Kabushiki Kaisha Kobe Seiko Sho

Sinfonia Technology Co., Ltd.

Kobe Steel, Ltd.

Shinko Electric Company, Ltd.

Takumi Mizokawa

Kashiro Ureshino

Katsumi Ichikawa

Mitsutoshi Ochiai

Taichi Katsuki

Hitoshi Kawano

Itaru Amano

Mitsuo Natsume

Masaki Naoi

Yuzo Takakado

Takaharu Goto

Akiyoshi Gotoh

Makoto Omori

Ko Takakura

Katsumi Yasuda

Yasuyoshi Kitazawa

Kozo Tanaka

Toshio Kamigaki

Kenjiro Motonaga

Yasuo Morita

Setsuo Tamura

Koichi Nomura

Shin Kawahisa

Yukio Sawada

Kou Takakura

Noritoshi Sakai

Koji Ota

Takeshi Iyoki

Tadashi Tomita

Fumitaka Suzuki

Katsumi Kawashima

Takaaki Hiwatashi

Takayuki Sugahara

A carrier transfer facilitating device does not require, for example, renewal (replacement) of an existing load port. Specifically, a carrier transfer facilitating device is provided for a load port on which a FOUP is placed. The carrier transfer facilitating device includes a temporary table on which the FOUP is temporarily placed, a carrier transferring carriage that travels above a carrier table of the load port and the temporary table in the horizontal direction and that lifts and transfers the FOUP between the carrier table and the temporary table, a supporting member that supports the temporary table and the carrier transferring carriage, and a controller that controls the movement of the carrier transferring carriage so as to avoid contact of the carrier transferring carriage with the FOUP while the FOUP is transferred between the hoop supporting table or the temporary table and an OHT.

Carrier transfer facilitating device

The wafer transport apparatus prevents contaminant deposited on an unprocessed wafer from adhering to a processed wafer. Carrying-in load portA is loaded with a FOUPstoring an unprocessed wafer W. Carrying-in chamberA has a transport robotA which takes out the unprocessed wafer Wfrom the FOUP. Carrying-in load lockA is accessed by the transport robotA from the carrying-in chamberA side. Carrying-out load portB is loaded with the FOUPthat can store a processed wafer W. Carrying-out chamberB has a transport robotB which passes the processed wafer Wto the FOUP. Carrying-out load lockB is accessed by the transport robotB from the carrying-out chamberB side. The carrying-in chamberA and carrying-out chamberB are separated from each other. The carrying-in load lockA and carrying-out load lockB are arranged on different stages.

Wafer transport apparatus

A wafer detecting apparatus detects storage states of a plurality of wafers stored in a wafer container. The plurality of wafers are stored substantially horizontal in slots in the wafer container to be transferred in and out of a front opening of the wafer container. The wafer detecting apparatus includes a vertically extending illumination device that emits light through the front opening onto the plurality of wafers and an imaging device that receives the light reflected from the plurality of wafers. The imaging device is arranged substantially directly in front of the wafer container and the illumination device is arranged in at least one of left and right sides of the imaging device.

Wafer detecting apparatus

A load port is disclosed which allows a wafer to be transferred between the inside of a FOUP and the inside of a semiconductor fabrication apparatus even during a purge operation. The load port is provided adjacent the semiconductor fabrication apparatus in a clean room and includes a purge stage having a purge port through which a gas atmosphere in the FOUP is replaced into nitrogen gas or dry air, an opener stage provided in a juxtaposed relationship with the purge stage and having an opening communicating with the inside of the semiconductor fabrication apparatus and a door section capable of opening and closing the opening, and a moving mechanism for moving the FOUP between the purge stage and the opener stage.

Load port

Disclosed herein is an apparatus including: a table configured to receive a container that stores an object therein, the container including a bottom surface provided with a positioning groove and including a charging inlet through which a gas is charged into the container; a positioning pin projecting from the table and adapted to engage with the positioning groove of the container; a nozzle configured to charge the gas into the container through the charging inlet; and a drive unit configured to move the nozzle into contact with the charging inlet of the container after the positioning pin is engaged with the positioning groove.

