JP2007313607A - Vacuum suction pad - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vacuum suction pad capable of keeping close contact between a pad member and a bellows member stably, and replacing the pad member. <P>SOLUTION: The vacuum suction pad 11 is provided with a base member 13 with an exhaust passage 12 formed inside, the bellows member 14 integrally attached to the base member 13, the inside of which is communicated with the exhaust passage 13, and the pad member 15 attached to the front end 14b of the bellows member 14 and having a suction hole 15a. The pad member 15 is provided with a fitting shaft part 15b fitted in the front end 14b of the bellows member 14 while having the suction hole 15a formed inside. Moreover, an annular elastic member 17 retaining the close contact condition relative to the fitting shaft part 15b is fitted in the front end 14b of the bellows member 14. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vacuum suction pad for holding a plate-shaped object such as a glass substrate by vacuum suction.

  Conventionally, a robot hand equipped with one or more vacuum suction pads has been used to transport thin glass substrates used in flat panel displays such as liquid crystal displays, plasma displays, and electroluminescence displays.

  As a configuration of the vacuum suction pad, for example, the following Patent Document 1 describes a vacuum suction pad having a base member connected to a vacuum generation source and an expandable bellows member attached to the base member, The substrate is sucked and held by a skirt formed at the tip of the bellows member.

  By the way, generally, the bellows member is often formed of a rubber material in order to develop stretchability, and therefore does not have sufficient heat resistance. Therefore, for example, when the substrate is taken out from the processing chamber after being subjected to processing such as film formation in a heated state, the leading end of the bellows member is thermally deformed to cause adsorption failure, or suction marks ( Problems such as contact marks remain. For this reason, a cooling chamber that cools the substrate processed in the processing chamber to a predetermined temperature or less is separately provided at the rear stage of the processing chamber, and the substrate is cooled in the cooling chamber and then taken out. However, in this case, a decrease in productivity and an increase in the size of the substrate processing apparatus have been problems.

  On the other hand, for example, as described in Patent Document 2 below, a vacuum suction pad having a configuration in which a pad member formed of a material different from the constituent material of the bellows member is attached to the tip portion of the bellows member is known. . As shown in FIG. 7, the vacuum suction pad 1 is connected to a vacuum generation source and has a base member 3 in which an exhaust passage 2 is formed, and a base member 3 that is integrally attached to the base member 3 and has an exhaust passage 2 inside. And a pad member 5 attached to the tip of the bellows member 4 and having an adsorption hole 5a. The bellows member 4 and the pad member 5 and the bellows member 4 and the base member 3 are in close contact with each other using an adhesive.

  Since the vacuum suction pad 1 having such a configuration can stably hold and hold even the substrate W immediately after the high-temperature processing by configuring the pad member 5 with a heat-resistant material, as described above. Improvement of the problem of productivity reduction and enlargement of the substrate processing apparatus due to the addition of the cooling equipment can be achieved.

JP 2001-315082 A JP 2001-179672-A

  However, in the conventional vacuum suction pad 1 shown in FIG. 7, even if the pad member 5 is made of a heat-resistant material (for example, metal or heat-resistant engineering plastic), it is between the bellows member 4 and the pad member 5. However, depending on the temperature of the substrate W at the time of taking out, the adhesive may be thermally deteriorated and the adhesion may be lowered.

  Moreover, in the conventional vacuum suction pad 1, since the bellows member 4 and the pad member 5 are integrated by the adhesion | attachment using an adhesive agent, there exists a problem that replacement | exchange of the pad member 5 cannot be performed easily. . For this reason, when deterioration with time such as wear occurs in the pad member 5, the entire vacuum suction pad 1 needs to be replaced, and the maintenance cost increases.

  This invention is made in view of the above-mentioned problem, and makes it a subject to provide the vacuum suction pad which can maintain the adhesiveness between a pad member and a bellows member stably, and can also replace | exchange a pad member.

