Brush cleaning apparatus and cleaning system for disk-shaped objects using same

Claim 2

A brush cleaning apparatus comprising: a plurality of brush cleaning means for transporting and cleaning disk-shaped objects one at a time between a pair of brushes, each of said brush cleaning means comprising a pair of rotary brushes arranged in parallel one above the other, guides for guiding the disk-shaped objects during cleaning, said guides being arranged perpendicular to axes of the rotary brushes and adjacent the rotary brushes, and a stopper means for blocking movement of the disk-shaped objects and releasing the disk-shaped objects for movement along a transport direction perpendicular to the axes of the rotary brushes, said stopper means being located at a distance from the brush cleaning means along the transport direction, said stopper means including a pair of stopper rods, a spacing between said pair of stopper rods being adjustable, whereby the disk-shaped objects are transported at a speed during cleaning, which speed is controlled by adjusting a rate of change in magnitude of the spacing between the stopper rods.

Claim 3

The brush cleaning apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising at least one auxiliary brush cleaning means for cleaning a leading tip of each disk-shaped object, said at least one auxiliary brush cleaning means including a pair of auxiliary rotary brushes arranged in parallel one above the other and located at a distance from the stopper means along the transport direction of the disk-shaped objects.

Claim 4

The brush cleaning apparatus as defined in claim 2, further comprising an auxiliary stopper means for blocking movement of the disk-shaped objects and releasing the disk-shaped objects for movement along the transport direction, said auxiliary stopper means being located at a distance from the at least one auxiliary brush cleaning means along the transport direction of the disk-shaped objects.

Claim 5

The brush cleaning apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein said auxiliary stopper means comprises a pair of auxiliary stopper rods, a spacing between said pair of auxiliary stopper rods being adjustable, whereby a disk-shaped object is stopped in place when the space between the pair of the stopper rods is smaller than the diameter of the disk-shaped object, the disk-shaped object is slowly moved forward as the space between the pair of stopper rods is slowly increased, and the disk-shaped object is moved out of the apparatus when the space between the pair of stopper rods is larger the diameter of the disk-shaped object.

Claim 6

The brush cleaning apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein said disk-shaped objects are semiconductor wafers.

Claim 7

The brush cleaning apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said disk-shaped objects are semiconductor wafers.

Claim 8

The brush cleaning apparatus as defined in claim 2, wherein said disk-shaped objects are semiconductor wafers.

Claim 9

The brush cleaning apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein said disk-shaped objects are semiconductor wafers.

Claim 10

A cleaning system for disk-shaped objects comprising: a carrier for accommodating disk-shaped objects therein; a loader mechanism for loading the disk-shaped objects one by one from the carrier to brush cleaning sections of the cleaning system in which the disk-shaped objects are cleaned, said brash cleaning sections being directly located next to the loader mechanism; rinse sections for rinsing disk-shaped objects cleaned in the brash cleaning sections; drying sections for drying disk-shaped objects rinsed in the rinse sections; an unloader mechanism for receiving the disk-shaped objects from the drying section and placing said disk-shaped objects into another carrier; and a disk-shaped object transportation belt mechanism for transporting the disk-shaped objects between the brash cleaning sections, the rinse sections, and the drying sections, wherein each of the brash cleaning sections comprises a plurality of brash cleaning means for transporting and cleaning disk-shaped objects one by one between pairs of brushes, each of the brush cleaning means comprising: a pair of rotary brushes arranged in parallel one above the other, guides for guiding the disk-shaped objects during cleaning, said guides being arranged perpendicular to axes of the rotary brushes and adjacent the rotary brushes, and a stopper means for blocking movement of the disk-shaped objects and releasing the disk-shaped objects for movement along a transportation direction, the stopper means being located at a distance from the brush cleaning means along the transportation direction and perpendicularly to the axes of the rotary brushes, said stopper means including a pair of stopper rods, a spacing between said pair of stopper rods being adjustable, whereby the disk-shaped objects are advanced along the transportation direction at a speed which speed is controlled by adjusting a rate of change in magnitude of the spacing of the stopper rods.

