A transport vehicle cleaning device that cleans a transport vehicle incudes a housing including a cleaning space accommodating the transport vehicle for cleaning, a plurality of fans disposed at an upper part of the housing and generating a downward airflow in the cleaning space, a cleaning gas injector disposed at a ceiling of the housing and injecting a cleaning gas towards the transport vehicle in the cleaning space of the housing, an exhaust unit provided at a lower part of the housing and exhausting the cleaning gas supplied to the cleaning space and a foreign matter removed from the transport vehicle from the cleaning space, and a frame cover disposed in the housing and configured to completely cover opposite openings of the frame in the housing to form a closed internal space of the frame separated from the cleaning space.

The present invention relates to a wafer transport system and a method of operating the same. The wafer transport system comprises at least one semiconductor apparatus, a track, a transfer device, a positioning device, a carrier and a cleaning device. The wafer transport system transports wafers along the at least one semiconductor apparatus via the carrier riding on the track. The transfer device transfers the wafers from the carrier to the at least one semiconductor apparatus. The positioning device identifies and controls the position of the carrier on the track. The cleaning device maintains the cleanliness of the wafers. The present invention provides advantages for improving the yield rate of a wafer, shortening the fabrication time of a wafer, and offering the flexibility and the extendibility to a wafer transport system.

A conveyance control device executes: a control step of detecting entering to a merging point adjacent area set on adjacent to each merging point on the conveyance route; a detection step of detecting whether there is an obstacle around the carrying cart; a communication step of performing, when the entering to each merging point adjacent area is detected, local wireless communications with another carrying cart by using a common frequency band and a common identification code set to values different among merging points; and a merging point passing control step of starting the communication step when the other carrying cart is detected in the merging point adjacent area in the detection step, and causing passing of a merging point in accordance with a priority set to each entering passage to the merging point, after a handshake with the other carrying cart is successfully performed in the communication step,

Containers are purged between overhead transfer vehicles and a container transfer location to or from which the containers are transferred. A travelling rail for a local vehicle is provided below a travelling rail for the overhead transfer vehicles and above the container transfer location, and a local vehicle travels along the travelling rail and includes a hoist that raises and lowers the containers. A purging table that supports the containers is provided below the travelling rail for the local vehicle so as not to block a portion over the container transfer location and a purging gas feeding device feeds a purging gas into the containers supported on the purging table.

A temporary storage system has a large capacity and loads and unloads articles promptly. The temporary storage system includes a grid-shaped travelling rail and buffers over processing equipment except for an area over a load port, and local vehicles travel along the rail. The carriage of the local vehicles is provided with at least a longitudinal travelling unit, at least a lateral travelling unit, and at least an advancement and retraction mechanism selectively advancing one of the longitudinal travelling unit and the lateral travelling unit to a position supported by the travelling rail, and travels along the travelling rail longitudinally and laterally, and the transfer unit of the local vehicles is provided with a hoist and an arm moving the hoist horizontally. The local vehicles stop at a position corresponding to the load port, advances the arm towards the load port, and transfers an article between the load port.

A conveying device includes a transport body configured to carry or hold a wafer, and a stator relative to which the conveying device is designed to move the transport body at least two-dimensionally on a conveying surface. The stator includes several movably arranged actuating magnets, each of which is connected to the stator via an actuating element, and the actuating element is configured to change a position and/or an orientation of the connected actuating magnets relative to the stator. The transport body includes at least two stationary magnets which are connected to the transport body such that the stationary magnets are immovable relative to the transport body, and the stator and the transport body are magnetically coupled by the stationary magnets and the actuating magnets. The device conveys the transport body relative to the stator by controlled positioning and/or orientation of the actuating magnets via the actuating elements.

A transfer system includes: a transfer chamber having a side wall provided thereon with a plurality of processing chambers in which a processing is performed on a substrate under a decompressed atmosphere, and configured such that the substrate is transferred in the decompressed atmosphere; a plurality of robots fixed in the transfer chamber and configured to transfer the substrate; and a movable buffer configured to hold the substrate and move in a horizontal direction along the side wall between the side wall and the robots in the transfer chamber. The robots exchange the substrate between the movable buffer and the processing chambers in cooperation with a movement of the movable buffer.

Provided is a transfer detection method for use in a substrate processing apparatus including a transfer arm, which has a plurality of substrate holders and is configured to transfer a plurality of substrates to a plurality of stages between a first chamber and a second chamber adjacent to the first chamber by using the plurality of substrate holders, and an optical sensor provided in a vicinity of an opening via which the first and second chambers are in communication with each other, the method including: projecting a light beam having a horizontal optical axis parallel to the opening to a position through which the substrates held by the plurality of substrate holders pass; and determining at least one of a state of the substrates on the substrate holders and a state of the transfer arm, in response to a detection result of the light beam projected from the optical sensor.

The present application relates to a movable buffer, an automated material handling system and a corresponding overhead hoist transfer. The movable buffer includes: an inclined track including a first end and a second end opposite to each other, wherein the second end of the inclined track is higher than the first end of the inclined track; a storage tray connected to the inclined track, wherein the storage tray is provided with a space for accommodating a front opening unified pod, the storage tray is provided with at least one opening; and a transmission mechanism, wherein the upper surface of the transmission mechanism is connected to the lower surface of the overhead buffer, the lower surface of the transmission mechanism is connected to the inclined track, and the transmission mechanism is used for driving the storage tray to slide from the first end of the inclined track to the second end.

An apparatus for managing power of an article transport vehicle in an article transport system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a power receiving unit configured to receive a power in a contactless manner from a power supply unit installed at a driving route of the article transport vehicle and to control the power; a power storage unit configured to store a portion of the power supplied from the power receiving unit and to supply the stored power; a power generating unit configured to generate a driving power for driving the article transport vehicle and to generate a power by using the power supplied from the power receiving unit or the power storage unit; and a power control unit configured to control power paths between the power storage unit, the power receiving unit, and the power generating unit.