A vertical silicon rod cooling device, transfer trolley and production line

Abstract

A vertical silicon rod cooling device, transfer vehicle, and production line are disclosed, comprising a vertically arranged storage compartment, a shell for fixing the storage compartment, and a support frame for supporting the shell. The storage compartment is equipped with several sets of adjustable pulley assemblies for clamping the outer diameter of the silicon rods. The storage compartment is constructed as a cylindrical structure with an arc-shaped notch along its length, with its opening side corresponding to the side door of the shell. The support frame is provided with several slide rails, the length direction of which is perpendicular to the side door. Cold airflow entering from the top of the shell downwards enters each storage compartment to cool the surface of the silicon rods. This application features a simple structure and convenient clamping, allowing direct clamping and fixing of vertical silicon rods. It can clamp and fix vertical single silicon rods of different diameters, offering strong versatility and high safety performance. It not only reduces the number of silicon rod handling operations and cooling steps, lowering safety risks and human error, but also shortens the silicon rod cooling time and improves production efficiency.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application belongs to the field of zone melting single crystal growth technology, and in particular relates to a vertical silicon rod cooling device, a transfer vehicle that works in conjunction with the cooling device, and a production line equipped with the cooling device and / or the transfer vehicle. Background Technology

[0002] Currently, after zone melting single crystal growth, the surface temperature of the single crystal reaches 700-800℃, requiring multiple cooling steps: first, initial cooling to 600-800℃ within the furnace chamber; then, removal via a single crystal cart and static cooling within the chamber; finally, horizontal placement on a horizontal cooling cart for air cooling. This cooling method is cumbersome, involves frequent handling, and presents safety risks and inefficiency. Furthermore, the horizontal cooling cart occupies a large space, has slow cooling efficiency, and cannot adapt to the cooling requirements of single crystals of different sizes. Summary of the Invention

[0003] This application provides a vertical silicon rod cooling device, a transfer vehicle, and a production line. Through its vertical structural design, it solves the problems of low cooling efficiency and high handling risks in existing technologies. By replacing the traditional horizontal cooling structure with a vertical one, cooling efficiency is improved, and the risks and time wasted during single-crystal handling are reduced.

[0004] To solve at least one of the above-mentioned technical problems, the technical solution adopted in this application is:

[0005] A vertical silicon rod cooling device includes a vertically arranged storage compartment, a shell for supporting the storage compartment, and a support frame for supporting the shell; wherein,

[0006] The storage compartment is equipped with several sets of adjustable pulley assemblies for clamping the outer diameter of silicon rods;

[0007] The storage compartment is constructed as a cylindrical structure with an arc-shaped notch along its length, and its opening side corresponds to the side door of the shell.

[0008] The support frame is provided with several slide rails, and the length direction of the slide rails is perpendicular to the side where the side door is located.

[0009] The cold airflow entering from the top of the casing downwards enters each of the storage compartments to cool the surface of the silicon rods.

[0010] Furthermore, the housing is constructed as a cuboid structure, with the side door positioned on one side of its width; its top is an open structure, its bottom surface is a semi-closed structure, and it is directly fixed to the support frame.

[0011] Furthermore, the storage compartment is suspended and fixed in the housing, and an air outlet is provided on its top on the lower surface of the housing, which is directly connected to the support frame;

[0012] An external blower enters directly into the top of the storage chamber through a pipe, and the cold airflow is guided through the inner wall of the storage chamber and blown evenly onto the surface of the silicon rod to accelerate cooling.

[0013] Preferably, the arc-shaped notch of the storage compartment has a slant length in its cross-section ranging from 200 to 350 mm, and the slant length is not less than 1 / 4 and not greater than 1 / 2 of the diameter of the storage compartment.

[0014] Furthermore, a vacuum pump connected to the air outlet is provided inside the support frame to discharge the cold air entering the storage chamber; the top of the storage chamber, the air outlet and the vacuum pump are interconnected to realize the recycling of airflow.