Claim 11

A cleaning system for disk-shaped objects comprising: a carrier for accommodating disk-shaped objects therein; a loader mechanism for loading the disk-shaped objects one by one from the carrier to brush cleaning sections of the cleaning system in which the disk-shaped objects are cleaned, said brash cleaning sections being directly located next to the loader mechanism; rinse sections for rinsing disk-shaped objects cleaned in the brash cleaning sections; drying sections for drying disk-shaped objects rinsed in the rinse sections; an unloader mechanism for receiving the disk-shaped objects from the drying section and placing said disk-shaped objects into another carrier; and a disk-shaped object transportation belt mechanism for transporting the disk-shaped objects between the brash cleaning sections, the rinse sections, and the drying sections, wherein each of the brash cleaning sections comprises a plurality of brash cleaning means for transporting and cleaning disk-shaped objects one by one between pairs of brushes, each of the brush cleaning means comprising: a pair of rotary brushes arranged in parallel one above the other, guides for guiding the disk-shaped objects during cleaning, said guides being arranged perpendicular to axes of the rotary brushes and adjacent the rotary brushes, and a stopper means for blocking movement of the disk-shaped objects and releasing the disk-shaped objects for movement along a transportation direction, the stopper means being located at a distance from the brush cleaning means along the transportation direction and perpendicularly to the axes of the rotary brushes, said stopper means including a pair of stopper rods, a spacing between said pair of stopper rods being adjustable, whereby the disk-shaped objects are advanced along the transportation direction at a speed which speed is controlled by adjusting a rate of change in magnitude of the spacing of the stopper rods.

Claim 12

A cleaning system for disk-shaped objects as defined in claim 9, further comprising an auxiliary stopper means for blocking movement of the disk-shaped objects and releasing the disk-shaped objects for movement along the transportation direction, said auxiliary stopper means being located at a distance from at least one auxiliary brush cleaning means in the transportation direction of the objects.

Claim 13

A cleaning system for disk-shaped objects comprising: a carrier for accommodating disk-shaped objects therein; a loader mechanism for loading the disk-shaped objects one by one from the carrier to brush cleaning sections of the cleaning system in which the disk-shaped objects are cleaned, said brush cleaning sections being directly located next to the loader mechanism; rinse sections for rinsing disk-shaped objects cleaned in the brush cleaning sections; drying sections for drying disk-shaped objects rinsed in the rinse sections; an unloader mechanism for receiving the disk-shaped objects from the drying section and placing said disk-shaped objects into another carrier; a disk-shaped object transportation belt mechanism for transporting the disk-shaped objects between the brash cleaning sections, the rinse sections, and the drying sections, wherein each of the brash cleaning sections comprises: a plurality of brash cleaning means for transporting and cleaning disk-shaped objects one by one between pairs of brushes, each of the brush cleaning means comprising: a pair of rotary brushes arranged in parallel one above the other, guides for guiding the disk-shaped objects during cleaning, said guides being arranged perpendicular to axes of the rotary brushes and adjacent the rotary brushes, and a stopper means for blocking movement of the disk-shaped objects and releasing the disk-shaped objects for movement along a transportation direction, the stopper means being located at a distance from the brash cleaning means along the transportation direction and perpendicularly to the axes of the rotary brushes, said stopper means including a pair of stopper rods, a spacing between said pair of stopper rods being adjustable, whereby the disk-shaped objects are advanced along the transportation direction at a speed which speed is controlled by adjusting a rate of change in magnitude of the spacing of the stopper rods; and at least one auxiliary brash cleaning means for cleaning a leading tip of each disk-shaped object, said at least one auxiliary brash cleaning means including a pair of auxiliary rotary brushes arranged in parallel one above the other and located at a distance from the stopper means along the transportation direction of the disk-shaped objects.

Claim 14

A cleaning system for disk-shaped objects comprising: a carrier for accommodating disk-shaped objects therein; a loader mechanism for loading the disk-shaped objects one by one from the carrier to brush cleaning sections of the cleaning system in which the disk-shaped objects are cleaned, said brush cleaning sections being directly located next to the loader mechanism; rinse sections for rinsing disk-shaped objects cleaned in the brush cleaning sections; drying sections for drying disk-shaped objects rinsed in the rinse sections; an unloader mechanism for receiving the disk-shaped objects from the drying section and placing said disk-shaped objects into another carrier; a disk-shaped object transportation belt mechanism for transporting the disk-shaped objects between the brash cleaning sections, the rinse sections, and the drying sections, wherein each of the brash cleaning sections comprises: a plurality of brash cleaning means for transporting and cleaning disk-shaped objects one by one between pairs of brushes, each of the brush cleaning means comprising: a pair of rotary brushes arranged in parallel one above the other, guides for guiding the disk-shaped objects during cleaning, said guides being arranged perpendicular to axes of the rotary brushes and adjacent the rotary brushes, and a stopper means for blocking movement of the disk-shaped objects and releasing the disk-shaped objects for movement along a transportation direction, the stopper means being located at a distance from the brash cleaning means along the transportation direction and perpendicularly to the axes of the rotary brushes, said stopper means including a pair of stopper rods, a spacing between said pair of stopper rods being adjustable, whereby the disk-shaped objects are advanced along the transportation direction at a speed which speed is controlled by adjusting a rate of change in magnitude of the spacing of the stopper rods; and at least one auxiliary brash cleaning means for cleaning a leading tip of each disk-shaped object, said at least one auxiliary brash cleaning means including a pair of auxiliary rotary brushes arranged in parallel one above the other and located at a distance from the stopper means along the transportation direction of the disk-shaped objects.

