KR20080076895A - Method and apparatus for carrying a plate-shaped part - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for carrying a plate-shaped object are provided to substantially horizontally place the plate-shaped object and carry a bottom surface and a top surface of the plate-shaped object while supporting a bottom surface and a top surface of the plate-shaped object. Pads(18) and suction parts(19) are alternately arranged lengthwise along a finger(16B). The pad is in contact with a bottom surface of a plate-shaped object(17) to support the plate-shaped object. The suction parts are connected to a vacuum pump through a fluid passage installed in the finger and a hand(15) so that the bottom surface of the plate-shaped object is sucked. The pad is attached onto a top surface of the finger through a shim(20) to adjust the thickness of the shim so that the height of the pad is regulated.

Description

Method of conveying flat conveyances and apparatus therefor {METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CARRYING A PLATE-SHAPED PART}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for conveying flat conveyances, such as glass substrates for liquid crystal panels, and more particularly, to flat conveyances that hold and convey the lower or upper surfaces of the flat conveyance substantially horizontally. It relates to a conveying method and an apparatus thereof.

Generally, this kind of flat conveyance is accommodated in a multi-stage pallet, is conveyed to a processing apparatus sequentially by a conveying apparatus such as a robot, and after a process is performed by a processing apparatus, it returns to a pallet again. In the conveyance of this flat plate-like conveyed material, the holding part which consists of a fork-shaped finger shown in Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 11-322069 is often used.

If the conveyed material is large in thickness and thin like a glass substrate for a large liquid crystal panel, the warpage becomes large due to its own weight, which makes it difficult to convey each pallet on a pallet having a narrow vertical gap. Because of this problem, it was necessary to form a fork-shaped finger such that the fork-shaped finger was held over approximately the entire area of the flat conveyance, as shown in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-322069.

However, when a finger or the like for carrying a plate-shaped conveyed object is large, a conveying device such as a robot increases the load of the conveyance, making it difficult to quickly and accurately position control, resulting in a problem of increasing the size of the conveying device. In addition, in order to avoid contamination, it is preferable to suppress the contact by holding parts such as fingers as little as possible in the case of flat conveyances such as glass substrates for liquid crystal panels.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art, to reduce the mounting parts such as fingers, and to suppress the contact with the flat plate-shaped material to be smaller, thereby reducing the flat plate-shaped material by its own weight. The present invention provides a method and apparatus for conveying a plate-shaped conveyed article which can suppress warpage to be less and enable more efficient conveyance.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a plate-shaped conveyed article placed on a mounting portion of a substantially horizontal vertical conveying apparatus, and conveys the lower surface or the upper surface of the flat-shaped conveyed article in a state held by the holding portion of the placing portion. In the conveying method of a flat-form conveyed object, when the height difference is formed in a predetermined arrangement in the some holding | maintenance part which hold | maintains the lower surface or the upper surface of the said flat-form conveyed object, and at least in the holding state, the said flat-form conveyed object It is forcibly curved using the height difference of the said holding part, The said conveyance part is conveyed by conveying the said flat plate conveyance, maintaining the forced curved state of the said flat plate conveyance, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

Moreover, this invention is a conveyance apparatus of the flat conveyance goods which conveys a flat conveyance in the state hold | maintained in a substantially horizontal posture, The mounting part by which the said flat conveyance is mounted in a substantially horizontal posture, and the said mounting part are moved. A main body portion of a conveying apparatus having a mechanism to make a holding, and a holding portion arranged in the plurality of plates at least in two rows to hold the flat conveyance, wherein the holding portion is a lower surface of the flat conveyance or And a means for forcibly bending the plate-shaped conveyed article by using the height difference of the said holding part, at least in the holding state, with the height difference which differs with respect to an upper surface.

