KR20100134566A - Contactless conveying device - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a non-contact conveying device with low fluid flow rate and energy consumption and capable of maintaining high floating height precision.
A fluid ejection port 1d is provided on the back surface of the ring-shaped member having a circular cross-sectional hole 1 penetrating from the front surface to the back surface, and the fluid is ejected from the fluid ejection port, thereby falling off from the surface on the surface side of the ring-shaped member. Two or more swirl flow-forming bodies are provided on the conveying surface of the base body 2 to generate a swirl flow directed toward the cross section and to generate a fluid flow in the rear direction in the vicinity of the opening of the through-hole on the surface side of the ring-shaped member. Non-contact conveyance apparatus 40. Since the fluid is ejected from the fluid ejection port to float the conveyed object, conveyance at a low fluid flow rate is possible. By generating a fluid flow in the rear direction in the vicinity of the opening of the through-hole on the surface side of the ring-shaped member, an effect equivalent to vacuum adsorption for maintaining the floating height precision can be obtained. A porous pallet for taking out fluid can be provided around the swirl flow-forming body on the conveying surface of the gas, and it can be controlled with high precision according to the floating amount of the conveyed object.

Description

Non-contact Carrier {NON-CONTACT CARRIER DEVICE}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a non-contact conveying device, and more particularly, to a rail-shaped non-contact conveying device used for the production of large-scale FPD panels, solar cell panels and the like.

Conventionally, the production efficiency of the FPD panel and the solar cell panel is increased by increasing the size of one panel. For example, in the case of liquid crystal glass, it becomes the size of 2850x3050x0.7mm in 10th generation. For this reason, when the liquid crystal panel is burned and rolled on a plurality of rollers that have been stretched as in the related art, a locally strong force acts on the glass due to the deflection of the shaft and the variation in the roller height, and the glass may be damaged. In addition, in the process process, since it is required to be non-contact, airborne conveyance is beginning to be adopted.

As an example of an airborne conveying apparatus, when floating a glass for liquid crystal, a plurality of small diameter holes are provided, and a plurality of plate-shaped rails which blow air from these small diameter holes are connected to each other in accordance with the size of the glass. What constitutes a conveying apparatus is performed. Moreover, there exists a method of blowing air from the pore using porous carbon as a rail material.

In any of the above methods, the air flow rate per area of 1000 × 1000 mm requires an extremely high air flow rate of 250 L / min in many hole types and 150 L / min in carbon porous types. Moreover, the conventional non-contact conveying apparatus uses the principle of the balance of the force of vacuum suction and the air blowing, in order to maintain the floating height precision. For this reason, it is necessary to always operate the pump for vacuum adsorption, which requires enormous energy.

Then, this invention is made | formed in view of the problem with the said conventional non-contact conveying apparatus, and an object of this invention is to provide the non-contact conveying apparatus which is low in air flow volume and energy consumption, and can maintain high floating height precision.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a non-contact conveying apparatus, comprising a fluid ejection port on the back surface of a ring-shaped member having a transverse cross-sectional through hole penetrating from the surface to the back surface, and ejecting a fluid from the fluid ejection port, Swirl flow on the surface side of the ring-shaped member is provided to turn in the direction away from the surface, and swirl flow is generated on the surface side of the ring-shaped member in the vicinity of the opening of the through hole. It is characterized by including two or more formation bodies in the conveyance surface of a base body.

According to the present invention, since the fluid is ejected from the fluid ejection port and the fluid flow and the swirl flow in the direction falling from this surface are generated on the surface side of the ring-shaped member, the conveyed object is floated, and thus the conventional 1/2 The conveyance can be carried out with a small flow rate of about 100 L / min. In addition, since the fluid is ejected from the fluid ejection port, the fluid flow in the back direction is generated near the opening of the through hole on the surface of the ring-shaped member so that the effect equivalent to vacuum adsorption for maintaining the floating height accuracy can be obtained. The pump for adsorption becomes unnecessary, and energy consumption can also be suppressed low.

