Air nozzle substrate tilt control in high speed rotary sorter
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current substrate inspection systems face challenges in achieving high-speed sorting while minimizing substrate breakage due to tilting during the stacking process, which reduces throughput and increases the risk of cracks or breakage during transfer.
Innovation Solution
A high-speed rotary sorter with a rotatable support and grippers that utilize air nozzles to reorient substrates before release into bins, ensuring they align parallel to existing substrates, thereby reducing impact and preventing damage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If substrates are picked and stacked in bins during high-speed sorting, then throughput is improved, but substrate breakage increases due to tilting during the stacking process
Solution Approach 1:
The air nozzle applies air pressure to the substrate before it is released into the bin, pre-adjusting the substrate's orientation to match the angle of the stacked substrates. This preliminary action prevents tilting during the stacking process, allowing high-speed sorting to proceed without increasing breakage rates.
Solution Approach 2:
A stream of air acts as an intermediary between the gripper and the substrate during release. The air pressure from the nozzle mediates the substrate's orientation, ensuring it aligns properly with existing stacks in the bin before contact occurs, thus preventing damage while maintaining high throughput.
2Reliability
If comprehensive inspections are performed at multiple inspection stations, then quality control is improved, but inspection time increases reducing throughput
Solution Approach 1:
The rotary sorter enables continuous substrate processing by eliminating idle transfer time between inspection stations. Substrates are constantly rotated and sorted without stopping, maintaining continuous inspection and sorting operations. This continuity preserves quality control while maximizing throughput by keeping substrates in motion throughout the entire process.
3Speed
If substrates are dropped a short distance during stacking, then sorting speed is improved, but tilt-induced cracking occurs when substrates contact the stack
Solution Approach 1:
The air nozzle applies preliminary counter-action to the substrate's natural tilting motion during the drop. By directing air pressure at the substrate before release, the system pre-compensates for the tilting that would otherwise occur during the short drop, counteracting the harmful effect before it can cause cracking upon contact with the stack.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively sorts substrates at a rate of at least 5,400 per hour with reduced breakage and damage, enhancing throughput and maintaining substrate quality by controlling the tilt angle and orientation of substrates during stacking.
Implementation Method 1
Each of the plurality of individually removable sorting bins includes a single air nozzle for reorienting a planar orientation of the substrate after release from the at least one gripper
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus and method for sorting a plurality of substrates is disclosed. The apparatus includes a sorting unit capable of supporting a plurality of bins, a rotatable support disposed within the sorting unit, the rotatable support rotatable about a rotational axis, a plurality of grippers coupled to the rotatable support on a common radius relative to the rotational axis, the grippers positioned to travel along a path above the bins as the rotatable support rotates, and an air nozzle configured to reorient a sorted substrate relative to a stacked substrate in a bin of the plurality of bins when released by one of the grippers into the bin.