It is preferable that the said holding | maintenance part is equipped with the adsorption part which adsorb | sucks the said lower surface or an upper surface in the holding | maintenance part with a low height in the direction toward the lower surface or the upper surface of the said flat plate conveyance, At least one part adjusts the said height It is preferable that it is comprised so that it is possible. The holding portion is formed so as to be curved in a waveform that rises and falls the flat conveyance in the longitudinal direction, or the V-shaped shape or the center of the flat conveyance is low in the center in the width direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction. It may be formed so that it may be curved in a high mountain shape.

According to the present invention as described above, at least in the holding state, by forming a height difference in the holding portion for holding the lower surface or the upper surface of the plate-shaped conveyed material, the plate-shaped conveyed object is forcibly curved to be held and conveyed. Because of the curvature, the curvature in the direction along the curved mountain or valley can be reduced, so that the holding portions such as the fingers can be miniaturized, and the contact with the flat conveyance can be reduced to be smaller.

On the other hand, when the curve is a waveform that rises and falls along the longitudinal direction of the flat conveyance, the holding portion can be limited to the vicinity of the center in the width direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction while suppressing the amount of warpage to be smaller. The said curvature can be limited to the vicinity of the both ends of the width direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the said flat conveyance.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, it demonstrates, referring an accompanying drawing about the conveyance method of flat plate conveyed goods by this invention, and one Example of the apparatus.

1 shows an example in which the present invention is applied to a robot-carrying device, wherein reference numeral 10 is a base, 11 is a pivot table, 12 is a lifting and rotating shaft, 13 is a first pivotal rock, and 14 is a second pivotal rock. , 15 is a hand, and 16 is a fork as a mounting portion for carrying a conveyed object.

The first pivotal arm 13 and the second pivotal arm 14 pivot in opposite directions to move the hand 15 in the radial direction of the lifting and lowering shaft 12. At this time, the hand 15 is rotated on the first turning rock 13 and the second turning rock 14 in conjunction with the turning of the first turning rock 13 and the second turning rock 14 to the direction of the hand 15. Keep it constant. The hand 15 can also be rotated separately from the interlock. Then, the hand 15 moves up and down by the lifting and lowering of the lifting lowering rotation shaft 12, and moves in the circumferential direction of the lifting lowering rotation shaft 12 by the rotation of the turning table.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged detailed plan view of the fork 16, and reference numeral 17 is a flat conveyance made of a transparent glass plate (e.g., a glass substrate for a liquid crystal panel) placed on the fork 16. As shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged detail right side view of the fork 16 as seen from below. As shown in Fig. 2, the forks 16 have two fingers 16A and 16B, and both of the fingers 16A and 16B are in the longitudinal direction (flat direction in Fig. 2) of the flat conveyance 17. Rather than at both ends in the width direction (up and down direction in FIG. 2) perpendicular to), it extends in parallel in the longitudinal direction at a relatively near center in the width direction. Therefore, the width of the forks 16 is smaller than the width of the flat conveyance 17.

The upper surfaces of the two fingers 16A and 16B are disposed so as to face the lower surface of the flat conveyance 17 and the pad 18 as a holding portion for contacting and supporting the lower surface of the flat conveyance 17. Adsorption portions 19 as holding portions are alternately arranged so as to form rows along the longitudinal directions of the fingers 16A and 16B, respectively. The adsorption part 19 is connected to the vacuum pump which is not shown similarly through the finger | tip 16A, 16B and the unshown flow path installed in the hand 15, and the lower part of the flat conveyance 17 It is configured to be able to vacuum suction the surface.

As shown in FIG. 3, the pad 18 is attached to the top surface of the fingers 16A and 16B via a shim 20 to adjust the thickness of the shim 20 to adjust the thickness of the pad 18. It is comprised so that height can be adjusted and a height difference can be set between the adsorption | suction surface of the adsorption part 19. When the other adsorption part 19 is in a non-adsorption state, the adsorption surface of the upper end is set to substantially the same height as the upper end of the shim 20, and the lower surface of the flat conveyance 17 is adsorbed by the vacuum suction force. When it does so, it sags downward by the predetermined predetermined amount of 1 mm-several mm, and it is comprised so that a forced bending may be given to the flat conveyance 17.

