Silicon wafer feeding device and feeding machine

Abstract

The utility model relates to a kind of silicon wafer feeding device and delivery machine, including adsorption mechanism and storage mechanism.Advertisement mechanism includes drive assembly and adsorption head, and storage mechanism includes the gas blowing assembly of being set to at least one side of storage site.The silicon wafer to be processed is stored in the storage site of storage mechanism and forms silicon wafer stacking.When the silicon wafer that needs is fed, gas blowing assembly first gas blows along lateral to the stacking of storage site, and the gas stream that blows in can destroy the vacuum adsorption state between silicon wafer, to make silicon wafer natural separation between each other.Moreover, the lateral gas stream can generate a small transverse force or lifting force to silicon wafer, to form small gap between silicon wafer in stacking.Thus, when adsorption head executes suction action, it can accurately only adsorb uppermost single silicon wafer, and the silicon wafer below will not be taken together.Therefore, the above-mentioned silicon wafer feeding device and delivery machine can effectively avoid sticking when silicon wafer is fed, to help improve production yield and process stability.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to the field of solar cell technology, and in particular to a silicon wafer feeding device and a feeding machine. Background Technology

[0002] In the manufacturing process of solar cells, silicon wafers, as a key basic material, are typically loaded one by one into specialized loading boxes after being shaped. When moving to subsequent processes, the silicon wafers must be removed from the loading boxes one by one and transferred to baskets to achieve the conversion from a stacked state to a single-wafer separation state, thus meeting the requirements of subsequent processes for individual wafer retrieval. However, due to the thinness and smooth surface of silicon wafers, they tend to adhere tightly when stacked, causing the upper wafers to often lift along with the lower wafers when using suction cups for extraction. This phenomenon not only affects the separation effect but also easily causes wafer breakage during the retrieval process, severely impacting production yield and process stability. Utility Model Content

[0003] Therefore, it is necessary to provide a silicon wafer feeding device and feeder that can prevent silicon wafers from sticking together during feeding, in order to address the above problems.

[0004] A silicon wafer feeding device includes an adsorption mechanism and a storage mechanism; the adsorption mechanism includes a driving component and an adsorption head, the storage mechanism is provided with a storage position for stacking silicon wafers, and the adsorption head can pick up the silicon wafer located at the storage position under the drive of the driving component; the storage mechanism also includes an air blowing component disposed on at least one side of the storage position, and the air blowing component can blow air laterally toward the storage position.

[0005] In one embodiment, the driving component is capable of driving the adsorption head to move up and down in the vertical direction and rotate about an axis parallel to the vertical direction.

[0006] In one embodiment, the storage mechanism is provided with a plurality of storage positions arranged in parallel along a first direction, and the adsorption mechanism is provided with a plurality of adsorption heads corresponding to the plurality of storage positions.

[0007] In one embodiment, the plurality of adsorption heads have a height difference in the vertical direction.

[0008] In one embodiment, the driving component includes a mounting plate with multiple lifting structures on the mounting plate. Multiple adsorption heads are respectively disposed on the lifting ends of the multiple lifting structures, and each lifting structure has a rotating structure connected to the adsorption head at its lifting end.

[0009] In one embodiment, each storage position is provided with two storage areas arranged side by side along a first direction, each storage area is capable of stacking silicon wafers, and each adsorption head includes two suction cups arranged side by side along the first direction.

[0010] In one embodiment, each of the storage areas is provided with the air blowing components on both sides of a second direction, which is perpendicular to the first direction.

[0011] In one embodiment, a support frame is also included, on which a plurality of adsorption mechanisms are arranged at intervals, and a material storage mechanism is provided for each adsorption mechanism.

[0012] In one embodiment, a transfer mechanism is provided on the support frame for each of the adsorption mechanisms, and the transfer mechanism can drive the corresponding adsorption mechanism to move along the support frame.

[0013] A feeding machine includes a silicon wafer feeding device as described in any of the preferred embodiments above.