[0015] Furthermore, a plurality of storage compartments are provided within the housing; each storage compartment is equipped with a vacuum pump, and each storage compartment is connected to the blower via a single line, and adjacent storage compartments can operate independently.

[0016] Furthermore, each of the storage compartments is equipped with two sets of the pulley assemblies, which are respectively placed at the upper and lower ends of the vertical guide rail. They can slide up and down along the guide rail to accommodate silicon rods of different lengths. The pulley assembly includes a pulley group that is aligned and arranged, and the pulley group is driven by two independent cylinders to automatically clamp or release the crystal rod.

[0017] Preferably, the pulley assembly includes three resin pulleys distributed at 120° when clamping the silicon rod, and the cylinder. The cylinder drives the resin pulleys to expand or contract via a movable bracket to clamp or release the silicon rod. The cylinder adjusts the spacing between the resin pulleys by driving the movable bracket to accommodate silicon rods of different diameters.

[0018] Furthermore, each pulley assembly also includes a sensor for monitoring the position of the silicon rod it holds, the sensor being mounted on the cylinder; and position limit blocks are provided at both the upper and lower ends of the guide rail.

[0019] Furthermore, the slides are evenly distributed below the storage compartments and are alternately arranged with the storage compartments; casters are also provided below the support frame.

[0020] A transfer vehicle, which can be docked with the cooling device described above, is provided with a sliding frame that cooperates with the slide rail; after the transfer vehicle takes the silicon rod out of the zone melting furnace, it moves the silicon rod along the slide rail to the side door of the housing through the sliding frame and pushes the silicon rod into the vertical storage compartment.

[0021] A production line equipped with the cooling device and / or the transfer vehicle described above.

[0022] The vertical silicon rod cooling device, transfer vehicle, and production line designed in this application have a simple structure and are easy to clamp, allowing for direct clamping and fixing of vertical silicon rods. They can clamp and fix vertical single silicon rods of different diameters, offering strong versatility and high safety performance. This not only reduces the number of silicon rod handling operations and cooling steps, thus lowering safety risks and human error, but also shortens silicon rod cooling time and improves production efficiency. Furthermore, energy is saved through multi-compartment configuration for simultaneous cooling. Attached Figure Description

[0023] Figure 1 This is a perspective view of a vertical silicon rod cooling device according to this application;

[0024] Figure 2 This is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of the storage compartment in this application;

[0025] Figure 3 This is a side view of the storage compartment in this application;

[0026] Figure 4 This is a top view of the pulley assembly in this application;

[0027] Figure 5 This is a simplified diagram of a transfer vehicle.

[0028] In the picture:

[0029] 10. Shell 11. Side door 20. Storage compartment

[0030] 21. Suspension components; 22. Vacuum pump; 30. Support frame

[0031] 31. Slide rail; 32. Casters; 40. Caster assembly

[0032] 41. Guide rail; 42. Resin pulley; 43. Cylinder

[0033] 44. Movable support; 45. Limiting block; 46. Motor

[0034] 50. Silicon rods; 60. Transfer carts; 61. Sliding racks

[0035] 62. Robotic arm 64. Chassis Detailed Implementation

[0036] The present application will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0037] This embodiment proposes a vertical silicon rod cooling device, such as... Figure 1As shown, the device includes a vertically arranged storage chamber 20, a housing 10 for supporting the storage chamber 20, and a support frame 30 for supporting the housing 10. The storage chamber 20 contains several sets of adjustable pulley assemblies 40 for clamping the outer diameter of silicon rods 50. The storage chamber 20 is constructed as a cylindrical structure with an arc-shaped notch along its length, with its opening corresponding to the side door of the housing 10. The support frame 30 has several slide rails 31, the length of which is perpendicular to the side door 11. After the silicon rod is removed from the zone melting furnace by a transfer vehicle, it is transferred to the side door 11 of the cooling device. The transfer vehicle moves along the slide rails and pushes the silicon rod into the vertical cooling chamber 20. The pulley assembly 40 automatically detects the position of the silicon rod and drives the pulley assembly 40 to fit against the outer edge of the silicon rod through a cylinder 43, ensuring flexible fixation of the silicon rod. Cold airflow enters from the top of the housing 10 downwards into each storage chamber 20, blowing and cooling the surface of the silicon rod. After cooling is complete, the pulley assembly 40 automatically releases, and the silicon rod is removed by the transfer cart. Moreover, this cooling device, with its vertical structure design, reduces intermediate steps in the handling of the crystal rod, shortens the cooling time, and avoids the risks caused by human error.

