JPH0232113B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a new and improved polishing device, in particular, a polishing device that polishes silicon, GGG, etc. held on the surface of a workpiece such as a glass plate, an aluminum magnetic disk, or a workpiece holder made of a glass plate. Fully automatic polishing of thin and brittle workpieces (wrapping or polishing)
The present invention relates to a polishing device for polishing.

Conventionally, as one of the above-mentioned polishing devices, a workpiece or a workpiece held in a holder such as a glass plate is placed in contact with an abrasive cloth attached to a turntable, and the workpiece is placed in contact with an abrasive cloth attached to a turntable in the presence of a slurry liquid containing abrasive grains. An apparatus is known that polishes the surface of a workpiece by rotating the turntable and rotating the workpiece on the polishing cloth.

However, with conventionally known polishing devices, the workpiece or workpiece holder must be manually attached to the turntable, or removed after polishing. The workpiece or workpiece holder sometimes weighs 10Kg.
This installation and removal requires a considerable amount of effort, and during this operation, the operator may drop the workpiece or get his or her fingers caught between the workpiece and the turntable. It was even dangerous.

Furthermore, since the workpieces mentioned above are polished with extremely high precision on one side, they are not only transported out of the polishing device by a belt conveyor after polishing, but also when they are transported in, the polished surface is facing upwards. We have to make sure that we don't get caught.

Therefore, some studies have conventionally considered using, for example, industrial robots to attach and detach workpieces to and from polishing equipment, but in this case, a relatively large installation area is required, and Since industrial robots have the disadvantage of being expensive, there has been a strong desire for a compact and fully automatic polishing device that does not require such industrial robots.

The present invention provides a new and improved polishing device capable of meeting such demands, which is equipped with a turntable having a rotating polishing surface, and which suspends and holds a top plate holding a workpiece by suction. The main body of the polishing device is equipped with an arm that polishes the workpiece by reciprocating the rocking motion on the polishing surface, and the workpiece is brought in from the previous process with the surface to be polished facing up, and is inverted and held by suction on the top plate. and an unloading mechanism that receives the polished workpiece from the top plate, inverts it again, and transports it with the surface to be polished facing up. It consists of a reversible suction holding plate with a concave surface and support legs that move it up and down, and a turntable, loading mechanism, and unloading mechanism are each arranged on the rotation trajectory of the swing arm. This is a polishing device.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a typical embodiment of the polishing device according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2, 3, and 4 are a plan view, a front view, and a side view of the device shown in FIG. 1, respectively. .

As is clear from FIGS. 1 to 4, this polishing device consists of a polishing device main body A and a workpiece or workpiece holder (hereinafter simply referred to as a workpiece) placed on a turntable installed in the center of the device main body. It consists of a loading mechanism B that keeps the workpiece ready and ready at all times for automatic loading, and an unloading mechanism C that automatically discharges the workpiece taken out from the turntable after polishing. This device is also equipped with a brushing mechanism D for eliminating clogging of the polishing surface or polishing surface on the turntable after the polishing operation.

First, as shown in FIG. 5, the main body A of this polishing device includes a turntable 10 having a polishing surface placed in the center of the machine, and a top plate 20 placed opposite to the turntable 10 for suctioning and holding a workpiece.
The top plate is suspended from a swing arm 30. The turntable 10 is
It is held on a holder 11 placed at the bottom of the
The holder has a cylindrical part 11 hanging down at the center of its lower part.
a is pivotally supported by a reducer 12 and rotatably held on the machine base via a thrust bearing 13, etc., and the reducer 12 is connected to a motor attached inside the machine base via a power transmission means such as a V-belt 14. 15.

