Article storage facility and article storage method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9230845-B2
Application number	US-201213723440-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2012
Priority date	Dec 26, 2011
Publication date	Jan 5, 2016
Grant date	Jan 5, 2016

Abstract

An article storage facility comprises a plurality of storage units for storing transporting containers for substrates and inactive gas feed passages for supplying inactive gas to each of the plurality of said storage units. The plurality of storage units are divided into a plurality of sections. The inactive gas feed passages include section feeding portions which supply the inactive gas to the sections, and storage unit feeding portions which divert and supply the inactive gas, that is supplied to a respective section by an associated one of the section feeding portions, to the plurality of storage units in the respective section. The article storage facility includes a bypass portion which allows communication between two or more storage unit feeding portions, and a bypass switching valve that can be switched between an open state in which the inactive gas can be communicated through the bypass portion and a closed state in which the inactive gas cannot be communicated through the bypass portion.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An article storage facility comprising:
a controller;
a plurality of storage units configured to store transporting containers for housing substrates;
a transport device configured to transport the transporting containers to the plurality of storage units;
inactive gas feed passages configured to supply inactive gas to each of the plurality of said storage units;
a discharge portion configured to discharge the inactive gas supplied to an associated one of the storage units by an associated one of the inactive gas feed passages into the interior of an associated one of the transporting containers stored in the associated one of the storage units;
wherein the plurality of storage units are divided into a plurality of sections,
wherein the inactive gas feed passages include section feeding portions which divert and supply the inactive gas to each of the plurality of sections, and storage unit feeding portions which divert and supply the inactive gas, that is supplied to a respective section by an associated one of the section feeding portions, to each of the plurality of storage units in the respective section,
wherein the article storage facility further includes a bypass portion configured to allow communication between two or more of the storage unit feeding portions belonging to the different sections among the plurality of storage unit feeding portions;
a bypass switching valve located along the bypass portion that can be switched between an open state in which the inactive gas can be communicated through the bypass portion and a closed state in which the inactive gas cannot be communicated through the bypass portion;
wherein between each storage unit feeding portion diverting from the section feeding portion and the section feeding portion, at least one of a section valve switchable between an allowed state and a disallowed state and a pressure adjusting valve for adjusting a flow rate of the inactive gas communicated to the storage unit feeding portion is provided, the allowed state being a state in which the inactive gas can be communicated between the section feeding portion and said each storage unit feeding portion, the disallowed state being a state in which the inactive gas cannot be communicated between the section feeding portion and said each storage unit feeding portion; and
the bypass portion is configured to allow communication between the different storage unit feeding portions without passing through the section valve and the pressure adjusting valve wherein the controller is configured to manage the storage units as disallowed storage units which are not allowed to house transporting containers, or as allowed storage units which are allowed to house transporting containers, based in part on a state of the bypass switching valve.

2. The article storage facility as defined in claim 1 , wherein the storage unit feeding portions are divided into groups of two storage unit feeding portions, wherein the bypass portion is configured to allow communication between the two storage unit feeding portions in a same group.

3. The article storage facility as defined in claim 1 , wherein
a storage shelf including the storage units arranged in a vertical direction and in a lateral direction is provided, and
wherein the bypass portion is configured to allow communication between the storage unit feeding portions of the sections that are adjacent each other in the vertical direction or in the lateral direction.

4. The article storage facility as defined in claim 1 further comprising:
a section supply state detecting device configured to detect a supply state of the inactive gas to an associated one of the plurality of sections;
a switched state detecting device configured to detect a switched state of the bypass switching valve;
wherein the controller is configured to perform a supply state determination which is a determination as to whether the inactive gas is properly supplied based on detected information from the section supply state detecting device;
wherein the section for which the controller determines in the supply state determination that the inactive gas is not properly supplied is designated as a subject section, and
wherein, if the bypass switching valve provided in the bypass portion communicated to the storage unit feeding portion of the subject section is in the closed state, the controller is configured to manage the storage units belonging to the subject section as disallowed storage units which are not allowed to house the transporting containers, based on detected information from the switched state detecting device.

5. The article storage facility as defined in claim 4 , wherein
the controller is configured to perform a retreating transport operation in which a transporting container, that is stored in one of the storage units that is changed to the disallowed storage unit due to a change in a supply state of the inactive gas, is transported to another one of the storage units that is not managed as the disallowed storage unit, based on detected information from the section supply state detecting device.

6. An article storage method using an article storage facility including:
a plurality of storage units configured to store transporting containers for housing substrates;
a transport device configured to transport the transporting containers to the plurality of storage units;
inactive gas feed passages configured to supply inactive gas to each of the plurality of said storage units; and
a discharge portion configured to discharge the inactive gas supplied to an associated one of the storage units by an associated one of the inactive gas feed passages into the interior of an associated one of the transporting containers stored in the associated one of the storage units;
wherein the plurality of storage units are divided into a plurality of sections,
wherein the inactive gas feed passages include section feeding portions which divert and supply the inactive gas to each of the plurality of sections, and storage unit feeding portions which divert and supply the inactive gas, that is supplied to a respective section by an associated one of the section feeding portions, to each of the plurality of storage units in the respective section,
wherein the article storage facility further includes a bypass portion configured to allow communication between two or more of the storage unit feeding portions belonging to the different sections among the plurality of storage unit feeding portions;
a bypass switching valve located along the bypass portion that can be switched between an open state in which the inactive gas can be communicated through the bypass portion and a closed state in which the inactive gas cannot be communicated through the bypass portion;
a section supply state detecting device configured to detect a supply state of the inactive gas to an associated one of the plurality of sections;
a switched state detecting device configured to detect a switched state of the bypass switching valve; and
a controller configured to perform a supply state determination which is a determination as to whether the inactive gas is properly supplied based on detected information from the section supply state detecting device;
wherein between each storage unit feeding portion diverting from the section feeding portion and the section feeding portion, at least one of a section valve switchable between an allowed state and a disallowed state and a pressure adjusting valve for adjusting a flow rate of the inactive gas communicated to the storage unit feeding portion is provided, the allowed state being a state in which the inactive gas can be communicated between the section feeding portion and said each storage unit feeding portion, the disallo

Assignees

• Daifuku Kk

Inventors

• Otsuka Hiroshi
• Takahara Masahiro
• Ueda Toshihito

Classifications

• H10P72/1926 Primary

  characterised by the presence of atmosphere modifying elements inside or attached to the closed carrier · CPC title

• H10P72/3404 Primary

  Storage means · CPC title

• A47F10/00

  Furniture or installations specially adapted to particular types of service systems, not otherwise provided for (conveyor aspects B65G; building aspects E04H; coin-freed apparatus G07F) · CPC title

• B65G1/0414

  provided with satellite cars adapted to travel in storage racks · CPC title

• Y10S414/137

  including means for charging or discharging wafer cassette · CPC title