Solar cell manufacturing production line
By setting up wafer assembly and handling mechanisms in the solar cell manufacturing production line, the problems of wafer tooth loss and misalignment during transfer have been solved, enabling the correct installation of silicon wafers, reducing losses and waste, and improving production efficiency.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Utility models(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2025-03-24
- Publication Date
- 2026-03-20
AI Technical Summary
During the silicon wafer transfer process, the basket may stop or decelerate suddenly, causing the silicon wafer to fall out of the teeth or become misaligned in the bottom tooth groove, resulting in significant loss and waste of silicon wafers during the insertion process.
The system includes a wafer-mounting mechanism and a transport mechanism. The wafer-mounting mechanism lifts the silicon wafer and removes it from the bottom toothed groove as the basket descends. A buffer is used to reduce the impact force and ensure that the silicon wafer is correctly installed in the corresponding bottom toothed groove.
It effectively reduces the occurrence of tooth breakage and misalignment during silicon wafer insertion, thereby reducing silicon wafer loss and waste and improving production efficiency.
Smart Images
Figure CN224022221U_ABST
Abstract
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of solar cell, in particular to a solar cell manufacturing production line. BACKGROUND
[0002] The silicon wafer is a core component of the solar cell. After the silicon wafer is manufactured, the silicon wafer needs to be inserted into the solar cell by a wafer inserting mechanism to complete the assembly of the solar cell.
[0003] In order to facilitate the simultaneous transfer of multiple silicon wafers, a flower basket is usually provided. The bottom beam of the flower basket is provided with multiple bottom tooth grooves. The silicon wafers are limited in the bottom tooth grooves corresponding to the bottom beam.
[0004] During the transfer process of the flower basket, sudden situations such as sudden stop or deceleration may occur. These sudden situations may cause the silicon wafers in the flower basket to appear tooth loss, tooth misalignment and other phenomena in the bottom tooth grooves. The wafer inserting mechanism is relatively strict for the incoming silicon wafers. If the incoming silicon wafers appear tooth loss, tooth misalignment and other phenomena in the bottom tooth grooves, batch fragmentation may occur during the wafer inserting process, resulting in large silicon wafer loss and serious waste. CONTENT OF THE UTILITY MODEL
[0005] Therefore, it is necessary to provide a solar cell manufacturing production line for reducing silicon wafer loss and waste in view of the above problems.
[0006] A solar cell manufacturing production line includes a wafer integrating mechanism, a carrying mechanism and a wafer inserting platform. The carrying mechanism is configured to carry the flower basket loaded with multiple silicon wafers to the wafer inserting platform for wafer insertion after the wafer integrating mechanism. The wafer integrating mechanism is arranged on the wafer inserting platform and is configured to lift each silicon wafer in the flower basket and separate it from the bottom tooth groove where it is located when the carrying mechanism drives the flower basket to descend, so that each silicon wafer can be integrated in the corresponding bottom tooth groove in the flower basket when the flower basket rises.
[0007] In some embodiments, the wafer integrating mechanism includes a wafer integrating piece and a buffer piece. The buffer piece is arranged on the wafer integrating piece.
[0008] The wafer integrating piece and the buffer piece are configured to pass through the through hole at the bottom of the flower basket upward relative to the flower basket when the flower basket descends, and the buffer piece contacts the silicon wafer and lifts the silicon wafer by the force of the wafer integrating piece.
[0009] In some embodiments, the buffer piece is arranged on the top surface of the wafer integrating piece, and the buffer piece is bonded to the bottom surface of the wafer integrating piece facing the top surface of the wafer integrating piece.
[0010] In some embodiments, the buffer member is sheet-shaped and covers the top surface of the whole piece member completely.
[0011] In some embodiments, the buffer member is sleeved outside the whole piece member.
[0012] In some embodiments, the bottom surface of the buffer member and one end surface of the buffer member along the length direction thereof are respectively provided with a first opening and a second opening, and the first opening and the second opening are connected and communicated.
[0013] In some embodiments, the buffer member is foam cotton.