[0014] In the aforementioned silicon wafer loading and unloading device and machine, the silicon wafers to be processed are pre-stacked in the storage positions of the storage mechanism to form a silicon wafer stack. When loading the required silicon wafers, the air blowing component first blows air laterally towards the stack in the storage position. The airflow can disrupt the vacuum adsorption state between the silicon wafers, thereby causing the silicon wafers to separate naturally. Moreover, the lateral airflow generates a small lateral force or lifting force on the silicon wafers, thus creating tiny gaps between the silicon wafers within the stack. In this way, when the suction head performs the suction action, it can accurately pick up only the top single silicon wafer without lifting the silicon wafers below it. Therefore, the aforementioned silicon wafer loading and unloading device and machine can effectively prevent silicon wafers from sticking together during loading, thereby helping to improve production yield and process stability. Attached Figure Description

[0015] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0016] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the silicon wafer feeding device in a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0017] Figure 2 for Figure 1 A top view of the silicon wafer loading device shown;

[0018] Figure 3 for Figure 1 Side view of the silicon wafer loading device shown;

[0019] Figure 4 for Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the adsorption mechanism in the silicon wafer feeding device is shown.

[0020] Figure 5 for Figure 4 Front view of the adsorption mechanism shown;

[0021] Figure 6 for Figure 1 The diagram shows the structure of the material storage mechanism in the silicon wafer feeding device.

[0022] Figure 7 for Figure 6 The top view of the material storage mechanism shown. Detailed Implementation

[0023] To make the above-mentioned objects, features, and advantages of this utility model more apparent and understandable, the specific embodiments of this utility model will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Many specific details are set forth in the following description to provide a full understanding of this utility model. However, this utility model can be implemented in many other ways different from those described herein, and those skilled in the art can make similar modifications without departing from the spirit of this utility model. Therefore, this utility model is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.

[0024] In the description of this utility model, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "transverse", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", "axial", "radial", "circumferential", etc., indicating the orientation or positional relationship are based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing this utility model and simplifying the description, and are not intended to indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as a limitation of this utility model.

[0025] Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of indicated technical features. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of that feature. In the description of this utility model, "a plurality of" means at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless otherwise explicitly specified.

[0026] In this utility model, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "installation," "connection," "joining," and "fixing," etc., should be interpreted broadly. For example, they can refer to a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral part; they can refer to a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; they can refer to a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium; they can refer to the internal communication of two components or the interaction between two components, unless otherwise explicitly limited. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above terms in this utility model according to the specific circumstances.

[0027] In this utility model, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, "above" or "below" the second feature can mean that the first feature is in direct contact with the second feature, or that the first feature is in indirect contact with the second feature through an intermediate medium. Furthermore, "above," "on top of," and "over" the second feature can mean that the first feature is directly above or diagonally above the second feature, or simply that the first feature is at a higher horizontal level than the second feature. "Below," "below," and "under" the second feature can mean that the first feature is directly below or diagonally below the second feature, or simply that the first feature is at a lower horizontal level than the second feature.

[0028] It should be noted that when an element is referred to as being "fixed to" or "set on" another element, it can be directly on the other element or there may be an intervening element. When an element is considered to be "connected to" another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or there may be an intervening element. The terms "vertical," "horizontal," "upper," "lower," "left," "right," and similar expressions used herein are for illustrative purposes only and do not represent the only possible implementation.

[0029] Please see Figure 1 This utility model provides a silicon wafer feeding device 100 and a feeding machine (not shown in the figure). The feeding machine includes the silicon wafer feeding device 100.

[0030] The aforementioned feeding machine is generally used to perform a series of operations on the silicon wafers output from the previous process, such as inspection, correction, waste removal, screening, and classification, before conveying them to the next process. In the solar cell production process, the processed silicon wafers are generally tightly stacked to form a stack. The feeding machine can feed the silicon wafers one by one and finally insert them into a basket, thereby realizing the conversion of the silicon wafers from a stacked state to a single-wafer separated state to meet the requirements of single-wafer retrieval.

[0031] Please refer to the following: Figure 2 and Figure 3 The silicon wafer feeding device 100 in the preferred embodiment of this utility model includes an adsorption mechanism 110 and a storage mechanism 120.

