JP2011016564A - Buffer cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a buffer cassette which can be randomly accessed by a robot and can be stored in a large size for temporarily storing and storing a large glass substrate and a glass substrate being processed.
Each of the multi-stage storage portions inside the rear wall member and the both side wall members is held on one side by the both side wall members and protrudes opposite to each other in the inner direction, and the front end portions are arranged apart from each other. A support frame on the side wall side having support pins provided at predetermined intervals on the plurality of upper parts, and an upper part of the plurality of parts that are held on one side by the rear wall member and projecting to the separation part of the support frame on the side wall side A rear wall-side support frame having support pins provided at a predetermined interval, and a metal between a front end portion of each of the support frames and the holding portions of the side wall member and the rear wall member. A wire is stretched, and the tip of the substrate support frame has a structure for supporting the glass substrate while receiving a tension against the downward deflection due to the substrate mass.
[Selection] Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate buffer cassette for temporarily storing and storing a large glass substrate and a glass substrate in the process, such as a color filter used to form a display panel such as a liquid crystal display device.

  When producing a display panel such as a color liquid crystal display device and a color plasma display, each process of the production line is automated, and in each process of the production line, a glass substrate and a glass substrate in the middle of the process are installed in the process. Efficient supply from the buffer cassette to each process of the production line or efficient storage of the processed glass substrate in a substrate buffer cassette installed in the process is performed. By using a buffer cassette installed in this process, the glass substrate and the glass substrate in the middle of the process can be smoothly moved between the processes without human intervention.

  Currently, there are three types of in-process substrate buffer cassettes that are generally used: a crossbar (shelf type) type, a back support (cantilever) type, and a wire cassette type. The important points required in common with these buffer cassettes are that the glass substrate can be stored efficiently, the glass substrate can be stored in a free position of the buffer cassette, and the glass substrate can be taken out of the buffer cassette at a free position. Random accessibility.

  In recent years, a glass substrate having a thickness of 0.7 mm or less has been used for various display panels. In particular, with the widespread use of large-sized liquid crystal televisions, recently used glass substrates are the sixth generation (G6: 1500 mm × 1800 mm), the eighth generation (G8: 2160 mm × 2400 mm), or the tenth generation (G10: 2850 mm × 3050 mm), the size is increasing year by year. As the substrate size in such a color filter increases, the shape of the buffer cassette is also shifting from the back support type to the crossbar type. This is because the cantilever type with one fulcrum cannot increase the rigidity of the support member that supports the substrate due to the increase in the weight of the substrate, so the shelf type with two fulcrums is adopted. Further, in the case of the cantilever type, when the strength of the support member cannot be increased, it is necessary to increase the step pitch in consideration of the bending of the frame, and there is a problem that the storage efficiency is deteriorated.

  However, when the robot arm accesses the buffer cassette, the accessible area of the robot arm is the total of the thickness of the support member and the length of the support pin in the case of the back support type. In this case, it is necessary to access the robot only within the length of the substrate support pin depending on its shape. As a result, the storage efficiency is reduced by the thickness of the support member, and the use of a crossbar type buffer cassette increases the buffer cassette size when storing the same number of glasses as compared to the back support type buffer cassette. become. As an example, in the case of the above-described G6 size glass substrate, the step pitch of each cassette of the crossbar type is 1.44 times that of the cantilever type, so the buffer cassette size is also 1.44 times.

In addition, among the types of buffer cassettes, there is a wire cassette type in which wires are arranged in parallel without using substrate support pins, and a glass substrate is stored on the wires. As a feature of the wire cassette type buffer cassette, the step pitch can be narrowed and the storage efficiency is high. However, access to the substrate is not a robot but a conveyor. When the glass substrate is stored in the buffer cassette by conveyor conveyance, for example, one cassette is raised to store the glass substrate, and the next cassette is raised to store the glass substrate repeatedly. Conversely, when the glass substrate is discharged, the reverse operation of the storage is performed, and the glass substrate stored in the first sheet is discharged last, so-called first in last out. First-in-last-out is unfavorable in terms of quality for buffer cassettes existing on the manufacturing process line, and first-in first-out is possible, or a buffer cassette that can be accessed randomly by the robot and has high storage efficiency is required. ing.

