JP2017052679A - Method and apparatus for producing glass plate - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent occurrence of hindrance to roughening of a bottom surface of a glass plate by making appropriate a conveying state of the glass plate in the vicinity of a treatment space to uniformize a reaction between the whole bottom surface area of the glass plate and a process gas at the time of etching treatment of the bottom surface of the glass plate in the treatment space.SOLUTION: A bottom surface 10a of an upper structure 10 and a top surface 11a of a lower structure 11 having an air supply port 22 and an air discharge port 26 are arranged to face each other. Etching treatment of a bottom surface 3a of a glass plate 3 conveyed in a horizontal direction is performed in a treatment space 13 formed between both surfaces 10a, 11a facing each other by a process gas 5 blown out from the air supply port 22 and sucked into the air discharge port 26. The air supply port 22 and the air discharge port 26 are located so as to be separated from each other in a glass plate conveying direction A. Specific conveying means 9 assembled to the lower structure 11 supports the glass plate 3 from below to be used for conveying the glass plate 3. The specific conveying means 9 is arranged excluding an area between the air supply port 22 and the air discharge port 26.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a glass plate manufacturing method and a manufacturing apparatus therefor, which includes a step of etching a glass plate using a processing gas such as hydrogen fluoride.

  As is well known, in flat panel displays (FPD) represented by liquid crystal displays, plasma displays, organic EL displays, field emission displays, mobile devices such as smartphones, tablet PCs, and other various electronic devices, Glass plates of various thicknesses and sizes are incorporated.

  In the manufacturing process of the glass plate that is the basis for producing this type of final product glass plate, problems due to electrostatic charging can occur. For example, when a glass plate is placed on a work table and a predetermined process is performed, a situation may occur where the glass plate sticks to the work surface due to electrostatic charging. Therefore, when the glass plate that has undergone the predetermined treatment is peeled off from the work table, the glass plate can be damaged.

  As a countermeasure against such a problem, the above-mentioned problems caused by electrostatic charging are solved by spraying a processing gas such as hydrogen fluoride on the glass plate to perform etching and roughening the surface of the glass plate. Attempts to do so are being promoted.

  As a specific example, according to Patent Document 1, when a glass plate conveyed along a certain conveyance path passes through the processing space, the glass plate is blown from the blowing nozzle and sucked into the suction nozzle. It is disclosed that an etching process is performed on the lower surface of the glass plate with a processing gas.

  More specifically, in the etching apparatus disclosed in this document, a glass plate being transferred between the lower surface of the upper structure (upper component) and the upper surface of the lower structure (lower component). A processing space is formed on the lower surface of the substrate for etching. In this case, the upper structure is formed only from the top plate. On the other hand, the lower structural body is a blowout nozzle disposed on the rear side in the transport direction of the glass plate (upstream side of the transport path), and a suction nozzle disposed on the front side in the transport direction of the glass plate (downstream side of the transport path), The bottom plate interposed between the two nozzles is integrally formed. And each upper surface of the blowing nozzle which is a lower structure, a baseplate, and a suction nozzle is made into a flush state. Accordingly, a blow-out port that blows the processing gas into the processing space and a suction port that sucks the processing gas from the processing space are formed on the upper surface of the lower structure.

  Furthermore, this etching apparatus has a conveyance roller which supports and conveys a glass plate from below in the processing space. This conveyance roller is assembled | attached to the lower structure. More specifically, a roller shaft extending in a direction parallel to the lower surface of the glass plate and in a direction perpendicular to the glass plate conveying direction is disposed below the bottom plate of the lower structure, and predetermined in a plurality of axial directions of the roller shaft. A conveyance roller is provided with an interval of. And the upper end part of a conveyance roller passes in the hole of a bottom plate, and faces the process space by protruding upwards from the upper surface of a bottom plate. Therefore, a conveyance roller plays the role which supports and conveys a glass plate from the downward direction in process space.