The said non-contact conveying apparatus WHEREIN: The fluid supply hole which communicates the said gas to the said groove part is provided in the said conveyance surface so that the said swirl flow formation body may have a circular groove part in plan view which communicates with the said fluid jet port in the said back surface. And the fluid is supplied to the groove portion through the fluid supply hole. As a result, since only the fluid supply hole is provided in the conveying surface of the gas, the gas can be made simple.

The said non-contact conveying apparatus WHEREIN: It is comprised so that the said swirl flow forming body may be provided with the fluid passage which communicates with the said groove part and the said fluid ejection port so that the said gas may be provided in plan view on the said conveyance surface, and a circular groove part is provided, Fluid may be supplied to the fluid supply hole through the fluid supply hole. As a result, since only the fluid ejection port and the fluid passage are formed on the rear surface of the swirl flow-forming body, the swirl flow-forming body can be made simple.

In the said non-contact conveyance apparatus, the said swirl flow formation body can be accommodated in the recessed part formed in the conveyance surface of the said base body. This configuration allows the surface flowing from the swirl flow-forming body to coincide with the plurality of swirl flow-forming bodies, so that the reference surface on which the transported object floats becomes the carrier surface of the gas, so that the height of the transported object can be controlled with high precision. Can be.

In the non-contact conveying apparatus, the swirl flow-forming body is accommodated in a recess formed on the conveying surface of the base, and the outer circumferential surface of the swirl flow-forming body is caulked by a raised portion protruding around the recess. Can be. As a result, the swirl flow-forming body can be easily attached to the body while maintaining the airtight state between the swirl flow-forming body and the base without using an adhesive.

The said non-contact conveying apparatus WHEREIN: It can be provided with the fluid pressure edge notch groove formed in the conveyance surface of the said base, and partitioning between adjacent recesses, and opening to the side surface of this base. By allowing the fluid to exit through the fluid pressure edge notched groove, the fluid ejected from the swirl flow-forming body in the central portion of the conveyed object can be prevented from swelling and the center portion is inflated. Can be controlled with high precision.

In the non-contact conveying apparatus, a plurality of the swirl flow-forming bodies are arranged in the column over the two rows in the base, and the swirl flow formations belonging to the directions of the respective swirl flows of the swirl flow-forming bodies belonging to one column and the other rows are formed. The direction of each swirl flow of the sieve can be configured to be different from each other. By this structure, the swirl flow from the adjacent swirl flow formation body of the adjacent row | line | column is strengthened, and it can convey, carrying a floated object by the fluid ejected from a swirl flow formation body.

In the non-contact conveying apparatus, a porous pallet for fluid extraction can be provided in the periphery of the swirl flow-forming body in the base, and the floating amount of the conveyed object can be more accurately fixed by taking out the fluid from the porous pallet. It can control road, and can respond easily to a process process.

In the said non-contact conveying apparatus, the conveyance surface of the said gas can be made into the surface inclined with respect to the horizontal surface, or the surface parallel to the horizontal surface, and opposing each other with the ground surface, reducing the installation area of a non-contact conveying apparatus, or manufacturing various It can respond easily to a process.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a non-contact conveying device which has a low fluid flow rate and a low energy consumption amount and can maintain a high floating height precision.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The figure which shows 1st Embodiment of the swirl flow formation body used for the non-contact conveyance apparatus which concerns on this invention, (a) is a top view, (b) is AA sectional drawing of (a), (c) is (D) is a sectional view along the line BB of (c), (e) is a bottom view showing the case where the back surface of the swirl flow-forming body is formed to be symmetric with the back surface of the swirl flow-forming body shown in (c). to be.
It is a figure which shows the state which fixed the swirl flow formation body of FIG. 1 with the adhesive agent to a base | substrate, (a) is front sectional drawing, (b) is CC sectional drawing of (a).
3 is a view showing a second embodiment of the swirl flow-forming body used in the non-contact conveying apparatus according to the present invention, (a) is a plan view, (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of (a), (D) is sectional drawing of the BB line | wire of (c), (e) is a bottom view which shows the case where the back surface of a swirl flow formation body is formed so that it may become symmetrical with the back surface of the swirl flow formation body shown to (c). .
4 is a view showing a state in which the swirl flow-forming body of FIG. 3 is caulked and joined to the recess of the base, (a) is a front sectional view, and (b) is a DD line sectional view of (a).
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a method of caulking and joining the swirl flow-forming body of FIG. 3 to a recess of a base. FIG.
It is a top view which shows 1st Embodiment of the non-contact conveyance apparatus which concerns on this invention.
FIG. 7: is a figure which shows the conveyance rail which comprises the non-contact conveyance apparatus of FIG. 6, and shows the case where the swirl flow of a swirl flow formation body is arrange | positioned alternately up, down, left, and right.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a case where a non-contact conveying device is constructed by arranging the swirl flow-forming bodies shown in FIG. 4 on a plurality of gases, and (a) is a case where no pneumatic edge cutout groove is provided. It shows the case where edge notch groove is installed.
9 is a plan view showing a second embodiment of the non-contact conveying apparatus according to the present invention, (a) shows a part of the non-contact conveying apparatus for the process step, and (b) shows the whole of the non-contact conveying apparatus including the conveying process. .