  Since a large and thin glass substrate is easily bent, if a plurality of glass substrates are accommodated in the buffer cassette, each glass substrate may be bent and the adjacent glass substrates may be damaged to be damaged. For this reason, for example, in Patent Document 1, by providing a receiving plate on the receiving frame of the substrate cassette so that the glass substrates in the buffer cassette do not come into contact with each other, the amount of bending of the substrate can be kept to a minimum. A possible substrate cassette is disclosed. However, when applied to a large glass substrate of G6 size or larger, it is necessary to increase the rigidity by increasing the thickness of the receiving frame provided with the receiving plate, resulting in a problem that the storage efficiency does not increase.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a glass substrate access unit that allows a robot to access a glass substrate storage tray as a buffer device that can efficiently and randomly store glass substrates, and a tray for storing glass substrates. A buffer device comprising a glass substrate storage unit is disclosed. However, this buffer device requires a separate space and area for the glass substrate access unit. In addition to the access robot, the tray containing the glass substrate is moved between the glass substrate access unit and the glass substrate storage unit, A mechanism for controlling the position in the substrate storage unit was required.

JP-A-10-203584 JP 2008-204996 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and can be randomly accessed by a robot for temporarily storing and storing a large glass substrate and a glass substrate in the process, and storage efficiency. It is an object to provide a buffer cassette having a high height.

  The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is a buffer in which glass substrates are temporarily stored and stored one by one in a storage section of an arbitrary stage of a multistage storage section inside the rear wall member and both side wall members. Each of the multi-stage storage parts is a cassette, and one side is held by both side wall members and protrudes in the opposite direction to the inner side, and a plurality of storage parts are arranged at a predetermined interval on a plurality of upper parts arranged with the tip parts spaced apart. A support frame on the side wall side having a support pin provided at the support, and a support provided at a predetermined interval on a plurality of upper portions which are held on one side by the rear wall member and project to the separated portion of the support frame on the side wall side In a buffer cassette having a support wall on the rear wall side having pins, a metal wire is stretched between the front end portion of each of the support frames and the holding portions of the side wall member and the rear wall member. The substrate Tip of the lifting frame is a buffer cassette characterized by having a structure carrying said glass substrate while under tension against the deflection of the lower by the substrate mass.

In the invention according to claim 2 of the present invention, the substrate support frame is formed in a concavely curved shape in advance, and the metal wire is shaped like a bow chord, the tip of the substrate support frame, the side wall member, and the The buffer cassette according to claim 1, wherein the buffer cassette is stretched between the rear wall member.

  The buffer cassette of the present invention reduces the load applied to the front end portion of the substrate support frame by extending a metal wire between the front end portion of the substrate support frame and the side wall member and the rear wall member. By suppressing the bending, it becomes possible to reduce the step pitch of the storage portion as much as possible, and more glass substrates can be stored in the buffer cassette.

  In addition, by using a substrate support frame that has been preliminarily curved into a concave shape, the effect of suppressing bending by connecting the wires is increased, and the rigidity of the substrate support frame itself does not have to be increased more than necessary. This leads to cost reduction.

Schematic which shows an example of the conventional crossbar type buffer cassette. Schematic which shows an example of the back support type buffer cassette based on this invention. Explanatory drawing which shows the bending suppression effect of the board | substrate support frame of the buffer cassette of this invention.

  Hereinafter, the buffer cassette of the present invention will be described based on one embodiment. Note that portions having the same functions in the conventional buffer cassette and the buffer cassette of the present invention will be described using the same reference numerals.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of a conventional crossbar (shelf type) buffer cassette, in which (a) is a schematic cross-sectional view and (b) is a schematic top view. As shown in FIG. 1, a divided substrate support frame 2 having support pins 3 provided at predetermined intervals on the upper part thereof is clamped to side wall members 4 and 5 on both sides by L-shaped metal fittings not shown. The structure is such that the substrate support frame 2 is held on both sides. The glass substrate 1 is stored in the crossbar type buffer cassette by inserting the glass substrate 1 placed on the arm of a robot (not shown) between the upper and lower substrate support frames together with the arm and the glass substrate. Is carried out by pulling out the arm. When the glass substrate is taken out from the crossbar type buffer cassette, the robot arm accessible area 8 between the glass substrate and the substrate support frame, that is, the substrate support is provided so that the robot arm does not contact the glass substrate. It is carried out by inserting the pin within the height interval of the pins, lifting the arm, placing a glass substrate on the arm, and pulling out the arm.

