JPH0555350A - Device for cleanly holding article in overhead article conveyer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To protect an article to be transferred from dust even at the time when a traveling car passes through a part, which is low in cleanness and abounds with the dust, in the case of transfer of the article such as a wafer, which should be strictly free from dust. CONSTITUTION:An overhead article conveyer device has a guide rail 3 provided in an upper place, a traveling car 4 traveling along this guide rail 3, an elevating frame 5 provided on this car 4 in such a way as to be able to elevate freely and an article suspending basket 12 in an article suspending space 11 under the lower part of this frame 5. Moreover, the device has a restriction wall body 20, which is provided in such a way as to encircle the space 11 on the frame 5 and whose lower surface is open, and an air jet device 25, which is provided over the frame 5 and jets a clean air on the space 11 from over the space 11.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for keeping articles clean in an overhead type article conveying apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The following overhead type article conveying apparatus is known as a conventional overhead type article conveying apparatus. That is, a guide rail provided above, a traveling vehicle traveling along the guide rail, an elevating frame provided on the traveling vehicle so as to be vertically movable, and an article in an article hanging space below the elevating frame. A device having a holding / hanging article holding device is known.

[0003]

The object of the present invention is that, in the above-mentioned apparatus, when an article which does not like dust, such as a wafer, is conveyed, the traveling vehicle may have to pass through a portion with much dust and low cleanness. In such a case, the object is to make it possible to protect the conveyed article from dust.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention employs the following means. According to the present invention, a clean wall is provided on an elevating frame so as to surround an article suspending space, and an enclosing wall body having an open lower surface, and clean air is jetted from above into an article suspending space provided on an upper part of the elevating frame. And an air ejection device.

[0005]

The present invention has the following functions. Create a flow of clean air from top to bottom in the article hanging space surrounded by the enclosure wall that opens on the bottom,
As you can keep the article hanging space clean,
Even when the traveling vehicle has to pass through a portion that is low in cleanness and has a lot of dust, the conveyed article can be protected from dust.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below based on the embodiments shown in the drawings. In this specification, the front means the right side of FIG. 1, the rear means the left side of FIG. 1, and the left means the back side of FIG.
The right side means the same side. A guide rail 3 is provided on a ceiling 1 via a suspending tool 2, and a traveling vehicle 4 is movably suspended along the guide rail 3, and an elevating frame 5 is vertically movable on the traveling vehicle 4 by an elevator 6. This elevator 6 is provided
Has a suspension belt 7, a winding drum 8 thereof, and the like.

An article hanging basket 12 is provided on the elevating frame 5 so as to form an article hanging space 11 therebelow. This article hanging basket 12 is composed of a plurality of cage structures 13 that are substantially U-shaped when viewed from the side surface and are arranged at predetermined intervals in the left-right direction.

An article carrying-in station 16 is provided so as to be located directly below the guide rail 3. At the article carrying-in station 16, the leading end portion of the drive roller conveyor 17 whose carrying direction is the left-right direction is located. And the article loading station 1
When the traveling vehicle 4 is stopped above 6, the car structure 13 is positioned above the rollers 18 of the drive roller conveyor 17, and when the elevating frame 5 is lowered, the horizontal portion 13a of the car structure 13 is moved. The lower part including is designed to be able to sink between the rollers 18.

The elevating frame 5 has an enclosure wall 20 whose lower surface is open.
Are provided so as to surround the article suspension space 11. The surrounding wall body 20 may be transparent or not. Further, the lower end edge of the enclosure wall body 20 is larger than the upper edge of the horizontal portion 13 a of the car structure 13 so that the horizontal portion 13 a of the car structure 13 can sink between the rollers 18 as the elevating frame 5 descends. It is designed to be on top. An article inlet / outlet opening 21 opening rightward is formed in the enclosure wall body 20, and the article inlet / outlet opening 21 is openable / closable by a closing plate 22 which can be raised and lowered. The closing plate 22 is moved up and down by a fluid pressure cylinder 23 or the like.

At the upper part of the elevating frame 5, an article suspension space 11 is provided.
An air jetting device 25 for jetting air from above is provided. The air jetted from the air jetting device 25 passes through a filter 26 such as a HEPA filter and a rectifying plate 27 made of a perforated plate such as a punching metal, and heads to the article hanging space 11 from a jet port 28 formed in the elevating frame 5. Eject from top to bottom. With such a configuration, a flow of clean air from the top to the bottom can be created in the article suspension space 11 surrounded by the enclosure wall body 20 whose lower surface is open, and the article suspension space 11 can be kept clean.

[0011]

Next, the operation of the apparatus of the embodiment will be described. When the traveling vehicle 4 in which the article hanging basket 12 is empty positions the car structure 13 above the rollers 18 and stops at the article carrying-in station 16, the elevating frame 5 that has been rising up to now is lowered. Then, the horizontal portion 13a of the cage structure 13
Is made to sink between rollers 18 and stopped. After that,
The closing plate 22 which has been lowered so far is raised and the article loading / unloading opening 21 is opened. After that, the drive roller conveyor 17
Carrier 30 that stores a large number of wafers by driving
Are conveyed to the tip of the drive roller conveyor 17 (above the horizontal portion 13a of the car structure 13). After that, the drive roller conveyor 17 is stopped. Then, when the closing plate 22 descends, the elevating frame 5 ascends to the uppermost position and stops. After that, the traveling vehicle 4 starts traveling and stops when it reaches the article unloading station (not shown), and the carrier 30 can be unloaded onto the drive roller conveyor of the article unloading station by the operation reverse to the above. The air jetting device 25 is always in operation and keeps the inside of the article hanging space 11 clean.

It goes without saying that an article holding hand known as an article holding device may be used instead of the article hanging basket 12.

[0013]

The present invention has the following effects due to the above-mentioned configuration. Since the clean air flow from top to bottom can be created in the article suspension space surrounded by the enclosure wall whose bottom surface is open, the traveling space can be kept clean. It is possible to protect a conveyed article from dust even when it has to pass through a portion having a large amount of dust.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Guide Rail 4 Travel Vehicle 5 Lifting Frame 11 Article Hanging Space 12 Article Hanging Basket 20 Enclosure Wall 25 Air Jet Device 30 Carrier

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A guide rail provided above, a traveling vehicle traveling along the guide rail, an elevating frame provided on the traveling vehicle so as to be vertically movable, and an article hanging space below the elevating frame. In an overhead type article transporting device having an article holding device for holding and suspending an article, in the elevating frame, an enclosure wall body having an open lower surface provided so as to surround the article suspension space, and An apparatus for cleanly holding an article in an overhead type article conveying apparatus having an air ejecting device for ejecting clean air from above into an article hanging space provided on an upper part of a lifting frame. 2. The article in the overhead type article transporting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an article loading / unloading port is formed in the enclosure wall body whose lower surface is open, and the loading / unloading port is openable / closable by a closing plate. Device to do.