CN111977375B

CN111977375B - Thin plate conveying device and method

Info

Publication number: CN111977375B
Application number: CN201910424483.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 叶东益
Original assignee: FavePC Inc
Current assignee: FavePC Inc
Priority date: 2019-05-21
Filing date: 2019-05-21
Publication date: 2022-01-18
Anticipated expiration: 2039-05-21
Also published as: CN111977375A

Abstract

The invention relates to a sheet conveying device and a method thereof, wherein a sheet enters the areas of at least one gas outlet device and at least two conveying devices through the supporting force of the plurality of supporting devices by virtue of at least one gas outlet device and a plate body provided with the plurality of supporting devices and at least two conveying devices, gas capable of generating parallel gas flow components or parallel gas flows is conveyed between the plate body and the sheet by the at least one gas outlet device, so that the gas pressure difference between the upper part of the sheet and the lower part of the sheet is generated to correspondingly generate a lower pressure, and the lower pressure drives the sheet to contact the at least two conveying devices, so that the at least two conveying devices utilize friction force to convey the sheet.

Description

Thin plate conveying device and method

Technical Field

The invention relates to a conveying device and a method thereof, in particular to a thin plate conveying device and a method thereof.

Background

The transportation of thin plates, such as glass thin plates with a thickness of only 0.3-1.1 mm, is a necessary process in the production of panels, and the transportation between each processing procedure may cause the problem of thin plate cracking, which makes the transportation of thin plates a very important issue for manufacturers to manufacture panels, especially display panels or touch panels. Generally, in the conventional device for transporting a sheet, a plurality of rollers are driven by a driving motor to rotate, when the sheet is transported over the plurality of rollers, if the distance between the rollers is large, the leading edge of the sheet may sag due to its own weight before entering the upper portion of the next roller without being supported, so that the leading edge may collide with the next roller, which may easily affect the production yield of the sheet. As shown in the first and second figures, in the conventional sheet conveying devices 1 'and 2' for conveying the sheet by placing the sheet above the conveying rollers, the number of the entire conveying rollers RO must be increased in order to have sufficient supporting force to prevent the leading edge of the sheet from striking the conveying rollers, resulting in a complicated overall structure.

Recently, the development of display panels is being directed to thinning and upsizing, for example: the display panel of liquid crystal television, plasma television, and the glass substrate of the display panel are also developing to be large-sized and thin. In the production process, the conventional roller conveying system uses the roller as a medium for supporting and conveying the glass substrate, which may cause damage (such as scratch, bruise, etc.) on the surface of the glass substrate due to multiple contact between the roller and the glass substrate during the conveying process, thereby affecting the product yield, so that how to adjust the contact between the glass substrate and the roller is an inevitable problem, and the glass substrate is large-sized, and the number of rollers must be increased to obtain sufficient supporting force, resulting in a more complex structure. Therefore, in the prior art, an air floating device is disposed between the rollers, and the air flow ejected upward by the air floating device provides a supporting force for the glass substrate without increasing the number of rollers, thereby reducing the surface damage of the glass substrate.

Based on the above problems, the present invention provides a thin plate conveying device and method thereof, wherein an air flow capable of generating a parallel air flow component or a parallel air flow is ejected by an air outlet device, so that a pressure difference is generated between the upper side and the lower side of the thin plate due to the parallel air flow component or the parallel air flow to generate a downward pressure on the thin plate, the thin plate is pressed by the downward pressure to contact the conveying device, the conveying device conveys the thin plate by a friction force, thereby improving the problem that the thin plate cannot be conveyed due to an excessive supporting force of an air floatation device, and reducing power wheels required by the whole conveying device.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention provides a thin plate conveying device and a method thereof, which utilize the gas pressure difference between the upper part and the lower part of the thin plate to generate a downward pressure, so that the thin plate contacts with the conveying device due to the downward pressure, and the conveying device conveys the thin plate by utilizing the friction force.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention discloses a sheet conveying apparatus, comprising: the plate comprises a plate body, a plurality of supporting devices, at least one air outlet device and at least two conveying devices, wherein the plurality of supporting devices and the at least one air outlet device are arranged on the plate body, and the at least two conveying devices penetrate through the plate body. The thin plate enters the areas of the at least one gas outlet device and the at least two conveying devices through the supporting force of the plurality of supporting devices, the at least one gas outlet device is positioned beside the at least two conveying devices, the at least one gas outlet device outputs at least one gas capable of generating parallel gas flow components or parallel gas flows to the space between the thin plate and the plate body, the parallel gas flow components or the parallel gas flows enable the gas pressure between the thin plate and the plate body to be smaller than the gas pressure above the thin plate, a lower pressure is generated to the thin plate, the thin plate is enabled to contact with the at least two conveying devices, and the thin plate is conveyed by the at least two conveying devices through friction force.