International Publication No. 2011/105331

  By the way, in the etching apparatus disclosed by patent document 1, the conveyance roller is arrange | positioned in the area | region between the blower outlet formed in the upper surface of the lower structure, and the suction inlet. In such an arrangement mode of the conveyance roller, the flow of the processing gas blown out from the blowout port and sucked into the suction port is disturbed by the presence of the conveyance roller, so that the reaction between the lower surface of the glass plate and the processing gas is uneven. become. Therefore, there may be a problem that unevenness occurs in the roughening of the lower surface of the glass plate.

  As a countermeasure to avoid such a problem, it is possible to remove the transport roller for transporting the glass plate from the lower structure, and to dispose the transport roller from the position close to both sides of the lower structure toward the both sides outward. Conceivable. However, in such a simple method, the distance between the adjacent transport rollers becomes too long at the place where the transport rollers are removed from the lower structure, and thus the following fatal problem occurs.

  That is, since the glass plate is easily bent with the recent thinning of the glass plate, it is necessary to reduce the distance between adjacent transport rollers. Nonetheless, it results in going against such a request. And as mentioned above, when the distance between the transport rollers arranged close to both sides of the lower structure becomes too long, the glass plate is bent on the upper surface of the lower structure. It causes a situation such as the lower surface of the plate contacting. As a result, not only the etching process on the lower surface of the glass plate becomes difficult, but also the lower surface of the glass plate may be damaged, and the smooth conveyance of the glass plate may be hindered.

  From the above viewpoints, the object of the present invention is to optimize the conveyance mode of the glass plate around the processing space, so that when the lower surface of the glass plate is etched in the processing space, the entire lower surface of the glass plate and the processing It is to make the reaction with the gas uniform so as not to hinder the roughening of the lower surface of the glass plate.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is arranged such that the upper surface of the lower structure having the air supply port and the exhaust port and the lower surface of the upper structure are opposed to each other, and are formed between the opposing surfaces. In the processing space, the processing gas blown out from the air supply port and sucked into the exhaust port performs etching on the lower surface of the glass plate conveyed in the horizontal direction, and the air supply port and the exhaust port are connected to the glass plate. In the method for manufacturing a glass plate, the specific conveying means that is positioned separately in the conveying direction and is assembled to the lower structure supports the glass plate from below and is used for conveying the glass plate. However, it is characterized by being arranged excluding the region between the air supply port and the exhaust port. Here, the “glass plate conveyed in the horizontal direction” means not only when the glass plate is conveyed in the horizontal direction, which is a non-inclined direction, but also at an angle of 30 ° or less up and down with respect to the horizontal plane. The case where it is conveyed in an inclined direction is also included (hereinafter the same). Moreover, the attitude | position of the glass plate in these cases is not only the attitude | position in which a glass plate becomes a non-inclined state with respect to the both sides of a conveyance direction, but a glass plate is 30 with respect to the other side from the one side of a conveyance direction. Also includes postures that are inclined at an angle of less than or equal to ° (hereinafter the same).

  According to such a configuration, the flow of the processing gas blown upward from the air supply port and circulated along the lower surface of the glass plate and sucked into the exhaust port is not disturbed by the specific conveying means. In other words, the specific conveying means that supports the glass plate from below and serves to convey the glass plate is provided at a position that is out of the flow path of the processing gas. Therefore, there is nothing that obstructs the flow of the processing gas, and a situation such as a change in the flow of the processing gas cannot occur. Accordingly, the reaction between the entire lower surface of the glass plate and the processing gas is made uniform, and unevenness of the roughening of the lower surface of the glass plate is less likely to occur. Moreover, since the glass plate conveyed in the horizontal direction is supported from below by the specific conveying means at the position where the lower structure is present, compared to the case where no support position of the glass plate is provided in the lower structure, The distance between adjacent support positions can be shortened. Thereby, even if a glass plate is thin, it can suppress that an undue bending arises in the glass plate in which the etching process is performed. As a result, not only optimization of the etching process for the lower surface of the glass plate is ensured, but also problems such as damage to the lower surface of the glass plate and obstruction of conveyance of the glass plate are avoided.

  In the above method, it is preferable that the specific transport means is disposed on both sides of the region between the air supply port and the exhaust port in the glass plate transport direction.

