Purging apparatus and purging method
AssigneeMurata Machinery, Ltd.
InventorsNobuhide Shikata, Takanori Izumi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A pod opener is an apparatus for purging the inside of a reticle pod having a pod cover and an openable bottom lid by supplying and discharging a clean gas to and from the inside of the reticle pod. The pod opener includes a stage, an elevator driving mechanism, a latch mechanism, and a supplying-discharging section. The stage can attach and remove the bottom lid to and from the pod cover. The elevator driving mechanism can move the stage. The latch mechanism serves to move a latch member that locks the bottom lid to the pod cover such that it cannot be detached and to release the locked state of the bottom lid. The supplying-discharging section starts purging before the latch member has completed an operation of locking the bottom lid to the pod cover.
Claims12
A purging apparatus for purging a container including a container body and an openable lid using a clean gas, the purging apparatus comprising:
- a detaching/attaching section that attaches the lid to the container body and removes the lid from the container body when it is possible to detach the lid;
- a moving mechanism that moves the detaching/attaching section with respect to the container;
- a locking member that locks the lid to the container body and releases the locked state of the lid;
- a drive mechanism that drives the locking member;
- a gas supplying-discharging mechanism;
- a first detector arranged to detect a position of the lid;
- and
- a control section programmed to control the moving mechanism, the drive mechanism, and the gas supplying-discharging mechanism;
- wherein
- the control section controls the gas supplying-discharging mechanism to start purging the container, based on the position of the lid detected by the first detector, while the control section controls the moving mechanism to move the detaching/attaching section and the lid toward the container body;
- and
- the control section controls the gas supplying-discharging mechanism to start purging the container before the control section controls the drive mechanism to drive the locking member to lock the lid to the container body.
A purging method for purging a container including a container body and an openable lid using a clean gas, the method comprising:
- an attaching step in which the lid is attached to the container body from a state in which the lid is separated from the container body;
- a detecting step in which a position of the lid is detected;
- a locking step in which the lid is locked to the container body after the attaching step;
- and
- a purge starting step in which purging of the container is started based on the position of the lid detected by the detecting step and before the locking step is completed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.