Robotic transfer equipment and transfer process for glass substrate

Abstract

The present invention belongs to the technical field of conveying thin materials, and specifically relates to a glass substrate robot transfer device and a transfer process. The glass substrate robot transfer device comprises: a plurality of negative pressure suction nozzles, the end faces of the negative pressure suction nozzles are provided with sealing ring components, and an extension nozzle is slidably provided inside the negative pressure suction nozzles; when placing the glass substrate, the sealing ring component is reset to push the extension nozzle to fit the glass substrate to compensate for the reaction time of the negative pressure suction nozzle to restore normal pressure. In the process of the negative pressure suction nozzle being separated from the glass substrate, the glass substrate robot transfer device pushes the extension nozzle to fit the glass substrate for a period of time by resetting the sealing ring component inside the negative pressure suction nozzle, so that the extension nozzle does not directly follow the negative pressure suction nozzle to retreat, thereby leaving more time for the negative pressure suction nozzle to restore normal pressure to prevent the glass substrate from "jumping".

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the technical field of transporting thin materials, and specifically relates to fragile thin plates, such as glass, and more particularly to a robot transfer device and a transfer process for glass substrates. Background Art

[0002] In the process of transporting glass substrates, they are relatively fragile and are prone to collision and breakage.

[0003] In the related art, a negative pressure suction method is adopted to transport a glass substrate. The negative pressure suction nozzle is connected to a driving mechanism, and the glass substrate is transported by lifting and lowering and translating the driving mechanism. When the negative pressure suction nozzle is separated from the glass substrate, it is necessary to restore all the negative pressure suction nozzles to normal pressure by exhausting air to remove the adsorption force. However, there may be individual negative pressure suction nozzles that are not exhausted in time, so that a small amount of suction force still remains inside, causing the end of the glass substrate to "jump" when the negative pressure suction nozzle is separated from the glass substrate. This "jump" can easily cause the two glass substrates to break when they collide.

[0004] Therefore, how to solve the technical problem that the negative pressure suction nozzle is far away from the glass substrate when the exhaust is not timely, which easily causes the glass substrate to "jump", is urgently needed to be solved by those skilled in the art.

[0005] It should be noted that the above information disclosed in this background technology section is only used to understand the background technology of the present application concept, and therefore, the above description is not considered to constitute information of the prior art. Summary of the invention

[0006] The embodiments of the present disclosure at least provide a robot transfer device and a transfer process for a glass substrate.

[0007] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a robot transfer device for glass substrates, comprising: a conveyor belt for conveying glass substrates; a transport device for sucking the glass substrates on the conveyor belt by negative pressure and transporting them to corresponding stacking positions, and comprising: a plurality of negative pressure suction nozzles, the end faces of the negative pressure suction nozzles are provided with sealing ring assemblies, and an extension nozzle is slidably provided inside the negative pressure suction nozzles; wherein when sucking the glass substrates, the extension nozzles are retracted into the negative pressure suction nozzles to squeeze the sealing ring assembly so that the end face of the sealing ring assembly protruding from the negative pressure suction nozzles flexibly abuts against the glass substrate; and when placing the glass substrates, the sealing ring assembly is reset to push the extension nozzle to fit the glass substrate to compensate for the reaction time of the negative pressure suction nozzles returning to normal pressure.

[0008] In an optional embodiment, the negative pressure suction nozzle is provided with a negative pressure channel along its axis, and the extended nozzle is arranged in the negative pressure channel; the end face of the negative pressure suction nozzle is provided with an annular mounting groove, and the sealing ring assembly is arranged in the annular mounting groove; wherein, when grabbing the glass substrate, the extended nozzle rises along the negative pressure channel to squeeze the sealing ring assembly until the sealing ring assembly protrudes out of the annular mounting groove.

[0009] In an optional embodiment, the sealing ring assembly includes: a first sealing ring, a second sealing ring and a third sealing ring which are sequentially sleeved from the inside to the outside; wherein when grabbing the glass substrate, the extended nozzle squeezes the first sealing ring to make the second sealing ring and the third sealing ring expand and protrude out of the annular mounting groove, that is, the second sealing ring and the third sealing ring flexibly abut against the glass substrate and seal the negative pressure channel.

[0010] In an optional embodiment, the outer end side wall of the extended nozzle is provided with a first annular boss for squeezing the first sealing ring.

[0011] In an optional implementation, the wall thickness of the first sealing ring is smaller than the wall thickness of the second sealing ring, and the wall thickness of the second sealing ring is equal to the wall thickness of the third sealing ring.