The invention also discloses a sheet conveying method, which comprises the following steps: when a thin plate is positioned on a plate body, at least one gas outlet device outputs at least one gas capable of generating parallel gas flow component or parallel gas flow to a position between the thin plate and the plate body, the parallel gas flow component or the parallel gas flow enables the gas pressure between the thin plate and the plate body to be smaller than the gas pressure above the thin plate, a lower pressure is generated to the thin plate, the thin plate is enabled to contact with the at least two conveying devices, and the thin plate is conveyed by the at least two conveying devices through friction force.

Drawings

FIG. 1: which is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of the prior art;

FIG. 2: which is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of the prior art;

FIG. 3: which is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4A and 4B: which is a cross-sectional view of line AA and line BB of FIG. 3;

fig. 5A to 5F: which is a schematic diagram of the thin plate transportation according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6: which is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7A and 7B: it is a schematic cross-sectional view of the line CC and the line DD in FIG. 6;

fig. 8A to 8F: which is a schematic diagram of sheet transport according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9A to 9F: which is a schematic diagram of sheet transport according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10A to 10F: which is a schematic diagram of sheet transport according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11: which is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 12: which is a cross-sectional view of line EE of fig. 11.

[ brief description of the drawings ]

1' conventional thin plate conveying device

2' conventional thin plate conveying device

1 thin plate conveying device

2 thin plate conveying device

3 thin plate conveying device

4 thin plate conveying device

5 thin plate conveying device

10 plate body

10A support

12 air outlet device

12A air outlet device

12B air outlet device

122 flow guide part

124 air disturbing piece

20 first conveying device

22 first opening

30 second conveying device

32 second opening

AA axial lead

AP air supply device

CA first gas

CC axial lead

C axle center

D direction of ascent

Pressure at DP

DR drive device

F1 fixing piece

FX fixing device

FF thrust

H interval

H1 first interval

H2 second spacing

OUT air outlet

P strutting arrangement

Parallel flow component of PA

PF second gas

Long diameter of R

RO transmission roller

SF normal force

SH thin plate

Thickness of T

UP lifting device

UP1 pneumatic cylinder

UP2 support bar

UP3 connecting piece

Detailed Description

In order to provide a further understanding and appreciation for the structural features and advantages achieved by the present invention, the following detailed description of the presently preferred embodiments is provided:

in view of the influence of the conventional conveying device on the surface of the thin plate and the conveying process, the present invention provides a thin plate conveying device and a method thereof to solve the problems caused by the conventional technique.

The characteristics, the associated structure and the method of the thin plate conveying device of the present invention will be further described as follows:

first, please refer to fig. 3 to 4B, which are schematic structural diagrams of an embodiment of the present invention and cross-sectional diagrams of the AA line and the BB line of fig. 3. As shown in fig. 3 to 4B, a thin plate conveying device 1 includes a plate 10 and at least two conveying

devices

20 and 30, wherein at least one air outlet device 12 and a plurality of supporting devices P are disposed on the plate 10, wherein an air outlet device 12, a first conveying device 20 and a second conveying device 30 are exemplified in the present embodiment. The plate 10 further has a first opening 22 and a second opening 32, and the at least one air outlet device 12 is located between the first opening 22 and the second opening 32. The first conveying device 20 is disposed at the first opening 22, the second conveying device 30 is disposed at the second opening 32, the radial length R of the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30 exceeds the thickness T of the plate 10, and the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30 are located on an axial line AA. The supporting devices P are disposed in front of the two conveying

devices

20 and 30. As shown in fig. 4A and 4B, the air outlet device 12 and the supporting devices P are connected to a plurality of air supply devices AP.