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Next, embodiment of this invention is described, referring drawings.

In addition, in the following description, the case where air is used as a conveying fluid and the glass 3 for liquid crystals is conveyed as an object to be conveyed is demonstrated as an example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The 1st Embodiment of the swirl flow formation body used for the non-contact conveyance apparatus which concerns on this invention, (a) is a top view, (b) is AA sectional drawing of (a), (c) is a bottom view. and (d) is sectional drawing of the BB line | wire of (c). In addition, description regarding FIG. 1 (e) is mentioned later. The swirl flow-forming body 1 has a through hole 1a penetrating from the front surface to the back surface, and as shown in Figs. 1 (c) and (d), the recessed portion 1b as an air passage on the back surface and the concave. A pair of ejection openings 1d for ejecting air from the portion 1b through the air passage 1c in the vicinity of the inner circumferential surface of the through hole 1a in a tangential direction to the inner circumferential surface are provided.

FIG. 2 shows a state in which the bottom surface of the swirl flow-forming body 1 is fixed to the substrate 2 formed in the shape of a plate by an adhesive, and as described later, the plurality of swirl flow-forming bodies 1 are formed by a substrate ( The non-contact conveyance apparatus which concerns on this invention is comprised by forming in 2).

The base 2 is provided with a through hole 2b through which air is supplied from a pump (not shown) through the air passage 2a, and air from the through hole 2b on the rear surface of the swirl flow-forming body 1. A circular annular groove 2c is shown in plan view for supplying the recess 1b (see FIG. 1).

Next, the operations of the swirl flow-forming body 1 and the base 2 shown in FIG. 2 will be described.

Air supplied from the pump to the air passage 2a of the gas 2 is supplied to the annular groove 2c through the through hole 2b, and the recessed portion of the swirl flow-forming body 1 from the annular groove 2c ( It supplies to 1b), and it blows off from the blower outlet 1d to the through-hole 1a through the air path 1c. As a result, upward swirl flow is generated above the surface-side flat plate portion 1e of the swirl flow-forming body 1, and the swirl flow causes the glass 3 for liquid crystal to be transported to float. In addition, by blowing air from the jet port 1d, the air flows in the rear direction in the vicinity of the opening of the through hole 1a on the surface side of the swirl flow-forming body 1, and the vacuum for maintaining the floating height precision. Effect equivalent to adsorption can be obtained.

3 shows a second embodiment of the swirl flow-forming body used in the non-contact conveying apparatus according to the present invention, (a) is a plan view, (b) is a sectional view taken along the line DD of (a), and (c) is a lower surface (D) is sectional drawing of the EE line of (c). In addition, description regarding FIG. 3 (e) is mentioned later. The swirl flow-forming body 21 is provided with a through hole 21a penetrating from the front surface to the rear surface, and an annular groove 21b provided in the rear surface as shown in FIGS. 3C and 3D to receive air. And an air outlet 21d for ejecting air accumulated in the annular groove 21b in the vicinity of the inner circumferential surface of the through hole 21a through the air passage 21c in a tangential direction to the inner circumferential surface, and the surface side is chamfered. (Chamfer and 21e, 21f).