[0012] In an optional embodiment, the first sealing ring is connected to the second sealing ring, and the second sealing ring is connected to the third sealing ring via a plurality of through holes.

[0013] In an optional embodiment, the second sealing ring and the third sealing ring are connected via a connecting belt, and the connecting belt is connected to the annular mounting groove via a limiting member.

[0014] In an optional embodiment, the inner end side wall of the extension nozzle is provided with a second annular boss for limiting position; the side wall of the negative pressure channel is provided with a third annular boss.

[0015] In an optional embodiment, an adsorption hole connected to the negative pressure channel is opened at the axis center of the extended nozzle.

[0016] On the second aspect, the disclosed embodiment also provides a transfer process of the glass substrate transfer device using the robot as described above, which includes: transporting the glass substrate on the conveyor belt to the corresponding stacking position by means of negative pressure; when grabbing the glass substrate, the extended nozzle is retracted into the negative pressure suction nozzle to squeeze the sealing ring assembly so that the end surface of the sealing ring assembly protruding from the negative pressure suction nozzle is flexibly abutted against the glass substrate; when placing the glass substrate, the sealing ring assembly is reset to push the extended nozzle to fit the glass substrate to compensate for the reaction time of the negative pressure suction nozzle to return to normal pressure.

[0017] The beneficial effect of the present invention is that when the negative pressure suction nozzle of the glass substrate robot transfer device is separated from the glass substrate, the sealing ring assembly inside the negative pressure suction nozzle is reset, so that the extended nozzle is pushed to fit the glass substrate for a period of time, so that the extended nozzle does not directly follow the negative pressure suction nozzle to retreat, thereby leaving more time for the negative pressure suction nozzle to restore normal pressure, so as to prevent the glass substrate from "jumping".

[0018] Other features and advantages of the present invention will be described in the following description, and partly become apparent from the description, or understood by practicing the present invention. The purpose and other advantages of the present invention are realized and obtained by the structures particularly pointed out in the description, claims and drawings.

[0019] In order to make the above-mentioned objects, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, this article specifically cites preferred embodiments and provides detailed descriptions as follows in conjunction with the attached drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] In order to more clearly illustrate the specific implementation methods of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the specific implementation methods or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are some implementation methods of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

[0021] Figure 1 A schematic structural diagram of a robot transfer device for a glass substrate provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0022] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the installation position structure of a negative pressure suction nozzle, a sealing ring assembly and an extension nozzle provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0023] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the structure of an annular mounting groove provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0024] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the structure of a negative pressure nozzle provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure when there is no negative pressure;

[0025] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a structure for sucking a glass substrate provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0026] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the position structure of a sealing ring assembly provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0027] Figure 7 A schematic cross-sectional structure diagram of a sealing ring assembly provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0028] In the figure:

[0029] Negative pressure nozzle 1, negative pressure channel 11, annular mounting groove 12, third annular boss 13;

[0030] Sealing ring assembly 2, first sealing ring 21, second sealing ring 22, third sealing ring 23, through hole 24, connecting belt 25;

[0031] Extension nozzle 3, first annular boss 31, second annular boss 32, adsorption hole 33;

[0032] Glass substrate 4. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solution of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0034] It should be noted that similar reference numerals and letters represent similar items in the following drawings, so once an item is defined in one drawing, it does not need to be further defined and explained in the subsequent drawings. In addition, in the drawings, the thickness of the components may be exaggerated or reduced in order to effectively describe the technical content.

[0035] Some embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the absence of conflict, the following embodiments and features in the embodiments can be combined with each other.

[0036] like Figure 1 , Figure 2 As shown, at least one embodiment provides a robot transfer device for glass substrates, which includes: a conveyor belt for conveying glass substrates, not shown in the figure; a handling device, which sucks the glass substrates on the conveyor belt through negative pressure and transports them to corresponding stacking positions; because the glass substrates are relatively brittle and easily break when colliding with hard objects during the handling process, an extension nozzle 3 is slidably arranged in the negative pressure suction nozzle 1 of the handling device, and a sealing ring assembly 2 is arranged on the end face of the negative pressure suction nozzle 1.

[0037] Specifically, when sucking the glass substrate on the conveyor belt, the extended nozzle 3 retracts upward into the negative pressure suction nozzle 1 due to the negative pressure of the negative pressure suction nozzle 1 and squeezes the sealing ring assembly 2 until the sealing ring assembly 2 protrudes from the end surface of the negative pressure suction nozzle 1, so that the sealing ring assembly 2 is flexibly abutted against the glass substrate to avoid damage to the glass substrate caused by hard contact.

