Rack and pinion mechanism, vacuum processing apparatus, method of driving and controlling rack and pinion mechanism, drive control program, and recording medium

A rack and pinion mechanism, which comprises a rack gear fixed to a stage moving on a carrying track while loading a carried object thereon and a plurality of pinion gears connected to a drive source and meshing with the rack gear, wherein at least two of the pinion gears are synchronized and rotate to mesh with the rack gear in sequence, whereby the rack gear is delivered from the pinion gear in the current process to the pinion gear in the subsequent process, so that the stage is carried, the rack and pinion mechanism comprising:

• detection means that detects a phase difference of the pinion gear;
• and
• a controller which has a storage part, storing the phase difference of the pinion gear detected by the detection means, and controls the phase difference of the pinion gear in the subsequent process based on the phase difference of the pinion gear in the current process,
• wherein the controller determines a reference point to the pinion gear in the current process and stores the reference point,
• obtains an angle that the pinion gear in the current process rotates from the reference point from when the pinion gear starts to mesh with the rack gear till the termination of the meshing,
• calculates “360 degrees÷the number of teeth of the pinion gear” as one teeth number angle of the pinion gear in the current process,
• calculates a residual angle by dividing the rotating angle by the one teeth number angle,
• rotates, when the residual angle is more than half of the one teeth number angle, the pinion gear in the subsequent process from the reference point in an advancing direction by “one teeth number angle−residual angle”,
• and meanwhile, when the residual angle is less than the half of the one teeth number angle, rotates the pinion gear in the subsequent process from the reference point in the opposite direction to the advancing direction by the residual angle.

A rack and pinion mechanism, which comprises a rack gear fixed to a stage moving on a carrying track while loading a carried object thereon and a plurality of pinion gears connected to a drive source and meshing with the rack gear, wherein at least two of the pinion gears are synchronized and rotate to mesh with the rack gear in sequence, whereby the rack gear is delivered from the pinion gear in the current process to the pinion gear in the subsequent process, so that the stage is carried, the rack and pinion mechanism comprising:

• detection means that detects a phase difference of the pinion gear;
• and
• a controller which has a storage part, storing the phase difference of the pinion gear detected by the detection means, and controls the phase difference of the pinion gear in the subsequent process based on the phase difference of the pinion gear in the current process,
• wherein the controller calculates the phase difference from a distance L between the pinion gear in the current process and the pinion gear in the subsequent process, a tooth pitch p of the rack gear, and the number of teeth of the pinion gear in the subsequent process to store the phase difference in the storage part and rotates the pinion gear in the subsequent process in the advancing direction based on the phase difference.

A method of driving and controlling a rack and pinion mechanism, which comprises a rack gear fixed to a stage moving on a carrying track while loading a carried object thereon and a plurality of pinion gears connected to a drive source and meshing with the rack gear, wherein at least two of the pinion gears are synchronized and rotate to mesh with the rack gear in sequence, whereby the rack gear is delivered from the pinion gear in the current process to the pinion gear in the subsequent process, so that the stage is carried, the method comprising the steps of:

• determining a reference point to the pinion gear in the current process and storing the reference point;
• obtaining an angle that the pinion gear in the current process rotates from the reference point from when the pinion gear starts to mesh with the rack gear till the termination of the meshing;
• calculating “360 degrees÷the number of teeth of the pinion gear” as one teeth number angle of the pinion gear in the current process;
• calculating a residual angle by dividing the rotating angle by the one teeth number angle;
• when the residual angle is more than half of the one teeth number angle, rotating the pinion gear in the subsequent process from the reference point in an advancing direction by “one teeth number angle−residual angle”;
• and
• meanwhile, when the residual angle is less than the half of the one teeth number angle, rotating the pinion gear in the subsequent process from the reference point in the opposite direction to the advancing direction by the residual angle.

