Nidec Instruments Co., Ltd. develops a liquid crystal substrate handling robot suitable for vacuum environments

Nidec Instruments Co., Ltd. (formerly Nidec Sankyo), a group company of Nidec Corporation, has developed a liquid crystal substrate handling robot that can operate in a vacuum environment and has the same degree of freedom in its joints as when operating in an atmospheric environment.

In the manufacturing process of displays such as LCD panels and organic EL, in order to simultaneously achieve a reduction in production costs and an increase in screen size, larger mother glass substrates and faster processing speeds are constantly required. Since the larger the size of the glass that can be transported, the higher the handling efficiency, the demand for the handling of large-size mother glass substrates of 3m×3m has been increasing in recent years. The thin film processing and evaporation processes of the mother glass substrate require a vacuum environment with extremely high cleanliness, so the handling robot must also have the performance to withstand the vacuum environment.

Nidec Instruments has a leading global market share in the field of handling robots used in the evaporation process of organic EL substrates, and this product also makes full use of this proprietary technology. Robots working in a vacuum environment have built-in sealing devices in each joint to prevent air and dust from escaping from the robot's mechanical arm, which is often the cause of reduced freedom of movable joints. For this reason, Nidec Instruments products use magnetic seals integrated with the reducer, which can control the number of seals used to a minimum and ensure the same degree of freedom as the atmospheric environment. In order to meet customer needs, the product line includes two arm types, boomerang and SCARA, and both arm types use universal units to effectively control costs.

As a member of the world's most powerful comprehensive motor manufacturer, Nidec Instruments will continue to provide beneficial solutions for building a comfortable society.