[0038] Specifically, after the glass substrate is transported to the stacking position, the negative pressure in the negative pressure nozzle 1 stops and gradually returns to normal pressure through exhaust, so that the negative pressure nozzle 1 is easy to detach from the glass substrate; however, in the related art, the negative pressure nozzle 1 may not restore the normal pressure in time, so that when the negative pressure nozzle 1 retreats, the residual adsorption force will bring the glass substrate away from the stacking position again to a certain height and then detach, resulting in "jumping" at the end of the glass substrate. This "jumping" can easily cause the two glass substrates to break due to collision; the sealing ring assembly 2 and the extension nozzle 3 provided in the present scheme can solve the "jumping" by cooperation, that is, in the process of the negative pressure nozzle 1 detaching from the glass substrate, the sealing ring assembly 2 provided in the negative pressure nozzle 1 will push the extension nozzle 3 to fit with the glass substrate for a period of time due to resetting, so that the extension nozzle 3 does not directly retreat with the negative pressure nozzle 1, thereby leaving more time for the negative pressure nozzle 1 to restore to normal pressure.

[0039] like Figure 3 , Figure 4 As shown, in some embodiments, the negative pressure suction nozzle 1 is provided with a negative pressure channel 11 along its axis, and the extended nozzle 3 is arranged in the negative pressure channel 11; the end face of the negative pressure suction nozzle 1 is provided with an annular mounting groove 12, and the sealing ring assembly 2 is arranged in the annular mounting groove 12.

[0040] Specifically, when grabbing a glass substrate, Figure 5 As shown, the extension nozzle 3 rises along the negative pressure channel 11 to squeeze the sealing ring assembly 2 until the sealing ring assembly 2 protrudes out of the annular mounting groove 12.

[0041] like Figure 6 As shown, in some embodiments, the sealing ring assembly 2 includes: a first sealing ring 21, a second sealing ring 22 and a third sealing ring 23 which are sequentially sleeved from the inside to the outside.

[0042] Specifically, when grabbing the glass substrate, the extended nozzle 3 retracts upward until it squeezes the first sealing ring 21. At this time, the gas in the first sealing ring 21 is squeezed into the second sealing ring 22 and the third sealing ring 23, causing the second sealing ring 22 and the third sealing ring 23 to expand, thereby protruding the annular mounting groove 12, and achieving the effect of flexible contact with the glass substrate. At the same time, when the second sealing ring 22 and the third sealing ring 23 are in flexible contact with the glass substrate, the second sealing ring 22 and the third sealing ring 23 also play a sealing role to prevent gas from entering the negative pressure channel 11 and affecting the negative pressure absorption effect.

[0043] like Figure 5 As shown, in some embodiments, the outer end side wall of the extension nozzle 3 is provided with a first annular boss 31 for squeezing the first sealing ring 21 .

[0044] Specifically, the diameter of the first annular boss 31 is matched with the diameter of the first sealing ring 21 , so that the first annular boss 31 can only press the first sealing ring 21 and increase the contact area with the first sealing ring 21 as much as possible.

[0045] In some embodiments, the wall thickness of the first sealing ring 21 is smaller than that of the second sealing ring 22, and the wall thickness of the second sealing ring 22 is equal to that of the third sealing ring 23; specifically, the first sealing ring 21 has a small thickness so that when the glass substrate 4 is placed, the second sealing ring 22 and the third sealing ring 23 return gas to the first sealing ring 21, so that the first sealing ring 21 pushes the extension nozzle 3 to contact the glass substrate 4.

[0046] like Figure 7 As shown, in some embodiments, the first sealing ring 21 is connected to the second sealing ring 22, and the second sealing ring 22 is connected to the third sealing ring 23 via a plurality of through holes 24; wherein the through holes 24 are evenly distributed.

[0047] In some embodiments, the second sealing ring 22 and the third sealing ring 23 are connected by a connecting belt 25, and the connecting belt 25 is connected to the annular mounting groove 12 through a limiting member; specifically, when installing the second sealing ring 22 and the third sealing ring 23, the connecting belt 25 is connected to the bottom of the annular mounting groove 12, so as to fix the second sealing ring 22 and the third sealing ring 23.

[0048] Optionally, the limiting member adopts a plurality of screws, and the screw fixing points are located between adjacent through holes 24 , thereby avoiding the through holes 24 .

[0049] Optionally, the limiting member adopts a magnetic component, wherein one magnet is fixed to the bottom of the annular mounting groove 12, and the other magnet is located below the connecting belt 25, and the connecting belt 25 is limited by the fit of the two magnets.