[0032] The adsorption mechanism 110 is used to pick up the stored silicon wafers, while the storage mechanism 120 is used to store the silicon wafers. Specifically, the storage mechanism 120 is provided with a storage position 101 (see...). Figure 7 The silicon wafers can be stacked in storage position 101 to form a stack.

[0033] Please refer to the following: Figure 4 and Figure 5 The adsorption mechanism 110 includes a driving component 111 and an adsorption head 112. The adsorption head 112, driven by the driving component 111, can pick up silicon wafers located at the storage position 101. The adsorption head 112 typically uses negative pressure adsorption to pick up the silicon wafers; however, in other embodiments, the adsorption head 112 can also use electromagnetic adsorption or other methods. After picking up the silicon wafer, the adsorption head 112 can move away from the storage position 101 under the drive of the driving component 111. The adsorption head 112 can move the silicon wafer towards the loading position, and once the silicon wafer is in place, the adsorption head 112 releases the silicon wafer to complete the loading process.

[0034] Specifically in this embodiment, the driving component 111 can drive the adsorption head 112 to rise and fall in the vertical direction and rotate around an axis parallel to the vertical direction.

[0035] Before picking up the silicon wafer, the adsorption head 112 moves above the storage position 101. Then, the drive assembly 111 drives the adsorption head 112 to descend and approach the silicon wafer to achieve adsorption. After the adsorption head 112 successfully picks up the silicon wafer, the drive assembly 111 drives the adsorption head 112 to rise and remove the silicon wafer from the storage position 101. Normally, the silicon wafer is placed horizontally in the storage position 101, but it needs to be inserted vertically when moving it into the basket. Therefore, after the adsorption head 112 picks up the silicon wafer, by driving the adsorption head 112 to rotate 90 degrees, the silicon wafer can be switched from a horizontal to a vertical position to match the direction of subsequent insertion into the basket.

[0036] Please refer to it again. Figure 1 and Figure 2 Specifically, in this embodiment, the silicon wafer loading device 100 further includes a support frame 130 and a transfer mechanism 140. The adsorption mechanism 110 is mounted on the support frame 130 and can move along the support frame 130 under the drive of the transfer mechanism 140. By driving the adsorption mechanism 110 to move along the support frame 130, the transfer mechanism 140 can move the adsorption mechanism 110 between above the storage position 101 and above the loading position. When the adsorption mechanism 110 moves above the storage position 101, the drive component 111 can drive the adsorption head 112 to descend and pick up the silicon wafer; and when the adsorption mechanism 110 moves above the loading position, the adsorption head 112 releases the silicon wafer to achieve loading.

[0037] The support frame 130 is used to fix the silicon wafer loading device 100 to the frame of the feeding machine. Specifically, the support frame 130 can be I-shaped, with the crossbar in the middle used to install the transfer mechanism 140 and the adsorption mechanism 110, and the vertical bars at both ends able to connect to the frame of the feeding machine. The transfer mechanism 140 can adopt a drive structure such as a motor with a transmission chain.

[0038] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the support frame 130 is provided with a plurality of spaced-apart adsorption mechanisms 110, and each adsorption mechanism 110 is provided with a material storage mechanism 120. For example, Figure 1 The support frame 130 shown has three adsorption mechanisms 110, so the storage mechanism 120 also needs to be set with three corresponding mechanisms. To simplify the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 Only one storage mechanism 120 is shown.

[0039] Multiple adsorption mechanisms 110 can simultaneously pick up silicon wafers from their corresponding storage mechanisms 120 and transfer them to the loading positions. Correspondingly, the aforementioned feeding machine can be configured with multiple parallel production lines, each with a loading position. Multiple adsorption mechanisms 110 can simultaneously load multiple sets of electrode sheets to different loading positions on different production lines, thereby significantly improving production efficiency.

[0040] Please refer to the following: Figure 6 and Figure 7 The material storage mechanism 120 includes an air blowing assembly 121 disposed on at least one side of the material storage position 101. The air blowing assembly 121 is capable of blowing air laterally toward the material storage position 101. The air blowing assembly 121 can be connected to a high-pressure air source and its on / off state is controlled by a solenoid valve. The air blowing assembly 121 has an air blowing port (not shown), which can be circular or elongated, and is generally positioned toward the material storage position 101. The lateral direction of the material storage position 101 refers to the direction approximately parallel to the bearing surface of the material storage position 101, and generally refers to the horizontal direction.