Gas charging apparatus, gas discharging apparatus, gas charging method, and gas discharging method

An OHT conveyer vehicle places a FOUP on first and second on platforms. A third platform can move to a position overlapping with the first and second platform by a moving device, and then to a position at which an upper surface of the third platform is above upper surfaces of the first and second platforms by an elevation device. Therefore, the FOUP is placed on the third platform. Subsequently, the third platform can move to a position overlapping with fourth and fifth platforms by the moving device, and then to a position at which the third platform is lower than the fourth and fifth platforms by the elevation device. Therefore, the FOUP is placed on the fourth and fifth platforms.

Conveyer system

A wafer conveyance system is described for transporting one or more wafers that undergo, while being transported, different processes at a plurality of wafer processing apparatuses inside which one or more wares are processed. A hermetically closed chamber is provided that defines an isolated environment inside which a controlled atmosphere. At least one guide path is provided inside the hermetically closed chamber. At least one mobile element is movable inside the hermetically closed chamber along the at least one guide path to transport one or more wafers from one wafer processing apparatus to another. A plurality of position sensors that detect positions of the at least one mobile element are deployed along each of the at least one guide path in such a manner that they are deployed at intervals close together when near the wafer processing apparatuses and deployed at wider intervals elsewhere. In another aspect, the guide rails may be constructed of a plurality of connectable rail units. Because the guide rail can be disconnected and/or connected between rail units having position sensors, rearrangement and/or reattachment of the plurality of position sensors is not necessary when changing a configuration and/or extending the layout of the guide rail.

Conveyance system

Wafer processing apparatus A-Z for performing processes A-Z on a wafer are arranged in a row. A chamberis formed parallel to these wafer processing apparatus, and a guide railis provided inside the chamber. A mobile elementdriven by means of a linear motor is provided on the guide rail, and a wafer transfer robotcapable of exchanging a wafer between the wafer processing apparatus is mounted on the mobile element. With this structure, the wafer transfer robotexchange wafers between wafer processing apparatus to perform each process on the wafers until the wafers are conveyed to the wafer processing apparatus Z.

It is the object of the present invention to firstly provide a loading system and loading method of high working efficiency, and secondly, to provide a loading system and method in which a high precision of loading onto a center mold can be regularly assured without the need for repeated correction checks. The loading system includes a transport car 2 movable along a plurality of tire vulcanizing presses 1 arranged in a line; a robot arm 3 mounted on said transport car 2 for movement in three XYZ dimensions to a prescribed position in a desired stance; and a green tire chuck 6 fixed to the end of said robot arm 3. A load method essentially comprises the steps of picking-up, transportation, loading and chucking during shaping, of a green tire largely through movement of the robot arm of said system. Further, a position detection sensor such as a visual sensor is mounted on the end of the robot arm 3 together with the chuck 6, and said position detection sensor is used to monitor a prescribed datum such as a tally mark of said vulcanizing press and thereby effect the positioning of said robot arm in at least two dimensions XY.

Loading system and method for a tire vulcanizing machine

A tire vulcanizing system capable of performing high accuracy transportation of a green tire by a loader and of performing high accuracy transportation of a vulcanized tire by an unloader including a group of tire vulcanizing presses having many tire vulcanizing presses 1 arranged in a row and manipulators 2 arranged along the group of the tire vulcanizing presses in such a way that they may freely run. The tire vulcanizing presses 1 are constructed such that the upper and lower molds 80, 81 are stored between the engaging or disengaging upper and lower press members in such a manner that they may be fastened with the green tire mounting table 7 and the post-cure inflator 8 arranged around them. The manipulators 2 are provided with slides 31 which can be connected to the upper press member in such a way that they may be lifted up or descend, loader 32 for transporting the green tire from the center of the green tire mounting table 7 to the centers of the molds 80, 81, and unloader 33 for transporting the vulcanized tire from the centers of the molds 80, 81 to the center of the post-cure inflator 8 or its near center. The manipulators 2 are provided with the position setting element 34 for stopping in respect to the desired tire vulcanizing press 1. At least one of the loader 32 and the unloader 33 is provided with a centering corrector for accommodating for an error in stopping position by the position setting element 34.