Fig. 5A to 5F show a schematic diagram of the sheet conveying method of the present invention, wherein, when a sheet SH is positioned on the plate body 10, the sheet conveying device 1 generates at least one first gas CA to the sheet SH by the gas outlet device 12, the outlet gas flow of the first gas CA forms a parallel gas flow component PA under the thin plate SH, i.e. a parallel gas component PA is formed between the thin plate SH and the plate body 10, further forming a negative pressure under the thin plate SH, thereby causing the gas pressure above the sheet 10 to be greater than the gas pressure below the sheet 10 and correspondingly producing a lower pressure DP, for contacting the thin plate SH with the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30, so as to receive the positive force SF of the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30, so that the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30 convey the thin plate SH by friction.

The method for conveying the sheet SH by the sheet conveying apparatus 1 will be described in detail below. As shown in fig. 5A to 5C, when the sheet SH does not cover the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30, the gas outlet device 12 does not discharge gas, and the supporting devices P generate a plurality of second gases PF to the sheet SH to form a supporting force below the sheet SH, so that the leading edge of the sheet SH does not sag due to its own weight before the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30 are covered, thereby maintaining a first interval H1 between the plate body 10 and the sheet SH.

As shown in fig. 5D to 5F, the gas outlet 12 generates at least one first gas CA to the sheet SH based on the sheet SH shielding the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30, the gas flow of the first gas CA forms a parallel flow component PA below the sheet SH, and further forms a negative pressure below the sheet SH, so that the gas pressure above the sheet 10 is greater than the gas pressure below the sheet 10 to correspondingly generate a lower pressure DP, the lower pressure DP makes the sheet 10 contact with the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30, and the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30 respectively generate a forward thrust FF to the sheet SH via friction force to convey the sheet 10.

Therefore, the supporting devices P provide supporting force to the thin plate SH by the second gases PF, so as to prevent the front edge of the thin plate SH from sagging due to its own weight before shielding the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30 and colliding with the first conveying device 20 or the second conveying device 30, which may cause damage.

Moreover, the distribution area of the supporting devices P is larger than the distribution areas of the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30, or larger than the distribution area of the gas outlet device 12. In addition, the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30 are linked to the shaft center C, the shaft center C is linked to the driving device DR, and the driving device DR and the shaft center C are connected to the two lifting devices UP, wherein the lifting device UP is further provided with a connecting piece UP3, wherein the connecting piece UP3 is a sleeve to sleeve the shaft center C, so as to fix the shaft center C through the lifting device UP and fix and support the driving device DR.

In addition to the above description of the embodiment of the thin plate conveying device 1 of the present invention, further refer to fig. 6 to 8F, which are a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of the present invention, a schematic cross-sectional diagram of line CC and line DD of fig. 6, and a schematic thin plate conveying diagram of another embodiment. The difference between fig. 3 to 5F and fig. 6 to 8F lies in that the sheet conveying device 2 of fig. 6 to 8F further includes a plurality of gas outlet devices 12A, each of the gas outlet devices 12A further includes a flow guide member 122, each of the gas outlet devices 12A has a plurality of gas outlets OUT according to the flow guide member 122, and the flow guide member 122 guides the first gas CA generated by the gas outlet devices 12A to be emitted to the gas outlets OUT, in this embodiment, the first gas CA is emitted in 4 directions of 12 o 'clock, 3 o' clock, 6 o 'clock and 9 o' clock, but not limited thereto, and further, a plurality of gas outlets may be provided to form a plurality of gas emissions, for example, 8 gas outlets OUT may form a plurality of gas emissions in 8 directions. With further reference to fig. 8D to 8F, the parallel gas flow component PA and thus the lower pressure DP is formed based on the first gas CA, and the rest of the conveying principle is not described in detail in the above embodiments.