[0014] In some embodiments, the solar cell manufacturing production line further comprises a conveying line having a carrying area, the carrying area being located within the carrying range of the carrying mechanism, the conveying line being configured to carry the flower basket and convey the flower basket to the carrying area thereof, and the carrying mechanism being configured to hold and take the flower basket in the carrying area and carry the flower basket to the piece insertion platform after the flower basket is carried in its entirety.
[0015] In some embodiments, the conveying line and the piece insertion platform are arranged in parallel and are spaced apart, and the carrying mechanism and the whole piece mechanism are located between the conveying line and the piece insertion platform.
[0016] In some embodiments, the piece insertion mechanism is configured to hold and take the silicon wafer in the flower basket on the piece insertion platform and perform the piece insertion operation on the silicon wafer on the piece insertion platform.
[0017] Compared with the prior art, the present application has the following beneficial effects:
[0018] The above solar cell manufacturing production line, by arranging the whole piece mechanism and the carrying mechanism, enables the silicon wafer to be installed in the bottom tooth groove in a normal position. In this way, before the piece insertion mechanism performs the piece insertion operation, the silicon wafer in the flower basket is almost free of tooth loss, tooth misalignment, etc., and the silicon wafer loss and waste are small in the subsequent piece insertion process. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0019] Figure 1 is a layout diagram of a solar cell manufacturing production line in an embodiment of the present application;
[0020] Figure 2 is a structure diagram of a whole piece mechanism in a solar cell manufacturing production line shown in the figure; Figure 1
[0021] Figure 3 is a structure diagram of a whole piece mechanism in another embodiment of the present application;
[0022] Figure 4 is a layout diagram of a solar cell manufacturing production line in an embodiment of the present application; Figure 3 An exploded view of the whole piece mechanism.
[0023] Reference signs:
[0024] 1. A solar cell manufacturing production line;
[0025] 10. A whole piece mechanism; 20. A carrying mechanism; 30. A piece insertion platform; 40. A conveying line;
[0026] 11. A whole piece; 111. A first opening; 112. A second opening; 12. A buffer piece. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0027] In order to make the above objectives, features and advantages of the present application more apparent, specific embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present application. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present application can be practiced without using some or all of these specific details, and that the present application is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.
[0028] In the description of the present application, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", "axial", "radial", "circumferential" and the like indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and are only for the purpose of facilitating the description of the present application and simplifying the description, and therefore cannot be understood as indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as limiting the present application.
[0029] In addition, the terms "first", "second" are only configured for the purpose of description, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the technical features referred to. Therefore, the features defined with "first", "second" can explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the features. In the description of the present application, the meaning of "a plurality of" is at least two, for example, two, three, etc., unless otherwise specifically limited.
[0030] In the present application, unless specifically defined otherwise, the terms "mount", "connected", "connecting", "fixed", and "fixedly" should be understood broadly, for example, can be fixedly connected, or can be detachably connected, or integrated; can be mechanically connected, or can be electrically connected; can be directly connected, or indirectly connected via an intermediate medium; can be the internal communication of two elements or the interaction relationship between two elements, unless specifically defined otherwise. For those skilled in the art, the specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood according to the specific circumstances.
[0031] In the present application, unless specifically defined otherwise, the first feature is "on" or "under" the second feature can be that the first and second features are in direct contact, or the first and second features are in indirect contact through an intermediate medium. Moreover, the first feature "above", "over" and "on" the second feature can be that the first feature is directly above or obliquely above the second feature, or only indicates that the horizontal height of the first feature is higher than that of the second feature. The first feature "below", "under" and "under" the second feature can be that the first feature is directly below or obliquely below the second feature, or only indicates that the horizontal height of the first feature is less than that of the second feature.
[0032] It should be noted that when an element is referred to as "fixed to" or "disposed on" another element, it can be directly on the other element or there can be a middle element. When an element is referred to as "connected to" another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or there can be a middle element. The terms "vertical", "horizontal", "up", "down", "left", "right", and similar expressions used herein are for illustrative purposes only and are not the only implementation.