[0050] like Figure 4 As shown, in some embodiments, the inner end side wall of the extended nozzle 3 is provided with a second annular boss 32 for limiting position; the side wall of the negative pressure channel 11 is provided with a third annular boss 13; through the cooperation between the third annular boss 13 and the second annular boss 32, the extended nozzle 3 is prevented from falling.

[0051] In some embodiments, an adsorption hole 33 connected to the negative pressure channel 11 is opened at the axis center of the extended nozzle 3; the glass substrate is contacted through the adsorption hole 33, and since there is a first sealing ring 21 between the extended nozzle 3 and the bottom of the annular mounting groove 12, the first sealing ring 21 can play a buffering role.

[0052] At least one embodiment also provides a transfer process of a robot transfer device for glass substrates, which includes: moving the glass substrates on the conveyor belt to the corresponding stacking position by negative pressure; when grabbing the glass substrate, the extended nozzle 3 is retracted into the negative pressure suction nozzle 1 to squeeze the sealing ring assembly 2, so that the end surface of the sealing ring assembly 2 protruding from the negative pressure suction nozzle 1 is flexibly abutted against the glass substrate; when placing the glass substrate, the sealing ring assembly 2 is reset to push the extended nozzle 3 to fit the glass substrate to compensate for the reaction time of the negative pressure suction nozzle 1 to return to normal pressure.

[0053] For the specific structure and implementation process of the robot transfer device for glass substrates, please refer to the relevant discussion in the above embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0054] In summary, during the process of the negative pressure suction nozzle 1 being separated from the glass substrate, the glass substrate robot transfer device resets the sealing ring assembly 2 inside the negative pressure suction nozzle 1, pushing the extended nozzle 3 to fit the glass substrate for a period of time, so that the extended nozzle 3 does not directly follow the negative pressure suction nozzle 1 to retreat, thereby leaving more time for the negative pressure suction nozzle 1 to restore normal pressure, so as to prevent the glass substrate from "jumping".

[0055] Herein, when it is mentioned that a first component is located on a second component, this may mean that the first component may be directly formed on the second component, or a third component may be interposed between the first component and the second component.

[0056] In this article, when an element or layer is referred to as being "located on," "engaged to," "connected to," "attached to," or "coupled to" another element or layer, it may be directly located on, engaged, connected, attached to, or coupled to another element or layer, or there may be intermediate elements or layers. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly on," "directly engaged to," "directly connected to," "directly attached to," or "directly coupled to" another element or layer, there may be no intermediate elements or layers. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a similar manner (e.g., "between" versus "directly between," "adjacent" versus "directly adjacent," etc.). As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0057] Herein, example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. As used herein, expressions such as "at least one of..." modify the entire list of elements when following a list of elements, rather than modifying individual elements in the list. For example, the expression "at least one of a, b, and c" should be understood to include only a, only b, only c, both a and b, both a and c, both b and c, or all of a, b, and c.

[0058] The terms used herein are only used to describe specific exemplary configurations and are not intended to be limited. As used herein, the singular articles "one", "an" and "the" may also be intended to include plural forms, unless it is clearly indicated above that this is not the case. The terms "comprise", "include" and "have" are inclusive, and therefore specify the presence of features, steps, operations, elements and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components and / or combinations thereof. The method steps, processes and operations described herein should not be interpreted as necessarily requiring them to be performed in the specific order discussed or shown, unless specifically identified as an execution order. Additional or alternative steps may be adopted.

[0059] As used herein, the phrases "in one embodiment," "according to one embodiment," "in some embodiments," and the like generally refer to the fact that the particular feature, structure, or characteristic following the phrase may be included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Therefore, a particular feature, structure, or characteristic may be included in more than one embodiment of the present disclosure, so that these phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. As used herein, the terms "example," "exemplary," and the like are used to "serve as an example, instance, or illustration." Any implementation, aspect, or design described herein as "example" or "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or superior to other implementations, aspects, or designs. On the contrary, the use of the terms "example," "exemplary," and the like is intended to present concepts in a concrete manner.

[0060] In the description of the embodiments of the present invention, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "installed", "connected", and "connected" should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium, or it can be the internal communication of two components. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0061] In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that the orientation or positional relationship indicated by the terms "center", "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "inside", "outside", etc. is based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, which is only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation of the present invention. In addition, terms such as "first", "second" and other numerical terms do not imply an order or sequence when used in this document unless explicitly indicated above. Therefore, without departing from the teachings of the example embodiments, the first element, component, region, layer or section discussed above may be referred to as a second element, component, region, layer or section.

