The present disclosure relates to a lid opening component, a lid opening device and a suction system, more particularly, to a lid opening component having unpowered needles capable of shaping into a formation corresponding to a surface pattern of a lid, a lid opening device that opens the lids with the lid opening components after identifying locations of the lids with a positioning assembly, and a suction system using the lid opening device.
In semiconductor and electronic factories, chemicals corresponding to different processes are often used, such as slurry for chemical mechanical planarization process in semiconductor industry. The chemicals are usually stored in solvent containers which are commonly equipped with two lids on top to seal the openings of the solvent containers. When the chemical solvent is to be drew out or refilled, the lids are removed first before subsequent steps can be performed. In general, the lid of the solvent container is a circular solid lid and has threads on the side and pattern on the top. The pattern is, for example, cross-shaped recess or polygonal recess. Referring to
Several automated lid opening equipment have been developed to improve work safety issues, wherein most equipment replace manpower with machines to open the lid. Nevertheless, because there could be many different types of pattern on the lid of the solvent container, in order to perform the lid opening process, the automated lid opening equipment must change its lid opening tool to one that matches the pattern formation of the lid before being used. Although this method improves the safety of operators, the issue about operational efficiency remains. In addition, not all of the automated lid opening equipment is designed with changeable lid opening tools and so lacks versatility.
To solve the aforementioned issues, the present disclosure provides a lid opening component, a lid opening device, and a suction system, wherein the suction system includes the lid opening device that further includes the lid opening component. When drawing the content in a container using the suction system, the locations of the container and its lids are first identified through a positioning assembly of the lid opening device, then the lids are opened through the unpowered needles of the lid opening components shaped into a formation corresponding to patterns on the lids, and last a suction assembly of the suction system draws out the content in the container, wherein the driving force or the power of the lid opening component, the lid opening device and the suction system is supplied by a power source. The container is like a chemical solvent barrel, and the content is, for example but not limited to, liquid, gas, solid-liquid mixture and etc. The lid opening component, the lid opening device and the suction system are capable of performing the lid opening and content drawing processes automatically without involving any manpower. Further, there is no need to change lid opening tool that matches the pattern on the lid and so the work safety risk is reduced and the operational efficiency is enhanced.
An object of the present disclosure is to provide a lid opening component that includes a needle holder, a plurality of unpowered needles, and a drive part. The unpowered needles are movably disposed in the needle holder and are capable of correspondingly shifting in accordance to a pattern on a lid to fit in with a surface of the lid. The drive part is coupled to the needle holder and drives the needle holder to rotate after receiving a driving force so as to open the lid.
An object of the present disclosure is to provide a lid opening device that includes a positioning assembly and a lid opening assembly. The positioning assembly includes two positioning components disposed at two opposite ends, wherein the positioning assembly is mobile and the two positioning components are movable toward or away from each other, for identifying locations of a container and its lids. The lid opening assembly includes two lid opening components as aforementioned disposed at two opposite ends and on a same plane with the positioning assembly, wherein the two lid opening components are movable toward or away from each other. The positioning assembly and the lid opening assembly receive power from a power source, and after the positioning assembly identifies the locations of the lids, the lid opening assembly moves above the lids according to the identified locations of the lids and rotates to open the lids after the unpowered needles of the two lid opening components are fitted in with the surfaces of the lids.
Optionally, each of the two lid opening components of the lid opening assembly further includes a skirt and an evacuation device, wherein the skirt covers a periphery of the unpowered needles to form an internal space and the evacuation device is connected to the lid opening component. When the unpowered needles of each of the lid opening components are fitted in with the surface of the lid and the lid opening component is rotated to open the lid, the evacuation device evacuates air in the internal space to create a vacuum-like environment to engage the lid opening component and the lid more tightly.
Optionally, the lid opening assembly further includes a first movable part, wherein two ends of the first movable part are respectively coupled to the two lid opening components so that the two lid opening components can move toward or away from each other.
Optionally, each positioning component of the positioning assembly is an ultrasound distance measuring instrument, an infrared distance measuring instrument, or a positioning camera.
Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a suction system that includes the lid opening device as aforementioned and a suction assembly, wherein the suction assembly includes two suction components disposed at two opposite ends and are movable toward or away from each other. After the lid opening device opens the lids of the container, the suction assembly moves to openings of the container to draw out the content in the container.
Optionally, the suction assembly and the lid opening assembly of the lid opening device are crossed at a right angle. The suction assembly further includes a second movable part, wherein two ends of the second movable part are respectively coupled to the two suction components so that the two suction components can move toward or away from each other.
Optionally, the suction system further includes a container holding apparatus disposed below the lid opening device and the suction assembly.
Optionally, the container holding apparatus further includes at least one weighing device disposed in the container holding apparatus for monitoring the weight of the container and the content in the container.
Optionally, the suction system further includes a cross-arranged screw rod module having four screw rods, wherein the first movable part is two of the four screw rods and the second movable part is the other two of the four screw rods.
