CN107683265B

CN107683265B - Method and apparatus for manufacturing glass plate

Info

Publication number: CN107683265B
Application number: CN201680033710.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 高桥祐之; 大野和宏; 中塚弘树; 奥隼人
Original assignee: Nippon Electric Glass Co Ltd
Current assignee: Nippon Electric Glass Co Ltd
Priority date: 2015-09-11
Filing date: 2016-08-23
Publication date: 2021-01-05
Anticipated expiration: 2036-08-23
Also published as: CN107683265A; KR102588108B1; JP2017052679A; WO2017043306A1; JP6651127B2; KR20180053271A

Abstract

In a processing space (13) formed between two opposite surfaces (10a, 11a) and formed by arranging the lower surface (10a) of an upper structure (10) and the upper surface (11a) of a lower structure (11) having an air supply port (22) and an air exhaust port (26) opposite to each other, the lower surface (3a) of a glass plate (3) conveyed along the horizontal direction is subjected to etching treatment by a processing gas (5) ejected from the air supply port (22) and sucked into the air exhaust port (26), furthermore, a specific conveying mechanism (9) assembled on the lower structure (11) supports the glass plate (3) from the lower part by positioning the air supply port (22) and the air exhaust port (26) at a position separated in the glass plate conveying direction (A), the specific conveying mechanism (9) is arranged in a region except a region between the air inlet (22) and the air outlet (26).

Description

Method and apparatus for manufacturing glass plate

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for manufacturing a glass plate, which have a step of etching a glass plate using a process gas such as hydrogen fluoride.

Background

As is well known, glass plates of various thicknesses and sizes are incorporated in Flat Panel Displays (FPDs), typified by liquid crystal displays, plasma displays, organic EL displays, field emission displays, and the like, mobile devices such as smart phones and tablet PCs, and other various electronic devices.

In the conventional process for producing a glass sheet for producing a final product of this kind, there is a possibility that a problem may occur due to electrostatic charging. For example, when a glass plate is placed on a work table and a predetermined process is performed, the glass plate may stick to the work surface due to static electrification. Therefore, when the glass sheet having completed the predetermined processing is peeled off from the work table, the glass sheet may be damaged.

As a countermeasure to the above problem, the following attempts are being made: the above-described problems caused by electrostatic charging are solved by applying a process gas such as hydrogen fluoride to a glass plate by spraying and etching to roughen the surface of the glass plate.

As a specific example, patent document 1 discloses the following: when a glass plate conveyed along a certain conveying path passes through the processing space, the lower surface of the glass plate is etched by processing gas which is ejected from an ejection port of an ejection nozzle and sucked into an suction port of a suction nozzle.

Specifically, in the etching apparatus disclosed in this document, a processing space for performing an etching process on the lower surface of a glass plate during conveyance is formed between the lower surface of an upper structure (upper structure) and the upper surface of a lower structure (lower structure). In this case, the upper structure is formed only by the top plate. On the other hand, the lower structure is formed by integrating a discharge nozzle disposed on the rear side in the glass plate conveying direction (upstream side of the conveying path), a suction nozzle disposed on the front side in the glass plate conveying direction (downstream side of the conveying path), and a bottom plate interposed between the two nozzles. The upper surfaces of the discharge nozzle, the bottom plate, and the suction nozzle, which are the lower structure, are coplanar with each other. Therefore, a discharge port for discharging the process gas into the process space and a suction port for sucking the process gas from the process space are formed in the upper surface of the lower structure.

The etching apparatus further includes a conveying roller for supporting and conveying the glass plate from below in the processing space. The conveying roller is assembled on the lower structure. More specifically, a roller shaft extending in a direction parallel to the lower surface of the glass sheet and in a direction orthogonal to the glass sheet conveying direction is disposed below the bottom plate of the lower structural body, and conveying rollers are provided at a plurality of locations in the axial direction of the roller shaft at predetermined intervals. The upper end of the conveying roller protrudes upward through the hole of the bottom plate from the upper surface of the bottom plate, and thereby faces the inside of the processing space. Therefore, the conveyance roller functions to support and convey the glass sheet from below in the processing space.

