Study on the basic characteristics of a noncontact air conveyor for large glass sheets

• Main Authors: Wei Zhong, Xiaoyu Gu, Xin Li, Toshiharu Kagawa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2017-04-01
• Series: Advances in Mechanical Engineering
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/1687814017697190

Recently, the development of displays requires large, thin glass substrates, and air film conveyors equipped with porous pads have been developed to transport the substrates in a noncontact state. In this study, a contactless air film system with aligned porous pads is proposed. Experiments and analysis of its basic characteristics are conducted. First, it is confirmed that the flow rate characteristics of the porous pads can be represented by a modified Forchheimer equation with the determined permeability and inertial coefficient. Then, a theoretical model based on the Reynolds equation is established to analyze the film pressure distribution. The results indicate a parabola-like shape distributed along the radial direction in the porous area and an approximately linear curve in the periphery area. Furthermore, the experimental results indicate that the bearing force and static stiffness increase if the clearance decreased with a given flow rate. Finally, a numerical calculation performed by solving the coupling equation of elasticity and the modified Reynolds equation shows an approximate quadratic shape in the deformation, and the experimental results supported this to a certain extent.