Robot drive with magnetic spindle bearings
First Claim
1. A substrate transport for transporting substrates to and from at least one substrate seating surface, the substrate transport comprising:
- a substrate transport arm;
a drive section located within a frame and connected to the substrate transport arm through a coaxial spindle, the drive section being configured to operate the substrate transport arm through a spindle rotation or spindle displacement; and
at least one substrate support coupled to the substrate transport arm;
wherein the drive section has a solid state actuator that includes at least one stator attached to the frame that interfaces with and is configured to magnetically support the coaxial spindle substantially without contact and to effect a substantially solid state change, free of stator movement, in an orientation of a predetermined axis of rotation of the coaxial spindle relative to the at least one stator of the solid state actuator to spatially orient the at least one substrate support with respect to one of the at least one substrate seating surface.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A drive section for a substrate transport arm including a frame, at least one stator mounted within the frame, the stator including a first motor section and at least one stator bearing section and a coaxial spindle magnetically supported substantially without contact by the at least one stator bearing section, where each drive shaft of the coaxial spindle includes a rotor, the rotor including a second motor section and at least one rotor bearing section configured to interface with the at least one stator bearing section, wherein the first motor section is configured to interface with the second motor section to effect rotation of the spindle about a predetermined axis and the at least one stator bearing section is configured to effect at least leveling of a substrate transport arm end effector connected to the coaxial spindle through an interaction with the at least one rotor bearing section.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A substrate transport for transporting substrates to and from at least one substrate seating surface, the substrate transport comprising:
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a substrate transport arm; a drive section located within a frame and connected to the substrate transport arm through a coaxial spindle, the drive section being configured to operate the substrate transport arm through a spindle rotation or spindle displacement; and at least one substrate support coupled to the substrate transport arm; wherein the drive section has a solid state actuator that includes at least one stator attached to the frame that interfaces with and is configured to magnetically support the coaxial spindle substantially without contact and to effect a substantially solid state change, free of stator movement, in an orientation of a predetermined axis of rotation of the coaxial spindle relative to the at least one stator of the solid state actuator to spatially orient the at least one substrate support with respect to one of the at least one substrate seating surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of operating a substrate transport drive section comprising:
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magnetically supporting axial and radial moment loads applied to a coaxial spindle of the drive section substantially without contact; measuring a longitudinal orientation of the coaxial spindle about a first predetermined axis of rotation of the coaxial spindle; and energizing windings of the drive section to effect a substantially solid state repositioning of the longitudinal orientation of the coaxial spindle about a second predetermined axis of rotation; wherein repositioning of the coaxial spindle effects at least a spatial orientation of a substrate transport arm end effector connected to the coaxial spindle with respect to a substrate support surface. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A substrate transport for transporting substrates to and from at least one substrate seating surface, the substrate transport comprising:
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a frame; a transport arm having at least one substrate support coupled to the transport arm; a drive section located within the frame and having a coaxial spindle connected to the transport arm, the drive section having no more than two motors configured to provide the substrate transport with six degrees of freedom and being configured to operate the transport arm through a coaxial spindle rotation or coaxial spindle displacement, wherein each motor includes a stator. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A substrate transport for transporting substrates to and from at least one substrate seating surface, the substrate transport comprising:
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a substrate transport arm; a drive section located within a frame and connected to the substrate transport arm through a coaxial spindle, the drive section being configured to operate the substrate transport arm through a spindle rotation or spindle displacement; and at least one substrate support coupled to the substrate transport arm; wherein the drive section is configured to magnetically support the coaxial spindle substantially without contact and to effect a substantially solid state change in an orientation of the coaxial spindle to spatially orient the at least one substrate support with respect to one of the at least one substrate seating surface, and wherein the drive section comprises at least one stator attached to the frame and at least one rotor attached to the coaxial spindle, the at least one stator being configured to change at least an angular orientation of a predetermined axis of rotation of the coaxial spindle with respect to a centerline of the at least one stator through an interaction with the at least one rotor.
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Specification