Prior art documents

Patent document

Patent document 1: international publication No. 2011/105331

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

However, in the etching apparatus disclosed in patent document 1, a conveying roller is disposed in a region between the discharge port and the suction port formed in the upper surface of the lower structure. When such an arrangement of the conveying rollers is adopted, the flow of the process gas ejected from the ejection port and sucked into the suction port is disturbed by the presence of the conveying rollers, and therefore, the reaction between the lower surface of the glass sheet and the process gas becomes uneven. Therefore, the roughening of the lower surface of the glass plate may cause unevenness.

As a measure for avoiding such a problem, it is conceivable to remove the conveyance rollers for conveying the glass sheet from the lower structure and dispose the conveyance rollers outward from positions close to both sides of the lower structure toward both sides, respectively. However, in this simple method, at a portion where the conveying rollers are removed from the lower structure, the distance between the adjacent conveying rollers is excessively long, and therefore, the following fatal problem occurs.

That is, since glass sheets are likely to be bent as the thickness of the glass sheets is reduced in recent years, it is necessary to reduce the distance between adjacent conveying rollers. The above method is not performed as such, and as a result, such a requirement is violated. Further, as described above, when the conveying rollers disposed close to both sides of the lower structure have an excessively long distance from each other and the glass sheet is bent, a situation occurs in which the lower surface of the glass sheet comes into contact with the upper surface of the lower structure. As a result, not only is it difficult to etch the lower surface of the glass plate, but also damage to the lower surface of the glass plate and hindrance to smooth conveyance of the glass plate may occur.

From the above-described viewpoint, an object of the present invention is to provide a method of etching a lower surface of a glass plate in a processing space, in which a reaction between the entire lower surface of the glass plate and a processing gas is uniformized and roughening of the lower surface of the glass plate is not hindered by optimizing a conveyance manner of the glass plate around the processing space.

Means for solving the problems

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a glass plate, in which an upper surface of a lower structure having an air supply port and an air discharge port is disposed to face a lower surface of an upper structure and formed in a processing space between the two opposing upper and lower surfaces, the lower surface of the glass plate conveyed in a horizontal direction is subjected to an etching process by a process gas ejected from the air supply port and sucked into the air discharge port, the air supply port and the air discharge port are located at positions spaced apart from each other in a glass plate conveying direction, and a specific conveying mechanism incorporated in the lower structure supports the glass plate from below to convey the glass plate. Here, the "glass plate conveyed in the horizontal direction" includes not only a case where the glass plate is conveyed in the horizontal direction, which is a non-inclined direction, but also a case where the glass plate is conveyed in a direction inclined at an angle of not more than 30 ° above and below the horizontal plane (the same applies hereinafter). The posture of the glass sheet in these cases includes not only a posture in which the glass sheet is in a non-inclined state with respect to both sides in the conveying direction, but also a posture in which the glass sheet is in an inclined state at an angle of 30 ° or less from one side to the other side in the conveying direction (the same applies hereinafter).

According to this configuration, the flow of the processing gas which is ejected upward from the gas supply port, flows along the lower surface of the glass plate, and is sucked into the gas exhaust port is not disturbed by the specific conveyance mechanism. That is, a specific conveyance mechanism for supporting the glass plate from below and conveying the glass plate is provided at a position separated from the flow path of the processing gas. Therefore, the flow of the process gas is not obstructed, and the flow of the process gas does not change in the middle. Thus, the reaction of the entire lower surface of the glass plate with the processing gas is uniform, and unevenness is less likely to occur in the roughening of the lower surface of the glass plate. Further, since the glass sheet conveyed in the horizontal direction is supported from below by the specific conveying mechanism at the position where the lower structure is present, the distance between the adjacent support positions can be shortened as compared with a case where no support position for the glass sheet is provided at all on the lower structure. Thus, even if the glass plate is thin, the glass plate subjected to the etching treatment can be prevented from being bent improperly. As a result, not only can the etching process on the lower surface of the glass plate be appropriately performed, but also defects such as damage to the lower surface of the glass plate and obstruction of conveyance of the glass plate can be avoided.

In the above method, the specific conveyance mechanism is preferably disposed on both sides in the conveyance direction of the glass plate in a region between the air supply port and the air discharge port.