In addition, please further refer to fig. 9A to 9F, which are schematic diagrams illustrating a sheet transportation according to another embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 8A to 8F and fig. 9A to 9F are different in that the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30 of the sheet conveying device 2 of fig. 8A to 8F are higher than the first opening 22 and the second opening 32, and the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30 of the sheet conveying device 3 of fig. 9A to 9F are lower than or equal to the positions of the first opening 22 and the second opening 32. As shown in fig. 9A to 9C, when the thin plate SH does not cover the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30, the top ends of the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30 are not higher than the first opening 22 and the second opening 32, and the supporting devices P generate the second gases PF for supporting the thin plate SH.

In this embodiment, the lifting devices UP are pneumatic cylinders as an example, the lifting devices UP are connected to the axis C and the driving device DR to support the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30 to be lifted to a position where an interval H is formed between the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30 and the sheet SH, or to adjust the heights of the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30 according to the user's requirement, and the lifting devices UP are respectively connected to the driving device DR and the connecting member UP3 through a supporting rod UP2 to position the heights of the driving device DR and the axis C.

As shown in fig. 9D to 9F, when the thin plate SH shields the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30, the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30 are lifted to contact the thin plate SH according to a lifting direction D, that is, the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30 are lifted by the lifting devices UP to be higher than the first opening 22 and the second opening 32 to contact the thin plate SH, so as to provide a forward force SF to the thin plate SH, and the air outlet device 12 provides the first gas CA to the thin plate SH to form the parallel gas flow component PA, so as to provide the downward force DP to the thin plate SH, so that the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30 generate a forward thrust FF to the thin plate SH through friction force, respectively, so as to convey the thin plate 10.

In the height adjustment of the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30 of the present embodiment, the ascending and descending are realized by the ascending and descending devices UP, and the heights of the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30 are positioned by connecting the axis C and the driving device DR.

Please further refer to fig. 10A to 10F, which are schematic diagrams illustrating a sheet transportation according to another embodiment of the present invention. The difference between fig. 9A to 9F and fig. 10A to 10F lies in that the sheet conveying device 4 in fig. 10A to 10F further includes a plurality of gas outlet devices 12A disposed on the plate body 10, and the gas outlets of the gas outlet devices 12A are further respectively provided with a flow guide 122, the flow guide 122 guides the first gas CA generated by the gas outlet devices 12A to be emitted in all directions, but the embodiment is that the first gas CA is emitted in 4 directions of 12 o 'clock, 3 o' clock, 6 o 'clock and 9 o' clock, but is not limited thereto, and can be further emitted in a ring shape. With further reference to fig. 8D to 8F, the parallel gas flow component PA and thus the lower pressure DP is formed based on the first gas CA, and the rest of the conveying principle is not described in detail in the above embodiments.

Please refer to fig. 11 and 12, which are a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of the present invention and a schematic cross-sectional diagram taken along line EE of fig. 11. The difference between fig. 6 to 7A and fig. 11 to 12 lies in that the sheet conveying device 2 in fig. 6 to 7A respectively arranges the flow guiding members 122 of the air outlet devices 12A in the plate body 10, and the sheet conveying device 5 in fig. 11 to 12 respectively arranges the air disturbing members 124 of the air outlet devices 12B on the plate body 10 via the supporting members 10A and shields the air outlets of the air outlet devices 12B, and the air disturbing member 124 is located above the air outlet OUT, so that the first gas CA sprayed upwards is guided to the periphery of the air disturbing members 124, and the first gas CA is guided to the outer side of the periphery of the air disturbing members 124.

With the above-described embodiments, the present invention brings the sheet SH into contact with the at least two conveying devices by the downward pressure DP for conveying the sheet SH, and the sheet conveying device of the present invention maintains the sheet SH at a fixed height, such as the first height H1 or the second height H2, thereby preventing the edge of the sheet SH from hanging down between the sheet conveying devices and colliding with the conveying devices in the sheet conveying device. In the above-mentioned embodiment, the conveying

devices

20, 30 of the present invention are coaxially connected to a driving device DR through the axis C, and the driving device DR drives the conveying

devices

20, 30 to frictionally convey the sheet SH.