  In contrast, the buffer cassette of the present invention adopts a back support (cantilever) type. 2A and 2B show an example of the buffer cassette of the present invention. FIG. 2A is a schematic sectional view, and FIG. 2B is a schematic top view. As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of both side wall members 4 and 5 are clamped and held on one side by an L-shaped metal fitting (not shown), projecting inwardly oppositely, and tip portions being arranged apart from each other A side wall-side substrate support frame 2 having support pins 3 provided at predetermined intervals on the upper part of the book and a rear wall member 6 are clamped and held on one side by an L-shaped metal fitting or the like (not shown). And a substrate support frame 20 on the rear wall side having support pins 3 provided at predetermined intervals on a plurality of upper portions projecting from the separated portion of the substrate support frame 2, and the substrate support frames 2 and 20 cantilevered. It has a retained structure.

And the front-end | tip part of each support frame 2, the side wall members 4 and 5, and the support frame 20
The metal wire 7 is stretched between the front end portion of the rear wall member 6 and the respective holding portions of the rear wall member 6, and the front end portion of the substrate support frame receives a tension against the downward deflection due to the substrate mass. The glass substrate 1 is supported.

  Further, in the buffer cassette of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), the substrate support frames 2 and 20 are formed in a concavely curved shape in advance, and the metal wire 7 is supported in the shape of a bow string. It is stretched between the front end of the frame and the side wall member and the rear wall member. As shown in FIGS. 3B and 3C, the substrate generated in the conventional cantilever type due to the tension by the metal wire and the effect of suppressing the bending of the substrate support frame molded in a concave shape in advance. The bending of the support frame is suppressed, and the height pitch 9 of each storage portion can be reduced.

  The glass substrate is stored in the buffer cassette of the present invention by inserting the glass substrate placed on the robot arm between the upper and lower substrate support frames and the left and right support members together with the arm and the glass substrate. This is done by pulling out the arm when it is placed on the pin. When the glass substrate is taken out from the buffer cassette of the present invention, the arm is inserted into the robot arm accessible area 8 between the upper and lower glass substrates and the left and right support members so that the robot arm does not contact the glass substrate. Then, the arm is lifted, a glass substrate is placed on the arm, and the arm is pulled out.

  As described above, when the robot arm accesses the buffer cassette, the accessible area 8 of the robot arm is the back support (cantilever) type buffer cassette according to the present invention. In contrast to the total length, the conventional crossbar (shelf-type) type requires access to the robot within the range of the length of the board support pins. Inefficiency. When the buffer cassette according to the present invention is used, it is possible to store a large number of glasses by making maximum use of the back support type storage efficiency without increasing the thickness of the substrate support frame. Further, the accessible area of the robot arm can be increased without increasing the size of the buffer cassette, and it becomes easy to insert and remove the glass substrate at any storage stage by random access of the robot.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Glass substrate 2, 20 ... Substrate support frame 3 ... Substrate support pin 4, 5 ... Side wall member 6 ... Rear wall member 7 ... Metal wire
8 ... Robot arm accessible area 9 ... Step pitch

Claims (2)

  A buffer cassette for temporarily storing, storing, and taking out glass substrates one by one in a multi-stage storage section inside the rear wall member and both side wall members, wherein the multi-stage storage section Each side wall member has one side held by both side wall members and projecting in opposition to each other in the inner direction, and a plurality of top portions spaced apart from each other are provided on the side wall side having support pins provided at predetermined intervals. A support frame, and a support frame on the rear wall side having support pins provided at predetermined intervals on a plurality of upper portions that are held on one side by the rear wall member and project to the separation portion of the support frame on the side wall side. In the buffer cassette, the metal wire is stretched between the front end portion of each of the support frames and the holding portions of the side wall member and the rear wall member, and the front end portion of the substrate support frame is a substrate. mass Buffer cassette characterized by having a structure carrying said glass substrate while under tension against the deflection of the lower by.   The substrate support frame is formed in a concavely curved shape in advance, and the metal wire is stretched between the front end portion of the substrate support frame and the side wall member and the rear wall member in a bow string shape. The buffer cassette according to claim 1.