Next, the operation of this conveying apparatus will be described.

The fingers 16A, 16B are inserted below the plate-shaped conveyed object 17 housed in a pallet (not shown) as shown in FIG. 2, and then the fingers 16A, 16B are raised by a predetermined amount to raise the plate-shaped conveyed product ( The lower surface of 17 is received by the pad 18 and the adsorption part 19, and the flat conveyance 17 is moved from the pallet onto the fingers 16A and 16B.

At this time, since the fingers 16A and 16B are relatively near the center of the flat conveyance 17 in the width direction, the holding portion provided on the pallet, not shown, is used to avoid the interference of the fingers 16A and 16B. It can be set as the structure which can hold | maintain the shape conveyed object 17 more reliably. This also applies to the plate-shaped conveyed object 17 holding part in the processing apparatus etc. which become a place which conveys the flat-form conveyed object 17 by this conveying apparatus.

Next, when the adsorption part 19 is operated by the vacuum pump which is not shown in figure, the adsorption part 19 adsorb | sucks the lower surface of the flat conveyance 17, and by this adsorption, the lower surface of the flat conveyance is predetermined amount. Will fall down.

As the adsorption portion 19 sags downward due to the adsorption action, the flat conveyance 17 has a portion indicated by the dashed-dotted line A in FIG. 2 and a valley indicated by the dashed-dotted line B in FIG. 2. The curve to be given is given. That is, the curved shape of the waveform which rises and falls along the longitudinal direction of the flat conveyance 17 is forcibly provided.

The flat plate-like article 17 curved as described above is bent in the direction (width direction) along the valley indicated by the dashed-dotted line A and the dashed-dotted line B, that is, the widthwise direction of the plate-shaped conveyed article 17 in FIG. The sag under both ends of and the sag of the flat plate carrier 17 between the pads 18 of the neighboring fingers 16A and 16B in FIG. 2 are reduced.

As described above, according to the conveying apparatus, the curved shape of the flat conveyance 17 is forcibly applied to the flat conveyance 17 so that the periphery extending outward from the flat conveyance 17 without being supported by the fingers 16A and 16B. The high rigidity of the part makes it difficult to bend with its own weight. Therefore, the curvature is suppressed so that the flat plate-like thing 17 may not bend in an up-down direction (width direction) in FIG. 2, and the flat plate-shaped thing 17 is bent in the left-right direction (length direction) in FIG. Since the silver is held by the pad 18 and the suction part 19 and suppressed to within a predetermined value, the holding part made up of a smaller number of pads 18 and the suction part 19 provided in a narrower range, The entire warping due to the weight of the flat plate 17 can be suppressed to be less.

4 and 5 illustrate another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is an enlarged detail front view of a separate fork 26 corresponding to FIG. 2. FIG. 5 is an enlarged detail front view of the fork 26 as shown in FIG. 4 from the right. As shown in FIG. 4, the fork 26 has three fingers 26A, 26B, and 26C, with the central finger 26B at the center in the width direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the flat conveyance 17. And extend in parallel in the longitudinal direction. The left and right fingers 26A and 26C are positioned in the middle of the width direction and in the middle of the upper and lower sides of the plate-shaped conveyed object 17 in Fig. 4, preferably in the vicinity of the upper and lower sides, so as to extend in parallel with the longitudinal direction. It is. The width of the forks 26 is smaller than the width of the flat conveyance 17.