[0062] Spatially relative terms, such as "inside", "outside", "below", "below", "down", "above", "on", etc., may be used herein to facilitate description of the relationship of one element or feature to another element or feature as illustrated in the figure. In addition to the orientation depicted in the figure, spatially relative terms may be intended to cover different orientations of the device in use or operation. For example, if the device in the figure is turned over, the elements described as "below" or "below" other elements or features will be oriented to be "above" other elements or features. Therefore, the example term "below" can cover the orientation above and below. The device can be oriented in other ways (rotated 90 degrees or in other orientations), and the spatially relative descriptors used herein are interpreted accordingly.

[0063] In the above discussion, unless otherwise stated, the terms "about," "approximately," "substantially," etc., when used to describe a numerical value, mean a variation of + / - 10% of the value.

[0064] Based on the above ideal embodiments of the present invention, the relevant staff can make various changes and modifications without departing from the technical concept of the present invention through the above description. The technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the contents of the specification, and its technical scope must be determined according to the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A robot transfer device for glass substrates, characterized in that: include: A conveyor belt for conveying a glass substrate (4); A transport device, which sucks glass substrates (4) on a conveyor belt through negative pressure and transports them to corresponding stacking positions, and comprises: a plurality of negative pressure suction nozzles (1), the end faces of the negative pressure suction nozzles (1) being provided with sealing ring assemblies (2), and an extension nozzle (3) being slidably provided inside the negative pressure suction nozzles (1); wherein When sucking the glass substrate (4), the extension nozzle (3) is retracted into the negative pressure suction nozzle (1) to squeeze the sealing ring assembly (2), so that the end surface of the sealing ring assembly (2) protruding from the negative pressure suction nozzle (1) flexibly abuts against the glass substrate (4); and When placing the glass substrate (4), the sealing ring assembly (2) is reset to push the extension nozzle (3) to fit the glass substrate (4) so ​​as to compensate for the reaction time of the negative pressure nozzle (1) returning to normal pressure; The negative pressure suction nozzle (1) is provided with a negative pressure channel (11) along its axis, and the extended nozzle (3) is arranged in the negative pressure channel (11); An annular mounting groove (12) is formed on the end surface of the negative pressure suction nozzle (1), and the sealing ring assembly (2) is arranged in the annular mounting groove (12); The sealing ring assembly (2) comprises: a first sealing ring (21), a second sealing ring (22) and a third sealing ring (23) which are sequentially sleeved from the inside to the outside; wherein The wall thickness of the first sealing ring (21) is smaller than the wall thickness of the second sealing ring (22), and the wall thickness of the second sealing ring (22) is equal to the wall thickness of the third sealing ring (23); When the glass substrate (4) is grasped, the extension nozzle (3) rises along the negative pressure channel (11) to squeeze the first sealing ring (21), so that the second sealing ring (22) and the third sealing ring (23) expand and protrude out of the annular mounting groove (12), that is, The second sealing ring (22) and the third sealing ring (23) are in flexible contact with the glass substrate (4) and seal the negative pressure channel (11).

2. The glass substrate transfer robot device according to claim 1, wherein: The outer end side wall of the extended nozzle (3) is provided with a first annular boss (31) for pressing the first sealing ring (21).

3. The glass substrate transfer robot device according to claim 2, wherein: The first sealing ring (21) is in communication with the second sealing ring (22), and the second sealing ring (22) is in communication with the third sealing ring (23) via a plurality of through holes (24).

4. The glass substrate transfer robot device according to claim 3, wherein: The second sealing ring (22) and the third sealing ring (23) are connected via a connecting belt (25), and the connecting belt (25) is connected to the annular mounting groove (12) via a limiting member.

5. The glass substrate transfer robot device according to claim 4, wherein: The inner end side wall of the extension nozzle (3) is provided with a second annular boss (32) for limiting position; A third annular boss (13) is provided on the side wall of the negative pressure channel (11).

6. The glass substrate transfer robot device according to claim 5, wherein: The extended nozzle (3) is provided with a suction hole (33) at the axis center thereof and is connected to the negative pressure channel (11).

7. A transfer process of the glass substrate transfer robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: include: The glass substrate (4) on the conveyor belt is transported to a corresponding stacking position by negative pressure; When grabbing the glass substrate (4), the extension nozzle (3) is retracted into the negative pressure suction nozzle (1) to squeeze the sealing ring assembly (2), so that the end surface of the sealing ring assembly (2) protruding from the negative pressure suction nozzle (1) flexibly abuts against the glass substrate (4); When the glass substrate (4) is placed, the sealing ring assembly (2) is reset to push the extension nozzle (3) to fit the glass substrate (4) so ​​as to compensate for the reaction time of the negative pressure suction nozzle (1) returning to normal pressure.

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