JP2006066723A - Carrier system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a carrier system in which a space between intra-bay routes is utilized to easily perform the check of a troublesome part and confirmation after maintenance. <P>SOLUTION: A loop-like test route 8 is provided inside an intra-bay route 6 and an ceiling traveling car 30 circulates and travels along the test route. The test route 8 comprises a maintenance station 14 to maintain the ceiling traveling car 30, a function of moving with a station is adjusted at a reference station 16, and a standby line 20 is provided to wait excessive ceiling traveling cars. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to maintenance of a transport vehicle such as an overhead traveling vehicle or a tracked carriage.

  In many cases, a large number of transport vehicles such as overhead traveling vehicles and tracked carts are introduced into the transport system. As a matter of course, maintenance of these transport vehicles is necessary, but there is no space for the transport vehicles to run a test for a sufficient time before and after maintenance. For this reason, since the maintenance is suddenly performed without a test run, there is a possibility of misidentifying the position where the failure occurs. In addition, the transport vehicle may be put into the production line with insufficient confirmation after maintenance, and the transport vehicle may be put into the production line (actual use travel line) with insufficient maintenance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to make sure that a transport vehicle can be sufficiently tested and can be maintained with little additional space.
An additional problem in the invention of claim 2 is to facilitate the movement of the transport vehicle between the test travel line and the travel line for actual use.
An additional problem in the invention of claim 3 resides in that the test travel line is also used as a buffer for an excessive transport vehicle.

  The present invention resides in a transport vehicle system in which a loop-shaped test travel line is provided inside a travel line of a transport vehicle for actual use. The transport vehicle is, for example, an overhead traveling vehicle or a tracked carriage.

  Preferably, a lead-in line connecting the test travel line and the actual use travel line is provided. However, the connection point of the lead-in line does not need to be in the surrounding actual use travel line in a physically literal sense. For example, consider a case where a semi-loop intra bay route travel line is provided by branching from an inter bay route travel line, and this intra bay route is used as a travel line for actual use. In such a case, the test travel line may be connected to the interbay route travel line through the semi-loop opening.

  Particularly preferably, the test traveling line is also used as a evacuation line for the conveyance vehicle, and an excessive conveyance vehicle is evacuated to the evacuation line. The evacuation of the transport vehicle may be controlled by a transport vehicle controller or the like.

  In the present invention, a loop-shaped test travel line is provided inside the travel line of the actually used transport vehicle. Since the test drive line is inside the drive line for actual use, little additional space is required. And since a loop-shaped test travel line is provided, the transport vehicle can be run for a sufficient amount of time before and after maintenance, etc., so it is possible to reliably check for problems that do not become clear unless the test is run for a long time, Moreover, if a defect remains after maintenance, it can be reliably detected.

  In the invention of claim 2, since the test travel line is connected to the actual use travel line by the pull-in line, the transport vehicle can be easily moved during the maintenance.

  In the invention of claim 3, since the test travel line is also used as the evacuation line of the transport vehicle, it is possible not only to test the transport vehicle on the test travel line but also to retract the excessive transport vehicle.

  In the following, an optimum embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be shown.

  1 and 2 show an embodiment. FIG. 1 shows an outline of a transport vehicle system 2 according to the embodiment. For example, the transport vehicle is provided as a transport system for a liquid crystal substrate or a semiconductor substrate in a clean room. An rail car may be used. 4 is an interbay route as a trunk line, and 6 is an intrabay route for each process. A test route 8 is provided inside the loop-shaped intrabay route 6 so as to be able to run freely in a loop shape, that is, around. Reference numeral 10 is a branching section, and 12 is a merging section. A standby line 20 is provided inside the test route 8, and the overhead traveling vehicle 30 is moved up and down between the maintenance station 14, the reference station 16, and the ground. The lifter 18 is provided. Further, the test route 8 is connected to the intrabay route 6 through the lead-in lines 22 and 24. Further, the test route 8 includes loop-like circulation lines 26 and 28, and the overhead traveling vehicle 30 travels around for testing.

  When the intrabay route 6 has a semi-loop shape and has an opening, the test route 8 can be directly connected to the interbay route 4 through a lead-in line. In this case as well, the majority of the test route 8 is surrounded by the intrabay route 6. Further, the test route 8 includes a total of three lines including the standby line 20 and the circulation lines 26 and 28 on both sides thereof. However, when the space inside the intrabay route 6 is small, the standby line 20 is not provided and the circulation lines 26 and 28 are provided. You may provide only. In this case, the maintenance station 14, the reference station 16, and the lifter 18 are provided, for example, in any one of the circulation lines 26 and 28, but these installations may be omitted.