  In this way, the specific conveying means is arranged on both the air supply port side and the exhaust port side of the lower structure, so that the distance between the specific conveying means can be greatly shortened. As a result, it is possible to reliably prevent the glass plate supported from below by both the specific conveying means from being greatly bent by its own weight between the two specific conveying means. As a result, the roughening of the lower surface of the glass plate by the processing gas is further optimized.

  In the above method, it is preferable that the specific transport unit is a specific transport roller.

  If it does in this way, it will become possible to fulfill | perform the role of the specific conveyance means of supporting a glass plate from the downward direction and using for conveyance of this glass plate.

  In the method in this case, it is preferable that the specific transport rollers are a plurality of free rollers arranged in a direction parallel to the lower surface of the glass plate and in a direction orthogonal to the glass plate transport direction.

  This eliminates the need for roller driving means, thus simplifying the assembly to the lower structure.

  In the method in this case, it is preferable that the plurality of free rollers are independent of each other and are spaced apart from each other.

  In this way, the free roller can be reduced in size and manufactured easily.

  In the above method, it has a conveyance roller arranged outside the upper structure and the lower structure to carry the glass plate into and out of the processing space, and the diameter of the specific conveyance roller is smaller than the diameter of the conveyance roller. preferable. In this case, the diameter of the transport roller is preferably 1.5 times to 10 times the diameter of the specific transport roller, more preferably the lower limit value is 2 times and the upper limit value is 4 times. Moreover, it is preferable that a conveyance roller is a drive roller to which rotational drive force is provided.

  In this way, the space for assembling the specific transport roller in the lower structure can be narrowed, and the lower structure can be reduced in size.

  In the above method, a plurality of specific conveyance rollers are arranged in the glass plate conveyance direction, a plurality of conveyance rollers are arranged in the glass plate conveyance direction, and the arrangement pitch of the specific conveyance rollers in the glass plate conveyance direction is It is preferably smaller than the arrangement pitch in the glass plate conveyance direction.

  If it does in this way, after making it allow some bending of a glass plate between adjacent conveyance rollers, the bending of a glass plate can be strictly prevented between adjacent specific conveyance rollers. Thereby, after reducing the number of conveyance rollers in the area | region which does not perform an etching process on the lower surface of a glass plate, the number of the specific conveyance rollers in the area | region which performs an etching process can be made into a request | requirement.

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

  In this way, it is difficult to cause a situation where the flow of the processing gas is hindered by the upper surface of the lower structure, so that the roughening of the lower surface of the glass plate by the processing gas is further optimized.

  An apparatus according to the present invention, which has been created to solve the above problems, is arranged such that the upper surface of a lower structure having an air supply port and an exhaust port is opposed to the lower surface of the upper structure, so An etching process is performed on the lower surface of the glass plate conveyed in the horizontal direction by the processing gas blown out from the air supply port and sucked into the exhaust port in the processing space formed between the air supply port and the exhaust port. In the apparatus for manufacturing a glass plate, the specific conveying means that is positioned separately in the glass plate conveying direction, supports the glass plate from below and is used for conveying the glass plate, and is mounted on the lower structure, the specific conveying means However, it is characterized by being arranged excluding the region between the air supply port and the exhaust port.

  This glass plate manufacturing apparatus has substantially the same structural requirements as the glass plate manufacturing method according to the present invention described above. Accordingly, the description of the apparatus is substantially the same as the description of the above-described method, and the description thereof is omitted here.

  According to the present invention, when the conveyance mode of the glass plate around the processing space is optimized, 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 performed. Is made uniform, and it becomes difficult for the roughening of the lower surface of the glass plate to occur.

It is a vertical front view which shows the whole schematic structure of the manufacturing apparatus of the glass plate which concerns on 1st embodiment of this invention. It is an enlarged vertical front view which shows the principal part structure of the manufacturing apparatus of the glass plate which concerns on 1st embodiment of this invention. It is an expanded vertical side view which shows the principal part structure of the manufacturing apparatus of the glass plate which concerns on 1st embodiment of this invention. It is an expanded vertical side view which shows the air supply structure which is a component of the manufacturing apparatus of the glass plate which concerns on 1st embodiment of this invention, and its periphery. It is a principal part expansion vertical front view which shows the surrounding structure of the air inlet which is a component of the manufacturing apparatus of the glass plate which concerns on 1st embodiment of this invention. It is an enlarged vertical front view which shows the principal part structure of the manufacturing apparatus of the glass plate which concerns on 2nd embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, a manufacturing method of a glass plate concerning the embodiment of the present invention and its manufacturing device are explained with reference to an accompanying drawing.