[0038] Specifically, the housing 10 is constructed as a hollow cuboid structure, with a side door 11 positioned on one side of its width. The side door 11 can be a double door or an automatically rotating door, both of which are common automatic identification structures in existing structures and are conventional structures in this field; therefore, the accompanying drawings are omitted. The top of the housing 10 is an open structure; its bottom surface is a semi-enclosed structure, with only the area where the storage compartment 20 communicates with the vacuum pump 22 within the support frame 30 being open. The housing 10 is directly fixed to the support frame 30, and its outer frame is identical to that of the support frame 30.

[0039] In this embodiment, the housing 10, storage compartment 20, and support frame 30 are all made of 316L stainless steel. The storage compartment 20 is suspended and fixed above the housing 10 by a suspension member 21, passing through the open top of the housing 10 and placed inside the housing 10. The upper end face of the suspension member 21 is fixed, and its lower end face is directly fixed to the top of the storage compartment 20. The top of the storage compartment 20 is an open structure, while the bottom surface of the housing 10 is a closed structure with an air outlet directly connected to the vacuum pump 22 in the support frame 30. An external blower (not shown in the attached diagram) enters directly into the top of the storage compartment 20 through a pipe. The cold airflow is guided through the inner wall of the storage compartment 20 and evenly blown onto the surface of the silicon rod to accelerate cooling.

[0040] like Figure 2As shown in the schematic diagram of the cross-section of the storage chamber 20, it has a long cylindrical structure with an open upper surface and a closed lower surface, but an air outlet connected to the vacuum pump 22 is provided on the lower surface. A notch is provided along the length of the storage chamber 20 to facilitate the placement of the crystal rod into the storage chamber 20. Preferably, the arc-shaped notch has a shank length L of at least 200-350 mm in this cross-section, which is not less than 1 / 4 and not greater than 1 / 2 of the diameter D of the storage chamber 20. Since the diameter of existing crystal rods is less than 220 mm, the shank length L is sufficiently greater than the diameter of the crystal rod, allowing the crystal rod to be gripped by a robotic arm and pushed into the storage chamber 20.

[0041] like Figure 3 As shown, two vertically arranged guide rails 41 are provided in the storage chamber 20 and are arranged opposite each other on the same side of the diameter of the storage chamber 20. The sliding group is driven by the motor 46 to control the up and down position adjustment of the resin sliding 42 to accommodate the clamping of crystal rods of different lengths.

[0042] Furthermore, a vacuum pump 22 connected to the air outlet is installed inside the support frame 30 to expel the cold air entering the storage chamber 20. In addition, the interconnection between the top of the storage chamber 20, the air outlet, and the vacuum pump 22 enables airflow circulation, preventing cold air leakage and improving cooling efficiency.

[0043] Preferably, multiple storage compartments 20 are provided inside the housing 10. In this embodiment, three storage compartments 20 are provided to support simultaneous cooling of multiple crystal rods and improve efficiency. Each storage compartment 20 is equipped with a vacuum pump 22, and each storage compartment 20 is connected to an external blower via a single line, so that adjacent storage compartments 20 can operate independently without affecting each other.

[0044] Meanwhile, within the support frame 30 below the storage compartment 20, several slide rails 31 are evenly distributed on both sides of each storage compartment 20, and the slide rails 31 and the storage compartments 20 are alternately configured. To improve the adjustability of the support frame 30, casters 32 are also provided at its bottom.

