Industrial robot

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016136818-A1
Application number	US-201414896788-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 6, 2014
Priority date	Aug 9, 2013
Publication date	May 19, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An industrial robot may include a robot main body; and an elevating mechanism to raise and lower the robot main body. The robot main body may include a hand, an arm to which the hand is joined, a main body portion to which the arm is joined, and an arm-elevating mechanism. The center of rotation on the base end side of the arm may be located farther toward the third direction side than the center of the main body unit when viewed in the up-down direction. In the standby state, part of the arm may be positioned farther toward the fourth direction side than the main body unit. The main body unit may be secured to the elevating mechanism. The elevating mechanism may be arranged on one or both sides of the main body unit in the first direction and/or on the fourth direction side.

First claim

1 . An industrial robot which transfers semiconductor wafers between multiple Front Open Unifier Pods (FOUPs) arranged in a fixed direction and a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus and which configures part of an EFEM, comprising:
a robot main body; and an elevating mechanism arranged outside said robot main body and structured to raise and lower said robot main body; wherein said robot main body comprises a hand on which said semiconductor wafers are to be mounted, an arm comprising by multiple arm portions rotatably joined with one another and to which said hand is rotatably joined to the front end thereof, a main body portion to which the base end of said arm is rotatably joined, and an arm-elevating mechanism structured to raise and lower said arm; wherein the first direction is the direction of arrangement of said multiple FOUPs, the second direction is the direction which orthogonally intersects with the up-down direction and said first direction, the third direction is one side of said second direction and the fourth direction is the other side of said second direction, the center of rotation on the base end side of said arm relative to said main body unit is located farther toward said third direction side than the center of said main body unit when viewed in the up-down direction, in the standby state of said industrial robot where said arm is retracted and said arm portion and said hands are overlapped with each other in the up-down direction, part of said arm is positioned farther toward said fourth direction side than said main body unit, said main body unit is secured to said elevating mechanism, and said elevating mechanism is arranged on one or both sides of said main body unit in said first direction and/or on said fourth direction side of said main body unit.

2 . The industrial robot as set forth in claim 1 wherein said arm comprises a first arm portion, of which the base end is rotatably joined to said main boy unit, and
said elevating mechanism fits within the rotation area of said first arm portion with respect to said main body unit.

3 . The industrial robot as set forth in claim 1 wherein said main body unit is formed such that the shape thereof when viewed in the up-down direction is a rectangular or square shape having side faces parallel to said first direction.

4 . The industrial robot as set forth in claim 3 wherein the side face of said main body unit in said fourth direction side is attached to said elevating mechanism.

5 . An industrial robot which transfers semiconductor wafers between multiple Front Open Unifier Pods (FOUPs) arranged in a fixed direction and a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus and configures part of an EFEM, comprising:
a robot main body; and an elevating mechanism arranged outside said robot main body and structured to raise and lower said robot main body; wherein said robot main body comprises a hand on which said semiconductor wafers are to be mounted, an arm comprising which is configured by multiple arm portions rotatably joined with one another and to which said hand is rotatably joined to the front end thereof, a main body portion to which the base end of said arm is rotatably joined, and an arm-elevating mechanism structured to raise and lower said arm; said elevating mechanism comprises a drive unit for driving said robot main body in the up-down direction, guide rails for guiding said robot main body in the up-down direction, a guide block which engages with said guide rails and slides in the up-down direction, a housing in which said drive unit, said guide rail and said guide block are housed, and a joining member for connecting said robot main body arranged outside said housing and said guide block; said housing comprises a flat sheet-like cover which is positioned between said guide block and said main body unit; a slit-like through-hole elongated in the up-down direction is formed in said cover to enable said joining member to move in the up-down direction; a through-hole passing portion which is positioned in said through-hole is formed in said joining member; and the width of said through-hole passing portion in the width direction of said through-hole orthogonal to the thickness direction of said cover and the up-down direction and the width of said through-hole are narrower than the width of said guide block in the width direction of said through-hole.

6 . The industrial robot as set forth in claim 5 , wherein said main body unit is formed such that the shape thereof is a rectangular or square shape when viewed in the up-down direction;
said elevating mechanism comprises a fixed member which is arranged outside said housing and to which one of the side faces of said main body unit is secured; and said fixed member is secured to the leading edge of said through-hole passing portion.

7 . The industrial robot as set forth in claim 5 wherein said elevating mechanism comprises exhaust fans attached to said housing for discharging the air inside said housing to the outside said EFEM.

8 . The industrial robot as set forth in claim 1 , wherein said elevating mechanism comprises two of said guide rails arranged apart at a predetermined distance, two of said joining members which are engaged with said two guide rails respectively and are secured to said guide block, and a connection member arranged inside said housing for connecting said two joining members; and
said drive unit is connected to one of said two joining members.

Assignees

• Nidec Sankyo Corp

Inventors

• Kitahara Yasuyuki
• Kazama Toshimichi
• Kuribayashi Tamotsu
• Saichi Masayoshi

Classifications

• H10P72/7602

  the wafers being placed on a robot blade or gripped by a gripper for conveyance · CPC title

• H10P72/3412

  Batch transfer of wafers · CPC title

• H10P72/3411

  involving loading and unloading of wafers · CPC title

• H10P72/3402

  Mechanical parts of transfer devices · CPC title

• B25J18/04

  rotatable · CPC title