An overhead transport vehicle temporarily places a FOUP at a ceiling suspended shelf while transporting the FOUP to a target position by traveling along a rail on a ceiling of a building from which the ceiling suspended is suspended. The ceiling suspended shelf includes an upper shelf including an upper support surface that supports the FOUP. A level of the upper support surface is the same or substantially the same as a level of the rail.

A stacker crane that prevents an increase in facility cost while lightening a mast and transfers an article to a target position, includes a traveling carriage including a carriage driver and traveling on a track provided on a ceiling of a facility, a mast suspended from the traveling carriage, an elevating platform vertically movable and guided along the mast, a transfer conveyor to transfer an article, a stopper to fix the mast, a switch to switch a state of the mast between a fixed and released states by the stopper, in which the switch releases the fixing of the stopper to allow a lower portion of the mast to follow an upper portion of the mast in the traveling direction when the carriage driver drives the traveler, the stopper fixes the mast when the carriage driver stops the traveling carriage.

A storing system includes: a traveling rail including a plurality of first rails extending in a first direction and a plurality of second rails extending in a second direction, the first rails and the second rails being disposed in a grid pattern on the same horizontal plane to form lengthwise and crosswise a plurality of opening areas each of which is surrounded by a pair of the first rails and a pair of the second rails; a vehicle including a traveling unit and a transfer unit; and a storage unit on which a FOUP is to be placed. The storage unit includes a plurality of rack units adjacent to each other. Each of the rack units includes a placement member on which the FOUP is to be placed, is provided such that the placement member is positioned directly below the corresponding opening area, and is detachable from the traveling rail.

A cargo transporting vehicle configured to travel along a path of a work site is provided. The cargo transporting vehicle includes: a traveling unit configured to travel on the path; a plate configured to load a cargo thereon; a loading unit including at least an articulated arm structure in which a width and an extendable length are adjusted according to dimensions of the cargo, the articulated arm structure being configured to load and unload the cargo onto and from the plate; and a plate lifting unit configured to raise or lower the plate.

An apparatus for handling wafer carriers in a semiconductor fabrication facility (FAB) is disclosed. In one example, the apparatus includes: a table configured to receive a wafer carrier having a first door and operable to hold a plurality of wafers; an opening mechanism configured to open the first door of the wafer carrier; and a door storage space configured to store the first door. The apparatus may be either located on a floor of the FAB or physically coupled to a ceiling of the FAB.

There is provided a transport control system assigning multiple jobs to an overhead hoist transport (OHT) based on the availability of linkage transporting and the likelihood of transport congestion. The transport control system includes: a plurality of transports, each of the plurality of transports transporting a carrier with a wafer loaded thereon; and a transport control apparatus controlling the plurality of transports and determining one of the plurality of transports as a target transport to which multiple jobs are to be assigned. The transport control apparatus determines one of the plurality of transports as the target transport based on a first element, which is the availability of linkage transporting, and a second element, which is the likelihood of transport congestion.

A mark printing device includes a driving unit driving along a driving rail of an overhead hoist transport, a printing unit being configured to print on the driving rail a mark for guiding a motion of a vehicle, a data processing unit receiving design data including design information of the driving rail and first information on a position and type of the mark from a server, an encoder unit being configured to calculate a rotation amount of a servo motor provided in the driving unit to detect a current position of the driving unit and a driving distance of the driving unit, and a control unit being configured to control the driving unit and the printing unit to print the mark on the driving rail by using the design data and second information on the current position and the driving distance of the driving unit.

A transport system includes a track, transport vehicles, an area controller, buffers, and a host controller. The area controller, when a number of the transport vehicles present within a control area is a predetermined number and when receiving a first transport command to convey an article from a transfer port to a transport destination outside the control area from the host controller, stores the first transport command and transmits a report that the first transport command is not able to be assigned to the transport vehicle to the host controller. The host controller, when receiving the report, when the buffer is present, transmits a command to delete the stored first transport command to the area controller, generates a second transport command to convey the article from the transfer port to the buffer, and transmits the second transport command to the area controller.

Provided is a transport system to minimize an interference between motors of a transport vehicle. The transport system comprises: a first motor controller corresponding to a first wheel and configured to generate a first current value; a first motor system configured to move based on the first current value and provide a first position value according to the movement; a disturbance observer configured to receive the first current value and the first position value and calculate a first disturbance value affecting the first motor system; a second motor controller corresponding to a second wheel and configured to generate a second current value; a compensation current generator configured to generate a second compensation current value based on the second current value and the first disturbance value; and a second motor system configured to move by the second compensation current value and provide a second position value according to the movement.

A support member system is described for association with an overhead transport system. The support member system provides a safety feature to the overhead transport system by which the overhead transport system is able to avoid damage to wafers that are contained within a wafer cassette that is unintentionally released by the overhead transport system. The support member system is able to prevent such released cassettes from impacting the ground or tools located under the overhead transport system. The support member system targets wafer cassettes that have dimensions which are different than the dimensions of wafer cassettes for which the overhead transport system was originally designed to transport. Stocker systems for receiving, storing and delivering different types of wafer cassettes are also described.