FIG. 4 shows a state in which the swirl flow-forming body 21 is placed in the recess 22c of the base 22 formed in a plate shape, and as described later, a plurality of swirl flow-forming bodies 21 The non-contact conveyance apparatus which concerns on this invention is comprised by forming in the 22.

The gas 22 is supplied from a pump (not shown) through the air passage 22a and is provided with an air supply hole 22f for supplying air to the annular groove 21b of the swirl flow-forming body 21. 22 d of annular recesses for caulking and joining the hole 22b, the recessed part 22c for attaching the swirling flow formation body 21, and the swirling flow forming body 21 attached to the recessed part 22c. And a ridge 22e.

Next, the attaching method of the swirl flow formation body 21 to the base | substrate 22 is demonstrated, referring FIG. As shown in the figure, after the swirl flow-forming body 21 is placed in the recess 22c of the base 22, the tip 24a of the jig 24 is placed in the annular recess of the base 22 ( By inserting into 22d), the ridge 22e is pressed by the chamfer 21e of the swirl flow-forming body 21, and the swirl flow-forming body 21 is caulked to the base 22, as indicated by the two-dot chain line. Can be bonded.

Next, the operations of the swirl flow-forming body 21 and the base 22 shown in FIG. 4 will be described.

Air supplied from the pump to the air passage 22a of the gas 22 is supplied to the annular groove 21b of the swirl flow-forming body 21 through the through hole 22b, and blows out through the air passage 21c. 21d). Thereby, upward swirl flow is generated above the flat plate portion 21g on the surface side of the swirl flow-forming body 21, and the glass 3 serving as the transported object is floated in the swirl flow. Moreover, by blowing air from the blower outlet 21d, the air flows to the back surface direction near the opening part of the through-hole 21a of the surface side of the swirling flow formation body 21, and the vacuum for maintaining a floating height precision is carried out. Effect equivalent to adsorption can be obtained.

In this embodiment, since the swirl flow-forming body 21 is caulked and joined to the base 22, it is not necessary to consider the inclination of the swirl flow-forming body 21 by application of the adhesive, and when fixing with adhesive In comparison, the floating height precision of the glass 3 can be improved.

Next, 1st Embodiment of the non-contact conveyance apparatus which concerns on this invention is described, referring FIG.

This non-contact conveying apparatus 40 is used for conveyance processes, such as the glass 3, and the swirl flow forming body 32 which produces the swirl flow forming body 31 and the swirl flow reverse to this swirl flow forming body 31. 3 are arranged in parallel by the non-contact conveyance apparatus 30 which consisted of several caulking by alternating up, down, left, and right on the surface of FIG. In addition, in order to make drawing easy to see, the flat part 32e of the surface side of the swirl flow formation body 32 was shown by blackening.

As the swirl flow-forming body 31, any one of the swirl flow-forming body 1 (see FIG. 1) and the swirl flow-forming body 21 (see FIG. 3) is used. When the swirl flow-forming body 1 is used, the base 33 is the base 2 (see FIG. 2). When the swirl flow-forming body 21 is used, the base 22 (Fig. 4) is used. Reference) is used as the gas 33.

In the case where the swirl flow-forming body 1 is used as the swirl flow-forming body 31, the swirl flow-forming body 32 has a rear surface thereof as shown in FIG. It is formed so as to be symmetrical with the swirl flow-forming body 1 shown in FIG. As a result, the swirl flow-forming body 32 can generate swirl flow in a reverse direction to the swirl flow formed by the swirl flow-forming body 31. On the other hand, in the case where the swirl flow-forming body 21 is used as the swirl flow-forming body 31, the back flow side of the swirl flow-forming body 32 is shown in FIG. It is formed so as to be symmetrical with the swirl flow-forming body 21 shown in c). In addition, about the other component of the swirl flow formation body 32, since it is the same as that of the swirl flow formation bodies 1 and 21, detailed description is abbreviate | omitted.

