order for the detector to detect the position of the truck 3, the truck 3 needs to travel on the detector, but before entering the line, the truck 3 cannot be properly traveled by the LIM 4, Must be moved manually. As described above, the trolley 3 is manually moved to the specific entry station 7 and the entry is performed.

The reason why the truck 3 cannot be properly driven by the LIM 4 before entering the line is specifically for the following reason. That is, the bogie 3 which is the secondary side of the linear motor cannot run on its own because it has no electric circuit and is a mechanical structure, and cannot run without the LIM 4. However, before the incoming line processing, the controller 5 does not know the position of each carriage 3,
When the truck 3 runs through the LIM 4, adverse effects such as collision of the trucks 3 occur. For this reason, the bogie 3 cannot be appropriately run by the LIM 4 before the incoming line processing, and must be moved manually.

That is, in the conventional transport device, in order to restart the operation, all the carriages 3 need to be manually moved to the entry station 7 one by one, which requires labor and time to restart the operation. There is a problem.

In view of the above circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide a transfer device capable of performing an incoming line process without manual operation, reducing labor and restarting operation in a short time. And

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transfer apparatus comprising a track, a truck traveling on the track, and a control device for controlling the travel of the truck. An information recording medium provided at one of a predetermined position on the track or the carriage, and a reading unit provided at the other side and reading information recorded on the information recording medium, the control device includes: A trolley position detection unit that detects the position of the trolley based on the information read by the information reading unit, and a travel control unit that controls the travel of the trolley based on the detection output of the trolley position detection unit, The travel control unit includes a ground controller and a bogie control unit provided on the bogie.

In this transport device, when the carriage travels on the track, the information recording medium approaches the reading device, and the reading device reads information recorded on the information recording medium. The read information is output to the bogie position detecting device. By recording information unique to each of the information recording media, it is possible to know which recording medium information was read based on the read information. The truck position detection unit has a track map in advance,
In addition, the correspondence between the information recording medium and the unique information recorded on the information recording medium is stored, and based on the read information, which information recording medium the information belongs to is detected. Furthermore, by referring to the map of the orbit based on this information,
The position of the cart is detected. The position information of the bogie detected by the bogie position detection unit is output to the traveling control unit, and the position of the bogie is registered in the control device. In this traveling control unit, a bogie control unit is provided on the bogie side, and the bogie control unit controls traveling of the bogie in response to a command from the ground controller. In other words, even before the carriage enters the line, the carriage can be made to run by itself even if the control device does not know the position of the carriage, and the position of the carriage can be registered as described above.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the transport device of the first aspect, the carriage is provided with approach detecting means for detecting approach of another carriage, and the control device is provided with a control means for the approach detecting means. A safe traveling control unit for controlling traveling of the bogie based on the detection output is provided.

In this transport device, when the bogie travels, when the bogie approaches another bogie, the approach detecting means detects this and outputs it to a safe running control unit provided in the control device. Since the safe traveling control unit controls the speed of the bogie based on the detection output, the collision between the bogies can be avoided even if the control device does not know the position of each bogie. Therefore, even at the time of the entering operation, the cart can be safely driven, and thus the position of the cart can be registered as described above.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The same components as in the prior art will be described with the same reference numerals. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a linear motor type transfer device (transport device). In this linear motor type transfer apparatus 1, a track 2 is provided near the ceiling of a clean room, and a plurality of trucks 3 travel on the track 2. Stations 6 are provided at various points on the track 2, and an entry station 7 is provided at the branch road. Each truck 3 is controlled by a ground controller 5.