In this way, since the specific conveyance mechanisms are disposed on both the air supply port side and the air discharge port side of the lower structure, the distance separating the two specific conveyance mechanisms can be significantly shortened. This reliably prevents the glass sheet supported from below by the two specific conveyance mechanisms from being greatly deflected by its own weight between the two specific conveyance mechanisms. As a result, the lower surface of the glass plate is roughened by the process gas more appropriately.

In the above method, the specific conveying mechanism is preferably a specific conveying roller.

In this way, the function of the specific conveyance mechanism for supporting the glass sheet from below and conveying the glass sheet can be reliably achieved.

In this case, in the method, the specific conveying roller is preferably a free roller in which a plurality of rollers are arranged in a direction parallel to the lower surface of the glass sheet and orthogonal to the conveying direction of the glass sheet.

Thus, a driving mechanism for the roller is not required, and therefore, the assembly of the downward structural body is simplified.

In this case, the plurality of free rollers are preferably arranged independently and separately from each other.

Thus, the free roller is miniaturized and easily manufactured.

In the above method, it is preferable that the glass sheet processing apparatus further includes a conveyance roller disposed outside the upper structure and the lower structure so as to convey the glass sheet into and out of the processing space, and the specific conveyance roller has a diameter smaller than a diameter of the conveyance roller. In this case, the diameter of the transport roller is preferably 1.5 to 10 times the diameter of the specific transport roller, and more preferably, the lower limit value is 2 times and the upper limit value is 4 times. Preferably, the conveyance roller is a drive roller to which a rotational driving force is applied.

Thus, the space for assembling the specific conveying roller on the lower structure can be narrowed, and the lower structure can be miniaturized.

In the above method, it is preferable that the specific conveying rollers are arranged in plurality in the glass sheet conveying direction, and the conveying rollers are arranged in plurality in the glass sheet conveying direction, and an arrangement pitch of the specific conveying rollers in the glass sheet conveying direction is smaller than an arrangement pitch of the conveying rollers in the glass sheet conveying direction.

In this way, a slight deflection of the glass sheet can be allowed between the adjacent conveying rollers, and the deflection of the glass sheet can be strictly prevented between the adjacent specific conveying rollers. Thus, the number of the conveying rollers in the area where the etching treatment is performed on the lower surface of the glass plate can be reduced, and the number of the specific conveying rollers in the area where the etching treatment is performed can be adjusted to meet the requirement.

In the above method, it is preferable that an upper surface of the lower structure corresponding to a region between the air supply port and the air discharge port is a single plane.

In this way, the flow of the process gas is less likely to be obstructed by the upper surface of the lower structure, and therefore, the lower surface of the glass plate is more appropriately roughened by the process gas.

The apparatus of the present invention, which has been devised to solve the above problems, is an apparatus for manufacturing a glass plate, which performs an etching process on a lower surface of a glass plate conveyed in a horizontal direction by a process gas ejected from a gas supply port and sucked into a gas discharge port in a process space formed between an upper surface of a lower structure having the gas supply port and the gas discharge port and a lower surface of an upper structure disposed to face each other, and the air supply port and the exhaust port are positioned at positions separated from each other in the glass plate conveying direction, and a specific conveying mechanism is assembled to the lower structure, the specific conveying mechanism supports the glass plate from below for conveying the glass plate, and is characterized in that the specific conveying mechanism is arranged in an area except an area between the air inlet and the air outlet.

The glass plate manufacturing apparatus has substantially the same constituent elements as those of the above-described glass plate manufacturing method of the present invention. Therefore, the description of the apparatus is also substantially the same as that of the method described above, and therefore, the description thereof is omitted here.

Effects of the invention

According to the present invention, by optimizing the conveyance method of the glass plate around the processing space, when the etching process is performed on the lower surface of the glass plate in the processing space, the reaction between the entire lower surface of the glass plate and the processing gas is made uniform, and the roughening of the lower surface of the glass plate is less likely to be hindered.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional front view showing an overall schematic configuration of a glass plate manufacturing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional front view showing a configuration of a main part of a glass plate manufacturing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional side view showing a configuration of a main part of the apparatus for manufacturing a glass sheet according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional side view showing a gas supply structure and its periphery, which are components of the apparatus for manufacturing a glass plate according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical sectional front view of a main portion showing a peripheral structure of an air supply port which is a component of the apparatus for manufacturing a glass plate according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional front view showing a configuration of a main part of a glass plate manufacturing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, a method for manufacturing a glass plate and a manufacturing apparatus therefor according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