<First embodiment>
First, an overall schematic configuration of a glass plate manufacturing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a longitudinal front view showing the overall schematic configuration. In the following description, the direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 1 is referred to as the width direction. As shown in the figure, the glass plate manufacturing apparatus 1 is provided on the conveyance path of the glass plate 3 in the chamber 2 while conveying the glass plate 3 carried into the chamber 2 from the carry-in port 2a in the horizontal direction. In the processing area 4, an etching process is performed using hydrogen fluoride as the processing gas 5. And the glass plate 3 after an etching process is carried out of the chamber 2 from the carrying-out port 2b.

  The chamber 2 is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape whose outer shape is long in the width direction, and prevents the processing gas 5 from flowing out of the internal space. In addition, the carry-in port 2 a and the carry-out port 2 b described above are formed in the side wall 2 c of the chamber 2. The material of the chamber 2 is polyvinyl chloride having excellent corrosion resistance against the processing gas 5 (hydrogen fluoride).

  In the processing area 4, an etching device 6 for performing an etching process by spraying a processing gas 5 on the glass plate 3 conveyed in the horizontal direction is arranged. The etching apparatus 6 is installed at the bottom 2 e of the chamber 2 so that a gap 7 is formed between the chamber 2 and the ceiling wall 2 d of the chamber 2.

  Furthermore, the glass plate manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a plurality of transport rollers 8 having a relatively large diameter and disposed inside and outside the chamber 2. These transport rollers 8 are mounted at predetermined intervals at a plurality of axial positions of a long roller shaft 8a extending along the width direction. Accordingly, a plurality of these transport rollers 8 are arranged not only in the direction along the transport path but also in the width direction. A rotational driving force is applied to all or a part of these transport rollers 8.

  In addition, the glass plate manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a specific transport roller 9 as a plurality of specific transport means having a relatively small diameter disposed in the etching apparatus 6. These specific conveyance rollers 9 are not only arranged in the direction along the conveyance path, but also arranged in the width direction. And it is set as the structure which conveys the glass plate 3 along the conveyance path | route extended in a straight line form by these specific conveyance rollers 9 and the above-mentioned conveyance roller 8 in the horizontal direction. In this case, the diameter of the transport roller 8 is preferably 1.5 times to 10 times the diameter of the specific transport roller 9, and more preferably 2 times to 4 times.

  FIG. 1 mainly illustrates the central portion of the chamber 2 and the right and left end portions of the chamber 2 that are broken for the sake of convenience. Therefore, although it cannot be grasped in detail from FIG. 1, the arrangement pitch of the specific conveyance rollers 9 in the conveyance direction is smaller than the arrangement pitch of the conveyance rollers 8 in the conveyance direction. In this case, the etching apparatus 6 is installed at a position where a predetermined number of transport rollers 8 in the transport direction are extracted from among a large number of transport rollers 8 arranged in the transport direction. And the number of arrangement | sequences in the conveyance direction of the specific conveyance roller 9 incorporated in the etching apparatus 6 is larger than the number of arrangement | sequences in the conveyance direction of the extracted conveyance roller 8. FIG.

  FIG. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional front view for explaining the configuration of the etching apparatus 6 in detail. In the following description, the direction orthogonal to the paper surface in FIG. 2 is referred to as the width direction. Moreover, the arrow A direction shown in FIG. 2 is a conveyance direction of the glass plate 3, Comprising: This arrow A direction is only called a conveyance direction. Therefore, the left side in FIG. 2 is the front side in the transport direction (downstream side of the transport path), and the right side is the rear side in the transport direction (upstream side of the transport 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 both the structures 10 and 11 are arranged in the width direction. They are connected and integrated by connecting walls 12 at both ends. Then, a processing space 13 is formed between the lower surface 10a of the upper structure 10 and the upper surface 11a of the lower structure 11 for performing an etching process with the processing gas 5 on the lower surface of the glass plate 3 being conveyed. ing. The material of the upper structure 10 and the lower structure 11 is polyvinyl chloride. The upper structure 10 and the lower structure 11 have a built-in heating member 14 (for example, a heater or the like) for preventing the occurrence of condensation due to the processing gas 5.