Next, operation | movement of the non-contact conveyance apparatus 40 which concerns on this invention is demonstrated, referring FIG.

Air from the pump passes through the through hole of the base 33 and is blown out from the air blowing holes of the swirl flow-forming bodies 31 and 32. As a result, upward swirl flow is generated above the flat plate portions 31e and 32e on the surface side of the swirl flow-forming bodies 31 and 32, and the glass 3 is floated by the swirl flow.

Here, as shown in FIG. 7 (a), the swirl flows of the swirl flow-forming bodies 31 and 32 are opposite to each other, and the swirl flow-forming bodies 31 and 32 are alternated up, down, left and right on the surface of FIG. Since it arrange | positioned, the horizontal component (force in the direction shown by the arrow) of the swirl flow formed by each swirl flow formation body 31 and 32 cancels. Thereby, the force added to the glass 3 by swirl flow becomes only the force of two vertical components, a floating force and a suction force, and can reliably prevent rotation of the glass 3. The glass 3 which floated in this way is given conveyance drive force by the linear motor, a friction roller, a belt, etc. which are not shown in figure, and are conveyed in the arrow direction shown in FIG.

In addition, the swirl flow-forming body 21 as shown in FIG. 4 is disposed on the plurality of bases 22 to constitute the non-contact conveying apparatus 50 as shown in FIG. 21A and 21B each have the same basic configuration as the swirl flow-forming body 21 shown in FIG. 4, and the swirl direction is different from each other. Since the flow-forming bodies 21 (21A, 21B) are accommodated in the recesses 22c of the base 22, air tends to remain between the base 33 and the glass 3, and in particular, the base 33 Air tends to remain in the central portion 51 of the c). As a result, the glass 3 rises not only by the swirl flow of the swirl flow-forming body 21 but also by the air remaining in the center portion 51 of the base 22, and the floating height precision of the glass 3 is unstable. There is a risk of doing so.

So, like the non-contact conveying apparatus 53 shown to FIG. 8 (b), it partitions between the swirl flow-forming bodies 21 adjacent to the conveyance surface of the base | substrate 22, and is attached to the side surface of the base | substrate 22. FIG. It is preferable to form the lattice-shaped pneumatic edge cutout groove 54. Thereby, since the air remaining between the base 22 and the glass 3 easily escapes to the outside, the floating height precision of the glass 3 can be reliably maintained.

FIG. 9 shows a second embodiment of the non-contact conveying apparatus according to the present invention. The non-contact conveying apparatus 70 includes a process step 72 sandwiched between two conveying steps 71 and 73. As shown in a), the swirl flow-forming body 31 and the swirl flow-forming body 32 which generate the swirl flow in the reverse direction to the swirl flow-forming body 31 are spread over the base 63 in three rows. A plurality of porous pallets for air extraction (hereinafter referred to as " pallets ") 64, which are arranged in a plurality of alternately up, down, left and right, and blow out a small amount of air, are surrounded by two swirl flow-forming bodies 31 and 32. As shown to FIG. 9 (b), three non-contact conveying apparatus 72a arrange | positioned over several rows is arrange | positioned in parallel and is comprised. In addition, the process process 72 is a process in which high precision floating height is calculated | required, such as the process of examining the exposure pattern for manufacturing a semiconductor device, and the coating process of a resist.

The pallet 64 is a porous stainless steel sintered body or the like, and the air supplied to the air passage installed in the conveying surface of the base 63 and drilled in the inside of the base 63 is a minute hole on the surface of the pallet 64. It is taken out from and can control the height of the glass 3 precisely.

Next, operation | movement of the non-contact conveyance apparatus 70 which concerns on this invention is demonstrated, referring drawings.