Claim 15

A cleaning system for disk-shaped objects as defined in claim 11, further comprising an auxiliary stopper means for blocking movement of the disk-shaped objects and releasing the disk-shaped objects for movement along the transportation direction, said auxiliary stopper means being located at a distance from at least one auxiliary brush cleaning means in the transportation direction of the disk shaped objects.

Claim 16

A cleaning system for disk-shaped objects comprising: a carrier for accommodating disk-shaped objects therein; a loader mechanism for loading the disk-shaped objects one by one from the carrier to brush cleaning sections of the cleaning system in which the disk-shaped objects are cleaned, said brush cleaning sections being directly located next to the loader mechanism; rinse sections for rinsing disk-shaped objects cleaned in the brush cleaning sections; drying sections for drying disk-shaped objects rinsed in the rinse sections; an unloader mechanism for receiving the disk-shaped objects from the drying section and placing said disk-shaped objects into another carrier; a disk-shaped object transportation belt mechanism for transporting the disk-shaped objects between the brush cleaning sections, the rinse sections, and the drying sections, wherein each of the brush cleaning sections comprises: a plurality of brush cleaning means for transporting and cleaning disk-shaped objects one by one between pairs of brushes, each of the brush cleaning means comprising: a pair of rotary brushes arranged in parallel one above the other, disk-shaped object guides for guiding the disk-shaped objects during cleaning, said disk-shaped object guides being arranged perpendicular to axes of the rotary brushes and adjacent the rotary brushes, and a stopper means for blocking movement of the disk-shaped objects and releasing the disk-shaped objects for movement along a transportation direction, the stopper means being located at a distance from the brush cleaning means along the transportation direction and perpendicularly to the axes of the rotary brushes, said stopper means including a pair of stopper rods, a spacing between said pair of stopper rods being adjustable, whereby the disk-shaped objects are advanced along the transportation direction at a speed which speed is controlled by adjusting a rate of change in magnitude of the spacing of the stopper rods; and an auxiliary stopper means for blocking movement of the disk-shaped objects and releasing the disk-shaped objects for movement along the transportation direction, said auxiliary stopper means being located at a distance from the at least one auxiliary brush cleaning means along the transportation direction of the disk-shaped objects.

Claim 17

A cleaning system for disk-shaped objects comprising: a carrier for accommodating disk-shaped objects therein; a loader mechanism for loading the disk-shaped objects one by one from the carrier to brush cleaning sections of the cleaning system in which the disk-shaped objects are cleaned, said brush cleaning sections being directly located next to the loader mechanism; rinse sections for rinsing disk-shaped objects cleaned in the brush cleaning sections; drying sections for drying disk-shaped objects rinsed in the rinse sections; an unloader mechanism for receiving the disk-shaped objects from the drying section and placing said disk-shaped objects into another carrier; a disk-shaped object transportation belt mechanism for transporting the disk-shaped objects between the brush cleaning sections, the rinse sections, and the drying sections, wherein each of the brush cleaning sections comprises: a plurality of brush cleaning means for transporting and cleaning disk-shaped objects one by one between pairs of brushes, each of the brush cleaning means comprising: a pair of rotary brushes arranged in parallel one above the other, disk-shaped object guides for guiding the disk-shaped objects during cleaning, said disk-shaped object guides being arranged perpendicular to axes of the rotary brushes and adjacent the rotary brushes, and a stopper means for blocking movement of the disk-shaped objects and releasing the disk-shaped objects for movement along a transportation direction, the stopper means being located at a distance from the brush cleaning means along the transportation direction and perpendicularly to the axes of the rotary brushes, said stopper means including a pair of stopper rods, a spacing between said pair of stopper rods being adjustable, whereby the disk-shaped objects are advanced along the transportation direction at a speed which speed is controlled by adjusting a rate of change in magnitude of the spacing of the stopper rods; and an auxiliary stopper means for blocking movement of the disk-shaped objects and releasing the disk-shaped objects for movement along the transportation direction, said auxiliary stopper means being located at a distance from the at least one auxiliary brush cleaning means along the transportation direction of the disk-shaped objects.

Claim 18

A cleaning system for disk-shaped objects as defined in claim 13, wherein said auxiliary stopper means comprising a pair of auxiliary stopper rods, a spacing between said pair of auxiliary stopper rods being adjustable, whereby a disk-shaped object is stopped in place when the space between the pair of the stopper rods is smaller than the diameter of the disk-shaped object, the disk-shaped object is slowly moved forward as the spaced between the pair of stopper rods is slowly increased, and the disk-shaped object is moved out of the apparatus when the space between the pair of stopper rods is larger the diameter of the disk-shaped object.

