JPH09162257A - Thin-type substrate transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a thin-type substrate housed in a cassette to be markedly lessened in transfer time by a method wherein the position of the substrate and a distance between the substrate and a robot are detected through the robot so as to enable the substrate to be positioned and centered. SOLUTION: A robot 3 is arranged in a laterally movable manner confronting a cassette 2 where a glass substrate is housed. The robot 3 is equipped with a robot hand 5 composed of a first arm 5A, a second arm 5B, and a hand arm 5C, wherein a first distance sensor 13 is mounted on the hand arm 5C nearly parallel to the front edge of the glass substrate, and a position detecting sensor 14 is provided as supported by a support arm mounted on the fixed part of the robot 3. The positional deviation in a longitudinal direction and angular deviation of the glass substrate are detected by the first distance sensor 13, and the positional deviation of the glass substrate in a lateral direction is detected by a position detection sensor 14 to enable the robot 3 to the correct the glass substrate on deviation through the intermediary of a control device 20.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thin substrate carrying device for centering and accommodating a thin thin substrate such as a glass substrate used for a liquid crystal panel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when processing a glass substrate housed in a cassette in the next step, the glass substrate must be accurately placed in a predetermined position in the cassette. This is because when the glass substrate is conveyed by a robot or the like, if it is displaced from a predetermined position, a setting failure will occur during the processing in the next step. Therefore, conventionally, the glass substrates housed in the cassette are taken out one by one, conveyed to a glass substrate centering device arranged at a position different from the cassette, and centered on the spot. Were stored in the cassette that had been stored, or in the cassette for the next process one by one.

[0003]

However, in the conventional centering method, since a centering device for glass substrates is separately arranged and transferred one by one to the centering device, a large transfer time is required for the transfer operation. In addition, a large space for installing the centering device was required.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and a robot detects the position of a thin substrate stored in a cassette and further corrects the position to enable centering of the thin substrate. The centering device of was abolished to save space in the room.
An object of the present invention is to provide a transport device for a thin substrate, which can significantly reduce the transport time of the thin substrate.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a thin substrate carrying device according to the present invention is a thin substrate carrying device for carrying out centering of a thin substrate housed in a cassette and then carrying it to a cassette for the next step. In a cassette provided in the transfer device, a robot having a robot hand for adsorbing and transferring the thin substrate, and at least two locations on the robot hand substantially parallel to the front surface of the thin substrate. A first distance sensor for detecting a distance to the front surface of the thin substrate, a position detection sensor arranged in the robot for detecting a side edge position of the thin substrate, and the first distance sensor. And a control device for inputting the signal from the position detection sensor and outputting the signal to the robot, wherein the control device includes the first distance sensor. The movement correction amount and the angle correction amount of the robot hand with respect to a predetermined position of the thin substrate are calculated based on the difference between the detected distances, and further, the side edge of the thin substrate detected by the position detection sensor is detected. A movement correction amount of the robot is calculated according to a position, and the calculated movement correction amount is output to the robot as a signal.

Further preferably, the position detection sensor is
Any support can be used as long as it is supported by a support attached to the fixed portion of the robot.

Further, the position detecting sensor may be supported by a support member rotatably attached to the robot hand.

Further, the thin substrate carrying device is a thin substrate carrying device for carrying out centering of a thin substrate housed in a cassette and then carrying it to the cassette of the next step, and a cassette arranged in the carrying device. A robot provided with two pairs of robot hands that suck and convey the thin substrate, and two pairs of robot hands, which are arranged at least at two locations substantially parallel to the front surface of the thin substrate, respectively. A first distance sensor that detects a distance from the front surface of the thin board, and position detection sensors that are supported by supports that are rotatably attached to the robot hands and that detect edge positions of the side surfaces of the thin board. And a control device that inputs a signal from the first distance sensor and a signal from a position detection sensor and outputs a signal to the robot. The apparatus calculates a movement correction amount and an angle correction amount of the robot hand with respect to a predetermined position of the thin substrate according to the difference between the distances detected by the first distance sensor, and further detects the position correction sensor. According to the position of the side edge of the thin substrate, the movement correction amount of the robot is calculated, and the calculated movement correction amount is output to the robot.

