JP6024494B2 - Sheet material conveying apparatus and sheet material conveying method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet material conveying apparatus and a sheet material conveying method for conveying a sheet material such as thin glass.

  Thin glass used for liquid crystal substrate glass and the like is required to have nano-level smoothness, and is manufactured, for example, by an overflow downdraw method that does not require a polishing step. The overflow down draw method is a method in which molten glass is continuously supplied to an overflow tank formed in the upper part of a molded body having a substantially wedge-shaped cross section, and the molten glass is allowed to overflow from the overflow tank so as to overflow the sidewall of the molded body. After flowing down along the bottom of the molded body to form a single plate-like form, when the plate glass of this form is solidified, by pulling it downward while holding it with a tension roller, This is a method for producing a single sheet glass. The thin glass produced by the overflow downdraw method is cut into single-sized sheets and conveyed to the next step. At this time, the thin glass is conveyed in a state where the vicinity of the upper end is held by the chuck so that the effective surface is not damaged.

  Since thin glass has a large area while being lightweight, it is easily affected by external forces such as vibration, wind pressure and inertial force. In particular, the recent thin glass has been made thinner and the area has been increased to increase the production efficiency, so that it is more susceptible to the influence of external force at the time of transportation, and more easily deformed by the external force. . If the thin glass is affected by external force, for example, the thin glass may be deformed in an unexpected direction during transportation, and the stability during transportation will be impaired. There is also a risk of damage due to concentration. For this reason, it is difficult to increase the conveyance speed of the thin glass, which has been one of the factors that reduce the production efficiency.

  Conventionally, as a device for transporting a glass substrate composed of a thin glass plate, there has been a glass substrate transport device configured to swing a holding means for holding a glass substrate in a direction perpendicular to the glass substrate surface (for example, a patent) Reference 1).

  In the glass substrate transport apparatus of Patent Document 1, when wind pressure acts on the front surface of the glass substrate being transported, the sandwiching means tilts in the direction opposite to the transport direction, so that the wind pressure is released, thereby preventing the glass substrate from being damaged. The conveyance speed is also easy to maintain. There is also a device for stopping the swinging of the glass substrate in a short time when the conveyance of the glass substrate is stopped.

JP 2011-190039 A

  However, in the glass substrate transport apparatus of Patent Document 1, when the thickness of the glass substrate to be transported becomes small, the rigidity of the glass substrate is insufficient, so that the degree of bending becomes different between the upper and lower portions of the glass substrate, and as a result. It becomes impossible to stop the oscillation of the glass substrate in a short time.

  In addition, when continuously transporting glass substrates, it is necessary to keep the distance between the glass substrates at a certain level or more in consideration of the rocking width before and after the glass substrate being transported. Even if the speed can be increased, there is a problem that it is difficult to efficiently transport the glass substrate.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and a sheet material that enables a transport operation to be performed safely, quickly, and reliably for a sheet material that is easily affected by an external force such as thin glass. It is an object to provide a conveying device and a sheet material conveying method.

  In order to solve the above problems, the sheet material conveying device according to the present invention is characterized in that the sheet material conveying device conveys the sheet material, and holds the sheet material in a curved state protruding in the conveying direction. And a conveying unit that conveys the sheet material by moving the holding unit.

  According to the sheet material conveying apparatus of the present configuration, when the sheet material is conveyed, since the holding unit holds the sheet material in a curved state protruding in the conveying direction, the sheet material being conveyed is curved and is resistant to bending in the vertical direction. Increased rigidity. For this reason, even if external forces such as vibration, wind pressure, and inertial force act on the sheet material during conveyance, the sheet material maintains a stable posture and prevents the sheet material from swinging, bending, breakage, etc. be able to. Further, since the sheet material protrudes in the conveying direction, it is possible to easily receive the wind from the front to the rear. As a result, it becomes easy to increase the conveying speed of the sheet material, and the manufacturing efficiency can be improved.

