JPH05278809A - Clean warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To keep clean the upper surfaces of goods where dust is most liable to deposit. CONSTITUTION:Racks 15 having a large number of goods-housing shelves 16 are provided up and down, and right and left inside a clean warehouse 1, and the undersurface of each goods-housing shelf 16 is provided with an air duct 19 having downwardly-opened air-jet holes 20, and fans 22 for delivering air to these air ducts 19 are provided to the lower part of the clean warehouse 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a clean warehouse for storing articles such as semiconductor wafers that are averse to dust.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the following types of clean warehouses are known. That is, it has a rack device provided in a clean warehouse and having a large number of article storage shelves vertically and horizontally, and a stacker crane provided in the clean warehouse so as to be movable left and right in front of the rack device. The stacker crane has a traveling carriage, an elevating stand provided on a mast standing on the traveling carriage so as to be able to move up and down, and an article transfer device such as a robot hand mounted on the elevating stand. An air duct having an air outlet opening toward the article storage shelf is formed between the back surface of the rack device and the vertical wall of the clean warehouse, and the air duct sucks air from the suction port. It is known that a fan that is sent to a clean warehouse is provided at the bottom of the clean warehouse, and a filter is attached to the air ejection port of the air duct.

[0003]

Disadvantages of the Prior Art The conventional clean warehouse has the following drawbacks. That is, since the air ejection port opened toward the article storage shelf was formed on the back surface of the article storage shelf, that is, the air ejected from the air ejection port on the back surface of the article stored in the article storage shelf Since the blown air does not hit the upper surface of the article on which the dust is most likely to adhere, the dust tends to adhere to the upper surface of the article.

[0004]

[Means for Solving the Disadvantages] The present invention adopts the following means in order to eliminate the above disadvantages. According to the present invention, a rack device having a large number of article storage shelves vertically and horizontally is provided in a clean warehouse, and an air duct having a downward air opening is provided on the lower surface of the article storage shelves. A fan that sends air to the duct is installed at the bottom of the clean warehouse.

[0005]

The present invention has the following functions. Since air is ejected toward the upper surface of the article to which the dust is most likely to adhere, the upper surface of the article to which the dust is most likely to adhere can be kept clean.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below based on the embodiments shown in the drawings. In this specification, the front means the lower side in FIG. 1, the rear means the upper side in FIG. 1, the left means the left side in FIG. 1, and the right means the right side. The clean warehouse 1 is a closed chamber except for a predetermined opening such as an article loading / unloading port (not shown) (not shown) and an outside air intake 3 provided at the bottom. A horizontal wall 8 is provided above the floor 6 of the clean warehouse 1 so as to be spaced apart from the floor 6, and an opening 9 that is long in the left-right direction is formed in the center of the horizontal wall 8 in the front-rear direction. Further, an opening 10 is formed between the front end of the horizontal wall 8 and the front wall of the clean warehouse 1 and between the rear end of the horizontal wall 8 and the rear wall of the clean warehouse 1. A partition wall 12 having an L-shaped cross section is provided immediately below the horizontal wall 8 so as to define an air passage 11.
A vertical partition filter 13 is passed between the partition wall body 12 and the floor 6 of the clean warehouse 1.

A pair of front and rear rack devices 15 are erected on the horizontal wall 8 at predetermined intervals in the front-rear direction, and these rack devices 15 have a large number of article storage shelves 16 vertically and horizontally. The article loading / unloading ports 17 of the front and rear article storage shelves 16 face each other. The horizontal wall 8 is also used as an article storage shelf.

A main air duct 18 is formed between the back surface of the rack device 15 (the portion opposite to the article loading / unloading port 17) and the front and rear side walls of the clean warehouse 1. An air duct 19 having an air ejection port 20 opening downward is provided on the lower surface of each article storage rack 16 so as to communicate with the air duct 18. Further, an air duct 19 having an air ejection port 20 opening downward is provided on the lower surface of the upper wall of the clean warehouse 1 facing the rack device 15. A precision straightening vane 21 such as a silk screen is attached to the air ejection port 20.

A fan 22 is installed at the bottom of the clean warehouse 1.
Are provided so that the suction port 23 is located below the partition wall body 12 and the air ejection port 24 is connected to the opening formed in the partition wall body 12. A filter 25 is housed in the air passage 11 so as to define the air ejection port 24 and the opening 10. A filter 26 is also attached to the outside air intake 3. With such a configuration, the air sucked from the suction port 23 passes through the air ejection port 24, the air passage 11, the opening 10, the air duct 18, the air duct 19, and the precision straightening plate 21, and the article storage space of the article storage shelf 16 is reached. Is blown from above and flows through the gap between the rack devices 15 from top to bottom, passes through the partition filter 13, and is again sucked into the suction port 23 of the fan 22. Also, a required amount of outside air is sucked into the suction port 23 from the outside air intake 3. Note that two or more fans 22 may be provided.

