Substrate Magazine Unloading Device With Stack Separation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing unloading devices for substrate magazines require a significant installation space and complex actuator systems due to the need for a vacuum gripper to separate substrates within the magazine, limiting their efficiency and compactness.
Innovation Solution
A gripper arm pushes a substrate stack onto a separating device above the conveyor belt, where a guide system holds and separates the lowermost substrate from the stack, using actuators to align and detach it directly onto the conveyor belt without a vacuum gripper, allowing for a compact design and simplified actuator system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a vacuum gripper is used to separate substrates within the magazine, then substrate separation is achieved, but installation space and actuator system complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the vacuum gripper from the magazine interior and relocates it to the conveyor belt area. The separation function is maintained by having the vacuum gripper on the conveyor belt pick up substrates that have been pushed out by the gripper arm, rather than separating substrates within the magazine confines. This reduces the complexity of actuators needed within the magazine while preserving substrate separation capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces a guide system with guide walls and guide rails as an intermediary mechanism between the gripper arm and the vacuum gripper. The guide system receives substrate stacks from the gripper arm, aligns them, and facilitates their transfer to the conveyor belt where the vacuum gripper completes the separation. This intermediary structure simplifies the overall actuator system by dividing the separation task into manageable stages.
2Ease of operation
If a vacuum gripper is installed within the substrate magazine for separation, then substrate separation is enabled, but the installation space requirement increases
Solution Approach 1:
The vacuum gripper is extracted from the magazine interior and repositioned on the conveyor belt structure. This relocation eliminates the need for additional space within the magazine for housing and operating the vacuum gripper, while the separation function is maintained through the coordinated action of the gripper arm and the repositioned vacuum gripper.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the spatial dimension where substrate separation occurs. Instead of separating substrates horizontally within the magazine drawers, the system pushes substrates out onto the conveyor belt and performs separation in the vertical dimension using the guide system and repositioned vacuum gripper. This dimensional shift reduces the horizontal space requirement within the magazine.
3Area of stationary object
If the gripper arm pushes substrate stacks out above the conveyor belt with a guide system, then installation space is reduced, but the separation mechanism becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The separation mechanism is segmented into distinct functional components: the gripper arm for extracting substrate stacks, the guide system with guide walls and guide rails for alignment and reception, and the vacuum gripper on the conveyor belt for final separation. This segmentation distributes the complexity across multiple simple, specialized components rather than requiring a single complex mechanism, making the overall system more manageable despite the reduced installation space.
Data Source
AI summary
The application relates to an unloading device for a substrate magazine, wherein the substrate magazine has multiple drawers in which substrates are arrangeable for storage or temporary storage, having at least one controllable conveyor belt on which substrates can be placed, and having at least one controllable gripper arm, which is designed to push at least one substrate out of a drawer of the substrate magazine to the conveyor belt, wherein the conveyor belt and the gripper arm are arranged on a common and movably mounted carrier, wherein the gripper arm is arranged at least in a starting position below the conveyor belt in order to grip at least one substrate from below for pushing out. It is provided for this purpose that the gripper arm is designed to push a substrate stack having several substrates lying one on top of another out of one of the drawers above the conveyor belt, that a separating device is arranged above the conveyor belt, into which the substrate stack is insertable by the gripper arm and that the separating device is designed to release the lowest substrate of the substrate stack from the substrate stack and deposit it on the conveyor belt underneath.