In the state which floated in the conveyance process 71, when the glass 3 conveyed by the air blowing apparatus etc. enters the process process 72, it will be lifted by the air blown out upwards from the some pallet 64. The height is controlled with high precision, and various inspections, processing, and the like are performed. Then, the glass 3 is conveyed to the next process by the air blowing apparatus etc. which are not shown in figure in the state which floated by the non-contact conveying apparatus 73. FIG. In addition, the floating height of the glass 3 can also be changed suitably by adjusting the air flow volume etc. which are taken out from each pallet 64, and the like.

Moreover, in each said embodiment, although the case where the swirl flow formation body 1 or the swirl flow formation body 21 shown in FIG. 1 or 3 was used was demonstrated, about the structure shown in FIGS. It is not necessary to necessarily use the swirl flow-forming body 1 or 21, and a non-contact conveyance apparatus can also be comprised using the swirl flow formation body generally used.

Moreover, in each said embodiment, although the case where air is used as a fluid was demonstrated, process gas, such as nitrogen other than air, can also be used.

1 swirl flow former
1a through hole
1b recess
1c air passage
1d spout
1e Surface Side Plate
2 gas
2a air passage
2b through hole
2c annular groove
3 glass
21 (21A, 21B) Swirl Flow Former
21a through hole
21b fantasy home
21c air passage
21d spout
21e Chamfer
21f chamfer
21g flat plate
22 aircraft
22a air passage
22b through hole
22c recess
22d annular recess
22e ridge
22f air supply hole
24 jigs
24a tip
30 non-contact conveying device
31 Swirl Flow Former
31a through hole
31e flat plate
32 Swirl Flow Former
32a through hole
32e flat panel
33 gas
40 non-contact conveying device
50 non-contact conveying device
51 center section
53 non-contact conveying device
54 Pneumatic edge cutout
63 gas
64 pallets
70 non-contact conveying device
71 Return Process
72 process process
72a non-contact conveying device
73 Return Process

Claims (9)

On the back surface of the ring-shaped member having a circular cross-sectional through hole penetrating from the surface to the back surface, a fluid ejection port is provided, and the fluid is ejected from the fluid ejection port, so that the surface side of the ring-shaped member faces the direction falling from the surface. At least two swirl flow-forming bodies are provided on the conveying surface of the substrate to generate swirl flow and to generate fluid flow in the rear direction near the opening of the through-hole on the surface side of the ring-shaped member. Non-contact conveying device, characterized in that. 2. The swirl flow-forming body according to claim 1, wherein the swirl flow-forming body has a circular groove in a planar view communicating with the fluid ejection port, and the gas has a fluid supply hole in communication with the groove in the transport surface. And a fluid is supplied to the groove portion through the fluid supply hole. 2. The gas according to claim 1, wherein the gas has a circular groove portion in plan view on the conveying surface, and the swirl flow-forming body has a fluid passage communicating with the groove portion and the fluid ejection port, and the fluid flows through the groove portion. A non-contact conveying apparatus, wherein a fluid is supplied to a supply hole. The non-contact conveying apparatus of any one of Claims 1-3 which accommodated the said swirl flow formation body in the recessed part formed in the conveyance surface of the said base body. The said swirl flow-forming body accommodates the recessed part formed in the conveyance surface of the said base body, Caulking-joined by the ridge part which protruded the outer peripheral surface of this swirl flow-formed body around the said recessed part. Non-contact conveying device characterized by the above-mentioned. The non-contact conveying apparatus of Claim 5 provided with the fluid pressure edge notch groove formed in the conveyance surface of the said base, partitioning between adjacent recessed parts, and opening in the side surface of this base | substrate. The said swirl flow-forming body is arrange | positioned in each row over 2 rows in the said gas, The direction of each swirl flow of the swirl flow-forming body which belongs to one row, and the other is as described in any one of Claims 1-6. A non-contact conveying apparatus, wherein directions of the swirl flows of the swirl flow-forming bodies belonging to the column are different from each other. 8. The non-contact conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the gas includes a porous pallet for fluid extraction in the periphery of the swirl flow-forming body. The non-contact conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the conveying surface of the base is a surface inclined with respect to the horizontal surface, or a surface parallel to the horizontal surface and facing each other on the ground.

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