Tire vulcanizing system

A conveyor system that performs a conveyance by using pallets for loading green tires and device for conveying these pallets, installs a storage area for storing pallets as they are on the way to convey, and uses robots for transferring the green tires from a pallet to a tire vulcanizer. Pallets being of such a type as to be able to load two or more green tires for planar placement and a conveyor devise is desired to be able to get under these pallets for lifting up. Furthermore, a visual sensor provided on a robot reads at least one of a mark concerning the specification of a green tire, a mark for its positioning on a pallet, and a mark for its positioning on a tire vulcanizer, identifies a green tire to be conveyed, and automatically performs a positioning in transferring the green tire from the relevant pallet and a positioning in transferring the green tire to a tire vulcanizer in the conveyor system. In addition, these tire vulcanizers, conveyor device, and robots are collectively controlled using computers.

Green tire conveyor system in a tire vulcanizer factory

Disclosed is a pulverizing, drying and transporting system for a pulverized fuel of a blast furnace of the type having at least one hot stove for supplying hot blast air, said hot stove also providing hot stove exhaust gas. The system includes a pulverizing and drying unit for pulverizing lamp raw fuel and drying the pulverized fuel. The hot stove gas is supplied to the pulverizing and drying unit. The hot stove exhaust gas dries the pulverized fuel and conveys it to a pulverized fuel collecting and separating device which separates the gas from the pulverized fuel. The line supplying the hot stove gas to the pulverizing and drying unit includes a heating device for selectively supplying additional heat to the hot stove exhaust gas. Moreover, the line for supplying the hot stove gas to the pulverizing and drying unit can include at least one of a temperature stabilizing device and a cooling device. The heating and cooling devices and controlled by a controller sensitive to the gas temperature at the outlet of the pulverizing and drying unit for maintaining the gas temperature at the outlet of the pulverizing and drying unit at a constant level. The temperature stabilizing device maintains the gas temperature at the outlet of the temperature stabilizing device at a designated level.

Pulverizing, drying and transporting system for injecting a pulverized

A display terminal equipment for information processing system comprising an image storage unit and an image synthesizing unit. Information to be displayed is divided into a fixed background picture such as graphic patterns, tables and flowsheets produced by a video camera and stored in the image storage unit, and a foreground picture mainly made up of numeric characters and is supplied from a computer. The background and foreground pictures are mixed by the image synthesizing unit and displayed on a CRT screen.

Image information synthesizing terminal equipment

Measurement of an integrated weight of a particulate material being continuously fed to a powder treating system or the like by providing a powder delivery port in a lower portion of a pressurized powder feed container for supplying the particulate material to a blowing port of the treating system, connecting a pressurized powder replenishing container to an upper portion of the powder feed container for replenishing the power feed container with the particulate material under pressure, continuously feeding the particulate material along with part of a pressurized carrier gas introduced into the delivery port of the pressurized powder feed container, communicating the powder replenishing and feed containers with each other with suitable timing for replenishing the particulate material, sequentially measuring the weights of powder contents in the containers to measure the integrated weight of the particulate material fed through the delivery port during a time period of operation; batchwise combining the weight of each powder replenishment from the replenishing container to the feed container to obtain the total weight of powder replenishment, subtracting the sum of the weights of momentary powder contents of the containers from the total weight of powder replenishment when the measurement is made in concurrence with a replenishing operation, and subtracting the weight of momentary powder content of the pressurized powder feed container from the total weight of powder replenishment when measurement is made at a time point falling outside the timer period for a replenishing operation.

Method for measuring integrated weight of particulate feed material

A method of and apparatus for optimizing the rate of material air supply to an air separation plant, for preserving a stable operation of the plant, through stabilizing heat balance and material balance in the plant irrespective of variation in the flow rate of a gas through an expansion turbine incorporated in the plant and the flow rate of product gases so as to optimize the purity and amount of produced gas. The control for the optimization is performed making a ratio of the difference between the flow rate of the material air and the flow rate of the gas through the expansion turbine to the flow rate of the product gases, as an essential factor for the control.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Takumi Mizokawa