< first embodiment >

First, the overall schematic configuration of the glass plate manufacturing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional front view showing an overall schematic structure thereof. In the following description, a direction perpendicular to the paper surface in fig. 1 is referred to as a width direction. As shown in the figure, the glass plate manufacturing apparatus 1 is configured to perform an etching process using hydrogen fluoride as a process gas 5 in a process field 4 provided on a conveyance path of a glass plate 3 in a chamber 2 while conveying the glass plate 3 conveyed into the chamber 2 from a conveyance inlet 2a in a horizontal direction. Then, the etched glass plate 3 is carried out of the chamber 2 through the carrying-out port 2 b.

The chamber 2 is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape elongated in the width direction, and prevents the process gas 5 from flowing out from the internal space thereof. The side wall 2c of the chamber 2 is formed with the above-described carrying-in port 2a and carrying-out port 2 b. The chamber 2 is made of polyvinyl chloride having excellent corrosion resistance against the process gas 5 (hydrogen fluoride).

An etching apparatus 6 is disposed in the processing region 4, and the etching apparatus 6 performs an etching process by spraying a processing gas 5 on the glass plate 3 conveyed in the horizontal direction. The etching device 6 is provided at the bottom 2e of the chamber 2 so as to form a gap 7 with the ceiling wall 2d of the chamber 2.

The glass sheet manufacturing apparatus 1 further includes a plurality of conveying rollers 8 having relatively large diameters and disposed inside and outside the chamber 2. These conveyance rollers 8 are attached to a plurality of axial positions of a long roller shaft 8a extending in the width direction at predetermined intervals. Therefore, a plurality of these conveying rollers 8 are arranged not only in the direction along the conveying path but also in the width direction. Then, a rotational driving force is applied to all or a part of the conveying rollers 8.

The glass plate manufacturing apparatus 1 further includes specific conveying rollers 9 as a plurality of specific conveying mechanisms having relatively small diameters disposed in the etching apparatus 6. A plurality of these specific conveyance rollers 9 are arranged not only in the direction along the conveyance path but also in the width direction. The glass sheet 3 is conveyed by these specific conveying rollers 9 and the conveying rollers 8 along a conveying path extending in a straight line in the horizontal direction. In this case, the diameter of the transport roller 8 is preferably 1.5 to 10 times, more preferably 2 to 4 times the diameter of the specific transport roller 9.

In fig. 1, for convenience, the chamber 2 and the right and left end portions inside the chamber are cut off halfway, and the center portion is mainly shown. Therefore, although not understood in detail from fig. 1, the arrangement pitch in the conveying direction of the specific conveying rollers 9 is smaller than the arrangement pitch in the conveying direction of the conveying rollers 8. In this case, the etching device 6 is provided at a position where a predetermined number of the transport rollers 8 in the transport direction are removed from the plurality of transport rollers 8 arranged in the transport direction. The number of specific transfer rollers 9 mounted on the etching device 6 arranged in the transfer direction is larger than the number of specific transfer rollers 8 arranged in the transfer direction which are removed.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional front view for explaining the structure of the etching apparatus 6 in detail. In the following description, a direction perpendicular to the paper surface in fig. 2 is referred to as a width direction. The direction of arrow a shown in fig. 2 is the conveying direction of the glass plate 3, and this direction of arrow a is simply referred to as the conveying direction. Therefore, the left side in fig. 2 is the front side in the conveying direction (the downstream side of the conveying path), and the right side is the rear side in the conveying direction (the upstream side of the conveying path).

As shown in fig. 2, the etching apparatus 6 includes an upper structure 10 disposed on the upper side and a lower structure 11 disposed on the lower side, and the two

structures

10 and 11 are integrally connected to each other by a connecting wall 12 at both ends in the width direction. A processing space 13 for performing an etching process by the process gas 5 on the lower surface of the glass plate 3 being conveyed is formed between the lower surface 10a of the upper structure 10 and the upper surface 11a of the lower structure 11. The material of the upper structure 10 and the lower structure 11 is polyvinyl chloride. Further, the upper structural body 10 and the lower structural body 11 incorporate therein a heating member 14 (e.g., a heater or the like) for preventing condensation caused by the process gas 5.