[0033] Please refer to Figure 1 and Figure 2 The present application provides a solar cell manufacturing production line 1, which includes a whole piece mechanism 10, a carrying mechanism 20 and a piece insertion platform 30. The carrying mechanism 20 is configured to drive the flower basket carrying a plurality of silicon wafers to carry the silicon wafers to the piece insertion platform 30 after the whole piece mechanism 10 is whole. The whole piece mechanism 10 is arranged on the piece insertion platform 30 and is configured to lift each silicon wafer in the flower basket and separate it from the bottom groove where it is located when the flower basket is lowered by the carrying mechanism 20, so that each silicon wafer can be integrated in the corresponding bottom groove in the flower basket when the flower basket is raised.
[0034] The flower basket is a frame structure, which comprises a first end plate, a second end plate, a first side beam, a second side beam and a bottom beam. The first end plate and the second end plate are oppositely and spacedly arranged. The first side beam and the second side beam are arranged on the two opposite sides of the first end plate. The bottom beam is arranged at the bottom of the first end plate and the second end plate. The first side beam, the second side beam and the bottom beam are connected with the first end plate and the second end plate. The first side beam has a plurality of first side tooth grooves. The second side beam has a plurality of second side tooth grooves. The bottom beam has a plurality of bottom tooth grooves. The silicon wafer corresponds to the bottom tooth groove, the first side tooth groove and the second side tooth groove one by one. When the silicon wafer is arranged in the bottom tooth groove, the first side tooth groove and the second side tooth groove corresponding to the silicon wafer, the silicon wafer is considered to be in the correct position.
[0035] The conveying mechanism 20 is used for conveying the flower basket to the whole piece mechanism 10 for whole piece, and conveying the flower basket to the wafer inserting platform 30 after the whole piece mechanism 10 finishes the whole piece.
[0036] As an example, the conveying mechanism 20 can be a three-axis robot, which can drive the flower basket carrying a plurality of silicon wafers to translate in two horizontal directions and one vertical direction. Alternatively, the conveying mechanism 20 can also be a four-axis robot, which can not only drive the flower basket to translate in two horizontal directions and one vertical direction, but also drive the flower basket to rotate. The three-axis robot and the four-axis robot are conventional technical means in the art, and thus will not be described here.
[0037] The whole piece mechanism 10 is capable of integrating the silicon wafers in the flower basket, so that the silicon wafers can be installed in the correct position in the flower basket.
[0038] Specifically, the solar cell manufacturing production line 1 further comprises a wafer inserting mechanism, which is used for holding and taking the silicon wafer in the flower basket on the wafer inserting platform 30, and performing wafer inserting operation on the silicon wafer on the wafer inserting platform 30. The wafer inserting platform 30 and the wafer inserting mechanism are conventional technical means in the art, and thus will not be described here.
[0039] Specifically, in the prior art, the flower basket is transferred to the range that can be carried by the carrying mechanism 20 through a series of mechanisms such as an automatic guided vehicle (commonly known as an AGV vehicle) and / or a conveying line 40, and then the carrying mechanism 20 carries the flower basket to the sheet insertion platform 30 so that the sheet insertion mechanism can insert the silicon wafers in the flower basket. Taking the example of the flower basket being transferred by the automatic guided vehicle, when an obstacle appears in the transfer process, the automatic guided vehicle may slow down or stop suddenly, causing the silicon wafers in the flower basket to be dislodged from the corresponding bottom tooth groove (i.e., the silicon wafers are dislodged from the corresponding bottom tooth groove) or to be misaligned in the bottom tooth groove (i.e., the silicon wafers are aligned in the bottom tooth groove that does not correspond to them). Taking the example of the flower basket being transferred by the conveying line 40, when the flower basket cannot be carried away by the carrying mechanism 20 in time during the transfer process, the conveying line 40 is congested due to the large number of flower baskets, causing the flower baskets to slow down or stop suddenly, and the silicon wafers in the flower baskets may also be dislodged and misaligned as described above. The sheet insertion mechanism is very strict about the incoming silicon wafers, and if the incoming silicon wafers have the dislodging and / or misaligning problems described above, it is easy to cause a large number of broken wafers during the insertion process, resulting in a large loss of silicon wafers and a serious waste.