[0041] Specifically, the storage mechanism 120 generally also includes a base 123 and a carrier plate 122. The carrier plate 122 is mounted on the base 123, and its surface is flat, forming storage positions 101, thus providing good support for the silicon wafers. The air blowing assembly 121 is mounted on the base 123 and distributed on the side of the carrier plate 122. After the silicon wafers stored in the storage mechanism 120 are removed, the storage mechanism 120 can also be removed from the feeding machine to facilitate receiving silicon wafers output from the previous process. A handle (not shown in the figure) can also be provided on the base 123 to facilitate the movement of the storage mechanism 120 by the operator.

[0042] Before the adsorption head 112 performs the suction action, the air blowing assembly 121 first blows air laterally towards the stack of silicon wafers in the storage position 101. The airflow can disrupt the vacuum adsorption state between the silicon wafers, thereby causing them to separate naturally. Moreover, the lateral airflow will generate a small lateral force or lifting force on the silicon wafers, thus creating tiny gaps between the silicon wafers in the stack. In this way, the stack of silicon wafers in the storage position 101 will be in a fluffy state, thereby ensuring that the adsorption head 112 can accurately adsorb only the top single silicon wafer without lifting the silicon wafers below, effectively avoiding adhesion.

[0043] In this embodiment, the storage mechanism 120 is provided with a plurality of storage positions 101 arranged in parallel along a first direction, and the adsorption mechanism 110 is provided with a plurality of adsorption heads 112 corresponding to the plurality of storage positions 101. Specifically, the first direction refers to... Figure 7 The diagram shows the left and right directions. For example, if there are three storage positions 101 as shown, then each adsorption mechanism 110 is equipped with three adsorption heads 112. In this way, the adsorption mechanism 110 can simultaneously pick up silicon wafers from multiple storage positions 101, thereby loading multiple sets of silicon wafers to the loading position at one time, which helps to improve the production cycle.

[0044] More specifically, in this embodiment, the multiple adsorption heads 112 have a height difference in the vertical direction. That is, after the multiple adsorption heads 112 of the adsorption mechanism 110 pick up the silicon wafers respectively, the multiple silicon wafers are at different heights. In this way, when the driving component 111 drives the adsorption heads 112 to rotate, mutual interference between adjacent silicon wafers can be avoided.

[0045] Furthermore, please refer again. Figure 4 and Figure 5 In this embodiment, the drive assembly 111 includes a mounting plate 1111, on which a plurality of lifting structures 1112 are provided. A plurality of adsorption heads 112 are respectively provided at the lifting ends of the plurality of lifting structures 1112, and each lifting structure 1112 has a rotating structure 1113 connected to the adsorption head 112 at its lifting end.

[0046] Specifically, the mounting plate 1111 can be connected to the support frame 130. The lifting structure 1112 can be driven by a cylinder, and a lifting plate (not shown in the figure) can be installed at the end of the cylinder. The adsorption head 112 and the corresponding rotating structure 1113 are both installed on the lifting plate. The rotating structure 1113 can be a motor or a rotary cylinder, which can drive the connected adsorption head 112 to rotate. It can be seen that the lifting action of each adsorption head 112 is controlled individually, so that a height difference can be created between multiple adsorption heads 112 by controlling the lifting distance.

[0047] Please refer to it again. Figure 7In this embodiment, each storage position 101 is provided with two storage areas 101a arranged in parallel along the first direction, each storage area 101a can stack silicon wafers, and each adsorption head 112 includes two suction cups 1121 arranged in parallel along the first direction.

[0048] Specifically, the arrangement direction of the two storage areas 101a in the same storage position 101 is the same as the arrangement direction of multiple storage positions 101. The distance between the two suction cups 1121 corresponds to the distance between the two storage areas 101a, so the two suction cups 1121 can simultaneously adsorb silicon wafers located in the two storage areas 101a respectively. In this way, each adsorption mechanism 110 can feed two silicon wafers at the same time, and ultimately two silicon wafers can be inserted simultaneously in the same layer of the basket, which helps to further improve efficiency.