Further, a space 16 is formed between the turntable 10 and its holder 11, and a space 16 is formed in which a cooling liquid is supplied to prevent the turntable from overheating. The coolant is supplied through the distributor 17 and the hollow rotary shaft 18 of the reducer. That is, this hollow rotating shaft 18 has two tubes 18a and 18b having different diameters disposed coaxially therein, and the hollow rotating shaft 18 and the first tube 1
The cooling liquid fed into the gap 16 through the annular passage between the tube 8a and the first tube 18
The upper end of the second tube 18b is connected to the holder 11.
The tube 18b is opened to the surface of the turntable 10, and slurry liquid containing abrasive grains is supplied from the lower end of the tube 18b during polishing work, and is supplied from the center of the polishing surface of the turntable as the turntable rotates. It is designed to be uniformly distributed over the entire polishing surface under the action of centrifugal force.

Furthermore, an annular waste liquid receiver 19 is disposed around the turntable 10, and the slurry liquid and a rinsing liquid to be described later are collected therein and discharged to the outside through a discharge port 19a.

Next, looking at the top plate 20 on the turntable 10, this is the top plate 20 on the swing arm 3.
The top plate is connected and held to the lower end of a hollow rotating shaft 21 hanging down from the front of the top plate.The top plate is also provided with a concave portion 22 on its bottom surface, and a rubber ring 23 is attached to the inner periphery of the concave portion. The hollow rotating shaft 21 is connected via a gear to a motor 24 installed in a swing arm 30, so that the top plate 20 can be forcibly rotated during the polishing operation. This hollow rotating shaft 21 also has
A vacuum suction pipe 25 and a coolant supply pipe 26 are disposed inside the top plate 20, and as shown in FIG.
With the periphery of the workpiece 40 in close contact with the
By reducing the pressure inside the recess 22 through the suction pipe 25, the workpiece 40 can be held by suction, and during the polishing operation, a cooling liquid is supplied into the recess 22 through the pipe 26,
Overheating of the top plate can be prevented.
Although not shown in FIG. 5, an air cylinder mechanism is attached to the hollow rotating shaft 21, and has a structure that allows the top plate 20 to be moved up and down while the workpiece 40 is mounted on and taken out from the turntable 10. It is said that

The swing arm 30 is pivotally supported by the machine base via a rotation shaft 31, which is omitted to simplify the drawing, but the swing shaft 31 is connected to a swing drive device installed inside the machine base. Through the operation of mounting the workpiece 40 on the turntable 10 and removing the workpiece from the turntable, the swinging arm 30 is rotated between the loading mechanism B and the unloading mechanism C, and through the polishing operation. The workpiece 40 is the turntable 1
It is designed so that it can be oscillated so as to reciprocate above zero.

Next, the loading mechanism B in this polishing apparatus will be explained with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9.

That is, FIG. 6 is a front view of the loading mechanism B, FIG. 7 is a plan view of its workpiece holding plate,
FIG. 8 is a plan view of the conveyor roller, and FIG. 9 is a side view of the conveyor roller. As is clear from FIG. When it is conveyed from the pre-processing equipment by a belt conveyor or the like with the surface to be polished facing up, it is held by suction and then rotated 180 degrees so that the surface to be polished is facing down. It consists of a workpiece holding plate 50, its supporting legs, a vertically movable cylinder, and a conveyor roller 60 and its supporting legs.

The holder holding plate 50 has a similar structure to the top plate 20 of the apparatus main body A, and has a concave portion 51 with a flat bottom on its surface, and a rubber ring 52 is attached to the inner peripheral edge of the concave portion. is applied to the support arm 53 by the reversing drive device 54.
The support arm 5 is held so as to be able to rotate by 180°.
3 is three support legs 55 and an air cylinder 56
It is supported by a structure that allows it to move up and down. Further, the conveyor roller 60 connects a plurality of rollers 61 to one
It is held between a pair of frames 62a and 62b, and this frame is held by three fixed support legs 63.

