Overhead Stocker Layout for High-Density Storage Above Processing Tools
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Solution Overview
Problem
In semiconductor manufacturing factories, existing stocker systems require significant floor space for installation, limiting storage efficiency and necessitating the use of valuable floor area for shelving and crane infrastructure.
Innovation Solution
A stocker system is designed with overhead transport vehicles and shelves installed above the factory floor, utilizing a ceiling-mounted track system to maximize vertical storage density, allowing for multiple stages of shelves with a smaller vertical dimension than the carry-in/out port, and enabling efficient article transfer between storage shelves and the overhead transport vehicle.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If shelves and crane are installed on the floor, then article storage and transfer are enabled, but floor space is occupied reducing storage efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent relocates the stocker system from the floor level to the ceiling level, utilizing the vertical dimension and overhead space. The shelves are suspended from the ceiling and the crane operates along ceiling-mounted tracks, transforming a two-dimensional floor-based storage system into a three-dimensional space-efficient overhead system that does not occupy valuable floor area.
2Quantity of substance
If multiple storage shelves are provided in vertical stages, then storage density is improved, but vertical space requirement increases
Solution Approach 1:
The stocker system is divided into multiple independent storage shelves arranged in vertical stages, each shelf being a separate storage unit. This segmentation allows the system to achieve high storage density by stacking multiple shallow storage levels vertically, with each shelf having a smaller vertical dimension than the carry-in/out port, thereby increasing overall storage capacity without requiring excessive vertical clearance.
3Ease of operation
If carry-in/out port has large vertical dimension, then overhead transport vehicle can place articles, but storage shelves vertical dimension must be smaller to maintain density
Solution Approach 1:
The carry-in/out port is designed with a larger vertical dimension specifically at the interface with the overhead transport vehicle to facilitate easy article placement and removal. The storage shelves, in contrast, are designed with smaller vertical dimensions to maximize storage density. This local differentiation of dimensional characteristics optimizes both operational ease at the port and storage efficiency on the shelves.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention improves storage efficiency of articles by installing a stocker on the upper side to store a plurality of articles with high density while eliminating the area necessary for installing the stocker on the floor of a building. A stocker 100 is disposed above a processing device TL and includes: a plurality of shelves 10 provided in multiple stages in an up-down direction, to place articles 2 thereon; and a crane 40 to place an article 2 on the shelves 10 or take out an article 2 placed on the shelves 10. The shelves 10 include: a carry-in/out port 12 used for an overhead transport vehicle 50 to place an article 2 thereon; and storage shelves 11 used for the crane 40 to place an article 2 thereon. The carry-in/out port 12 has a vertical dimension that allows a grip 53 of the overhead transport vehicle 50 to put down and place the article 2 from the above. More storage shelves 11 are provided than the carry-in/out port 12 and are provided to have a smaller vertical dimension than that of the carry-in/out port 12. The crane 40 places an article 2 on the carry-in/out port 12 onto the storage shelves 11 or place an article 2 on the storage shelves 11 onto the carry-in/out port 12 by a transfer device 42.