As shown in FIG. 2, a motor 2
A permanent magnet 13 is provided as the next side. A coil 10 is provided below the carriage 3 as a primary side of the linear motor, and a current can flow through this coil by a non-contact power supply mechanism. In detail, the primary feeder line 11 is fixed to the tip of a plurality of support beams projecting horizontally inward from the side wall of the track 2, and on the side of the truck 3,
Pickup coil 1 electrically coupled to coil 10
2 is provided so as to be disposed in the gap of the primary power supply line 11. The truck 3 configured as above operates as follows. First, a high-frequency current is supplied to the primary feeder line 11 on the track side, and an induced electromotive force is generated in the pickup coil 12. This induced electromotive force is converted into a stable DC power supply through a rectifier circuit and a constant voltage circuit (not shown), and a power supply for the coil 10 of the carriage 3 (primary side of the linear motor) and for each device provided on the carriage 3 Used as At this time, the interaction between the coil 10 and the permanent magnet 13 in which the N pole and the S pole are alternately arranged on the track 2 generates a repulsive force and an attractive force, which are converted as propulsive force. Further, a magnetic pole detector and a pulse encoder (not shown) provided on the carriage 3
The motor is controlled by the feedback to control the running.

Also, as shown in FIG.
Is provided with an information recording medium 15 on which a station mark unique to each station is recorded. As the information recording medium 15, for example, a plate on which a barcode is printed, an ID tag, a magnetic card, a communication device, or the like is used, but is not limited thereto. On the other hand, the truck 3 has a mark recognition device (reading means) 16 for reading the station mark, a truck position detecting unit 17, a communication unit 18 for transmitting and receiving information to and from the controller 5, and a collision between the trucks 3. Sensor (approach detection means) 1
9 and a safe traveling control unit 20 for controlling the speed of the bogie based on the detection signal of the sensor 19. The bogie position detection unit 17 stores the map information of the track 2 including the position of the station 6 on the track 2 and the like.
A map storage device 21 is provided which stores information indicating the correspondence between the station marks and the station marks.

Each truck 3 is provided with a truck control unit 23. The trolley control unit 23 includes a trolley position detection unit 17,
Information is input and output between the map storage device 21, the communication unit 18, and the safe driving control unit 20, and based on the driving command of the controller 5, the current of the coil 10 as the motor primary side is controlled so that the bogie 3 is appropriately operated. The vehicle is controlled to run. Here, the trolley position detection unit 17,
The safe traveling control unit 20, the communication unit 18, the bogie control unit 23, and the controller 5 constitute a control device 25. Also, the ground-side controller 5, the communication unit 18, the bogie control unit 2
Reference numeral 3 denotes a travel control unit 26.

In the linear motor type transfer apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, articles are transferred as follows. First,
An incoming line is performed when the system is started. At the time of the incoming line operation, the bogie control unit 23 receives a command from the controller 5 through the communication unit 18, and each bogie 3 runs at a low speed in a certain direction. At this time, the carts 3 may collide with each other,
The bogie 3 senses the approach to another bogie 3 by the sensor 19, and the safe driving control unit 20 controls the bogie 3 at an appropriate speed via the bogie control unit 23, so that collision between the bogies 3 is avoided. It has become.

The cart 3 is located at the nearest station 6
When passing through the mark, the mark recognition device 1 provided on the carriage 3
6 reads the station mark recorded on the information recording medium 15 provided in the station 6. The station mark data read by the mark recognizing device 16 is output to the bogie position detecting unit 17. The bogie position detecting unit 17 refers to the map information of the orbit 2 stored in the built-in map storage device 21, and Detect the position. That is, first, it is detected which station 6 the read station mark data belongs to.
Is located on the trajectory 2.
Thereby, it is recognized which station 6 the carriage 3 has passed, and the position of the carriage 3 is detected. The bogie position detecting unit sends the bogie position to the bogie control unit 23, and the bogie control unit 23 transmits the position information of the bogie 3 to the controller 5 via the communication unit 18. After that, the controller 5 registers the position of the cart 3 and an incoming line is performed.