The loading mechanism B operates as follows. That is, after placing the workpiece 40 conveyed by, for example, a belt conveyor (not shown) on the conveyor roller 60 in the state shown by the imaginary line (two-dot chain line) in FIG. The workpiece holding plate 50 is activated.
The workpiece is turned 180 degrees so that the concave portion 51 faces downward, and then the air cylinder 56 is operated to lower the holding plate 50, and the rubber ring 52 attached to the holding plate is brought into close contact with the surface periphery of the workpiece 40. . Next, a vacuum suction device (not shown) is operated to reduce the pressure inside the holding plate concave portion 51, and the holding plate 50 is
After holding the workpiece 40 by suction, the air cylinder 56 is operated again to raise the holding plate 50, and at the upper limit position, the reversing device 54 is operated to turn the holding plate 50 180 degrees.

Further, regarding the unloading mechanism C in this polishing device, this has the same configuration as the above-mentioned loading mechanism B, so the illustration of its structure is omitted, but this unloading mechanism C has the same structure as the above-mentioned loading mechanism B. The loading mechanism B operates almost in the opposite manner.

Although FIGS. 1 to 9 illustrate the case where the apparatus of the present invention is mainly applied as a polishing apparatus, when the apparatus of the present invention is applied, for example, as a wrapping apparatus, the turntable 10 in the apparatus main body A may be used as a polishing apparatus. It should be understood that this can be easily achieved by replacing it with a lap surface plate.

Next, a method of actually polishing a workpiece using the apparatus according to the present invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 9 will be described.

First, prior to the polishing operation, as in conventional polishing operations, a plurality of workpieces 40 are prepared, and these workpieces 40 are placed with the surface to be polished upward using a belt conveyor or roller conveyor (not shown). Roller conveyor 60 of loading device B
(See the two-dot chain line in Figure 6). Next, the loading device is operated to set the workpiece 40 with the surface to be polished facing down, as shown by the solid line in FIG. 6, and its operation is stopped.

Next, the swinging arm 30 of the apparatus main body A is rotated clockwise when viewed from above, and when the top plate 20 suspended and held by the swinging arm is directly above the loading mechanism B, the rotation is stopped. Then, actuate the air cylinder attached to the hollow rotating shaft 21 of the swing arm to push down the top plate,
The rubber ring 23 attached to the top plate is brought into close contact with the periphery of the back surface of the workpiece 40 on the holding plate, the air in the recess 22 is extracted through the suction pipe 25 in the hollow rotating shaft 21, and the workpiece is attached to the top plate 20. 40 is suctioned and held, the hollow rotating shaft 21 is raised, and then the swinging arm 30 is rotated counterclockwise to position the top plate 20 on the turntable 10, and the hollow rotating shaft 21 is raised. The surface to be polished of the workpiece 40 is lowered slightly again and the polishing cloth 10 on the turntable is
a, and then the vacuum suction of the workpiece 40 to the top plate 20 is released to complete preparation for the polishing operation.

When the preparation is completed in this way, a slurry containing abrasive grains is supplied to the polishing cloth 10a of the turntable through the distributor 17, and a cooling liquid is supplied to the gap 16 between the turntable 10 and its holder 11. On the other hand, top plate 2
0 and the workpiece 40, the motor 15 inside the machine is operated to rotate the turntable 10 via the reducer 12, and the swing arm 30 is operated to remove the workpiece. The piece 40 is reciprocated in an arc shape on the turntable 10, and if necessary, the motor 24 in the swing arm 30 is operated to forcibly rotate the top plate 20 and the workpiece 40, and the polishing work is started. do.

When the polishing operation described above is carried out for a certain period of time and a predetermined mirror polish is achieved on the surface of the workpiece, the supply of slurry is stopped, and the slurry is then passed between the polishing cloth 10a and the surface to be polished of the workpiece 40 through the tube 18b. A rinsing liquid is provided to wash away the slurry liquid at this interface and clean the workpiece 40.

Next, the movement of the motor 15 that rotationally drives the turntable 10, the movement of the swing arm 30, and the operation of the motor 24 that rotationally drives the top plate 20 are stopped, and the coolant is applied to the gap 22 between the top plate 20 and the workpiece 40. Then, the air in the gap 22 is sucked through the pipe 25 to suction and hold the workpiece 40 on the top plate 20, and then the hollow rotating shaft 21 is raised to move the workpiece 40 onto the turntable 1.
0, rotate the swinging arm 30 counterclockwise, stop the rotation when the top plate 20 is directly above the unloading mechanism C, and then rotate the top plate 20 together with the hollow rotating shaft 21. Press down.