  The upper structure 10 is composed of a single flat plate 15, and the lower surface of the top plate 15, that is, the lower surface 10 a of the upper structure 10 is a single plane. Therefore, the lower surface of the top plate 15 does not have irregularities. That is, since only the both ends of the top plate 15 in the width direction (longitudinal direction) are fixed to the connecting wall 12 with bolts or the like, the bottom surface 10a of the top plate 15 has irregularities due to the presence of bolts or bolt holes. Not formed. And the lower surface 10a of this 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 having a flat plate shape, an air supply structure 17 that is suspended and fixed to the rear portion in the transport direction of the bottom plate 16, and an exhaust structure 18 that is suspended and fixed to the front portion of the bottom plate 16 in the transport direction. The An air supply hole 19 that communicates with the processing space 13 is formed at the rear portion of the bottom plate 16 in the conveying direction, and an air supply path 20 that communicates with the air supply hole 19 is formed in the air supply structure 17. Therefore, the air supply passage 21 that guides the processing gas 5 upward and blows it out into the processing space 13 includes the air supply holes 19 and the air supply passage 20. The upper end opening of the air supply passage 21 becomes the air supply port 22 formed on the upper surface of the bottom plate 16, that is, the upper surface 11 a of the lower structure 11. The air supply hole 19 has an air supply small hole portion 19a whose upper portion is narrowed to reduce the passage area, and the upper end of the air supply small hole portion 19a is the air supply port 22 described above. In this case, the upper surface 11 a of the bottom plate 16 is parallel to the lower surface 10 a of the top plate 15.

  An exhaust hole 23 communicating with the processing space 13 is formed in the front portion of the bottom plate 16 in the conveying direction, and an exhaust passage 24 communicating with the exhaust hole 23 is formed in the exhaust structure 18. Therefore, the recovery passage 25 for sucking and recovering the processing gas 5 downward from the processing space 13 includes the exhaust hole 23 and the exhaust passage 24. The upper end opening of the recovery passage 25 becomes 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 the 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 path 20 and the lower end of the exhaust path 24 communicate with pipe lines (not shown) outside the chamber 2 through through holes 27 and 28 formed in the bottom wall 2f of the chamber 2, respectively.

  On the upper part of the bottom plate 16, specific transport rollers 9 that support the glass plate 3 from below and are used for transport of the glass plate 3 are assembled at a plurality of locations in the transport direction (two locations in the transport direction in the illustrated example). Yes. These specific transport rollers 9 are arranged excluding the area between the air supply port 22 and the exhaust port 26 in the upper part of the lower structure 11. Specifically, these specific transport rollers 9 are respectively arranged on both sides in the transport direction of the inter-region. Further, the upper surface 11a of the lower structure 11 corresponding to the inter-region is a single plane. Further, the single plane and the plane on the rear side in the transport direction with respect to the air supply port 22 and the plane on the front side in the transport direction with respect to the exhaust port 26 are flush with each other on the upper surface 11a of the lower structure 11. Here, strictly speaking, the processing space 13 is formed within a space between the air supply port 22 and the exhaust port 26 between the lower surface 10 a of the upper structure 10 and the upper surface 11 a of the lower structure 11. It is space. Therefore, the specific transport roller 9 does not exist in the processing space 13.

  As shown in FIG. 3 in an enlarged manner, the plurality of specific transport rollers 9 arranged in the width direction at the respective positions in the transport direction are independent of each other and are separated from each other in the width direction. 11 is built into the top. More specifically, each specific transport roller 9 is a free roller and is not provided with a rotational driving force. And the roller axis | shaft 9a of each specific conveyance roller 9 is rotatably hold | maintained at the recessed part 29 formed in the upper part of the baseplate 16 at predetermined intervals in the width direction. In the present embodiment, only the upper part of each specific transport roller 9 protrudes upward from the upper surface 11 a of the lower structure 11, and each roller shaft 9 a does not protrude upward from the upper surface 11 a of the lower structure 11.

