Load Port Apparatus Side Base Segmentation for Door Rigidity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional load port apparatuses face challenges in supporting the increased moment generated by upsized doors during opening and closing operations, leading to reduced rigidity and increased weight, making it difficult to accurately install and operate the apparatus with respect to semiconductor processing equipment.
Innovation Solution
A load port apparatus design featuring a main base with a predetermined angle projection, a connecting plate for coupling to the attachment surface, and a door drive mechanism with elongated guide rails, which provides higher in-plane rigidity parallel to the door's moving direction, allowing for accurate opening and closing of the door while reducing the weight of the side base.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of moving object
If the door is upsized to accommodate larger wafer bore diameters, then the opening portion can accommodate larger wafers, but the weight of the door increases and the door drive mechanism requires larger actuation force
Solution Approach 1:
The side base is divided into a first side base and a second side base that are coupled together. This segmentation allows the door support function to be distributed across multiple structural elements, enabling the door to be larger without concentrating all the load on a single thick plate, thus managing weight and structural requirements more effectively
2Strength
If the thickness of the side base is increased to secure sufficient rigidity against dynamic loads, then the rigidity against moment is improved, but the weight of the side base increases
Solution Approach 1:
The side base is segmented into two separate bases (first and second side bases) that are coupled together. This segmentation allows the structure to achieve the required rigidity through the combined geometry and coupling of multiple elements rather than increasing the thickness of a single plate, thereby reducing the overall weight while maintaining structural strength
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of increasing rigidity by adding thickness in one dimension, the solution uses the coupling of two side bases arranged in a specific geometric configuration. This approach leverages the third dimension and spatial arrangement to achieve the required rigidity against moment loads without proportionally increasing weight
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a load port apparatus having a structure capable of resisting against a moment generated at a time of driving of a door increased in weight owing to upsizing. A pair of rectangular main bases, which project perpendicularly to an attachment surface of the load port apparatus and elongated parallel to the attachment surface, are coupled to each other with a coupling shaft, and the structural body including those components is fixed to the attachment surface through intermediation of I-shaped plates capable of being held in close surface contact with the attachment surface. Mechanisms of a door drive mechanism, a placing table, and the like are arranged on an inner side between the pair of main bases of the structural body.