The upper structure 10 is constituted by a top plate 15 having a flat plate shape, and the lower surface of the top plate 15, that is, the lower surface 10a of the upper structure 10 is a single plane. Therefore, the lower surface of the top plate 15 has no unevenness. That is, only both ends in the width direction (longitudinal direction) of the top plate 15 are fixed to the connecting wall 12 by bolts or the like, and therefore, unevenness due to the presence of bolts or bolt holes or the like is not formed on the lower surface 10a of the top plate 15. The lower surface 10a of the top plate 15 is parallel to the lower surface 3a and the upper surface 3b of the glass plate 3 to be conveyed.

The lower structure 11 includes: a bottom plate 16 in a flat plate shape; an air supply structure 17 that is fixed to the rear of the floor panel 16 in the conveying direction in a hanging manner; and an exhaust structure 18 that is fixed to the front portion of the bottom plate 16 in the conveying direction in a suspended manner. An air supply hole 19 that opens into the processing space 13 is formed in the rear portion in the conveying direction of the base plate 16, and an air supply passage 20 that opens into the air supply hole 19 is formed in the air supply structure 17. Therefore, the gas supply passage 21 for guiding the process gas 5 upward and discharging the process gas to the process space 13 includes the gas supply hole 19 and the gas supply passage 20. An upper end opening of the air supply passage 21 serves as an air supply port 22 formed in the upper surface of the bottom plate 16, that is, the upper surface 11a of the lower structure 11. The air supply hole 19 has a small air supply hole portion 19a whose passage area is reduced by narrowing the upper portion, and the upper end of the small air supply hole portion 19a is the air supply port 22 described above. In this case, the upper surface 11a of the bottom plate 16 is parallel to the lower surface 10a of the top plate 15.

An exhaust hole 23 leading to the processing space 13 is formed in the front portion of the base plate 16 in the conveying direction, and an exhaust passage 24 leading to the exhaust hole 23 is formed in the exhaust structure 18. Therefore, the recovery passage 25 for sucking and recovering the process gas 5 downward from the process space 13 includes the exhaust hole 23 and the exhaust passage 24. The upper end opening of the recovery passage 25 serves as an exhaust port 26 formed in the upper surface 11a of the lower structure 11. The exhaust hole 23 has an exhaust small hole portion 23a whose upper portion is narrowed to reduce a passage area, and the upper end of the exhaust small hole portion 23a is the exhaust port 26 described above. The lower end of the air supply passage 20 and the lower end of the air exhaust passage 24 are respectively led to a pipeline (not shown) outside the chamber 2 through

holes

27 and 28 formed in the bottom wall 2f of the chamber 2.

Specific conveyance rollers 9 for supporting the glass sheet 3 from below and conveying the glass sheet 3 are assembled at a plurality of locations (two locations in the conveyance direction in the drawing) in the conveyance direction above the bottom plate 16. These specific conveyance rollers 9 are disposed in an area other than the area between the air supply port 22 and the air discharge port 26 in the upper portion of the lower structure 11. Specifically, the specific conveying rollers 9 are disposed on both sides of the area between the specific conveying rollers in the conveying direction. The upper surface 11a of the lower structure 11 corresponding to the region between the upper and lower structures is a single plane. The single flat surface is coplanar with a flat surface on the rear side in the conveying direction with respect to the air inlet port 22 and a flat surface on the front side in the conveying direction with respect to the air outlet port 26 in the upper surface 11a of the lower structure 11. Here, the processing space 13 is strictly speaking a space formed in a range of separation between the air supply port 22 and the air discharge port 26 between the lower surface 10a of the upper structure 10 and the upper surface 11a of the lower structure 11. Therefore, the specific conveyance roller 9 is not present in the processing space 13.