  FIG. 4 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional side view of the air supply structure 17 and the bottom plate 16 cut in a manner including the flow center axis of the air supply passage 21. As shown in the figure, the air supply passage 21 is a five-layer structure composed of first to fourth plate members 17a, 17b, 17c, 17d constituting the air supply structure 17 and a rear portion in the conveying direction of the bottom plate 16. It is formed inside. A supply channel 17aa for supplying the processing gas 5 to the first plate member 17a is formed in the first plate member 17a located in the lowermost layer. The first plate member 17a and the second plate member 17b stacked above the first plate member 17a are overlapped to form a branch channel 17ba for the processing gas 5 supplied from the supply channel 17aa. Further, by overlapping the second plate member 17b and the third plate member 17c laminated thereon, a branch channel 17ca that further branches the branch channel 17ba is formed. The fourth plate member 17d stacked above the third plate member 17c is formed with a space 17da for joining the branched branch flow channels 17ca. Further, the fourth plate member 17d is attached with a perforated plate 17dc in which a large number of through holes 17db for allowing the processing gas 5 to pass therethrough are formed. The bottom plate 16 located in the uppermost layer is formed with air supply holes 19 including the above-described air supply small hole portions 19 a for blowing the processing gas 5 into the processing space 13.

  The air supply hole 19 and the air supply port 22 formed at the rear part in the transport direction of the bottom plate 16 and the exhaust hole 23 and the exhaust port 26 formed at the front part in the transport direction of the bottom plate 16 are both long in the width direction. It is formed in a slot shape. The width direction dimensions of the air supply holes 19, the air supply ports 22, the exhaust holes 23, and the exhaust ports 26 are longer than the width direction dimensions of the glass plate 3.

  FIG. 5 is a main part enlarged vertical front view showing the peripheral structure of the air supply small hole portion 19 a constituting the upper portion of the air supply hole 19 formed in the bottom plate 16. As shown in the drawing, the conveyance direction dimension L of the air supply small hole portion 19a is made constant by a plurality of spacers 30 positioned in the middle in the vertical direction of the air supply small hole portion 19a. It is adjusted to. In other words, in the present embodiment, the air supply holes 19 including the air supply small holes 19a are gaps between the opposed end faces of the divided bottom plates obtained by dividing the bottom plate 16 at the rear part in the transport direction. Has been adjusted by.

  Here, it is preferable that the depth dimension D from the air supply port 22 to the spacer 30 in the air supply small hole portion 19a is within a range of 10 to 100 mm. If the depth dimension D is too short, the flow of the processing gas 5 in the supply air small hole portion 19a may be disturbed due to the presence of the spacer 30, and the lower surface 3a of the glass plate 3 may be unevenly roughened by the etching process. There is. On the other hand, if the depth dimension 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 from the air supply port 22 to the processing space 13 may be excessive or small, and the lower surface 3a of the glass plate 3 may not be roughened 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 numerical range.

  Next, the effect | action of the manufacturing apparatus 1 of the glass plate provided with the above structure, ie, the manufacturing method of a glass plate, is demonstrated.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the processing gas 5 circulates in the processing space 13 as follows under the state where the glass plate 3 is conveyed to the processing space 13. That is, the processing gas 5 that has flowed into the air supply passage 21 is blown upward (vertically upward) from the air supply port 22 and flows toward the front side in the transport direction along the lower surface 3a of the glass plate 3. It is sucked into the exhaust port 26 and passes through the recovery passage 25 and is recovered. In this case, when the processing gas 5 flows through the processing space 13, the specific transport roller 9 does not exist in the flow path of the processing gas 5. Therefore, the flow of the processing gas 5 is not disturbed by the specific transport roller 9. That is, since the specific transport roller 9 is provided at a position off the flow path of the processing gas 5, there is no obstacle to the flow of the processing gas 5, and the flow of the processing gas 5 changes in the middle. Cannot occur. Thereby, the reaction between the entire lower surface 3a of the glass plate 3 and the processing gas 5 is made uniform, and unevenness of the lower surface 3a of the glass plate 3 is less likely to occur. Furthermore, since the upper surface 11a of the lower structure 11 corresponding to the region between the air supply port 22 and the exhaust port 26 is a single plane, the processing gas 5 flows more smoothly, and the glass plate 3 The reaction between the entire lower surface 3a and the processing gas 5 is further promoted.