[0040] In the present application, by providing the whole wafer mechanism 10, the carrying mechanism 20 carries the flower basket to the position of the whole wafer mechanism 10, and then the carrying mechanism 20 lowers the flower basket. Since the whole wafer mechanism 10 is fixed, when the flower basket lowers the silicon wafers, the whole wafer mechanism 10 rises relative to the flower basket and the silicon wafers. Then, the whole wafer mechanism 10 enters the flower basket through the through opening formed by the bottom beam and the first side beam or the bottom beam and the second side beam at the bottom of the flower basket, and lifts each silicon wafer in the flower basket to dislodge each silicon wafer from the bottom tooth groove of the bottom beam. After each silicon wafer is dislodged from the bottom tooth groove, each silicon wafer is limited by the first side tooth groove and the second side tooth groove corresponding to each silicon wafer, so that each silicon wafer can be aligned and aligned with the corresponding bottom tooth groove in the vertical direction. In this way, when the carrying mechanism 20 raises the flower basket, each silicon wafer can be lowered relative to the flower basket and fall into the corresponding bottom tooth groove, and the correct installation of each silicon wafer is achieved. In this way, before the sheet insertion mechanism performs the sheet insertion operation, the silicon wafers in the flower basket are almost free of dislodging, misaligning, and the like, and the subsequent sheet insertion process has less loss of silicon wafers and less waste.
[0041] It is worth mentioning that, in order to ensure that all silicon wafers in the flower basket can be installed correctly, the above steps can be repeated multiple times, specifically, the flower basket is lowered and raised multiple times in alternation, so that all silicon wafers in the flower basket can be whole wafered multiple times by the whole wafer mechanism 10. In addition, in order to reduce the interference of the first end plate and the second end plate with the whole wafer mechanism 10, an avoidance groove can also be provided at the bottom end of the first end plate and the second end plate to avoid the whole wafer mechanism 10.
[0042] In some embodiments, the wafer lifting mechanism 10 comprises a wafer lifting piece 11 and a buffer piece 12, the buffer piece 12 is arranged on the wafer lifting piece 11; the wafer lifting piece 11 and the buffer piece 12 are configured to pass through the through hole of the wafer basket bottom when the wafer basket is lowered, and the buffer piece 12 is in contact with the silicon wafer and lifts the silicon wafer by the force of the wafer lifting piece 11.
[0043] In actual wafer lifting, the wafer lifting piece 11 supports the buffer piece 12 and provides the force for the buffer piece 12 to lift the silicon wafer, and the buffer piece 12 is in contact with the silicon wafer in the wafer basket. The arrangement of the buffer piece 12 can reduce the impact force during the contact between the silicon wafer and the wafer lifting mechanism 10, so as to avoid the wafer lifting mechanism 10 from damaging the silicon wafer.
[0044] In some embodiments, the buffer piece 12 is arranged on the top surface of the wafer lifting piece 11, and the bottom surface of the buffer piece 12 is bonded to the top surface of the wafer lifting piece 11. By bonding, the buffer piece 12 and the wafer lifting piece 11 are fixed, and no additional fasteners are needed to fix the buffer piece 12 and the wafer lifting piece 11, which reduces the types and quantities of parts of the wafer lifting mechanism 10, and facilitates the reduction of the manufacturing cost of the solar cell manufacturing production line 1.
[0045] In some embodiments, the buffer piece 12 is in the form of a sheet and completely covers the top surface of the wafer lifting piece 11. In this way, during the lifting of the silicon wafer by the wafer lifting mechanism 10, it can be ensured that only the buffer piece 12 is in contact with the silicon wafer, so as to avoid the wafer lifting mechanism 10 from damaging the silicon wafer.
[0046] Please refer to Figure 1 , Figure 3 and Figure 4 In some embodiments, the buffer piece 12 is arranged outside the wafer lifting piece 11, which facilitates the assembly efficiency of the buffer piece 12 and the wafer lifting piece 11.
