KR-20260063457-A - SYSTEM OF TRANSFERING AND CONTROLLING METHOD THEREOF

KR20260063457AKR 20260063457 AKR20260063457 AKR 20260063457AKR-20260063457-A

Abstract

A conveying system according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises a plurality of rails provided along a ceiling, load ports provided on the plurality of rails and configured to allow a container to be placed thereon, a plurality of conveying vehicles that travel along the plurality of rails and convey the container to the port, a plurality of power supply devices embedded in each of the plurality of rails to supply power to the plurality of conveying vehicles, and a control device that controls at least one of the plurality of conveying vehicles and the plurality of power supply devices. The control device may determine whether to operate the plurality of power supply devices based on at least one of the actual power consumption, expected power consumption, and the number of load ports existing in each of the plurality of rails.

Inventors

윤기섭

Assignees

세메스 주식회사

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20241030

Claims (10)

Multiple rails provided along the ceiling; A plurality of load ports provided on the aforementioned plurality of rails and configured to allow a container to be seated thereon; A plurality of transport vehicles that travel along the plurality of rails and transport the container to the port; A plurality of power supply devices each embedded in the plurality of rails and supplying power to the plurality of transport vehicles; and It includes a control device that controls at least one of the plurality of transport vehicles and the plurality of power supply devices; The above control device is, A conveying system that determines whether to operate the plurality of power supply devices based on at least one of the actual power consumption, expected power consumption, and the number of load ports existing in each of the plurality of conveying vehicles in each of the plurality of rails.
In paragraph 1, The above control device is, The actual power consumption of the above-mentioned return vehicles is obtained for each of the above-mentioned multiple rails, and Among the plurality of rails above, first rails whose actual power consumption is greater than a first set value are extracted, and A conveying system that controls the plurality of power supply devices so that the first power supply device embedded in the first rails among the plurality of power supply devices operates.
In paragraph 2, The above control device is, Among the plurality of rails above, extract the second rails whose actual power consumption is smaller than the first set value, and A conveying system that controls the plurality of power supply devices so that the second power supply device embedded in the second rails among the plurality of power supply devices does not operate.
In paragraph 1, The above control device is, The estimated power consumption of the above-mentioned return vehicles is obtained for each of the above-mentioned multiple rails, and Among the plurality of rails above, extract third rails whose expected power consumption is greater than the second set value, and A conveying system that controls the plurality of power supply devices so that the third power supply device embedded in the third rails among the plurality of power supply devices operates.
In paragraph 4, The above control device is, Among the plurality of rails above, extract the fourth rails whose expected power consumption is smaller than the second set value, and A conveying system that controls the plurality of power supply devices so that the fourth power supply device embedded in the fourth rails among the plurality of power supply devices does not operate.
In paragraph 1, The above control device is, A transport system that calculates the actual power consumption or the expected power consumption by varying the power consumption weight according to the operating state of each of the above transport vehicles.
In paragraph 6, The operating state of each of the above-mentioned return vehicles is, It includes an acceleration state of accelerating along the rail, a transfer state of returning the container to the port, a driving state of traveling at a constant speed along the rail, and a waiting state of waiting on the rail. A conveying system in which the above power consumption weighting decreases in the order of the above acceleration driving state, the above transfer loading state, the above driving state, and the above standby state.
In paragraph 1, The above control device is, Extracting fifth rails that include a number of load ports smaller than a preset number among the plurality of rails above, and A conveying system that controls the plurality of power supply devices so that the fifth power supply device embedded in the fifth rails does not operate.
In paragraph 8, The above control device is, Extracting the sixth rails among the plurality of rails above in which the number of load ports is greater than the number of pre-set load ports, and A conveying system that controls the plurality of power supply devices so that the sixth power supply device embedded in the sixth rails operates.
Multiple rails provided along the ceiling; A plurality of load ports provided on the aforementioned plurality of rails and configured to allow a container to be seated thereon; A plurality of transport vehicles that travel along the plurality of rails and transport the container to the port; A plurality of power supply devices each embedded in the plurality of rails above to supply power to the transport vehicle; and It includes a control device that controls at least one of the plurality of transport vehicles and the plurality of power supply devices; The above control device is, Determining whether each of the plurality of power supply devices operates based on at least one of the actual power consumption and the expected power consumption of the plurality of transport vehicles on each of the plurality of rails, and The above control device When obtaining the above actual power consumption or the above expected power consumption, the power consumption weighting is varied according to the operating state of each of the above transport vehicles, and The operating status of the return vehicles is, It includes an acceleration state of accelerating along the rail, a transfer state of returning the container to the port, a driving state of traveling at a constant speed along the rail, and a waiting state of waiting on the rail. A conveying system in which the above power consumption weighting decreases in the order of the above acceleration driving state, the above transfer loading state, the above driving state, and the above standby state.

