Disclosed is a container. The container includes a housing having an interior space, and a support part that supports an expendable component in the interior space, and the support part includes an alignment pin that aligns the expendable component.

A first storage section includes a first support portion that supports an article and a movable support portion that movably supports the first support portion in the path width direction. A second storage section includes a second support portion whose position in a path width direction relative to a movement path is fixed, and supports the article. A space occupied by the article in a state of being supported by the second support portion is a target space, a position at which the first support portion overlaps the target space in an up-down view along an up-down direction is an overlapping position, and a position that is adjacent to a first side relative to the overlapping position and at which the first support portion does not overlap the target space in the up-down view is a non-overlapping position.

A wafer forming apparatus includes a conveying tray having an ingot accommodating section that accommodates a semiconductor ingot and a wafer accommodating section that accommodates a wafer formed from the semiconductor ingot, a belt conveyor unit that conveys the conveying tray to each processing apparatus, a cassette rack on which cassettes accommodating the wafers are placed correspondingly to the conveying trays, and a transferring unit that transfers the wafer from the wafer accommodating section of the conveying tray to the cassette placed on the cassette rack. The conveying tray is provided with an identification mark. The cassette rack or the cassette corresponding to the conveying tray is provided with the same identification mark as the identification mark provided on the conveying tray.

A second substrate transportation mechanism is generally set to transport a substrate from a substrate buffer unit to a FOUP placed on an opener. However, if a predetermined condition is satisfied, the second substrate transportation mechanism transports a substrate from the FOUP to the substrate buffer unit. That is, the second substrate transportation mechanism performs an operation different from an ordinary substrate transportation operation. Accordingly, a FOUP transportation mechanism can leave a specific FOUP at a placement position (opener) of the specific FOUP from when all the substrates are taken from the specific FOUP to when all the treated substrates are accommodated in the specific FOUP. Thus, the FOUP transportation mechanism can transport FOUPs except for the specific FOUP so that FOUP transportation efficiency can be enhanced.

Overhead transport vehicles with a hoist travel on a traveling rail for the overhead transport vehicles including a straight segment and a curved segment. A traveling rail for a local vehicle is provided below the traveling rail for the overhead transport vehicles, allows articles passing upward and downward over the traveling rail, has one end below the straight segment, extends from the one end parallelly to an extended line of the straight segment to a transfer position at the ground side, and has the other end outside an area under the straight segment. A buffer for the articles is provided below the straight segment and also below the traveling rail for the local vehicle. The local vehicle with a hoist traveling on the traveling rail for the local vehicle transfers the articles between the transfer position at the ground side and the buffer.

An apparatus for holding, positioning and/or moving an object is described. The apparatus includes a base, and a carrier which is movable relative to the base. The apparatus further includes at least three magnetic bearings, by means of which the carrier is supported on the base in a contactless manner such that the carrier can be displaced with respect to at least one predefined direction, wherein at least two of the magnetic bearings are configured as actively controllable magnetic bearings. The apparatus has at least one damping unit, which is fixed to the carrier or to the base.

A conveying device for conveying at least one wafer includes at least one transport body that is designed at least for supporting or holding a wafer. The conveying device is designed to move the at least one transport body at least two-dimensionally on a conveying surface.

A transport system includes a stocker including a crane overhead track and a suspension crane that transports an article between storages and a delivery port, an overhead-transport-vehicle overhead track outside of a stocker area and alongside the delivery port and a load port of a processing tool and extending to a stocker area, an overhead transport vehicle to transport the article between the delivery port and the load port, and a joint track. A crane runner can enter the overhead-transport-vehicle overhead track from the crane overhead track via the joint track to the stocker area.

An object is to provide an article transport vehicle which includes one or more fall preventing members while reducing any increase in complexity of the arrangement. An article transport vehicle includes a travel portion, a support portion, and a moving mechanism. The moving mechanism is configured to move the support portion to a projected position and to a retracted position. The support portion includes a support member configured to support a container, a movable member configured to be moved along a lateral width direction by the moving mechanism, and a vertically moving mechanism configured to move the support member along the vertical direction with respect to the movable member. The article transport vehicle further includes one or more fall preventing members configured to prevent a lid of a supported container from falling, and a movement coupling mechanism configured to move the one or more fall preventing members when the support member is moved.

An overhead transport vehicle includes: a traveler; a main body; a transferer including a holder, a mover, and a rotator, and which receives or delivers an article from or to a transfer destination; and a controller. The main body has an inner wall at a position at which the article held by the holder comes in contact therewith when the holder set at a storing position is rotated by a predetermined angle by the rotator. The controller causes the traveler to travel while the holder is at the storing position, and when the article is received or delivered, causes the rotator to rotate the holder by a predetermined angle or more about a rotation axis in a state where the holder is set at an exiting position by the mover to align the article with a prescribed orientation of the transfer destination.