At the distal end and the distal end of the center finger 26B, an adsorption part 19 similar to the adsorption part 19 described above is provided, and both left and right fingers 26A, Similarly, the pads 18 similar to the pads 18 described above are provided on the distal end side and the distal end of 26C) at the same intervals as the adsorption unit 19 via the shim 20, respectively. At the distal end and the distal end of each of the fingers 26A, 26B, and 26C, the pads 18 and the adsorption portions 19 are alternately arranged in the width direction, respectively, and the two extending in the vertical direction (the width direction) in FIG. The adsorption part 19 is comprised between the pads 18 and 18 which form a row | line | column, and is located in the upper and lower sides in FIG. The height difference is formed in the adjacent pad 18 and the adsorption part 19, and the adsorption surface of the adsorption part 19 becomes low.

It is preferable that the longitudinal position of the pad 18 and the flat conveyance 17 of the adsorption | suction part 19 becomes a position relatively near the edge part of the said direction, or near the center of the center and the edge part of the said direction.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the center of the width direction perpendicular | vertical to the longitudinal direction of the flat conveyance 17 is bent in low V shape. According to this, the curvature amount of the flat plate-shaped goods 17 in the said longitudinal direction is suppressed, and the curvature of the flat plate-shaped goods 17 to the up-down direction (width direction) in FIG. 4 is the pad 18 and the adsorption part. Since it is held by (19) and suppressed within a predetermined value, by the holding part made up of a smaller number of pads 18 and the adsorption part 19 provided in a narrower range, It is suppressed so that the whole amount of curvature by it becomes smaller.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which an enlarged detail front view of another fork 36 corresponding to FIG. 5 is shown. In this embodiment, the flat conveyance 17 is bent to a mountain shape with a high center by reversing the positions of the pads 18 and the adsorption portion of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. According to this embodiment, the amount of warpage of the flat plate-like article 17 in the axial direction is larger than that of the embodiment shown in Figs. 4 and 5, but the amount of warp in the longitudinal direction that results in greater warpage is shown in Fig. 4. And like the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, can be suppressed to be small.

In the above-described embodiment, as a curved example of the plate-shaped conveyed article 17, the waveform of rising and falling along the longitudinal direction of the plate-shaped conveyed article, the V-shaped low center of the width direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, and the center of the width direction are Although a high mountain shape is shown, various curves may be formed, such as a waveform rising and falling along the width direction, a V shape having a low center in the longitudinal direction, and a mountain shape having a high center in the longitudinal direction.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, although the holding part which consists of the pad 18 and the adsorption | suction part 19 which support the lower surface of the flat conveyance 17 was shown the example provided in 2 rows, this invention is limited to this. 3 or more rows may be provided corresponding to the magnitude | size and thickness of the flat conveyance 17. Moreover, by using the adsorption | suction part 19 which differs in the amount of sagging of the holding | maintenance part, the pad 18 may be changed into the adsorption part 19, and all may be used as the adsorption part 19, and the flat conveyance 17 It may be carried out by various modifications, such as a clip-type gripping the edge of the edge.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, although the robot which hold | maintains the lower surface of the flat-form conveyed object 17 by the fork provided in the arm tip was mentioned as a structural example, this invention is not limited to this, The track | path like a rail is provided. Therefore, it can apply to the conveying apparatus of various systems, such as a conveying apparatus which conveys the flat conveyance 17, The shape of the flat conveyance 17 is not limited to a rectangle, but various other shapes may be sufficient as it.

Example

Using the forks 16 shown in Figs. 2 and 3, glass-like conveyed objects 17 of the following size and thickness were held as shown in the figure. only,

Dimensions of the plate-shaped conveyed object 17: length x width x thickness = 1500 mm x 1000 mm x 1 mm

Spacing of fingers 16A, 16B = 60 mm

Spacing between pad 18 and adsorption section 19 = 240 mm

Height difference between pad 18 and adsorption part 19 at the time of adsorption = 2 mm

At this time, the amount of warpage in the width direction of the plate-shaped conveyed object 17 = 8 mm

It was. On the contrary, in Comparative Example 1, the adsorption unit 19 was replaced with the pads 18, and the same conditions were used as in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 except that the pads 18 had the same height. , The warp amount in the width direction was 9 mm.