  Since the glass plate 3 is supported from below by the pair of specific transport rollers 9 assembled to the upper part of the lower structure 11, the distance between adjacent support positions can be shortened. Thereby, even if the glass plate 3 is thin (for example, the plate thickness is 300 μm or less or 200 μm or less), it is possible to prevent the glass plate 3 that has been subjected to the etching process from being unduly bent. As a result, not only optimization of the etching process for the lower surface 3a of the glass plate 3 is ensured, but also problems such as damage to the lower surface 3a of the glass plate 3 and obstruction of conveyance of the glass plate 3 are avoided.

  Moreover, since the lower surface 10a of the top plate 15 is a single flat surface having no irregularities, unevenness of the upper surface 3b of the glass plate 3 is less likely to occur. That is, the processing gas 5 may wrap around the upper surface 3 b side of the glass plate 3 in the processing space 13. In this case, if there are irregularities on the lower surface 10 a of the top plate 15, the irregularities occur in the flow of the processing gas 5 that wraps around the upper surface 3 b side of the glass plate 3 due to the irregularities, and the entire upper surface 3 b of the glass plate 3 Does not react uniformly with the processing gas 5. However, if there is no unevenness on the lower surface 10a of the top plate 15, such a problem is avoided and the roughening of the upper surface 3b of the glass plate 3 is made uniform.

<Second embodiment>
Next, the manufacturing apparatus (the manufacturing method) of the glass plate which concerns on 2nd embodiment of this invention is demonstrated. In the description of the second embodiment, the same elements as those described in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals in the reference drawings, thereby omitting a redundant description. Only the differences will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the glass plate manufacturing apparatus 1 according to the second embodiment is different from the glass plate manufacturing apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment in that the upper part of the lower structure 11 is the same. The specific conveyance roller 9 is assembled only on the rear side in the conveyance direction of the air supply port 22 at the point, and the conveyance roller 8 is disposed close to the front side in the conveyance direction front end portion of the lower component 11. It is. Accordingly, when the glass plate 3 is etched, the glass plate 3 is supported from below by the specific transport roller 9 and the transport roller 8.

  According to the glass plate manufacturing apparatus 1 according to the second embodiment, the specific transport roller 9 existing only on the rear side in the transport direction of the lower structural body 11 has a region between the air supply port 22 and the exhaust port 26. It is arranged excluding. Therefore, the specific transport roller 9 does not disturb the flow of the processing gas 5, and unevenness of the lower surface 3 a of the glass plate 3 is less likely to occur. In addition, when the specific transport roller 9 is assembled at such a position, compared to the case where the specific transport roller 9 is not assembled at all to the lower structure 11, the two support positions of the glass plate 3 are interleaved. The distance can be shortened. Therefore, the problem described above due to the glass plate 3 being bent unreasonably during the etching process does not occur.

  In the second embodiment, the specific transport roller 9 is assembled only on the rear side of the air supply port 22 in the transport direction. However, the specific transport roller 9 is assembled only on the front side of the exhaust port 26 in the transport direction. Also good.

  In the first and second embodiments described above, the conveyance direction of the glass plate 3 is the direction from the air supply port 22 toward the exhaust port 26. On the contrary, the conveyance direction of the glass plate 3 is The present invention can be similarly applied to the direction from the exhaust port 26 toward the air supply port 22.

  Furthermore, in the first and second embodiments described above, in the upper part of the lower structure 11, the distance from the air supply port 22 to the end on the rear side in the transport direction and the distance from the exhaust port 26 to the end on the front side in the transport direction. Since the distance is short, only one specific transport roller 9 is assembled to those parts. However, if the distance between these parts is increased, a plurality of specific transport rollers 9 can be respectively assembled to these parts.