As shown in an enlarged manner in fig. 3, a plurality of specific conveyance rollers 9 are arranged in the width direction at each position in the conveyance direction, and are assembled to the upper portion of the lower structure 11 in a state of being separated from each other in the width direction independently. Specifically, each of the specific conveyance rollers 9 is a free roller and is not given a rotational driving force. The roller shaft 9a of each specific conveyance roller 9 is rotatably held in a recess 29 formed at a predetermined interval in the width direction on the upper portion of the base plate 16. In the present embodiment, only the upper portion of each specific conveyance roller 9 protrudes upward from the upper surface 11a of the lower structure 11, and each roller shaft 9a does not protrude upward from the upper surface 11a of the lower structure 11.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional side view of the air supply structure 17 and the bottom plate 16, which is cut so as to include the flow center axis of the air supply passage 21. As shown in the drawing, the air supply passage 21 is formed inside a five-layer structure including the first to

fourth plate materials

17a, 17b, 17c, and 17d constituting the air supply structure 17 and the rear portion of the bottom plate 16 in the conveying direction. The first plate member 17a positioned at the lowermost layer is provided with a supply passage 17aa for supplying the process gas 5 to the first plate member 17 a. Then, the first plate material 17a is overlapped with the second plate material 17b stacked thereon, thereby forming a branch flow passage 17ba of the process gas 5 supplied from the supply flow passage 17 aa. Further, the second plate material 17b is overlapped with the third plate material 17c stacked thereabove, thereby forming a branch flow passage 17ca that further branches the branch flow passage 17 ba. A space 17da for merging the branched flow paths 17ca is formed in the fourth plate member 17d stacked above the third plate member 17 c. A porous plate 17dc is attached to the fourth plate member 17d, and a plurality of through holes 17db for passing the process gas 5 are formed in the porous plate 17 dc. The uppermost base plate 16 is provided with gas supply holes 19, and the gas supply holes 19 include the above-described small gas supply holes 19a for ejecting the process gas 5 into the process space 13.

The air supply hole 19 and the air supply port 22 formed in the rear portion of the bottom plate 16 in the conveying direction, and the air discharge hole 23 and the air discharge port 26 formed in the front portion of the bottom plate 16 in the conveying direction are formed in slit shapes elongated in the width direction. The width direction dimensions of the air supply holes 19, the air supply ports 22, the air discharge ports 23, and the air discharge ports 26 are larger than the width direction dimensions of the glass plate 3.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical front view of a main portion showing a peripheral structure of a small air supply hole portion 19a formed in an upper portion of the air supply hole 19 of the bottom plate 16. As shown in the drawing, the conveyance direction dimension L of the small supply hole portion 19a is adjusted to a fixed dimension by the spacer 30 located at the vertically middle of the small supply hole portion 19a and provided in plural in the width direction. That is, in the present embodiment, the air supply holes 19 including the air supply small hole portions 19a are gaps between the opposing end surfaces of the respective divided bottom plates that divide the bottom plate 16 at the rear in the conveying direction, and the size of the gaps is adjusted by the spacers 30.

The depth D from the air supply port 22 to the spacer 30 in the air supply small hole portion 19a is preferably within a range of 10 to 100 mm. If the depth dimension D is too short, the flow of the process gas 5 in the gas supply small hole portion 19a may be disturbed by the presence of the spacer 30, and unevenness may occur in the roughening of the lower surface 3a of the glass plate 3 by the etching process. On the other hand, if the depth D is too long, it is difficult to finely adjust the conveyance direction dimension L of the air supply port 22. Therefore, the supply amount of the processing gas 5 supplied from the gas supply port 22 to the processing space 13 may be too large or too small to roughen the lower surface 3a of the glass plate 3 to a desired surface roughness. Therefore, the depth dimension D from the air supply port 22 to the spacer 30 is preferably within the above-mentioned numerical range.

Next, a description will be given of a glass plate manufacturing method, which is an operation of the glass plate manufacturing apparatus 1 having the above-described configuration.