A computer readable recording medium recorded with the drive control program of a rack and pinion mechanism, which comprises a rack gear fixed to a stage moving on a carrying track while loading a carried object thereon and a plurality of pinion gears connected to a drive source and meshing with the rack gear, wherein at least two of the pinion gears are synchronized and rotate to mesh with the rack gear in sequence, whereby the rack gear is delivered from the pinion gear in the current process to the pinion gear in the subsequent process, so that the stage is carried, the program being characterized by causing a controller, which controls the rack and pinion mechanism, to execute the steps of:

• determining a reference point to the pinion gear in the current process and storing the reference point;
• obtaining an angle that the pinion gear in the current process rotates from the reference point from when the pinion gear starts to mesh with the rack gear till the termination of the meshing;
• calculating “360 degrees÷the number of teeth of the pinion gear” as one teeth number angle of the pinion gear in the current process;
• calculating a residual angle by dividing the rotating angle by the one teeth number angle;
• when the residual angle is more than half of the one teeth number angle, rotating the pinion gear in the subsequent process from the reference point in an advancing direction by “one teeth number angle−residual angle”;
• and
• meanwhile, when the residual angle is less than the half of the one teeth number angle, rotating the pinion gear in the subsequent process from the reference point in the opposite direction to the advancing direction by the residual angle.

A rack and pinion mechanism comprising:

• a rack gear which is fixed to a stage moving on a carrying track while loading a carried object thereon;
• a plurality of pinion gears which are connected to a drive source and mesh with the rack gear in sequence to move the stage;
• detection means that detects a phase angle of the pinion gear;
• and
• a controller which has a storage part storing the phase angle of the pinion gear detected by the detection means,
• wherein the controller controls the drive source during carrying of the stage, rotates the pinion gear, meshing with the rack gear, in one direction at a lower speed than a set carrying speed, stores, when a torque value of the drive source is not less than a designated torque, a first phase angle of the pinion gear rotated in the one direction that is detected by the detection means,
• stores, when the pinion gear is rotated in the opposite direction to the one direction at the low speed, and the torque value of the drive source is not less than a designated torque, a second phase angle of the pinion gear rotated in the opposite direction that is detected by the detection means,
• and calculates the half angle of a rotating angle from the first phase angle to the second phase angle and rotates the pinion gear to the half angle.

A method of driving and controlling a rack and pinion mechanism, which comprises a rack gear fixed to a stage moving on a carrying track while loading a carried object thereon and a plurality of pinion gears connected to a drive source and meshing with the rack gear in sequence to move the stage, the method comprising the steps of:

• during carrying of the stage, rotating the pinion gear meshing with the rack gear in one direction at a lower speed than a set carrying speed;
• when a torque value of the drive source is not less than a designated torque, storing a first phase angle of the pinion gear rotated in the one direction;
• rotating the pinion gear in the opposite direction to the one direction at the low speed;
• when the torque value of the drive source is not less than the designated torque, storing a second phase angle of the pinion gear rotated in the opposite direction;
• and
• calculating the half angle of a rotating angle from the first phase angle to the second phase angle and rotating the pinion gear to the half angle.

A computer readable recording medium recorded with the drive control program of a rack and pinion mechanism, which comprises a rack gear fixed to a stage moving on a carrying track while loading a carried object thereon and a plurality of pinion gears connected to a drive source and meshing with the rack gear in sequence to move the stage, the program causing a controller, which controls the rack and pinion mechanism, to execute the steps of:

• during carrying of the stage, rotating the pinion gear meshing with the rack gear in one direction at a lower speed than a set carrying speed;
• when a torque value of the drive source is not less than a designated torque, storing a first phase angle of the pinion gear rotated in the one direction;
• rotating the pinion gear in the opposite direction to the one direction at the low speed;
• when the torque value of the drive source is not less than the designated torque, storing a second phase angle of the pinion gear rotated in the opposite direction;
• and
• calculating the half angle of a rotating angle from the first phase angle to the second phase angle and rotating the pinion gear to the half angle.