  In solving the above problems, a vacuum suction pad according to the present invention includes a base member having an exhaust passage formed therein, a bellows member attached integrally with the base member and communicating with the exhaust passage, A pad member attached to the tip of the bellows member and having a suction hole, the pad member having a fitting shaft portion fitted into the tip of the bellows member and having the suction hole formed therein, An annular elastic member that holds a close contact state with the fitting shaft portion is attached to the tip.

  In the vacuum suction pad of the present invention having such a configuration, the annular elastic member attached to the tip of the bellows member can maintain the close contact state between the insertion shaft portion of the pad member and the bellows member. The adhesion between the bellows member and the pad member can be stably maintained without being affected. Further, since the bellows member and the pad member can be separated, only the pad member can be replaced, thereby reducing the maintenance cost.

  In the vacuum suction pad according to the present invention, an annular wall portion that protrudes toward the inner peripheral surface of the bellows member is formed on the outer periphery of the tip end of the insertion shaft portion of the pad member. It is formed in a wedge shape that restricts the insertion shaft portion from coming off. As a result, the pad member can be prevented from falling off due to an unexpected breakage of the annular elastic member.

  Furthermore, in the vacuum suction pad according to the present invention, the end surface of the annular wall portion positioned on the distal end side of the insertion shaft portion is formed in a tapered shape that guides the insertion of the insertion shaft portion into the bellows member, thereby The workability of assembling the pad member can be improved. In addition, what is necessary is just to attach the cyclic | annular elastic member to the front-end | tip of a bellows member previously.

  The constituent material of the pad member is not particularly limited, but is preferably made of a metal material such as aluminum or a heat resistant engineering plastic such as PEEK (polyether ether ketone).

  As described above, according to the vacuum suction pad of the present invention, it is possible to maintain stable adhesion between the bellows member and the pad member attached to the tip of the bellows member, and it is possible to replace the pad member and reduce maintenance cost. Can be achieved.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the following embodiments, and various modifications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention.

  FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a vacuum suction pad 11 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The vacuum suction pad 11 of this embodiment includes a base member 13, a bellows member 14 attached integrally to the base member 13, and a pad member 15 attached to the tip of the bellows member 14.

  The base member 13 is made of a metal material such as stainless steel, and an exhaust passage 12 connected to a vacuum generation source such as a vacuum pump (not shown) is provided inside. The bellows member 14 is made of a rubber material having a certain elasticity (for example, fluorine-based rubber), and can be expanded and contracted in the axial direction and bent and deformed in the lateral direction.

  Further, the base member 13 is formed with a cylindrical side wall 18 so as to surround the bellows member 14, and the side wall 18 regulates bending deformation of the bellows member 14 beyond a predetermined level. A resin-made buffer layer 19 is provided at the upper end of the side wall 18 to prevent damage to the bellows member 14 due to contact between the bellows member 14 and the upper end of the side wall 18.

  A base portion 14 a formed on one end side (lower end side in the drawing) of the bellows member 14 is coupled to a substantially central portion of the base member via a fixing screw member 16. A through hole 16 a is formed in the axial center portion of the fixing screw member 16, and the inside of the bellows member 14 communicates with the exhaust passage 12 inside the base member 13 through the through hole 16 a.

  The pad member 15 is made of a heat-resistant material, and is made of aluminum in the present embodiment. In addition, other metal materials and heat-resistant engineering plastic materials such as polyetheretherketone (PEEK) and polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) are applicable.

  A suction hole 15 a is formed in a substantially central portion of the pad member 15. The suction hole 15 a passes through the pad member 15 along the axial center of the fitting shaft portion 15 b formed integrally with the center portion of the pad member 15. The pad member 15 is integrated with the bellows member 14 by fitting the fitting shaft portion 15b into the tip 14b of the bellows member 14.

  FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the pad member 15. The pad member 15 has a pad portion 15 c that contacts the substrate W. The pad portion 15c has a circular shape in plan, and has a larger diameter than the bellows member tip 14b so that the tip 14b of the bellows member 14 can be prevented from contacting the substrate W. On the surface of the pad portion 15c, a recess 15e for introducing a vacuum between the pad portion 15c and the substrate W is provided on the inner side of the convex portion 15d formed in an annular shape on the periphery. . The recess 15e communicates with one end of the suction hole 15a.

  An annular wall portion 15f is formed on the distal end side of the fitting shaft portion 15b. The annular wall portion 15 f protrudes toward the inner peripheral surface of the bellows member 14 and is formed in a wedge shape that restricts the insertion shaft portion 15 b from coming off from the bellows member 14. Specifically, one side surface 15g of the annular wall portion 15f located on the base portion (pad portion 15c) side of the insertion shaft portion 15b is an inclined surface that is flat or warps toward the pad portion 15c side in FIG. .

  On the other hand, the end surface 15h of the annular wall portion 15f located on the distal end side of the insertion shaft portion 15b is formed in a tapered shape that guides the insertion of the insertion shaft portion 15b into the bellows member 14. Thereby, the mounting workability of the pad member 15 with respect to the tip 14b of the bellows member 14 can be improved.

  And in the vacuum suction pad 11 of this embodiment, the annular elastic member 17 which hold | maintains the contact | adherence state between the said bellows member 14 and the insertion shaft part 15b is attached to the front-end | tip 14b of the bellows member 14. As shown in FIG. As the annular elastic member 17, for example, a rubber seal ring or O-ring made of fluorine-based rubber or the like is applied.

  The annular elastic member 17 is for maintaining a close contact state in the insertion shaft portion 15 b between the bellows member 14 and the pad member 15, and is attached to the constricted portion at the tip of the bellows member 14. The tightening force is applied to the insertion shaft portion 15b with a uniform force over the entire circumference. Thereby, the adhesiveness between the bellows member 14 and the pad member 15 can be maintained stably, and the vacuum leak between these can be prevented.

  The vacuum suction pad 11 of the present embodiment configured as described above is used by being incorporated in a hand portion 21 of a robot hand (substrate transport apparatus) 20 exemplarily shown in FIG. The robot hand 20 is installed in an air atmosphere and is used to carry in and out the substrate W to and from a substrate processing apparatus such as a sputtering apparatus. The robot hand 20 has a plurality of arm portions 22A to 22D, and the hand portion 21 is connected to the arm portion 22D at the final stage. Each of the arm portions 22A to 22D and the hand portion 21 can be rotated at an arbitrary angle via a rotational drive source such as a motor.

  A plurality (three in the example of FIG. 3) of vacuum suction pads 11 are respectively installed on the claw portions 21a arranged in parallel (two in the example of FIG. 3) on the hand unit 21. Each vacuum suction pad 11 is connected to a vacuum generation source (vacuum pump) via an exhaust passage formed in the claw portion 21a, the hand portion 21 and the like.

  4A and 4B show connection examples of the vacuum suction pads 11 to the vacuum pump 23. FIG. 4A and 4B, the hand portion 21 has seven claw portions 21a, and four or seven vacuum suction pads 11 are provided on each claw portion 21a. 4A shows an example in which each vacuum suction pad 11 has an exhaust passage formed by each claw portion 21a unit or a pair of adjacent claw portions 21a and is connected to a single vacuum pump 23 in common. Show. On the other hand, FIG. 4B shows that each vacuum suction pad 11 has an exhaust passage formed in each claw portion 21a unit or a pair of adjacent claw portions 21a, and each vacuum suction pad 11 has a vacuum pump 23 installed for each exhaust passage. A connected example is shown. Although the illustrated vacuum pump 23 is a rotary pump with an exhaust capacity of 400 liters / min, the type of pump and the exhaust capacity are of course not limited thereto.