As shown in fig. 2, the process gas 5 flows through the process space 13 as follows in a state where the glass plate 3 is conveyed to the process space 13. That is, the processing gas 5 flowing into the gas supply passage 21 is ejected upward (vertically upward) from the gas supply port 22, flows forward in the conveyance direction along the lower surface 3a of the glass plate 3, is sucked into the exhaust port 26, and is collected by the collection passage 25. In this case, when the process gas 5 flows through the process space 13, the specific conveyance roller 9 does not exist in the flow path of the process gas 5. Therefore, the flow of the process gas 5 is not disturbed by the specific conveying rollers 9. That is, since the specific conveyance roller 9 is provided at a position separated from the flow path of the process gas 5, the flow of the process gas 5 is not obstructed, and a situation such as a change in the flow of the process gas 5 in the middle does not occur. This makes the reaction between the entire lower surface 3a of the glass plate 3 and the processing gas 5 uniform, and makes the roughening of the lower surface 3a of the glass plate 3 less likely to cause unevenness. Further, since the upper surface 11a of the lower structure 11 corresponding to the region between the gas supply port 22 and the gas discharge port 26 is a single plane, the process gas 5 flows more smoothly, and the reaction of the process gas 5 is more uniformly performed over the entire region of the lower surface 3a of the glass plate 3.

Since the pair of specific conveyance rollers 9 in which the glass sheet 3 is assembled to the upper portion of the lower structure 11 is supported from below, the distance between adjacent support positions can be shortened. Thus, even if the glass plate 3 is thin (for example, the plate thickness is 300 μm or less or 200 μm or less), the glass plate 3 subjected to the etching treatment can be suppressed from being bent improperly. As a result, not only can the etching process on the lower surface 3a of the glass plate 3 be appropriately performed, but also troubles such as damage to the lower surface 3a of the glass plate 3 and hindrance to conveyance of the glass plate 3 can be avoided.

Further, since the lower surface 10a of the top plate 15 is a single flat surface having no irregularities, unevenness is less likely to occur in the roughening of the upper surface 3b of the glass plate 3. That is, the processing gas 5 sometimes flows around the upper surface 3b of the glass plate 3 in the processing space 13. In this case, if there are irregularities on the lower surface 10a of the top plate 15, the flow of the process gas 5 around the upper surface 3b of the glass plate 3 is disturbed by the irregularities, and the entire upper surface 3b of the glass plate 3 does not uniformly react with the process gas 5. However, if the bottom surface 10a of the top plate 15 has no unevenness, such a problem can be avoided, and the roughening of the top surface 3b of the glass plate 3 can be made uniform.

< second embodiment >

Next, an apparatus for manufacturing a glass plate (a method for manufacturing the same) according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the description of the second embodiment, the same reference numerals are assigned to the constituent elements already described in the above-described first embodiment, and overlapping descriptions are omitted, and only the differences from the first embodiment will be described here.

As shown in fig. 6, the apparatus 1 for manufacturing a glass sheet according to the second embodiment differs from the apparatus 1 for manufacturing a glass sheet according to the first embodiment in that a specific conveyance roller 9 is provided only on the rear side in the conveyance direction of the upper air supply port 22 in the lower structure 11, and a conveyance roller 8 is provided on the front side of the front end portion in the conveyance direction in the lower structure 11 so as to be adjacent to the front side. Therefore, when the glass plate 3 is subjected to the etching process, the glass plate 3 is supported from below by the specific conveying

rollers

9 and 8.

According to the apparatus 1 for manufacturing a glass sheet of the second embodiment, the specific conveyance roller 9 existing only on the rear side in the conveyance direction of the lower structure 11 is disposed in the region other than the region between the air supply port 22 and the air discharge port 26. Therefore, the specific conveyance roller 9 does not disturb the flow of the processing gas 5, and unevenness is not easily generated in the roughening of the lower surface 3a of the glass plate 3. In addition, when the specific conveying rollers 9 are assembled at such positions, the distance between the two support positions of the glass sheet 3 can be shortened as compared with the case where the specific conveying rollers 9 are not assembled at all in the lower structural body 11. Therefore, the above-described problem caused by the glass plate 3 being bent improperly during the etching process does not occur.

In the second embodiment, the specific conveyance roller 9 is attached only to the rear side in the conveyance direction of the air supply port 22, but the specific conveyance roller 9 may be attached only to the front side in the conveyance direction of the air discharge port 26.

In the first and second embodiments described above, the conveying direction of the glass plate 3 is the direction from the air supply port 22 toward the air discharge port 26, but on the contrary, the present invention can be similarly applied even if the conveying direction of the glass plate 3 is the direction from the air discharge port 26 toward the air supply port 22.