Further, the thin substrate carrying device is a thin substrate carrying device for carrying out centering of a thin substrate housed in a cassette and then carrying it to the cassette of the next step, and a cassette provided in the carrying device. A robot including a robot hand that sucks and conveys the thin substrate,
A first distance sensor that is arranged in the robot hand at least at two locations substantially parallel to the front surface of the thin substrate, and each of the first distance sensors detects a distance from the front surface of the thin substrate; The robot includes: a position detection sensor that detects a side edge position of a thin substrate; and a controller that inputs a signal from the first distance sensor and a signal from the position detection sensor and outputs the signal to the robot. A drive device is provided in the robot hand so that the hand has a plurality of hand parts, and the hand part at the tip can rotate independently, and the control device is detected by the first distance sensor. The movement correction amount of the robot hand with respect to a predetermined position of the thin substrate and the angle correction amount of the hand portion at the tip are calculated based on the difference between the distances, and the position detection sensor The movement correction amount of the robot is calculated based on the position of the side edge of the thin substrate detected in step S3, and a signal is output to the robot.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Conveying device M for a thin substrate according to an embodiment
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a cassette 2 mounted on the machine base 1 for accommodating and holding a rectangular plate-shaped glass substrate W as a thin substrate and a glass substrate W are moved up and down to be next to the cassette 2. A robot 3 that conveys to a next process cassette 22 arranged substantially in parallel, and a controller 20 that controls the operation of the robot 3.
It is comprised including.

The cassette 2 is a storage cassette placed on the machine base 1 of the apparatus M and capable of storing the glass substrates W. The glass substrates W are formed in the cassette 2 so as to face each other in the left-right direction. It is placed on the support piece of the step.

The robot 3 has a horizontal moving part 4 formed in a casing at a lower part, a robot hand 5 having an arm body of three stages for moving a glass substrate W up and down, and a horizontal moving part 4 at an upper part. Robot hand 5 is connected, and robot hand 5
It is configured to include a connecting portion 6 that rotatably supports.

The horizontal moving unit 4 includes a drive unit 40 for driving each operation of the robot hand unit 5, and a machine base 1 of the transfer device.
Above, sliders 8 which are substantially parallel to each other and are displaced in the front-rear direction and are guided by guide rails 7 fixed in the left-right direction,
Drive motor 1 fixed on the machine base 1 via a bracket
0 and a threaded rod 11 driven by the drive motor 10.
And is provided.

The slider 8 has a guide rail 7 at the bottom.
A protrusion 8a is formed on the rear surface of the slider 8 into which the screw rod 11 is screwed. And screw rod 1
1 is connected to a drive motor 10.

Therefore, when the drive motor 10 is operated, the slider 8 is guided by the guide rails 7 and moves in the left-right direction.

The drive unit 40 employs a drive mechanism generally used in the past to linearly move a thin plate such as a thin substrate including the robot hand 5 and the connecting unit 6. The lower portion of the connecting portion 6 is arranged in a housing 41 that is rotatably supported. The connecting portion 6 is provided below the connecting portion 6.
A movable plate 42 that moves up and down is disposed, and a ball screw 43 screwed to the movable plate 42 is connected to the drive motor 4 via a pulley.
4. Further, a drive motor 46 for rotating the connecting portion 6 is attached to the movable plate 42 on a pulley 45 attached to the lower end of the connecting portion 6 below the movable plate 42.

The robot hand section 5 has a hollow first arm 5A connected to the connecting section 6 via a bearing, a hollow second arm 5B and a second arm 5B connected at the tip of the first arm 5A. And a hand arm 5C for adsorbing the glass substrate W.

The connecting portion 6 is an upper end portion 6 immediately below the first arm.
a has a large diameter, and the position detection sensor 14 described later is formed on the upper surface.
The support arm 15 for supporting the
A large-diameter hole 6b is formed in the lower part and a small-diameter hole 6c is formed in the upper part of the inside of the container along the axial direction. And the hand arm 5
Drive motor 61 for linearly moving the tip of C
A drive shaft 62 which is connected to the drive motor 61 and which penetrates the small diameter hole 6c of the connecting portion 6 and is fixed at the upper end of the first arm 5A is disposed in the connecting portion 6.

A connecting portion 6 is provided in the hollow portion of the first arm 5A.
The first pulley 51 is fixed to the upper end of the
Is connected via a belt 53 to a second pulley 52 fixed to a shaft 54 arranged at the tip of the first arm.
The shaft 54 is connected to the second arm 5B via a bearing, and the third pulley 55 is fixed to the shaft 54 in the second arm 5B. Then, the rotation of the first arm 5A is transmitted to the second arm 5B. Third
The pulley 55 is connected at the tip of the second arm 5B to a fourth pulley 57 that is rotatably supported by a shaft 56 via a belt 58, and the hand arm 5C is fixed at the upper end of the fourth pulley 57. .