[0047] In some embodiments, the bottom surface of the buffer piece 12 and one end surface of the buffer piece 12 arranged in the length direction thereof are respectively provided with a first opening 111 and a second opening 112, and the first opening 111 and the second opening 112 are connected and communicated. Specifically, the first opening 111 occupies the entire bottom surface of the buffer piece 12, and the second opening 112 occupies the entire end surface of the buffer piece 12 arranged in the length direction thereof. In this design, the buffer piece 12 is first arranged outside the wafer lifting piece 11 from the first opening 111, the second opening 112 faces the wafer inserting platform 30, and then the buffer piece 12 is pressed from top to bottom, so that the buffer piece 12 is arranged outside the wafer lifting piece 11. The arrangement of the first opening 111 and the second opening 112 facilitates the arrangement of the buffer piece 12 outside the wafer lifting piece 11 by the expansion of the first opening 111 and the second opening 112, so as to facilitate the installation of the buffer piece 12 and the wafer lifting piece 11. After installation, the first opening 111 and the second opening 112 shrink and recover, so that the buffer piece 12 is tightly wrapped and tightly adhered to each other.
[0048] In some embodiments, the cushioning element 12 is foam cotton. Foam cotton is readily available, inexpensive, and has good cushioning performance, which helps to reduce the manufacturing cost of the solar cell manufacturing production line 1.
[0049] Please refer to it again. Figure 1 In some embodiments, the solar cell manufacturing production line 1 further includes a conveyor line 40 having a transport area located within the transport range of the transport mechanism 20. The conveyor line 40 is configured to carry a basket and transport the basket to its transport area. The transport mechanism 20 is configured to hold the basket in the transport area and move the entire basket to the insertion platform 30.
[0050] The conveyor line 40 continuously transports flower baskets to the handling area, and the conveyor line 40 also has a buffering effect on the flower baskets, so that the handling mechanism 20 can continuously process the flower baskets in the conveyor line 40 into whole pieces, and then transport them to the insertion platform 30 to perform the insertion operation, thereby improving the production efficiency of solar cells.
[0051] It is worth mentioning that during the transport of multiple flower baskets on the conveyor line 40, if the handling mechanism 20 malfunctions and fails to remove the flower baskets located in the handling area in time, the flower baskets that have not yet reached the handling area on the conveyor line 40 may slow down or stop abruptly due to congestion, causing the silicon wafers inside the flower baskets to experience the aforementioned issues of tooth loss and misalignment. Therefore, before performing the wafer insertion operation on the silicon wafers in the flower baskets, the wafer straightening mechanism 10 needs to straighten the silicon wafers in the flower baskets.
[0052] In some embodiments, the conveyor line 40 and the insert platform 30 are arranged in parallel and spaced apart, and the handling mechanism 20 and the assembling mechanism 10 are located between the conveyor line 40 and the insert platform 30. In this case, the path for the handling mechanism 20 to pick up the flower basket between the conveyor line 40 and the assembling mechanism 10, and between the assembling mechanism 10 and the insert platform 30, is shorter, which helps to improve production efficiency.
[0053] In some embodiments, the solar cell manufacturing production line 1 has a transfer area, and the solar cell manufacturing production line 1 further includes an automated guided vehicle and a gripping mechanism. The conveyor line 40 has a loading area, and the transfer area and the loading area are located within the gripping range of the gripping mechanism. The automated guided vehicle is configured to transport the flower basket to the transfer area, and the gripping mechanism is configured to grip the flower basket located in the transfer area and transfer the flower basket to the loading area, so that the flower basket can be transported to the handling area under the action of the conveyor line 40.
[0054] The automatic guided vehicle will transport the flower basket which has finished the previous process to the transfer area, and then use the grabbing mechanism to grab the flower basket to the loading area, so that the flower basket can be transported to the carrying area under the action of the conveying line 40. The setting of the automatic guided vehicle reduces the participation of manual work and realizes the automatic transfer of the flower basket.
[0055] Specifically, the grabbing mechanism can be a three-axis manipulator, a four-axis manipulator, etc. The grabbing mechanism and the automatic guided vehicle are conventional technologies in the art, and therefore will not be described here.