  In addition, in the first and second embodiments described above, all or some of the plurality of transport rollers 8 are drive rollers to which a rotational drive force is applied, and the specific transport roller 9 assembled to the lower component 11 is rotationally driven. Although the free roller to which no force is applied is used, the specific transport roller 9 may be a driving roller to which a rotational driving force is applied.

  Furthermore, in the first and second embodiments described above, the specific conveying means assembled to the lower component 11 is the roller 9, but other than this, a rotating body that is not called a roller may be used.

  In addition, in the first and second embodiments described above, the air supply structure 17 and the exhaust structure 18 are separated from each other and are spaced apart from each other in the transport direction. It may be integrated.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Glass plate manufacturing apparatus 3 Glass plate 3a Lower surface 3b of glass plate Upper surface 8 of glass plate Conveying roller 9 Specific conveying means (specific conveying roller)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Upper structure 10a Lower surface 11 of upper structure Lower structure 11a Upper surface 13 of lower structure 13 Processing space 15 Top plate 16 Bottom plate 17 Supply structure 18 Exhaust structure 22 Supply port 26 Exhaust port

Claims (9)

An upper surface of a lower structure having an air supply port and an exhaust port is arranged to face a lower surface of the upper structure, and is blown out from the air supply port in a processing space formed between the opposing surfaces. Etching is performed on the lower surface of the glass plate conveyed in the horizontal direction by the processing gas sucked into the exhaust port, and the air supply port and the exhaust port are positioned apart in the glass plate conveyance direction, In the method for manufacturing a glass plate, the specific conveying means assembled to the lower structure is supported for supporting the glass plate from below and used for conveying the glass plate.
The method for producing a glass plate, wherein the specific conveying means is disposed excluding a region between the air supply port and the exhaust port.   The said specific conveyance means is arrange | positioned at the glass plate conveyance direction both sides of the area | region between the said air supply port and the said exhaust port, The manufacturing method of the glass plate of Claim 2 characterized by the above-mentioned.   The said specific conveyance means is a specific conveyance roller, The manufacturing method of the glass plate of Claim 1 or 2 characterized by the above-mentioned.   The said specific conveyance roller is a free roller arranged in multiple directions in the direction parallel to the lower surface of the said glass plate, and orthogonal to a glass plate conveyance direction, The manufacturing method of the glass plate of Claim 3 characterized by the above-mentioned. .   The method for producing a glass plate according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of free rollers are independent of each other and are spaced apart from each other.   It has a conveyance roller arrange | positioned outside the said upper structure and lower structure in order to carry in and out the said glass plate in the said process space, The diameter of the said specific conveyance roller is smaller than the diameter of the said conveyance roller. The manufacturing method of the glass plate in any one of Claims 3-5 characterized by the above-mentioned.   A plurality of the specific conveyance rollers are arranged in the glass plate conveyance direction, a plurality of the conveyance rollers are arranged in the glass plate conveyance direction, and an arrangement pitch of the specific conveyance rollers in the glass plate conveyance direction is the glass of the conveyance rollers. The method for producing a glass plate according to claim 6, wherein the glass plate is smaller than the arrangement pitch in the plate conveyance direction.   The upper surface of the lower structure corresponding to a region between the air supply port and the exhaust port is a single flat surface, wherein the glass plate according to any one of claims 1 to 7 is manufactured. Method. An upper surface of a lower structure having an air supply port and an exhaust port is arranged to face a lower surface of the upper structure, and is blown out from the air supply port in a processing space formed between the opposing surfaces. Etching is performed on the lower surface of the glass plate conveyed in the horizontal direction by the processing gas sucked into the exhaust port, and the air supply port and the exhaust port are positioned apart in the glass plate conveyance direction, In the apparatus for manufacturing a glass plate, the specific conveying means that supports the glass plate from below and is provided for conveyance of the glass plate, assembled to the lower structure,
The glass sheet manufacturing apparatus, wherein the specific conveying means is disposed excluding a region between the air supply port and the exhaust port.

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