In addition, the supporting devices P can be further modified into elastic rollers, and the frictional resistance of the rollers is smaller than the frictional force of the at least two conveying devices, so that the frictional force of the at least two conveying devices can form a thrust force on the thin plate SH to convey the thin plate SH. In addition to the above, a gear linkage device may be used to drive the support rods UP2 to move UP and down, wherein the support rods UP2 are inserted into the pneumatic cylinders UP1, the support rods UP2 are connected to the driving device DR, and are connected to the shaft center C through a connecting member UP3, so that the lifting device UP is used to position the heights of the first conveying device 20 and the second conveying device 30 and the distance between the plate 10 and the thin plate SH by the connection relationship between the pneumatic cylinders UP1, the support rods UP2, the connecting member UP3, the shaft center C, and the driving device DR.

In the above-mentioned embodiments, the conveying

devices

20 and 30 are disposed in a coaxial driving manner as an example, and besides, the conveying

devices

20 and 30 of the present invention may be disposed in a non-coaxial driving manner, for example, the conveying

devices

20 and 30 are driven to rotate by a plurality of axes C. In addition, the sheet conveying apparatus 1-5 of the above embodiment links a plurality of fasteners F1 via a plurality of fastening devices FX, and the fasteners F1 connect the sheet 10 to fasten and support the sheet 10.

The above description is only for the purpose of illustrating the preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, which is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A sheet conveying apparatus, comprising:

the plate body is provided with at least one air outlet device and a plurality of supporting devices; and

the at least two conveying devices penetrate through the plate body, the at least one air outlet device is positioned beside the at least two conveying devices, the at least one air outlet device outputs at least one first gas capable of generating a parallel gas flow component to a position between a thin plate and the plate body, the parallel gas flow component or the parallel gas flow enables the gas pressure between the thin plate and the plate body to be smaller than the gas pressure above the thin plate, a lower pressure is generated to the thin plate, the thin plate is enabled to contact with the at least two conveying devices, and the thin plate is conveyed by the at least two conveying devices through friction force.

2. The sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one gas outlet means has at least one gas outlet for outputting the at least one first gas generating the parallel gas flow component or the parallel gas flow between the sheet and the plate body, the parallel gas flow component or the parallel gas flow causing a gas pressure between the sheet and the plate body to be lower than a gas pressure above the sheet to generate the downward pressure to the sheet to cause the sheet to contact the at least two conveying means, allowing the at least two conveying means to convey the sheet by friction.

3. The sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising at least one flow guiding member disposed on the at least one gas outlet device, the at least one gas outlet device having at least one gas outlet according to the at least one flow guiding member, the at least one gas outlet device outputting the at least one first gas to the at least one gas outlet according to the at least one flow guiding member to emit the at least one first gas.

4. The sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one gas outlet device has at least one gas outlet and at least one gas disturbing member, the at least one gas disturbing member is disposed on the at least one gas outlet, and the at least one gas outlet device outputs the at least one first gas to the at least one gas outlet and guides the at least one first gas to the peripheral edge of the at least one gas disturbing member through the at least one gas disturbing member for emission.

5. The apparatus for conveying a sheet as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of supporting means are a plurality of rollers or a plurality of air-floating means.

6. A method for conveying a sheet, comprising the steps of:

when a thin plate is positioned on a plate body, at least one air outlet device on the plate body generates at least one first gas capable of generating parallel gas flow component or parallel gas flow to a position between the thin plate and the plate body, the parallel gas flow component or the parallel gas flow enables the gas pressure between the thin plate and the plate body to be smaller than the gas pressure above the thin plate, a lower pressure is generated to the thin plate, the thin plate is enabled to contact with at least two conveying devices, and the thin plate is conveyed by the at least two conveying devices through friction force.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

when the thin plate does not shield the at least two conveying devices, the plurality of supporting devices on the plate body support the thin plate.

8. The sheet conveying method according to claim 6, wherein in the step of generating the at least one first gas generating the parallel gas flow component or the parallel gas flow between the sheet and the plate body by the at least one gas outlet means on the plate body, when the sheet shields the at least two conveying means, the at least one gas outlet means outputs the at least one first gas generating the parallel gas flow component or the parallel gas flow between the sheet and the plate body, and the parallel gas flow component or the parallel gas flow makes a gas pressure between the sheet and the plate body smaller than a gas pressure above the sheet, so that the sheet is subjected to the downward pressure and contacts the at least two conveying means, and the at least two conveying means convey the sheet by friction.