[0056] It is worth mentioning that during the process of transferring the flower basket by the automatic guided vehicle, if the automatic guided vehicle fails or encounters an obstacle to slow down or stop suddenly, it may cause the silicon wafer in the flower basket to be out of the tooth or misaligned. Therefore, before performing the wafer insertion operation on the silicon wafer in the wafer disc, the whole wafer mechanism 10 is needed to align the silicon wafer in the flower basket.
[0057] The above-mentioned solar cell manufacturing production line 1, by setting the whole wafer mechanism 10 and the carrying mechanism 20, makes the silicon wafer can be installed in the bottom tooth groove. In this way, before the wafer insertion mechanism performs the wafer insertion operation, the silicon wafer in the flower basket almost does not exist out of the tooth, misaligned and other situations, and the subsequent wafer insertion process has less silicon wafer loss and less waste.
[0058] The technical features of the above-mentioned embodiments can be combined arbitrarily. In order to make the description simple, all possible combinations of the technical features in the above-mentioned embodiments are not described, however, as long as the combination of the technical features does not exist contradictory, it should be considered as the scope of the present application.
[0059] The above-mentioned embodiments only express several implementation ways of the present application, and the description is more specific and detailed, but it should not be understood as a limitation to the patent scope of the application. It should be pointed out that for ordinary skilled in the art, without departing from the concept of the present application, several modifications and improvements can be made, which are all within the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the patent protection scope of the present application should be subject to the appended claims.
Claims
1. A solar cell manufacturing production line, characterized in that, The solar cell manufacturing production line includes a wafer assembly mechanism (10), a transport mechanism (20), and an insertion platform (30). The transport mechanism (20) is configured to move a basket carrying multiple silicon wafers from the wafer assembly mechanism (10) to the insertion platform (30) for insertion. The wafer assembly mechanism (10) is located on the insertion platform (30) and is configured to lift each silicon wafer in the basket and remove it from its respective bottom tooth groove when the transport mechanism (20) moves the basket down, so that each silicon wafer can be integrated into its corresponding bottom tooth groove in the basket when the basket rises.
2. The solar cell manufacturing production line according to claim 1, characterized in that, The integral piece mechanism (10) includes an integral piece (11) and a buffer piece (12), wherein the buffer piece (12) is disposed on the integral piece (11); The integral piece (11) and the buffer piece (12) are configured to pass through the through-hole at the bottom of the flower basket upward relative to the flower basket when the flower basket is lowered, and the buffer piece (12) contacts the silicon wafer and lifts the silicon wafer by means of the force of the integral piece (11).
3. The solar cell manufacturing production line according to claim 2, characterized in that, The buffer (12) is disposed on the top surface of the whole piece (11), and the bottom surface of the buffer (12) facing the whole piece (11) is bonded to the top surface of the whole piece (11).
4. The solar cell manufacturing production line according to claim 3, characterized in that, The buffer (12) is sheet-shaped and completely covers the top surface of the whole sheet (11).
5. The solar cell manufacturing production line according to claim 2, characterized in that, The buffer (12) is fitted over the whole piece (11).
6. The solar cell manufacturing production line according to claim 5, characterized in that, The bottom surface of the buffer (12) and one end surface of the buffer (12) along its length direction are respectively provided with a first opening (111) and a second opening (112), and the first opening (111) and the second opening (112) are connected and communicate with each other.
7. The solar cell manufacturing production line according to claim 2, characterized in that, The buffer (12) is foam cotton.
8. The solar cell manufacturing production line according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, The solar cell manufacturing production line also includes a conveyor line (40) having a transport area located within the transport range of the transport mechanism (20). The conveyor line (40) is configured to carry the flower basket and transport it to its transport area. The transport mechanism (20) is configured to pick up the flower basket in the transport area and move the entire flower basket to the insertion platform (30).
9. The solar cell manufacturing production line according to claim 8, characterized in that, The conveyor line (40) and the insert platform (30) are arranged in parallel and at intervals, and the handling mechanism (20) and the inserting mechanism (10) are located between the conveyor line (40) and the insert platform (30).
10. The solar cell manufacturing production line according to claim 1, characterized in that, Includes a wafer insertion mechanism for holding the silicon wafer located in the basket on the wafer insertion platform (30) and performing wafer insertion operations on the silicon wafer on the wafer insertion platform (30).