  2 shows the arrangement of the maintenance station 14 and the reference station 16, the traveling route of the overhead traveling vehicle 30 is laid along the ceiling of a clean room or the like. The overhead traveling vehicle 30 includes, for example, a lifting platform 32, and a transfer article such as a cassette 34 such as a semiconductor substrate or a liquid crystal substrate is moved up and down by the lifting platform 32 to be transferred to and from the station. Since the overhead traveling vehicle 30 travels at a high place, the maintenance station 14 is provided with a scaffold or the like so that the overhead traveling vehicle 30 can be inspected or simply repaired. For further repair, for example, the overhead traveling vehicle is lowered to the ground by the lifter 18 and is performed at another maintenance station (not shown).

  The reference station 16 is a station that serves as a reference for many stations in the transport vehicle system. That is, the overhead traveling vehicle 30 is adjusted so that it stops at the correct position with respect to the reference station 16 and the cassette 34 and the like can be transferred to the correct position. In other stations of the transport vehicle system, stop control data from the reference station 16 and change data of transfer control data are described in front of the station in a bar code or the like, or the overhead traveling vehicle 30 is not shown. It is written on the map. Therefore, the overhead traveling vehicle 30 is adjusted by the reference station 16 so that the article can be transferred by stopping at the correct position with respect to the reference station 16, and the stop control data from the reference station and the change in the transfer control data are added. Then, stop control and transfer control for each station are performed. Reference numeral 35 denotes a mark such as a dog indicating a stop position with respect to the reference station 16. The overhead traveling vehicle 30 stops with respect to the reference station 16 using the mark 35 or the like, and tries to transfer the cassette 34. The overhead traveling vehicle 30 is adjusted so that the cassette 34 can be correctly transferred by stopping at the correct position.

  An overhead traveling vehicle that has been inspected at the maintenance station 14 or the like, and that has been judged to need to be fully maintained by being lowered to the ground, is lowered to the ground by the lifter 18 and subjected to maintenance. 18 is returned to the standby line 20. The portion of the standby line 20 that is behind the lifter 18 is used as a standby position of the transport vehicle that has become excessive in the transport vehicle system, which transport vehicle is waiting, and which transport vehicle is interbay route 4 or intrabay route 6. It is controlled by the transport vehicle controller 40 whether or not it is put into the vehicle. If the maintenance station 14 can perform high-level maintenance, the lifter 18 is not necessary.

  Reference numeral 36 denotes a processing device such as a semiconductor or a liquid crystal substrate. The transport vehicle system 2 is placed in a clean room. For this reason, it is important to reduce the space occupied by the test route 8, and in particular, to reduce the area occupied by the ground space. is important. In the embodiment, since the test route 8 is provided inside the intrabay route 6 along the vicinity of the ceiling of the clean room, the portion that occupies the ground is about the ground portion of the maintenance station 14, the reference station 16, and the lifter 18. . Therefore, the test route 8 can be provided inside the existing intrabay route 6, for example, with little additional space required.

  A station 38 is provided in the processing device 36 and the like, and stop control data and transfer control data for each station 38 are described on the upstream side of the station by a bar code or the like. The stop control and transfer control data for the station 16 are corrected, and the stop and transfer to the station 38 are performed.

As described above, in the embodiment, the test route 8 can be provided by using the vicinity of the ceiling portion of the empty space inside the intra bay route 6. This requires little additional space. Since the test route 8 is connected to the intrabay route 6 by the lead-in lines 22 and 24, the overhead traveling vehicle 30 can be easily taken in and out of the test route 8. In the test route 8, maintenance is performed at the maintenance station 14, and the reference station 16 can correct data serving as a reference for stopping and transferring to each station of the transport vehicle system 2. Also, the lifter 18 can lift and lower an overhead traveling vehicle that needs to be lowered to the ground for maintenance. Furthermore, when there is room to provide three test travel lines inside the intra-bay route 6, a standby line 20 can be provided to allow an excess overhead traveling vehicle to stand by. Since the overhead traveling vehicle can lap around the circuit lines 26 and 28 and run for a sufficient time, it is possible to detect the failure reliably and to check whether the failure has been completely eliminated by the maintenance. it can. For this reason, even problems that are difficult to detect because the problem becomes obvious or hidden can be reliably detected and maintained.

The top view which shows the layout of the conveyance vehicle system of an Example Side view showing a reference station in the embodiment

Explanation of symbols

2 Transportation vehicle system 4 Interbay route 6 Intrabay route 8 Test route 10 Branching portion 12 Junction portion 14 Maintenance station 16 Reference station 18 Lifter 20 Standby line 22, 24 Pull-in line 26, 28 Rounding line 30 Overhead vehicle 32 Lift platform 34 Cassette 35 Mark 36 Processing unit 38 Station
40 Carrier controller

Claims (3)

A transport vehicle system with a loop-shaped test travel line inside the travel line of a transport vehicle for actual use. 2. The transport vehicle system according to claim 1, further comprising a lead-in line that connects the test travel line and a travel line for actual use. 3. The transport vehicle system according to claim 2, wherein the test travel line is also used as a retreat line for the transport vehicle.

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