Four suction holes for sucking the glass substrate W are formed in the hand arm 5C and are connected to a suction air circuit (not shown).

Since the ratio of the pulley diameters of the first pulley and the second pulley is 2: 1 and the ratio of the pulley diameters of the third pulley and the fourth pulley is 1: 2, the hand arm 5C. The tip of the can move linearly.

Further, the first distance sensors 13 are attached to the upper surface of the hand arm 5C at two locations substantially parallel (left and right direction) to the surface (front surface) of the glass substrate on the robot 3 side. The first distance sensor 13 measures the distance from the front end face of the glass substrate W using light from a laser or the like, and outputs an electric signal corresponding to the distance to the control device 20.

Then, the control device 20 calculates the difference between the distances measured by the respective first distance sensors 13, calculates the positional deviation amount of the glass substrate W with respect to a predetermined position in the front-rear direction, and calculates the correction amount and the plane. An angle deviation amount with respect to a predetermined position in the visual sense is calculated, a correction amount thereof is calculated and output to the robot.

A support arm 15 for supporting the position detection sensor 14 is attached to the upper end 6a of the connecting portion 6, as shown in FIG. The position detection sensor 14 is provided on the support arm 15 such that the position detection sensor 14 is arranged on the side opposite to the direction in which the robot hand 5 bends (on the left side of the connecting portion 6 in FIG. 1).
Is preferably attached to the upper surface portion 6a of the connecting portion 6. Then, the position detection sensor 14 is provided on the glass substrate W side (in FIG. 4) so that the robot hand 5 can detect the position of the left edge of the glass substrate W when the robot hand 5 is sucked onto the glass substrate W and then moved to the origin position of the robot. It is formed in an "inverted U" shape so as to open to the right side).

The position detecting sensor 14 may be a transmissive optical sensor or a reflective optical sensor, or an optical switch or an optical licensor. Then, the position measured by the position detection sensor is confirmed by the control device 20, the lateral displacement of the glass substrate W with respect to a predetermined position is calculated, the movement correction amount of the robot 3 is calculated, and output to the robot. To do.

Next, the operation of the thin substrate transfer device M configured as described above will be described.

When the cassette 2 containing the glass substrate W is placed in the apparatus M, the robot hand portion 5 of the robot 3 placed at a predetermined position starts the ascending / descending movement by the drive motor 44 together with the connecting portion 6. Then, the first distance sensor 13 measures the distance to the front surface of the glass substrate W housed in the cassette 2 and outputs the data to the control device 20.

Assuming that the two first distance sensors are 13A and 13B, and the distance between the first distance sensors 13A and 13B and the glass substrate W as stored is, for example, X ₁ and X ₂ , the left and right sides of the glass substrate W are The deviation X is represented by X = | X ₁ −X ₂ |. When the distance between the first distance sensors 13A and 13B is Y, the inclination angle θ of the displacement of the side surface of the thin substrate with respect to the predetermined position is represented by tan θ = X / Y.

Then, the correction amount calculated by the controller 20 is instructed to the robot 3. The distance between the robot 3 and the glass substrate W is corrected by the amount of expansion and contraction of the robot hand 5, and the inclination angle θ is corrected by the rotation of the entire robot hand 5 (rotation of the connecting portion 6).

The robot hand 5 with the corrected angle moves to the position shown in FIG. 5B after the distance from the glass substrate W is corrected from the position shown in FIG. 5A as the origin position. And
At that position, it rises slightly and adsorbs the glass substrate. The robot hand 5 that has adsorbed the glass substrate W returns to the original position {Fig. 5 (a)} by returning again based on the angle corrected by the entire rotation of the robot hand 5.

When the robot hand 5 returns to the origin position, the left edge of the glass substrate W is inserted into the opening of the position detecting sensor 14. Then, the position detection sensor 14 detects the positional deviation of the glass substrate in the left-right direction.

When the displacement in the left-right direction is detected, the signal is input to the control device 20 and the robot 3 is instructed about the movement correction amount. Then, the robot 3 corrects the positional deviation, moves to the right on the rail 7, and stops at the position where the glass substrate W is stored in the next process cassette 22 (FIG. 5C).

When the robot hand 5 extends to a predetermined position and the glass substrate W is stored in the next process cassette 22, the glass substrate W is placed in a centered state.

As described above, all the glass substrates W stored in the cassette 2 in a plurality of stages are sequentially adsorbed from the top by the robot hand 5 and their positions are corrected, and then transported to the next process cassette 22 and stored therein.