[0045] like Figure 3 As shown, each storage compartment 20 is equipped with two sets of pulley assemblies 40, which are respectively placed at the upper and lower ends of the vertical guide rail 41. In order to limit the position of the pulley assembly 40, a position limit block 45 is provided at both the upper and lower ends of the guide rail 41. The pulley assembly 40 is driven by a motor 46 to slide up and down along the guide rail 41 to accommodate silicon rods 50 of different lengths.

[0046] like Figure 4As shown, each pulley assembly 40 includes a pulley group arranged in alignment, which is automatically clamped or released by two independent cylinders. Specifically, the pulley group includes three resin pulleys 42 distributed at 120° when clamping the crystal rod, and a cylinder 43. The movable support 44 includes two intersecting Z-shaped multi-chain supports and a straight support in the middle, with the three supports pivotally connected to the middle section of the straight support. One end of each of the two Z-shaped multi-chain supports is pivotally connected to both sides of the width of the cylinder 43, and the other end is fixed to the resin pulleys 42; both ends of the straight support are fixed to the cylinder 43 and the resin pulleys 42, respectively. The cylinder 43 drives the movable support 44 to adjust the distance between the three resin pulleys 42, thereby expanding or contracting the clamping outer diameter of the silicon rod 50 to adapt to the cooling requirements of silicon rods of different diameters.

[0047] Furthermore, each pulley assembly 40 also includes a sensor for monitoring the position of the silicon rod it holds. The sensor is mounted on the cylinder 43 and its projection direction is set toward the position of the silicon rod to monitor the position of the silicon rod end and avoid empty clamping.

[0048] After the crystal ingot is vertically removed from the zone melting furnace by the transfer cart 60, it is directly transported via rail to the storage chamber 20 in the vertical cooling device, where it is clamped and fixed by the retractable and adjustable pulley assembly 40. Simultaneously, the blower and vacuum pump are started, achieving rapid cooling through air cooling and airflow circulation. The pulley assembly 40 can also be adjusted according to the diameter of the crystal ingot to accommodate cooling requirements for crystal ingots of different diameters and lengths.

[0049] This application presents a vertical cooling device that, through the cooperation of a transfer vehicle and a track, enables the direct transfer of crystal rods from the zone melting furnace to the cooling device, avoiding the wasted time of static cooling. It not only simplifies the process and achieves high transfer efficiency, but also adapts to the needs of crystal rods of different sizes; it also avoids the risk of dropping or burns, and reduces the probability of human error and damage to the crystal rods.

[0050] A type of transfer vehicle 60, such as Figure 5 As shown, it can be connected to the cooling device mentioned above. It is equipped with a sliding frame 61 that cooperates with the slide rail 31, as well as a frame 64 and a robot arm 60. After the crystal rod is processed in the zone melting furnace, it will be unloaded from the bottom of the furnace into the temporary storage chamber. When it is necessary to retrieve the material, the door of the temporary storage chamber is opened, the transfer cart takes the silicon rod out of the zone melting furnace, and holds the outer diameter surface of the crystal rod vertically by the robot arm 60. The sliding frame 61 moves the crystal rod 50 along the slide rail 31 to the side door of the housing 10. The side door opens automatically, and the robot arm 60 pushes the silicon rod 50 directly into the vertical storage chamber 20. The roller assembly 40 drives the resin rollers 42 to hold the crystal rod 50 and fix it in the storage chamber 20. The transfer cart 60 then moves back in the opposite direction through the sliding frame 60. After the cooling is completed, the transfer cart 60 moves forward along the slide rail 31 again to retrieve the crystal rod from the storage chamber 20.

[0051] A production line equipped with the cooling device and / or transfer vehicle as described above.

[0052] The vertical silicon rod cooling device, transfer vehicle, and production line designed in this application have a simple structure and are easy to clamp, allowing for direct clamping and fixing of vertical silicon rods. They can clamp and fix vertical single silicon rods of different diameters, offering strong versatility and high safety performance. This not only reduces the number of silicon rod handling operations and cooling steps, thus lowering safety risks and human error, but also shortens silicon rod cooling time and improves production efficiency. Furthermore, energy is saved through multi-compartment configuration for simultaneous cooling.

