Substrate storing container

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9387960-B2
Application number	US-201214131120-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 3, 2012
Priority date	Jul 6, 2011
Publication date	Jul 12, 2016
Grant date	Jul 12, 2016

Abstract

A substrate storing container includes: a container body for storing semiconductor wafers; a door that is fitted to the front of the container body; and a locking mechanism locking the door. The locking mechanism includes: a rotary driver that is supported by the door and operated from a cover plate side; and a locking bar that vertically slides as the rotary driver rotates to bring the distal end into, and out of, a locking hollow of the container body. The rotary driver is separated into first and second rotary drivers. The first and second rotary drivers are formed with first and second cam portions, respectively. The first and second cam portions are made to support the proximal end of the locking bar therebetween so that the locking bar can sway in the thickness direction of the door.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A substrate storing container comprising:
a container body for storing substrates;
a door that is fitted to an opening of the container body; and
a locking mechanism for locking the door fitted to the opening of the container body, wherein
the locking mechanism includes a rotary driver that is operated from an outside of the door and a locking bar that slides as the rotary driver rotates to bring a distal end into and out of a locking hollow in an inner periphery of the opening of the container body,
the rotary driver has a three-dimensional cam to support the locking bar in a swayable manner,
the three-dimensional cam has first and second three-dimensional cam portions which are opposite to each other and made apart with an approximately constant gap regarding a thickness direction of the door therebetween,
the locking bar is held by the gap,
when the door is locked, the rotary driver is rotated in a locking direction to cause the first and second three-dimensional cam portions to follow the locking bar so as to project the distal end of the locking bar out of the door into the locking hollow of the container body in a substantially non-contacting manner and then move the locking bar in the thickness direction of the door, thereby bringing the distal end into contact with a wall surface forming the locking hollow,
the first three-dimensional cam portion has a first inclined cam surface gradually going toward the thickness direction of the door as the first inclined cam surface goes toward the locking direction, and
the second three-dimensional cam portion has a second inclined cam surface gradually going toward the thickness direction of the door as the second inclined cam surface goes toward the locking direction.

2. The substrate storing container according to claim 1 , wherein
the door includes: a door main part fitted to the opening of the container body; and a cover plate that covers an opening side of the door main part, and a rotation limiting member for the rotary driver of the locking mechanism is provided either on the door main body or the cover plate, and a retraction hole for the locking bar that opposes the locking hollow of the container body is formed on a peripheral wall of the door main part.

3. The substrate storing container according to claim 2 , wherein
the door is built in with a guiding projection for the locking bar of the locking mechanism while a support point is formed in the locking bar at a position opposing a guiding projection, and the distal end of the locking bar is tilted in the thickness direction of the door, using the contact point between the guiding projection and support point as a fulcrum.

4. The substrate storing container according to claim 2 , wherein
the door main body of the door is formed with a supporting member for supporting the rotary driver, and a positioning projection is formed on the peripheral surface of the supporting member.

5. The substrate storing container according to claim 4 , wherein
the rotary driver is built in the door main body of the door and has an operation hole formed in a center opposing to the cover plate so as to oppose a key slot of the cover plate,
the rotary driver has an engaging portion for the locking bar, the engaging portion being provided along the three-dimensional cam,
a proximal end of the locking bar is held between the first and second three-dimensional cam portions in a swayable manner, and
a fitting portion which is slidably fitted to the engaging portion is provided at the proximal end of the locking bar.

6. The substrate storing container according to claim 5 , wherein
the first three-dimensional cam portion includes: a first flat cam surface that is adjacent to the engaging portion; the first inclined cam surface that is formed along the peripheral side of the engaging portion and becomes gradually higher from one end to other end of the engaging portion; and a first engaging cam surface formed in a vicinity of other end of the periphery of the engaging portion and integrated with the first inclined cam surface,
the first cam three-dimensional portion is formed in such a manner that a lowest portion of the first inclined cam surface is positioned in a vicinity of a point of flexion of the engaging portion while a highest point is positioned in a vicinity of the other end of the engaging portion, and the first engaging cam surface is formed to have approximately the same height as height of a highest portion of the first inclined cam surface, and
the second three-dimensional cam portion includes: a second flat cam surface; the second inclined cam surface that is connected to the end of the second flat cam surface and gradually changes in height as it goes in the circumferential direction of the rotary driver; and a second engaging cam surface that is formed on the other end side of the outside flange and formed contiguous to the end of the second inclined cam surface, and wherein the second three-dimensional cam portion gradually goes toward a direction of a center of the rotary driver as it goes from the second inclined cam surface to the second engaging cam surface.

Assignees

• Nagashima Tsuyoshi
• Inoue Shuichi
• Oyama Takaharu
• Matsutori Chiaki
• Ohnuki Kazumasa
• Shida Hiroyuki
• Yamagishi Hiroki
• Miraial Co Ltd
• Shinetsu Polymer Co

Inventors

• Nagashima Tsuyoshi
• Inoue Shuichi
• Oyama Takaharu
• Matsutori Chiaki
• Ohnuki Kazumasa
• Shida Hiroyuki
• Yamagishi Hiroki

Classifications

• H10P72/1914 Primary

  characterised by locking systems · CPC title

• H10P72/10 Primary

  using carriers specially adapted therefor, e.g. front opening unified pods [FOUP] · CPC title

• B65D43/02 Primary

  Removable lids or covers (with means for piercing, cutting, or tearing a frangible inner closure B65D51/22) · CPC title

• H01L21/67373

  Electricity · mapped topic

• B65D85/00

  Containers, packaging elements or packages, specially adapted for particular articles or materials (bundles of articles held together by packaging elements for convenience of storage or transport B65D71/00) · CPC title