Using the forks 26 shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the glass flat conveyance 17 having the following size and thickness was held as shown in the figure. only,

Dimensions of the flat conveying object 17: length x width x thickness = 1200 mm x 100 mm x 1 mm

Spacing of fingers 26A, 26B, 26C = 30 mm

The space | interval in the left-right direction of the pad 18 and the adsorption part 19 in FIG. 4 = 60 mm

Height difference between pad 18 and adsorption part 19 at the time of adsorption = 1 mm

At this time, the curvature amount of the width direction of the flat conveyance 17 was 3 mm. On the other hand, as Comparative Example 2, the adsorption unit 19 was replaced with the pads 18, and all of the pads 18 had the same height. In the case, the amount of warpage in the longitudinal direction was 4 mm.

The present invention can be widely applied to the conveyance of flat-shaped conveyed products which are large in shape, thin in thickness, and relatively large in curvature due to their own weight, such as glass substrates for liquid crystal panels.

1 is a schematic front view of a conveying apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged detailed plan view of the fork of the conveying apparatus shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged detail right side view showing the adsorption state of the forks as viewed from below.

4 is an enlarged detailed plan view of a fork showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged detail right side view illustrating an adsorption state of the forks as viewed from the right of FIG. 4.

6 is an enlarged detailed plan view of a fork showing yet another embodiment of the present invention.

(Explanation of the sign)

10---Base 11---Pivot

12---Lift shaft 13---1st turning rock

14---2nd Turnstone 15---Hand

16, 26, 36---Forks 16A, 16B, 26A, 26B, 26C---Fingers

17---Flatbed Conveyor 18---Pad

19---Suction part 20---Shim

Claims (20)