  The vacuum suction pad 11 according to the present embodiment is configured so that each pad member 15 is disposed opposite to the suction region of the substrate W by driving the hand unit 21 when the substrate W is suctioned and held, as shown in FIG. The convex portion 15 d of the member 15 is in contact with the substrate W. At this time, even when the substrate W is warped, the pad portion 15c of the pad member 15 can easily follow the suction surface of the substrate W due to the flexibility of the bellows member 14, so that the substrate W is stable. Contactability can be ensured.

  Then, by driving the vacuum pump 23, the recess 15e on the surface of the pad member 15 is evacuated to a predetermined pressure through the exhaust passage 12, the inside of the bellows member 14 and the suction hole 15a, and the bellows member 14 in the axial direction is evacuated. The substrate W is sucked and held after a predetermined amount of reduction deformation. In this state, after transporting the substrate W to a predetermined transport position, the driving of the vacuum pump 23 is stopped, the exhaust passage 12 is opened to the atmosphere, and the bellows member 14 is extended by a predetermined amount in the axial direction. The adsorption of the substrate W is released.

  According to the vacuum suction pad 11 of the present embodiment, since the pad member 15 in contact with the substrate W is made of a heat-resistant material, for example, with respect to the substrate W immediately after high temperature processing such as film formation processing under heating. Thus, it is possible to stably hold and hold the substrate W without generating a suction mark or causing a decrease in adhesion due to thermal deterioration of the pad member 15.

  In addition, since the structure is such that the space between the bellows member 14 and the pad member 15 is not fixed with an adhesive, but the both are closely fixed with the annular elastic member 17, the bellows member 14 and the bellows member 14 are not affected by the substrate temperature. The adhesion between the pad member 15 and the pad member 15 can be stably maintained.

  Furthermore, according to the vacuum suction pad 11 of the present embodiment, since the bellows member 14 and the pad member 15 can be separated, the pad member 15 can be replaced, and the pad member that has deteriorated over time can be replaced. It is possible to replace the pad member with a different size, shape and material. Thereby, compared with the case where the vacuum suction pad 11 whole is replaced | exchanged, it becomes possible to aim at reduction of a maintenance cost.

  The pad member 15 is detached by pulling the pad member 15 out of the tip 14b of the bellows member 14 with a force greater than the elastic force of the elastic annular member 17. The pad member 15 is attached by attaching the annular elastic member 17 to the constricted portion of the tip 14 b of the bellows member 14 and then fitting the fitting shaft portion 15 b of the pad member 15 into the tip 14 b of the bellows member 14. At this time, since the end surface 15h on the distal end side of the insertion shaft portion 15b is formed in a tapered shape that guides the insertion shaft portion 15b in the insertion direction, the mounting operation of the pad member 15 to the bellows member 14 is facilitated.

  And according to the vacuum suction pad 11 of this embodiment, the annular wall part 15f formed in the front-end | tip of the insertion shaft part 15b of the pad member 15 is wedge-shaped which regulates the omission of the said insertion shaft part 15b from the bellows member 14. Therefore, even if the elastic force is reduced due to deterioration or damage of the annular elastic member 17 due to some cause, it is possible to suppress the pad member 15 from falling off the bellows member 14 and to ensure a stable holding operation of the substrate W. can do.

  Here, an experimental result of evaluating the function of preventing the pad member 15 from being detached from the bellows member 14 in the vacuum suction pad 11 according to this embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described. For comparison, a pad member 25 having the configuration shown in FIG. 7 was used. The pad member 25 is different from the configuration of the annular wall portion 15f of the pad member 15 according to this embodiment described above in the shape of the annular wall portion 25f formed at the tip of the fitting shaft portion 25b. That is, the annular wall portion 25f of the pad member 25 shown in FIG. 7 is not formed in a wedge shape that restricts the insertion shaft portion 25b from coming off, and is located on the base (pad portion 25c) side of the insertion shaft portion 25b. The side surface is an inclined surface inclined toward the tip of the insertion shaft portion 25b.