[0049] Furthermore, in this embodiment, each storage area 101a has air blowing components 121 distributed on both sides along the second direction, which is perpendicular to the first direction. Specifically, the first direction refers to... Figure 7 The direction is shown vertically. The air blowing components 121 on both sides of each storage area 101a are used to blow air into the storage area 101a. Moreover, since the air blowing components 121 corresponding to two adjacent storage areas 101a blow air along the second direction and the airflow directions are roughly parallel, they are not likely to interfere with each other.

[0050] In the aforementioned silicon wafer loading device 100 and feeding machine, the silicon wafers to be processed are pre-stacked in the storage position 101 of the storage mechanism 120 to form a silicon wafer stack. When loading the required silicon wafers, the air blowing component 121 first blows air laterally towards the stack in the storage position 101. The airflow can disrupt the vacuum adsorption state between the silicon wafers, thereby causing the silicon wafers to separate naturally. Moreover, the lateral airflow generates a small lateral force or lifting force on the silicon wafers, thereby creating a small gap between the silicon wafers in the stack. In this way, when the suction head 112 performs the suction action, it can accurately suction only the top single silicon wafer without lifting the silicon wafers below. Therefore, the aforementioned silicon wafer loading device 100 and feeding machine can effectively prevent silicon wafers from sticking together during loading, thereby helping to improve production yield and process stability.

[0051] The technical features of the above embodiments can be combined in any way. For the sake of brevity, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above embodiments are described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be considered to be within the scope of this specification.

[0052] The embodiments described above are merely illustrative of several implementations of this utility model, and while the descriptions are relatively specific and detailed, they should not be construed as limiting the scope of the utility model patent. It should be noted that those skilled in the art can make various modifications and improvements without departing from the concept of this utility model, and these all fall within the protection scope of this utility model. Therefore, the protection scope of this utility model patent should be determined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A silicon wafer feeding device, characterized in that, The device includes an adsorption mechanism and a storage mechanism. The adsorption mechanism includes a driving component and an adsorption head. The storage mechanism is provided with a storage position for stacking silicon wafers. The adsorption head can pick up the silicon wafers located at the storage position under the drive of the driving component. The storage mechanism also includes an air blowing component disposed on at least one side of the storage position. The air blowing component can blow air laterally toward the storage position.

2. The silicon wafer feeding device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The drive assembly can drive the adsorption head to rise and fall vertically and rotate around an axis parallel to the vertical direction.

3. The silicon wafer feeding device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The storage mechanism is provided with a plurality of storage positions arranged in parallel along a first direction, and the adsorption mechanism is provided with a plurality of adsorption heads corresponding to the plurality of storage positions.

4. The silicon wafer feeding device according to claim 3, characterized in that, The multiple adsorption heads have a height difference in the vertical direction.

5. The silicon wafer feeding device according to claim 4, characterized in that, The driving component includes a mounting plate, on which multiple lifting structures are provided. Multiple adsorption heads are respectively disposed at the lifting ends of the multiple lifting structures, and each lifting structure has a rotating structure connected to the adsorption head at its lifting end.

6. The silicon wafer feeding device according to claim 1, characterized in that, Each of the storage positions is provided with two storage areas arranged side by side along a first direction, each storage area is capable of stacking silicon wafers, and each adsorption head includes two suction cups arranged side by side along the first direction.

7. The silicon wafer feeding device according to claim 6, characterized in that, Each of the storage areas has air blowing components distributed on both sides along a second direction, which is perpendicular to the first direction.

8. The silicon wafer feeding device according to claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes a support frame, on which a plurality of adsorption mechanisms are arranged at intervals, and a material storage mechanism is provided for each adsorption mechanism.

9. The silicon wafer feeding device according to claim 8, characterized in that, The support frame is provided with a transfer mechanism corresponding to each of the adsorption mechanisms, and the transfer mechanism can drive the corresponding adsorption mechanism to move along the support frame.

10. A material feeding machine, characterized in that, Includes the silicon wafer feeding device as described in any one of claims 1 to 9 above.

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