A pair of front and rear casings 31 that are long in the left-right direction are arranged so as to be located below the opening 9, and these casings 31 have slits 32 that are long in the left-right direction at the top.
have. A pair of front and rear guide rails 33, which are long in the left-right direction, are provided in the casing 31, and left and right sliding bodies 34 are guided by these guide rails 33 so as to be movable left and right. It is designed to slide on. The left and right sliding body 3
4 are connected by a connecting plate 35.
5 and the left and right sliding body 34, the stacker crane 37
The traveling carriage 38 is configured.

A cylindrical mast 40 is erected on the connecting plate 35, and an elevating table 41 is vertically movable on the mast 40 by an elevating device 42 including a timing belt and the like housed in the mast 40. .

A hollow horizontal swivel table 44 is provided on the lift table 41 so as to swivel horizontally, and a robot hand 46 is mounted on the horizontal swivel table 44.
The robot hand 46 is horizontally slidable by a known driving mechanism such as a ball screw mechanism or a belt driving mechanism housed in the main body case 47. It has a pair of hand arms 48 made. These hand arms 48 are made to approach each other or be separated from each other by a drive mechanism housed in the main body case 47. Needless to say, a robot hand or the like other than the embodiment can be used as the article transfer device.

[0013]

[Operation of the Embodiment] Next, the operation of the clean warehouse of the embodiment will be described. First, the flow of air in the clean warehouse 1 will be described. The air sucked from the suction port 23 is the air jet 24, the air passage 11, the opening 10, and the air duct 1.
8, the air duct 19, the precision straightening vane 21 and the air is ejected from above into the article storage space of the article storage rack 16, the air flows from the top to the bottom in the gap between the rack devices 15 and the partition filter 13, and the fan again. 22 is sucked into the suction port 23. Also, a required amount of outside air is sucked into the suction port 23 from the outside air intake 3. Air is a filter 25,
It is cleaned while passing through the partition filters 13 and 26.

Next, the operation of storing the article W in the article storage rack 16 will be described. When the article W is automatically or manually placed on the platform (not shown) of the article loading / unloading station in the clean warehouse 1, the traveling carriage 38 and the lifting platform 41 are arranged so that the hand arm 48 faces the article W. Stops. Then, attach the free end of the hand arm 48 to the article W.
The horizontal swivel table 44 swivels so as to face to. After that, the robot hand 46 projects toward the article W with the hand arm 48 being separated, and positions the hand arm 48 outside the article W. Then, the hand arms 48 approach each other and hold the article W therebetween. After that, after the elevator 41 is slightly raised, the robot hand 46 retracts while holding the article W, and draws the article W above the horizontal turning table 44. As is clear from this description, the article W and the horizontal turning table 44 do not collide or interfere with each other. After that, the traveling carriage 38 travels to the left and right, the elevating table 41 moves up and down, and the bottom surface of the article W is positioned slightly above the top surface of the article storage shelf 16 to be stored. In the meantime, the horizontal revolving table 44 is rotated horizontally or not, and the article W is opposed to the predetermined article storage rack 16. After that, the robot hand 46 projects toward the article storage rack 16, and then the elevating table 41 descends slightly to lower the article W onto the article storage rack 16. Then, the hand arms 48 separate from each other to separate the article W. After that, the robot hand 46 retreats toward the horizontal turning table 44. Note that the article W can be carried out to the table (not shown) of the article carry-in / carry-out station by the operation reverse to the above.

4 and 5 show a modification of the present invention.
In these figures, the same members as those in the embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals. In FIG. 4, the arrangement position of the fan 22 is different from that of the above embodiment. In FIG. 5, main air ducts 18 are provided on the left and right sides of the clean warehouse 1.

[0016]

The present invention has the following effects due to the above-described structure. An air duct having an air outlet opening downward is provided on the lower surface of the article storage shelf, and air is ejected toward the upper surface of the article to which dust is most likely to adhere. The top surface of the article that is most likely to adhere can be held cleanly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a simplified horizontal sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing a modified example of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view showing another modification of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Clean Warehouse 15 Rack Device 16 Article Storage Shelf 19 Air Duct 20 Air Jet 22 Fan 23 Suction 24 Air Jet

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A rack device having a large number of article storage shelves vertically and horizontally provided in a clean warehouse, and an air duct having a downwardly opening air ejection port is provided on the lower surface of the article storage shelves. A clean warehouse where a fan that sends air to the air duct is installed at the bottom of the clean warehouse. 2. The clean warehouse according to claim 1, wherein a filter is attached to the air ejection port side of the fan, and a current plate is provided at the air ejection port of the air duct.