  As an evaluation method, when the base part of the vacuum suction pad is fixed, and the suction holes 15a and 25a of the pad members 15 and 25 are pulled up by pulling a measuring needle of a spring scale, the pad members 15 and 25 are detached from the bellows member. The magnitude of the load was measured for each. The measurement results are shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B. 6A shows an experimental result when the spring gauge is pulled up in the vertical direction, and FIG. 6B shows an experimental result when the spring gauge is pulled up in an oblique direction inclined by 15 ° with respect to the vertical direction. .

  6A and 6B, “O-ring” means the annular elastic member 17 according to the present invention, and the presence or absence of the O-ring indicates the presence or absence of the annular elastic member 17 being attached. In each figure, “3000 up” means that the measured value is 3000 g (the maximum measured value of the spring measurement) or more, and the pad member is not detached even with the load.

  As shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the samples without the O-ring attached to any sample showed the detachment of the pad member, whereas the samples with the O-ring attached had a difference in the shape of the pad member and The detachment of the pad member was not recognized regardless of the direction in which the spring gauge was pulled up. From this result, it can be seen that by attaching an O-ring, that is, an annular elastic member, the integrated state retention between the pad member and the bellows member is very high.

  Further, it can be seen that, with respect to the sample not equipped with the O-ring, the pad member 15 of the present embodiment is generally more resistant to the pulling load (about twice) than the pad member 25 shown as a comparison. Thereby, even if the annular elastic member is deteriorated for some reason, the wedge shape of the annular wall portion 15f makes it possible to effectively regulate the removal of the pad member from the bellows member 14.

It is a sectional side view showing the schematic structure of the vacuum suction pad by the embodiment of the present invention. It is an enlarged view of the pad member of the vacuum suction pad shown in FIG. It is a perspective view which shows one structural example of the robot hand to which the vacuum suction pad shown in FIG. 1 is applied. It is a figure explaining the vacuum exhaust system of the robot hand shown in FIG. It is a figure of the side cross section of the other pad member used for the comparison, when demonstrating the effect of the pad member shown in FIG. It is one experimental result explaining the effect of the vacuum suction pad shown in FIG. It is a sectional side view which shows the structure of the conventional vacuum suction pad.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Vacuum suction pad 12 Exhaust passage 13 Base member 14 Bellows member 15 Pad member 15a Suction hole 15b Insertion shaft part 15c Pad member 15d Convex part 15e Recess 15f Annular wall part 16 Fixing screw member 17 Annular elastic member (O-ring)
20 Robot hand 21 Hand part 21a Claw part 22A-22D Arm part 23 Vacuum pump

Claims (5)

A base member having an exhaust passage formed therein;
A bellows member attached integrally with the base member and having an interior communicating with the exhaust passage;
A vacuum suction pad provided with a pad member attached to the tip of the bellows member and having a suction hole,
The pad member has an insertion shaft portion that is inserted into the tip of the bellows member and has the suction hole formed therein,
A vacuum suction pad, characterized in that an annular elastic member is attached to the tip of the bellows member to maintain a close contact state with the fitting shaft portion. An annular wall portion protruding toward the inner peripheral surface of the bellows member is formed on the outer periphery of the tip end of the insertion shaft portion,
The vacuum suction pad according to claim 1, wherein the annular wall portion is formed in a wedge shape that restricts the insertion shaft portion from coming off from the bellows member.   3. The vacuum according to claim 2, wherein an end surface of the annular wall portion positioned on a distal end side of the insertion shaft portion is formed in a tapered shape that guides insertion of the insertion shaft portion into the bellows member. Adsorption pad.   The vacuum suction pad according to claim 1, wherein the pad member is made of a metal material. The vacuum suction pad according to claim 1, wherein the pad member is made of a heat resistant engineering plastic material.

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