After the wire entry process, the article is conveyed as follows. First, the articles to be conveyed are loaded on the trolley 3 at the station 6, and then the controller 5 selects an appropriate conveyance route to the destination station 6, and gives this route to the trolley control unit 23 via the communication unit 18. Since the bogie controller 23 stores the current position of the bogie 3,
The trolley 3 is driven based on this information and the obtained travel route. In other words, the bogie control unit 23 refers to the map information stored in the map storage device 21 and adjusts the speed of the coil 10 so as to attain an appropriate speed according to the state of the track 2 such as a curve.
And moves to the transfer destination station 6.
At this time, the safe driving control unit 20 avoids collision between the bogies 3 based on the output information of the sensor 19. After the trolley 3 reaches the transfer destination station 6, the trolley 3 stops and the articles are dropped from the trolley 3.

After the maintenance is completed, when the system is restarted, the connection is automatically performed in the same manner as described above. When a new bogie 3 is to be entered, the bogie 3 is entered at the station 7. Since the entry station 7 is used only for entering a new bogie, it is a branch track.

In the above embodiment, the mark recognition device 16 provided on the carriage 3 reads the station mark recorded on the information recording medium 15 provided on the station 6, so that the controller 5 It is possible to grasp the position of No. 3. Also, sensor 1
9 detects the approach of the cart 3 so that the collision of the cart 3 is avoided. Therefore, even if the controller 5 does not know the position of each truck 3, it is possible to run each truck 3 safely without colliding, and even after the system is restarted, each truck 3 is moved to the station 6 It is possible to move to. Therefore, in the linear motor-type transfer device 1 of the present embodiment, it is not necessary to manually move each of the carts 3 to the entry station 7, which reduces labor and enables the system to be restarted in a short time. It is. Furthermore, the entry station 7 is a new bogie 3
Is used only when the vehicle is added, so that the branch track can be used, and the new bogie 3 can be entered without suspending the operation.

In this embodiment, the position of the carriage 3 is detected by the carriage position detector 17 provided on the carriage 3. However, the position of the carriage 3 is not detected in the carriage 3, but is temporarily marked. To the controller 5,
The position of the cart 3 may be detected by the controller 5. Further, the bogie position detecting unit 17 and the safe running control unit 20 may be built in the bogie control unit 23 and the running control unit 26. Although the information recording medium 15 is provided in the station 6, the present invention is not limited to this. The information recording medium 15 may be provided at any position on the track 2, or the information recording medium 15 may be provided on 2, a mark recognition device 16 may be provided. Further, although the moving form of the carriage 3 is the driving source of the power of the non-contact power supply type linear motor, the present invention is not limited to this.

[0025]

In the transporting device of the present invention, the bogie travels on the track while avoiding collision by the detecting means, and the reading device reads the information recorded on the information recording medium. Based on this information, the control device detects the position of the bogie.
Therefore, there is no need to manually move each truck to the station to perform the incoming line processing, thereby reducing the labor and restarting the system in a short time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a truck and a station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front sectional view showing a truck and a track according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a linear motor type transfer device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a conventional linear motor type transfer device.

[Description of Signs] 1 Linear motor type transport device (transport device) 2 Track 3 Truck 5 Ground side controller 15 Information recording medium 16 Mark recognition device (Reading means) 17 Truck position detecting section 19 Sensor (Approach detecting means) 20 Safe running Control unit 23 Truck control unit 25 Control device 26 Travel control unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F-term (reference) LL14 MM01 MM09

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A transport device comprising a track, a truck traveling on the track, and a control device for controlling the traveling of the truck, wherein the transport device is provided at one of a predetermined position on the track and the truck. An information recording medium provided, and reading means provided on the other side for reading information recorded on the information recording medium, the control device comprising: a cart based on the information read by the information reading means. A bogie position detecting unit for detecting the position of the bogie, and a running control unit for controlling running of the bogie based on the detection output of the bogie position detecting unit. The running control unit includes a ground controller and the bogie. And a carriage control unit provided on the side. 2. The conveyance device according to claim 1, wherein the carriage is provided with approach detection means for detecting approach of another carriage, and the control device is configured to control the carriage based on a detection output of the approach detection means. A safety traveling control unit for controlling traveling of the vehicle.