Claim 19

A cleaning system for disk-shaped objects comprising: a carrier for accommodating disk-shaped objects therein; a loader mechanism for loading the disk-shaped objects one by one from the carrier to brush cleaning sections of the cleaning system in which the disk-shaped objects are cleaned, said brush cleaning sections being directly located next to the loader mechanism; rinse sections for rinsing disk-shaped objects cleaned in the brush cleaning sections; drying sections for drying disk-shaped objects rinsed in the rinse sections; an unloader mechanism for receiving the disk-shaped objects from the drying section and placing said disk-shaped objects into another carrier; and a disk-shaped object transportation belt mechanism for transporting the disk-shaped objects between the brush cleaning sections, the rinse sections, and the drying sections, wherein each of the brush cleaning sections comprises a plurality of brush cleaning means for transporting and cleaning disk-shaped objects one by one between pairs of brushes, each of the brush cleaning means comprising: a pair of rotary brushes arranged in parallel one above the other, disk-shaped object guides for guiding the disk-shaped objects during cleaning, said disk-shaped object guides being arranged perpendicular to axes of the rotary brushes and adjacent the rotary brushes, and a stopper means for blocking movement of the disk-shaped objects and releasing the disk-shaped objects for movement along a transportation direction, the stopper means being located at a distance from the brush cleaning means alone the transportation direction and perpendicularly to the axes of the rotary brushes, said stopper means including a pair of stopper rods, a spacing between said pair of stopper rods being adjustable, whereby the disk-shaped objects are advanced along the transportation direction at a speed which speed is controlled by adjusting a rate of change in magnitude of the spacing of the stopper rods; and an auxiliary stopper means for blocking movement of the disk-shaped objects and releasing the disk-shaped objects for movement along the transportation direction, said auxiliary stopper means being located at a distance from at least one auxiliary brush cleaning means in the transportation direction of the disk shaped objects, said auxiliary stopper means comprising a pair of auxiliary stopper rods, a spacing between said pair of auxiliary stopper rods being adjustable, whereby a disk-shaped object is stopped in place when the space between the pair of the stopper rods is smaller than the diameter of the disk-shaped object, the disk-shaped object is slowly moved forward as the spaced between the pair of stopper rods is slowly increased, and the disk-shaped object is moved out of the apparatus when the space between the pair of stopper rods is larger the diameter of the disk-shaped object.

Claim 20

A cleaning system for disk-shaped objects comprising: a carrier for accommodating disk-shaped objects therein; a loader mechanism for loading the disk-shaped objects one by one from the carrier to brush cleaning sections of the cleaning system in which the disk-shaped objects are cleaned, said brush cleaning sections being directly located next to the loader mechanism; rinse sections for rinsing disk-shaped objects cleaned in the brush cleaning sections; drying sections for drying disk-shaped objects rinsed in the rinse sections; an unloader mechanism for receiving the disk-shaped objects from the drying section and placing said disk-shaped objects into another carrier; and a disk-shaped object transportation belt mechanism for transporting the disk-shaped objects between the brush cleaning sections, the rinse sections, and the drying sections, wherein each of the brush cleaning sections comprises a plurality of brush cleaning means for transporting and cleaning disk-shaped objects one by one between pairs of brushes, each of the brush cleaning means comprising: a pair of rotary brushes arranged in parallel one above the other, disk-shaped object guides for guiding the disk-shaped objects during cleaning, said disk-shaped object guides being arranged perpendicular to axes of the rotary brushes and adjacent the rotary brushes, and a stopper means for blocking movement of the disk-shaped objects and releasing the disk-shaped objects for movement along a transportation direction, the stopper means being located at a distance from the brush cleaning means alone the transportation direction and perpendicularly to the axes of the rotary brushes, said stopper means including a pair of stopper rods, a spacing between said pair of stopper rods being adjustable, whereby the disk-shaped objects are advanced along the transportation direction at a speed which speed is controlled by adjusting a rate of change in magnitude of the spacing of the stopper rods; and an auxiliary stopper means for blocking movement of the disk-shaped objects and releasing the disk-shaped objects for movement along the transportation direction, said auxiliary stopper means being located at a distance from at least one auxiliary brush cleaning means in the transportation direction of the disk shaped objects, said auxiliary stopper means comprising a pair of auxiliary stopper rods, a spacing between said pair of auxiliary stopper rods being adjustable, whereby a disk-shaped object is stopped in place when the space between the pair of the stopper rods is smaller than the diameter of the disk-shaped object, the disk-shaped object is slowly moved forward as the spaced between the pair of stopper rods is slowly increased, and the disk-shaped object is moved out of the apparatus when the space between the pair of stopper rods is larger the diameter of the disk-shaped object.