The plate-shaped conveyed product 17 which puts the plate-shaped conveyed object 17 in a horizontal position to the mounting part of the conveying apparatus, and conveys the lower surface or the upper surface of the flat-form conveyed object 17 in the state hold | maintained by the holding part of the mounting part. In the conveying method of), By forming a height difference in a predetermined arrangement in a plurality of holding portions holding the lower surface or the upper surface of the plate-shaped conveyed article 17, By forcibly adding a curved shape to the flat conveyance 17 using the height difference of the holding portion, the bending caused by its own weight is suppressed, The flat plate conveyed product conveying method characterized by moving the said mounting part, maintaining the forced curved state of the flat conveyed material (17), and conveying the said flat plate conveyed material (17). The flat plate carrier according to claim 1, wherein the curved state of the flat plate carrier 17 is a waveform in which mountains and valleys alternately move up and down alternately along the longitudinal direction of the plate carrier 17. How to return. The curved state of the said flat plate conveyance object 17 is a V-shape by which the center of the width direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of this flat plate conveyance object 17 became low, The conveyance of the flat plate conveyance object of Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. Way. The method of conveying flat plate conveyances according to claim 1, wherein the curved state of the flat conveyance product 17 is a mountain type in which the center of the width direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the flat conveyance product 17 becomes high. . The conveying method of the flat plate-shaped conveyed material as described in any one of Claims 2-4 whose said flat-form conveyed material (17) is a glass substrate for liquid crystal panels. The curved shape of any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the curved shape of the flat conveyance 17 is a waveform in which the stiffness of the peripheral portion of the flat conveyance 17 extending outwardly from the holding portion becomes high, and V-shaped. And a mountain-shaped one of the flat conveyances characterized by the above-mentioned. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the glass substrate for liquid crystal panel is a substrate having a size exceeding 1000 mm x 1000 mm. The plate-shaped conveyed product 17 which puts the plate-shaped conveyed object 17 in a horizontal position to the mounting part of the conveying apparatus, and conveys the lower surface or the upper surface of the flat-form conveyed object 17 in the state hold | maintained by the holding part of the mounting part. In the conveying method of), By forming a height difference in a predetermined arrangement in a plurality of holding portions holding the lower surface or the upper surface of the plate-shaped conveyed article 17, By forcibly adding a curved shape to the flat conveyance 17 using the height difference of the holding portion, the rigidity of the peripheral portion of the conveyed article is increased to keep the warpage caused by its own weight. The flat plate conveyed product conveying method characterized by moving the said mounting part, maintaining the forced curved state of the flat conveyed material (17), and conveying the said flat plate conveyed material (17). In the conveying apparatus of the flat-form conveyed object 17 which conveys in the state which hold | maintained the flat-form conveyed object 17 in the horizontal attitude | position, A mounting portion on which the flat conveyed object 17 is placed in a horizontal posture, A main body portion of a conveying apparatus having a mechanism for moving the placing portion; It is provided with a finger-shaped holding part arranged in the said mounting part by the plurality of at least 2 rows, and holding the said flat conveyance 17, When the holding portion has a height difference that differs in height from a lower surface or an upper surface of the flat conveying object 17, and at least in the holding state, the flat conveying object 17 is used by using the height difference of the holding portion. And a means for forcibly adding a curved shape to the plate-shaped conveyed object 17 to increase the rigidity of the periphery of the conveyed object and to suppress the warping caused by its own weight, and a means for adjusting the height difference. Conveying device of shape conveying object. 10. The pad 18 according to claim 9, wherein the holding portion is provided with a pad 18 that touches and supports a lower surface or an upper surface of the flat conveyance 17, and an adsorption surface at a position lower than a contact surface of the pad 18. The conveying apparatus of the flat conveyance object characterized by consisting of the adsorption | suction part 19 which has this. The conveyance apparatus of the flat conveyance goods of Claim 9 or 10 in which the said holding part is comprised so that at least one part can adjust the said height. 12. The conveying apparatus according to claim 11, wherein a pad (18) of the holding portion is attached to the mounting portion so that the height can be adjusted via the shim. 10. The device according to claim 9, wherein a pad (18) and an adsorption portion (19) are provided as holding portions of the placing portion, and the pads (18) and the adsorption portion (19) carry the flat plate conveyance (17) in the longitudinal direction thereof. The conveying apparatus of the flat-form conveyed object of Claim 1 which is arrange | positioned alternately so that it may be curved by the waveform which goes up and down along this. The pad 18 and the adsorption part 19 of the holding part of the holding | maintenance part of the said mounting part are bent in the V-shape by which the center of the width direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction became low. The conveying apparatus of the flat-form conveyed object arrange | positioned alternately in the width direction as possible. The width | variety of Claim 10 WHEREIN: The pad 18 and the adsorption part 19 of the holding part of the said holding | maintenance part make width | variety so that the said flat conveyance 17 may be curved in the shape of which the center of the width direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction became high. The conveying apparatus of the flat conveyance object 17 characterized by being alternately arranged in the direction. The conveying apparatus of the flat-form conveyed goods of Claim 9 or 10 in which the said mounting part became a fork which has at least 2 fingers. 17. The conveying apparatus according to claim 16, wherein each of the fingers constituting the forks is alternately arranged with a pad (18) and a suction unit (19) at predetermined intervals. The finger of the fork comprises a finger in which the pads 18 are arranged at regular intervals, and a finger in which the adsorption unit 19 is arranged at the same interval as the pad 18. 18) and the adsorption | suction part 19 are conveying apparatus of the flat-form conveyed object characterized by the arrangement | positioning alternately arrange | positioned in the width direction of a fork. 17. The conveying apparatus according to claim 16, wherein a width of the fork is shorter than a width of the flat conveying material (17). The conveying apparatus of the flat-form conveyed goods of Claim 9 which consists of a robot provided with the swivel arm which turns on the horizontal surface of the main-body part of the said conveying apparatus.

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