The next process cassette 22 is the robot 3
It is also possible to install it on the opposite side of the cassette 2 by sandwiching it.
In that case, the robot hand 5 that has adsorbed the glass substrate W returns to the position of FIG. 5A, and after the position detection sensor detects the position of the left edge of the glass substrate W, the robot 3 moves 180 times.
The glass substrate W is housed in the next process cassette 22 after being rotated to correct the position in the left-right direction.

The position where the next process cassette 22 is arranged is not particularly limited, and the movement amount may be corrected according to the position where it is arranged.

Further, as another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, the robot arm is composed of two robot arm bodies 31, 3;
It can be a twin type of 2. The horizontal moving unit 4 is provided with connecting portions 33 and 34 for connecting to the respective robot arm bodies,
The drive devices for driving the robot arm bodies 31 and 32 may be separately arranged. In addition, each drive device is shown in FIG.
Applying the configuration shown in, each robot arm body 31, 3
For 2 as well, the configuration shown in FIG. 4 may be applied. in this case,
The robot arm body 31 is higher than the robot arm body 32 by one step of the glass substrate W stored in the cassette 2.

In the robot arm body 31, two first distance sensors 13 are mounted on the upper surface of the hand arm 31C substantially in parallel with the front surface of the glass substrate W, and the rear portion 35 of the first distance sensor 13 ( A support arm 36 to which the position detection sensor 14 is attached is rotatably disposed in the downward direction of FIG. 6. The support arm 36 is formed in an “L” shape, and is formed in a “U” shape so that the position detection sensor 14 is opened at the tip portion toward the glass substrate side. The support arm 36 is moved by a drive motor (not shown) to
As described above, the robot hand 31C is rotated clockwise around the rear mounting portion 35, and the rotation end is the glass substrate W.
When is moved to the origin position, the left edge of the glass substrate becomes a position to be inserted into the opening of the position detection sensor 14. Then, by rotating counterclockwise, the first arm 31A of the robot hand body 31 or the second arm 3
It is designed to prevent interference with 2B.

Similar to the robot arm body 31, the robot hand body 32 also has two first distance sensors 13 mounted on the upper surface of the hand arm 32C, and the position detection is performed on the rear mounting portion 37 of the first distance sensor 13. A support arm 38 to which the sensor 14 is attached is rotatably arranged. The support arm 38 is formed in an "inverted L" shape, and is formed in an "inverted U" shape so that the position detection sensor 14 is opened at the tip end toward the glass substrate W side. Support arm 36
Is rotated counterclockwise around the rear part of the robot hand 32C by a drive motor (not shown) as shown in FIG. 7, and the end of the rotation is when the glass substrate W is moved to the origin position. The right edge of W is the position detection sensor 14
It becomes the position to be inserted into the opening. By rotating in the clockwise direction, interference with the first arm 32A or the second arm 32B of the robot hand body 32 is prevented.

In the case of this twin robot hand type transfer device, the operation of each robot hand body is the same as that shown in FIG. Then, while each robot hand body corrects the positional deviation and angular deviation of each glass substrate W with respect to the robot in the front-rear direction, at the same time or independently, the glass substrate W is taken and stored in the next process cassette. The glass substrates W may be stored in the respective next process cassettes while correcting the positional deviations in the left and right directions. Therefore, in this twin robot type transfer device, the working time is considerably shortened.

In this twin robot type transfer device, two sets of cassettes 2 may be arranged in advance corresponding to the robot hand bodies 31 and 32. In that case, two sets of the next process cassettes 22 may be arranged.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the hand arm 25C of the robot hand 25 may be configured so as to be independently rotatable with respect to the second arm 25B. In this case, the second arm side 25 of the hand arm 25C
The second arm 2 is attached to the shaft portion 26 disposed below B.
It suffices that the drive motor 27 disposed in 5C is connected and the hand arm 25C is rotated by the drive motor 27. Therefore, a belt (corresponding to the belt 58 shown in FIG. 4) arranged in the second arm which is normally used is not necessary.

The operation of the robot hand 25C in this case is rotated about the angular displacement of the glass substrate W after the robot hand 25C is moved to the position shown in FIG. Move. Then, after adsorbing the glass substrate W, the glass substrate W is rotated so as to return to the original position again. The subsequent operation is the same as that described above.