Description

Transfer system and control method thereof The present invention relates to a conveying system and a method for controlling the same. Generally, to manufacture semiconductor devices, various types of processes such as deposition, photolithography, and etching are performed, and the devices for performing each of these processes are placed within the semiconductor manufacturing line. Items such as substrates (e.g., wafers, glass) that are workpieces in the semiconductor device manufacturing process can be provided to each semiconductor process device in a state contained in containers such as FOUPs and PODs. Additionally, the items on which the process has been performed are recovered from each semiconductor process device into containers, and the recovered containers can be returned to the outside. Containers are transported by a transport vehicle, such as an Overhead Hoist Transport Apparatus (OHT). The transport vehicle transports containers containing goods to a load port of any of the semiconductor process equipment. Additionally, the transport vehicle can pick up containers containing processed goods from the load port and transport them externally or to another of the semiconductor process equipment. The transport vehicle travels along rails installed along the ceiling of the semiconductor manufacturing line to transport containers containing goods. Meanwhile, the HID (High Frequency Induction Device) system, a contactless power supply method for OHTs, is configured to supply active power to each rail. However, the HID system supplies power to each rail regardless of the number of OHTs running on them, which presents a problem of power waste. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a conveying system according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a return system control method according to one embodiment of the present invention. Embodiments of the present invention are described below with reference to the attached drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily implement them. However, the present invention may be embodied in various different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. Furthermore, in describing preferred embodiments of the present invention in detail, specific descriptions of related known functions or configurations are omitted if it is determined that such detailed descriptions may unnecessarily obscure the essence of the present invention. Additionally, the same reference numerals are used throughout the drawings for parts having similar functions and operations. The term 'comprising' a component means that, unless specifically stated otherwise, it does not exclude other components but rather allows for the inclusion of additional components. Specifically, terms such as "comprising" or "having" are intended to indicate the existence of the features, numbers, steps, actions, components, parts, or combinations thereof described in the specification, and should be understood as not precluding the existence or addition of one or more other features, numbers, steps, actions, components, parts, or combinations thereof. Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Additionally, the shapes and sizes of elements in drawings may be exaggerated for clearer explanation. The term "and/or" includes any one of the listed items and all combinations of one or more thereof. Additionally, in this specification, the meaning of "connected" refers not only to cases where Member A and Member B are directly connected, but also to cases where Member A and Member B are indirectly connected by Member C being interposed between Member A and Member B. Embodiments of the present invention may be modified in various forms, and the scope of the present invention should not be interpreted as being limited to the following embodiments. These embodiments are provided to more fully explain the present invention to those with average knowledge in the art. Accordingly, the shapes of the elements in the drawings have been exaggerated to emphasize clearer explanations. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a conveying system according to one embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, a conveying system (10) according to one embodiment of the present invention may include a plurality of rails (100), a plurality of load ports (200), a plurality of conveying vehicles (300), a plurality of power supply devices (400), and a control device (500). A plurality of rails (100) can provide a path for a plurality of transport vehicles (300) to travel on, as described below. A plurality of rails (100) can be fixedly installed on the ceiling of a semiconductor manufacturing line. A plurality of rails (100) can be installed along the ceiling of a semiconductor manufacturing line so that semiconductor process devices can be viewed from above. The installation range of the plurality of rails (100) can be arranged over a wide