JPH0592804A - Substrate transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] The spacing between rollers can be adjusted easily,
Provided is a substrate transfer device that can smoothly rotate a roller. [Structure] A pair of air cylinders 3 mounted on a fixed plate 1 guides a bracket 10 on which the rotary driving means 12, 24, 25, 26 are mounted and guided by a guide rail 8 on the fixed plate 1 for a predetermined distance. By moving, the intervals between the plurality of pairs of transport rollers 24 are adjusted at the same time.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate transfer device for transferring a substrate such as a liquid crystal glass substrate, and more particularly to a substrate transfer device provided in an ultraviolet irradiation device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a conventional substrate transfer device provided in a transfer part such as an ultraviolet irradiation device has a structure as shown in FIG. That is, grooves 52 are formed in the axial direction on the outer circumferences of a pair of left and right shafts 51 that are rotationally driven by a drive source (not shown).
Are fitted and installed. A step portion 54 is formed on the opposite side of the outer periphery of the roller 53, and a screw 55 is screwed in the radial direction. Then, the roller 53 is moved along the shaft 51 to match the distance L between the step portions 54 with the width of the substrate 56, and then the screw 55
To engage the groove 52. In this way, the plurality of pairs of rollers 53 are positioned, and the substrate is placed between the stepped portions 54 of the rollers 53.
The substrate 56 is placed and the shaft 51 is rotationally driven by the drive source to convey the substrate 56.

On the other hand, in order to drive a plurality of pairs of rollers 53, as shown in FIG. 6, gears 57 are fixed to one ends of, for example, three shafts 51, and the gears 57 are engaged with each other between the gears 57. The idler gear 58 is provided to transmit the rotation of the drive side gear 57a to each shaft 51 via each gear 57,58. Here, conventionally, the distance between the axes has been set so that the pitch circles 59 of the gears 57 and 58 are substantially in contact with each other.

[0004]

However, according to the conventional substrate transfer apparatus shown in FIG.
Since the pair of shafts 51 are arranged in parallel, the interval between the rollers 53 must be adjusted for each shaft 51, which is very troublesome. Further, there is a drawback that the position of the roller 53 is not reproducible.

On the other hand, when gears 57 and 58 for rotating a plurality of pairs of shafts 51 are engaged with each other with their pitch circles in contact with each other, dust and the like generated by the sliding friction between the base plate 56 and the roller 53 are toothed. There was a risk that it would get caught in between and the rotation would not be smooth. Especially when the transfer speed is extremely slow like a board transfer device and a large number of light loads that rotate the shaft 51 are lined up in a row as the load, the rotation of each shaft 51 is not uniform and does not result in a uniform angular velocity motion. There are many.
This is also caused by loosening the concentricity between the pitch circles 59 of the gears 57 and 58 and the shaft hole through which the shaft 51 is inserted, or by allowing the shaft 51 to have some warpage or bending.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate transfer device capable of easily adjusting the distance between rollers.

Another object of the present invention is to smooth the rotation of a roller that conveys a substrate and equalize the angular velocities of the driving side and the driven side.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a substrate transfer apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention mounts a substrate on a plurality of pairs of rollers arranged to face each other, In a substrate transfer device that rotationally drives by a drive source via a gear train to transfer the substrate, a fluid cylinder attached to a fixed plate and a guide fixed on the fixed plate in parallel to the axial direction of the fluid cylinder. It is characterized in that it comprises a rail and a movable bracket on which a rotation driving means including the roller, the gear train and a driving source is mounted, and which is slidably guided by the guide rail and moved by the fluid cylinder.

A substrate transfer apparatus according to a second aspect is
The feature is that the meshing of the teeth of the gear train is between the pitch circle and the tip circle.

[0010]

In the substrate transfer apparatus having the structure of the first aspect, the position of the rotation drive means is determined by adjusting the drive stroke of the fluid cylinder. Therefore, the distance between a plurality of pairs of rollers can be simultaneously changed by the same amount, and the width of the substrate to be conveyed can be easily accommodated. Further, the position of the roller can be easily returned to the same position, and the reproducibility is good.

Further, in the substrate transfer apparatus having the structure of the second aspect of the present invention, since the gears are loosely meshed with each other, a force that causes the driven side to rotate faster than the driving side does not occur.
Therefore, the angular velocities of the driven and driven gears are equalized, the power is smoothly transmitted, and there is no sliding portion between the substrate and the roller, so that the generation of dust can be prevented.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the substrate transfer apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 3 show the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. 1 and 2, an air cylinder 3 which is a pair of left and right fluid cylinders is attached to the lower surface of the fixed plate 1 via mounting brackets 2, respectively. A pair of bushes 5 is fixed to the drive rod 4 of the air cylinder 3, and an L-shaped rod bracket 6 is sandwiched between the bushes 5. A stopper bolt 7 is screwed to the bracket 6 in parallel with the drive rod 4, and the tip of the bolt 7 contacts the mounting bracket 2 so that the position of the retracted end of the drive rod 4 can be adjusted. ..

On the other hand, on the upper surface of the fixed plate 1, two guide rails 8 are fixed in parallel to the drive rod 4 at positions above the pair of left and right air cylinders 3, respectively. Two guide members 9 each having an inverted U shape are slidably mounted on each guide rail 8. A bracket 10, which is an L-shaped movable bracket, is fixed on each of the left and right four guide members 9, and a rod bracket 6 is fixed to the lower ends of the two guide members 9, respectively. ..