When the surface periphery of the downward workpiece 40 suctioned and held on the top plate 20 in this manner contacts the rubber ring 52 on the holding plate 50 of the unloading mechanism C, the top plate 20
Stops the lowering of the workpiece and also stops the vacuum suction of the workpiece.

Subsequently, the holding plate 50 performs vacuum suction, and then the holding plate 50 is reversed 180 degrees by the reversing drive device 54, and then the holding plate 50 is lowered by the air cylinder 56, and the back surface of the workpiece 40 is moved to the conveyor roller. 60, and finally the holding plate 5
0 to release the vacuum suction of the workpiece 40. The workpiece 40 after polishing is thus placed on the conveyor roller 60 with the surface to be polished facing upward.
are transported to a predetermined location using a belt conveyor or roller conveyor. Note that by operating the brushing mechanism D after taking out the workpiece 40 from the turntable 10, clogging of the polished surface 10a on the turntable 10 can be easily eliminated.

As described above, in the apparatus of the present invention, the operations of loading a workpiece to the polishing apparatus, polishing the workpiece, and taking out the workpiece from the polishing apparatus after polishing can be performed fully automatically. These operations can be performed by process control, and the process control programs can be set and changed, and the apparatus can be adjusted using operation panels 27 and 28 provided on the front side of the main body A of the apparatus.

As explained above, according to the present invention, polishing work that conventionally required manual labor can be performed fully automatically, which not only contributes to labor savings, but also allows workpieces to be attached to and removed from the polishing device. Since there is no damage to the workpiece during removal, it greatly contributes to improving yield and productivity, and therefore has great practical value.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a typical embodiment of the device of the present invention, and FIGS.
FIG. 3 is a plan view, a front view, and a side view of the device shown in the figure.
FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram partially showing a main part of the main body in the above device in cross section. Figures 6 to 9 show details of the rotating mechanism in the above device, with Figure 6 being a front view thereof, Figure 7 being a plan view of its workpiece holding plate, and Figure 8 being its conveyor. A plan view of the roller, and FIG. 9 is a side view. A...Device main body, B...Loading mechanism, C...Unloading mechanism, D...Brushing mechanism, 1
0... Turntable, 10a... Abrasive cloth (abrasive surface),
11...Holder, 12...Reducer, 13...Thrust bearing, 14...V belt, 15...Motor, 1
6... Gap, 17... Distributor, 18... Hollow rotating shaft, 20... Top plate, 21... Hollow rotating shaft, 22... Recessed part (gap), 23... Rubber ring,
24... Motor, 25... Vacuum suction pipe, 26... Cooling water pipe, 27, 28... Operation panel, 30... Swinging arm, 31... Rotating shaft, 40... Work piece,
50... Workpiece holding plate, 51... Concave portion, 52
...Rubber ring, 53...Support arm, 54...Reversing drive device, 55...Support leg, 56...Air cylinder, 6
0... Conveyor roller, 61... Roller, 62... Frame, 63... Fixed support leg.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Provide a turntable with a rotating polishing surface,
The main body of the polishing equipment is equipped with an arm that suspends and holds the top plate holding the workpiece by suction, and polishes the workpiece by reciprocating the rocking motion on the surface to be polished, and the machine is transported from the previous process with the surface to be polished facing upward. The loading mechanism consists of a loading mechanism that inverts the workpiece to be polished and holds it by suction on the top plate, and an unloading mechanism that receives the polished workpiece from the top plate, inverts it again, and carries it out with the surface to be polished facing upward. The dewing mechanism consists of a reversible suction holding plate with a rubber ring on the edge and a concave surface in the center, and support legs that move it up and down, and further includes a turntable,
A polishing device characterized in that a loading mechanism and an unloading mechanism are respectively arranged on the rotation locus of a swing arm.