Optionally, the two lid opening components and the two suction components are respectively coupled to the four screw rods in an arrangement where the two lid opening components are disposed opposite each other and the two suction components are disposed opposite each other.
In short, the lid opening component, the lid opening device and the suction system disclosed by the present disclosure can identify the locations of the lids with the positioning assembly, open the lids with the unpowered needles of the lid opening components shaped into the formation conforming to the patterns of the lids, and draw out the content in the container with the suction assembly, so as to achieve the opening of the container lids and the drawing of the container content. The lid opening component, the lid opening device and the suction system of the present disclosure improve both the safety of the worker and the savings on time costs, and so are advantageous for markets that have needs in lid opening and content drawing; the content drawing is for example but not limited to liquid drawing and the markets are industries with processes like semiconductor, electronics and etc.
The structure as well as preferred modes of use, further objects, and advantages of this present disclosure will be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of some illustrative embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
The present disclosure provides a lid opening component, a lid opening device, and a suction system. The suction system opens lids of a container through the lid opening device and draws out the content in the container through a suction assembly; the container is, for example but not limited to, a chemical solvent barrel, and the content is, for example but not limited to, liquid, gas, solid-liquid mixture, etc. The lid opening device opens the lids by first using a positioning assembly having two positioning components to identify locations of the container and the lids. Next, two lid opening components of the lid opening device are moved according to the identification result such that the two lid opening components are correspondingly positioned above the lids, wherein generally, a container serving as the chemical solvent barrel has two lids. Then, multiple unpowered needles of each of the lid opening components shape into a formation corresponding to a pattern on the lid surface and after receiving a driving force, the lid opening component rotates to open the lid, wherein the rotating direction is not limited as the rotation can be clockwise or counterclockwise as required.
Referring to
The positioning component 601 is, for example but not limited to, an ultrasound distance measuring instrument, an infrared distance measuring instrument, or a positioning camera. Referring to
After the operation of the positioning assembly is complete, the lid opening assembly moves according to the locations of the two lids and their middle point, such that the center of the two lid opening components is moved to the center of the two lids and the two lid opening components are moved above the lids of the container to execute lid opening process, wherein the lid opening assembly is able to move when it receives power supplied by a power source.
The lid opening component 301 further includes a skirt and an evacuation device to assist the opening and removing of the lid. Referring to
When the lid of the container is opened and removed, the suction assembly of the suction system acts upon receiving power from the power source to draw out the content in the container. Referring to
The suction system further includes a container holding apparatus to hold the container in place so that the positioning, the lid opening, and the drawing content processes can be performed more accurately. Referring to
Next, the entire operation of the suction system is described. First, the suction system identifies the locations of the lids of the container by using the positioning assembly. Based on the locations of the lids, the two lid opening components of the lid opening assembly are moved above the lids, and through the unpowered needles of the two lid opening components fitted in the patterns on the surfaces of the lids, drive the lids to open, and with the assistance of the skirts and the evacuation devices enhancing the tightness between the unpowered needles of the two lid opening components and the lids, the lids are removed. Further, based on the original locations of the lids, the suction assembly is moved above the openings of the container, which are the original locations of the lids, and draws the content in the container to conduct the drawing process. The lid opening component, the lid opening device, and the suction system can also be applied in lid closing process, where the unpowered needles of the lid opening component are fitted in with the lid and moved above the opening, and the lid opening component is further rotated to lock the lid to the container.
In view of above, the technical benefits of the lid opening component, the lid opening device, and the suction system as described by the embodiments of the present disclosure, in comparison to the conventional technology, are described below.
In conventional technology, the lid opening process is often operated manually and exposes operators in the danger of chemical leakage, and so automated lid opening equipment is developed. However, the current automated lid opening equipment still requires time and labor to change lid opening tools for different lids, which limits the efficiency of lid opening operations. On the other hand, the lid opening component, the lid opening device, and the suction system of the present disclosure use low cost positioning components and lid opening components to open lids, wherein the unpowered needles of the lid opening components are capable of shaping a corresponding formation according to different lid patterns and so the time and labor needed to change lid opening tools is omitted. The lid opening device in combination with the suction system completes the drawing process in full automation, wherein the positioning assembly of the lid opening device can further be positioning components that do not require light, and so the lid opening device and the suction system of the present disclosure can operate in the darkness, and thereby meets the trend of unmanned factory.
The above disclosure is only the preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, and not used for limiting the scope of the present disclosure. All equivalent variations and modifications on the basis of shapes, structures, features and spirits described in claims of the present disclosure should be included in the claims of the present disclosure.
Number | Date | Country |
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209306139 | Aug 2019 | CN |
20170017957 | Feb 2017 | KR |
101979812 | May 2019 | KR |
201914916 | Apr 2019 | TW |
Entry |
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Translation of KR101979812b, retrieved from Espacenet (Year: 2019). |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20210339995 A1 | Nov 2021 | US |