A speed control motor 12, which is a drive source, is attached to a bracket 10 on the right side of the drawing via a motor mounting bracket 11. The rotation of the output shaft of the motor 12 is decelerated by the gear head 13 and transmitted to the drive shaft 15 via the coupling 14. The drive shaft 15 is connected to a ball spline shaft 17 on the left side in the drawing through a joint 16, and the drive shaft 15 is rotatably supported by a bracket 10 on the right side in a horizontal direction via a bearing 18.
Further, a bearing support 19 is integrally mounted on the ball spline shaft 17 so as to be rotatable and axially movable. The bearing support 19 is mounted on the left bracket via a bearing 20.
It is rotatably supported by 10.

A housing 21 is fixed to each of the pair of left and right brackets 10, and a plurality of shafts 23 are supported in the housing 21 via a plurality of bearings 22 so as to be rotatable in parallel in the horizontal direction. ing. A transport roller 24 is fixed to the opposite tip of the shaft 23. Gears 25 are fixed to one ends of the shafts 23 projecting outside the housing 21 as shown in FIG. Further, an idler gear 26 rotatably supported by the housing 21 is provided between the gears 25, and meshes with the gear 25 to transmit power. The drive shaft 15 and the drive side gear 25
Transmission of power to and from a is carried out by sprockets 27 and 28 and a chain 29 provided respectively. The transmission of power between the bearing support 19 and the drive side gear 25a is similarly performed by the sprockets 30 and 31 and the chain 32.

A hot plate 34 for preheating for ashing the liquid crystal resist formed on the substrate 33 being conveyed is provided below the pair of conveying rollers 24, and the hot plate 34 is fixed. An air cylinder 35 attached to the plate 1 drives it to move up and down.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the pitch circle 41 of the gear 25 is
And the cutting edge circle 42 are substantially in contact with the cutting edge circle 42 and the pitch circle 42 of the idler gear 26, respectively, and the tooth meshing is shallow. Therefore, the line connecting the centers of the gears 25 and 26 is offset by δ.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. By operating the pair of left and right air cylinders 3, the bracket 10 opens left and right via the rod bracket 6. The stroke at this time is set by the stopper bolt 7.
When the bracket 10 is opened left and right, the conveying roller 24 fixed to the tip of the shaft 23 is also opened left and right, and the conveying roller 24
It can be made to match the width of the substrate 33 placed on it.

On the other hand, the rotation of the speed control motor 12 causes the drive shaft 15 and the spline shaft 17 to rotate, and the sprockets 27 and 30 attached thereto rotate. This rotation is dependent on the chain 29, 32 and sprocket 28, 31 respectively.
Is transmitted to the drive-side shaft 23 via the gears, and is further transmitted to the plurality of shafts 23 arranged in parallel via the gears 25 and 26 shown in FIG. In this way, the transport roller 24 rotates and the substrate 33 is transported.

Further, since the gears 25 and 26 are loosely meshed with each other, a force for the driven gear to rotate faster than the driving gear is not generated. As a result, the rotation speed of each shaft 23 coincides with the speed determined by the rotation speed of the motor 12, and the transport roller 24 can be smoothly rotated. When the distance between the shafts 23 increases, the backlash between the gears 25 and 26 increases, but in the case of the transport device, only forward rotation does not occur, and the load is small, which adversely affects the durability of the gears. It has no effect.

According to the present embodiment, by properly setting the stroke of the cylinder 3, a plurality of pairs of conveying rollers 24 can be set.
It is possible to easily change the distance between the two to match the width of the substrate 33. Further, the position of the transport roller 24 can be easily reproduced. Further, by loosely engaging the gears 25 and 26 that interlock the plurality of pairs of transport rollers 24, the rotational speeds of the driving side and the driven side can be made equal to each other, and smooth rotation can be obtained. As a result, slippage does not occur between the substrate 35 and the transport roller 24, and the generation of dust can be eliminated, which is suitable for transporting the substrate in the clean room.

In the above embodiment, the case where the center lines of the gear 25 and the idler gear 26 are offset as shown in FIG. 3 has been described, but as shown in FIG. 4, the centers of the gear 25 and the idler gear 26 are centered. May be arranged on a straight line to increase the distance between the axes.

In the above embodiment, the case where the substrate 33 coated with the liquid crystal resist is transported and placed on the hot plate 34 has been described, but the same applies to the case where another substrate-shaped substrate is transported. The effect of is obtained. Further, the bracket 10 on one side may be fixed, and only one bracket 10 on the other side may be moved by one air cylinder 3.

[0025]

As described above, according to the substrate transfer device of the first aspect, since the fluid cylinders simultaneously move a plurality of pairs of transfer rollers by a predetermined length, the width of the substrate to be transferred is increased. The interval between the transport rollers can be easily changed according to the above, and the reproducibility of the position can be improved.

Further, according to the substrate transfer apparatus of the second aspect, since the meshing of the gears interlocking the plurality of pairs of transfer rollers is loosened, the rotation of the transfer rollers can be performed smoothly and at the same speed. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the generation of dust by eliminating the slippage between the substrate and the roller.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the configuration of an embodiment of a substrate transfer device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing an arrangement of gear trains in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing an arrangement of gear trains according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a main part of an example of a conventional substrate transfer device.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing an example of a conventional arrangement of gear trains.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Fixed Plate 3 Air Cylinder (Fluid Cylinder) 8 Guide Rail 10 Bracket (Movable Bracket) 12 Motor (Drive Source) 24 Conveyor Rollers 25, 26 Gear 33 Board

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A substrate transfer device for mounting a substrate on a plurality of pairs of rollers arranged facing each other, and rotating the rollers by a drive source through a gear train to transfer the substrate. A fluid cylinder mounted on a plate, a guide rail fixed on the fixed plate in parallel to the axial direction of the fluid cylinder, and a rotation driving means including the roller, a gear train, and a drive source are mounted. And a movable bracket which is slidably guided by the movable cylinder and moved by the fluid cylinder. 2. The substrate transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the teeth of the gear train are meshed between the pitch circle and the tip circle.