Abstract
A non-contact aerostatic conveyer was recently proposed to quickly feed and inspect large glass substrates for liquid crystal display. The air conveyer supports the glass substrates by compressed air film and then feeds them through while keeping them clean compared to a conventional roller conveyer. The glass substrate in the latest generation is over 3 m square, and its thickness is less than 0.7 mm. Such thin and large glass substrates are expected to easily deform due to pressure distribution in the air film. Aim of this study is to investigate the levitation and deformation characteristics of glass substrates on a non-contact aerostatic conveyer with inherent orifice restrictors and to establish a calculation method to predict the glass sheet deformation with high accuracy. The deformation behavior of glass sheet on air film was investigated numerically by using the compressible Reynolds equation and Timoshenko's thin plate theory. Numerical results were compared with experimental ones to ascertain the validity of the calculation method. It was found that the glass sheet was easily deformed with a wavy shape by the pressure distribution of the air film. Experimental and numerical results showed almost the same trend.