[0044]

As described above, according to the present invention, the two first distance sensors measure the distance between the thin substrate supported by the cassette and the front end face of the thin substrate and output it to the control device. Then, the robot is instructed to correct the positional deviation and the angular deviation of the thin substrate. The robot returns to the origin position after correcting the distance from the front end surface of the thin board and the angular deviation, and detects the position of the side surface of the thin board by the position detection sensor. Based on the data, the robot corrects the positional deviation in the left-right direction and moves to a predetermined position. Then, it is conveyed to the next process cassette. Since the positioning (centering) of the thin substrate has been completed when the thin substrate is transported to the next process cassette, the conventional positioning process can be omitted, and the transport time of the thin substrate can be greatly shortened. In addition, the centering device, which is separately arranged in the past, can be omitted, and the sensors for the displacement of the thin substrate are all arranged in the robot, so that the space in the room can be saved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a thin substrate transfer device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view as seen from an arrow A in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the robot hand in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a mounting view of the position detection sensor in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an operation of the thin substrate transfer device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a thin substrate transfer device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a partial detailed view of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a robot hand according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Machine stand 2 ... Cassette 3 ... Robot 5 ... Robot hand part 13 ... 1st distance sensor 14 ... Position detection sensor 20 ... Control device 22 ... Next process cassette W ... Glass substrate (thin substrate) M ... Device

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A transport device for a thin substrate, which transports a thin substrate housed in a cassette to a cassette in the next step after centering the thin substrate. A robot provided with a robot hand for transporting; a first distance sensor arranged on the robot hand at least at two locations substantially parallel to the front surface of the thin substrate, and each for detecting a distance from the front surface of the thin substrate; A position detection sensor that is disposed in the robot and detects a side edge position of the side surface of the thin substrate; a signal from the first distance sensor and a signal from the position detection sensor are input and a signal is output to the robot. And a control device, wherein the control device controls the thin substrate to move to a predetermined position based on a difference in distance detected by the first distance sensor. The movement correction amount and the angle correction amount of the robot hand are calculated, and the movement correction amount of the robot is calculated according to the position of the side edge of the thin substrate detected by the position detection sensor. A transporting device for a thin substrate, which outputs a signal indicating a movement correction amount to the robot. 2. The apparatus for transporting a thin substrate according to claim 1, wherein the position detection sensor is supported by a support body attached to a fixed portion of the robot. 3. The apparatus for transporting a thin substrate according to claim 1, wherein the position detection sensor is supported by a support body rotatably attached to the robot hand. 4. A thin substrate carrying device for carrying a center of a thin substrate housed in a cassette and then carrying it to the cassette in the next step, wherein the cassette provided in the carrying device and the thin substrate are attracted to each other. A robot having two pairs of robot hands for carrying, and two pairs of robot hands, which are respectively arranged at least at two locations substantially parallel to the front surface of the thin substrate, and are respectively arranged at a distance from the front surface of the thin substrate. A first distance sensor for detecting, a position detecting sensor supported by a support body rotatably attached to each of the robot hands, for detecting a side edge position of the thin substrate, and the first distance sensor From the position detection sensor and outputs a signal to the robot, the control device comprising: The movement correction amount and the angle correction amount of the robot hand with respect to a predetermined position of the thin substrate are calculated based on the difference between the distances detected by the sensor, and the side edge of the thin substrate detected by the position detection sensor is further calculated. A transfer device for a thin substrate, wherein a movement correction amount of the robot is calculated according to a position of an edge, and the calculated movement correction amount is output to the robot as a signal. 5. A thin substrate carrying device for carrying a center of a thin substrate housed in a cassette and then carrying it to the cassette in the next step, wherein the cassette provided in the carrying device is sucked onto the thin substrate. A robot provided with a robot hand for transporting; a first distance sensor arranged on the robot hand at least at two locations substantially parallel to the front surface of the thin substrate, and each for detecting a distance from the front surface of the thin substrate; A position detection sensor that is disposed in the robot and detects a side edge position of the side surface of the thin substrate; a signal from the first distance sensor and a signal from the position detection sensor are input and a signal is output to the robot. And a control device, wherein the robot hand has a plurality of hand parts, and the hand part at the tip is independently rotatable in the robot hand. A drive device is provided, and the control device controls the movement correction amount of the robot hand with respect to a predetermined position of the thin substrate and the hand unit of the tip end according to the difference between the distances detected by the first distance sensor. The angle correction amount is calculated, and further, the movement correction amount of the robot is calculated according to the position of the side edge of the thin substrate detected by the position detection sensor, and the calculated movement correction amount is signaled to the robot. Is a thin substrate transfer device.