[0053] The embodiments of this application have been described in detail above. These descriptions are merely preferred embodiments and should not be construed as limiting the scope of this application. All equivalent variations and modifications made within the scope of this application should still fall within the patent coverage of this application.

Claims

1. A vertical silicon rod cooling device, characterized in that, It includes a vertically arranged storage compartment, a shell for supporting the storage compartment, and a support frame for supporting the shell; wherein, The storage compartment is equipped with several sets of adjustable pulley assemblies for clamping the outer diameter of silicon rods; The storage compartment is constructed as a cylindrical structure with an arc-shaped notch along its length, and its opening side corresponds to the side door of the shell. The support frame is provided with several slide rails, and the length direction of the slide rails is perpendicular to the side where the side door is located. The cold airflow entering from the top of the casing downwards enters each of the storage compartments to cool the surface of the silicon rods.

2. The vertical silicon rod cooling device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The housing is constructed as a cuboid structure, and the side door is disposed on one side of its width face; Its top is an open structure, and its bottom surface is a semi-closed structure, which is directly fixed to the support frame.

3. A vertical silicon rod cooling device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The storage compartment is suspended and fixed in the shell, and an air outlet is provided on the top of the compartment on the bottom surface of the shell, which is directly connected to the support frame; An external blower enters directly into the top of the storage chamber through a pipe, and the cold airflow is guided through the inner wall of the storage chamber and blown evenly onto the surface of the silicon rod to accelerate cooling. Preferably, the arc-shaped notch of the storage compartment has a slant length in its cross-section ranging from 200 to 350 mm, and the slant length is not less than 1 / 4 and not greater than 1 / 2 of the diameter of the storage compartment.

4. The vertical silicon rod cooling device according to claim 3, characterized in that, A vacuum pump connected to the air outlet is installed inside the support frame to discharge the cold air entering the storage chamber; the top of the storage chamber, the air outlet and the vacuum pump are interconnected to realize the recycling of airflow.

5. A vertical silicon rod cooling device according to claim 4, characterized in that, The housing contains a plurality of storage compartments; each storage compartment is equipped with a vacuum pump, and each storage compartment is connected to the blower via a single line, and adjacent storage compartments can operate independently.

6. A vertical silicon rod cooling device according to any one of claims 1-2 and 4-5, characterized in that, Each storage compartment is equipped with two sets of pulley assemblies, which are respectively placed at the upper and lower ends of a vertical guide rail. They can slide up and down along the guide rail to accommodate silicon rods of different lengths. The pulley assembly includes a pulley group that is aligned and driven by two independent cylinders to automatically clamp or release the crystal rod. Preferably, the pulley assembly includes three resin pulleys distributed at 120° when clamping the silicon rod, and the cylinder. The cylinder drives the resin pulleys to expand or contract via a movable bracket to clamp or release the silicon rod. The cylinder adjusts the spacing between the resin pulleys by driving the movable bracket to accommodate silicon rods of different diameters.

7. A vertical silicon rod cooling device according to claim 6, characterized in that, Each pulley assembly also includes a sensor for monitoring the position of the silicon rod it holds, the sensor being mounted on the cylinder; position limit blocks are provided at both the upper and lower ends of the guide rail.

8. A vertical silicon rod cooling device according to any one of claims 1-2, 4-5, and 7, characterized in that, The slides are evenly distributed below the storage compartments and are alternately arranged with the storage compartments; A caster wheel is also provided below the support frame.

9. A transfer vehicle, characterized in that, It can be connected to the cooling device according to any one of claims 1-8, and is provided with a sliding frame that cooperates with the slide rail; after the transfer car takes the silicon rod out of the zone melting furnace, it moves the crystal rod to the side door of the shell along the slide rail through the sliding frame, and pushes the silicon rod into the vertical storage compartment.

10. A production line, characterized in that, It is equipped with the cooling device as described in claims 1-8 and / or the transfer vehicle as described in claim 9.

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