In the first and second embodiments described above, the distance from the air inlet port 22 to the rear end in the conveying direction and the distance from the air outlet port 26 to the front end in the conveying direction are short in the upper portion of the lower structural body 11, and therefore, the specific conveying rollers 9 are assembled only in these portions. However, if the distance between these portions is increased, it is also possible to assemble a plurality of specific conveying rollers 9 at these portions.

In the first and second embodiments described above, all or a part of the plurality of conveyance rollers 8 is a drive roller to which rotational drive force is applied, and the specific conveyance roller 9 incorporated in the lower structure 11 is a free roller to which rotational drive force is not applied, but the specific conveyance roller 9 may be a drive roller to which rotational drive force is applied.

In the first and second embodiments described above, the specific conveying mechanism incorporated in the lower structure 11 is the roller 9, but may be a rotary body or the like other than the roller.

In the first and second embodiments described above, the air supply structure 17 and the air discharge structure 18 are provided separately and are disposed apart from each other in the conveying direction, but the two

structures

17 and 18 may be formed integrally.

Description of reference numerals:

1 apparatus for producing glass plate

3 glass plate

Lower surface of 3a glass plate

Upper surface of 3b glass plate

8 carrying roller

9 specific carrying mechanism (specific carrying roller)

10 superstructure

10a lower surface of the upper structure

11 lower structure

11a upper surface of lower structure

13 processing space

15 Top plate

16 bottom plate

17 air supply structure

18 exhaust structure

22 air supply port

26 exhaust port.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing a glass plate, wherein an upper surface of a lower structure having an air supply port and an air discharge port is disposed facing a lower surface of an upper structure and formed in a processing space between the facing upper and lower surfaces, the lower surface of the glass plate conveyed in a horizontal direction is subjected to an etching process by a processing gas ejected from the air supply port and sucked into the air discharge port, the air supply port and the air discharge port are positioned at positions separated from each other in a glass plate conveying direction, and a specific conveying roller incorporated in the lower structure supports the glass plate from below to convey the glass plate,

the method for manufacturing a glass sheet is characterized in that,

the specific conveyance roller is disposed in an area other than an area between the air supply port and the air discharge port,

and carrying in and out the glass sheet with respect to the processing space by a carrying roller disposed outside the upper structure and the lower structure, the specific carrying roller having a diameter smaller than a diameter of the carrying roller.

2. The method for producing glass sheet according to claim 1,

the specific conveying rollers are arranged on both sides of a region between the air supply port and the air discharge port in a glass plate conveying direction.

3. The method for producing glass sheet according to claim 1,

the specific conveying roller is a plurality of free rollers arranged in a direction parallel to the lower surface of the glass plate and orthogonal to the conveying direction of the glass plate.

4. The method for producing glass sheet according to claim 3,

the plurality of free rollers are disposed independently and separately from each other.

5. The method for producing glass sheet according to claim 1,

the specific conveying rollers are arranged in plurality in the conveying direction of the glass plate, the conveying rollers are arranged in plurality in the conveying direction of the glass plate, and the arrangement pitch of the specific conveying rollers in the conveying direction of the glass plate is smaller than the arrangement pitch of the conveying rollers in the conveying direction of the glass plate.

6. The method for producing glass sheet according to any one of claims 1 to 5,

an upper surface of the lower structure corresponding to an area between the air supply port and the air discharge port is a single plane.

7. A glass plate manufacturing apparatus, wherein an upper surface of a lower structure having an air supply port and an air discharge port is disposed facing a lower surface of an upper structure and formed in a processing space between the facing upper and lower surfaces, the lower surface of a glass plate conveyed in a horizontal direction is subjected to an etching process by a process gas ejected from the air supply port and sucked into the air discharge port, the air supply port and the air discharge port are located at positions separated from each other in a glass plate conveying direction, and a specific conveying roller is incorporated in the lower structure and supports the glass plate from below for conveying the glass plate,

the apparatus for manufacturing a glass sheet is characterized in that,

the glass sheet manufacturing apparatus includes a conveyance roller disposed outside the upper structure and the lower structure so as to convey the glass sheet into and out of the processing space, and the specific conveyance roller has a diameter smaller than a diameter of the conveyance roller.