A support unit is provided. The support unit supports transport items, which include a first storage having two or more first vertices formed on a bottom thereof and a second storage having second vertices formed on a bottom thereof, but at different locations from the first vertices, and store articles including substrates or consumables for manufacturing a semiconductor device, and includes: a base part forming a bottom surface; first block parts provided on the base part and including first separation prevention surfaces, on which the first vertices are positioned, and which face or adjoin circumferential surfaces or corners of the first storage; and second block parts provided on the first block parts and including second separation prevention surfaces, on which the second vertices are positioned, and which face or adjoin circumferential surfaces or corners of the second storage.

The overhead transport vehicle includes: a winding drum configured to lift and lower a lifting part by winding and paying out a plurality of suspending members; at least one guide roller around which the suspending members paid out from the winding drum are wound; a body part supporting the winding drum and the guide roller; at least one position adjusting part configured to move a portion of each suspending member connected to the lifting part in a lifting direction by moving a relative position of the guide roller with respect to the body part; and a control part configured to control movement of the guide roller by the position adjusting part, based on information on an inclination of the lifting part.

The inventive concept provides a transfer apparatus. The transfer apparatus includes a transfer truck; and a bumper device installed at any one of the front part or the rear part of the transfer truck, and wherein the bumper device includes: a bumper provided spaced apart from the transfer truck; and an impact attenuation unit provided between the bumper and the transfer truck and configured to attenuate an impact force transferred from the bumper to the transfer truck by a friction force.

Provided are an alignment jig, a side track buffer system including the same, and an alignment method using the same. The alignment jig includes a horizontal jig fixed to a bottom plate of a side track buffer to extend in a horizontal direction to a lower portion of the transfer rail, and a vertical jig fixed to the transfer rail to extend downward in a vertical direction so as to be adjacent to a top surface in the horizontal direction. A separation distance between an intersection point of the vertical jig and the horizontal jig and a central portion of the bottom plate is detected as a buffer separation distance, and a buffer frame is horizontally moved automatically or manually to allow the buffer separation distance to match a reference separation distance, so that the side track buffer is installed in an accurate position.

Storage systems and method of using the same are provided. An exemplary storage system according to the present disclosure includes a storage device including a plurality of storage locations arranged in an upright stadium shape and a plurality of load ports each movable to engage any of the plurality of storage locations.

A first container includes a pair of first held sections serving as a pair of held sections, and a second container includes a pair of second held sections serving as a pair of held sections. A first distance between the two first held sections is smaller than a second distance between the two second held sections. A first detector is configured to detect a detection target section in the first held sections and not detect the detection target section in the second held sections while a holder device is disposed at a holding reference position. A second detector is configured to detect a detection target section in the second held sections and not detect the detection target section in the first held sections while the holder device is disposed at the holding reference position.

A transport facility equipped with an overhead transport vehicle, a ground transport vehicle, and a transport device includes a transfer section for an article to be transferred between the overhead transport vehicle and the transport device, the transfer section being on the upper side of a floor surface and separated from the floor surface. The overhead transport vehicle and the ground transport vehicle are configured to directly transfer an article therebetween, and the ground transport vehicle and the transport device are configured to transfer an article therebetween via the overhead transport vehicle and the transfer section.

A system for monitoring a wafer carrier includes an overhead hoist transport (OHT) vehicle, a scanner, and a processer. The OHT vehicle is configured to transport the wafer carrier along a vertical direction. The scanner is disposed below the OHT vehicle, wherein the wafer carrier is transported vertically by the OHT vehicle to pass through the scanner, and the scanner at least scans a lower portion of the wafer carrier along a horizontal direction and an upper portion of the wafer carrier along the horizontal direction. The processor is coupled to the scanner, wherein the processer receives a scanning result from the scanner after the wafer carrier is scanned, and the scanning result includes information of a gas composition within the wafer carrier.

An overhead storage system includes an overhead transport vehicle including a traveling unit configured to travel on a rail arranged in a grid pattern and a body section suspended from the traveling unit and configured to hold an article below the rail; a storage rack disposed below the rail; and a control unit configured to control operation of the overhead transport vehicle. The body section includes a transfer device capable of transferring the article to and from the storage rack. In the storage rack, a plurality of article placement areas on which the article is able to be placed by the transfer device are set in a storage area corresponding to each of cells forming a matrix in the grid pattern of the rail.

An overhead transport vehicle includes: a holding unit that is provided to be liftable and lowerable and configured to hold an article; a three-dimensional ranging sensor that has a detection range to include surroundings of a lower space formed directly below the article held by the holding unit; and a control device that is configured to determine presence or absence of an obstacle based on a detection result of the three-dimensional ranging sensor.