  In the sheet material conveying apparatus of the present invention, the holding unit includes a plurality of chucks that hold the upper end portion of the sheet material in a suspended state, and the plurality of chucks are arranged when the sheet material is held in a flat state. It is preferable that it is configured to be changeable between a linear array that is and a curved array that is an array when the sheet material is held in a curved state.

  According to the sheet material conveying apparatus of the present configuration, the plurality of chucks provided in the holding unit hold the upper end portion of the sheet material in a suspended state, and therefore can convey the sheet material without contacting the effective surface of the sheet. In addition, since the arrangement of the plurality of chucks can be appropriately changed according to the situation, the holding operation and the conveying operation of the sheet material can be reliably performed.

  In the sheet material conveying apparatus according to the present invention, it is preferable that the plurality of chucks are configured to be able to change the posture following the shape change of the sheet material while holding the sheet material.

  According to the sheet material conveying apparatus of the present configuration, when the sheet material is bent so as to protrude in the conveying direction, the postures of the plurality of chucks can be changed following the curved shape of the sheet material. The curved state can be maintained without imposing a burden on the material. Even when the sheet material is returned to the original flat state, the postures of the plurality of chucks immediately change, and the sheet material can be held in an optimum posture.

  In the sheet material conveying apparatus of the present invention, the plurality of chucks include an inner chuck that holds the inner side of the sheet material and an outer chuck that holds the outer side of the sheet material, and the conveying direction of the sheet material is the y direction. When the direction perpendicular to the transport direction in the horizontal plane is the x direction, the inner chuck is configured to be free of movement in movement in the x direction and y direction and rotation in the xy plane, and the outer chuck is xy It is preferable that the rotation is performed in a plane, and the sheet material is changed between a flat state and a curved state by adjusting a relative position of the outer chuck in the xy plane with respect to the inner chuck.

  According to the sheet material conveying device of this configuration, by providing the inner chuck and the outer chuck as the plurality of chucks, the sheet material can be stably held from both the inner side and the outer side. Also, the operation free range is changed between the inner chuck and the outer chuck. When the sheet material transport direction is the y direction and the direction perpendicular to the transport direction in the horizontal plane is the x direction, the inner chuck is in the x direction. And movement in the y-direction and rotation in the xy plane, and the outer chuck is configured to be operation-free in rotation in the xy plane. For this reason, if the outer chuck is moved in the x direction and the y direction, the held sheet material is curved according to the movement amount, and the outer chuck is moved within the xy plane according to the curvature of the sheet material. Rotate. The inner chuck moves in the x direction and the y direction and rotates in the xy plane so as to follow the curvature of the held sheet material. As a result, the plurality of chucks have a curved arrangement according to the curvature of the sheet material without performing complicated control, and can be easily curved without damaging the sheet material. Note that the shape (degree of bending) of the sheet material can be freely changed between the flat state and the curved state by adjusting the relative position of the outer chuck with respect to the inner chuck in the xy plane.

  In the sheet material conveying apparatus of the present invention, it is preferable that a lock mechanism for fixing the arrangement of the plurality of chucks is provided.

  According to the sheet material conveying apparatus of this configuration, when the sheet material is in a desired curved state, the lock mechanism can be operated to fix the arrangement of the plurality of chucks. Can be made more stable.

  In the sheet material conveying apparatus of the present invention, a return mechanism is provided for returning the plurality of chucks from the curved array to the linear array when the plurality of chucks release the curved sheet material. Is preferred.

  According to the sheet material conveying apparatus of the present configuration, when the conveyance unit finishes conveying the sheet material in the curved state and releases the holding of the holding unit, when the next sheet material is taken, the plurality of chucks are immediately recovered by the return mechanism. Since the curved array is returned to the linear array, the operation can be performed efficiently without interruption.

  The characteristic configuration of the sheet material conveying method according to the present invention for solving the above problems is a sheet material conveying method including a holding step for holding the sheet material and a conveying step for conveying the held sheet material. In the conveying step, the sheet material is conveyed in a curved state protruding in the conveying direction.

  According to the sheet material conveying method of the present configuration, the sheet material being conveyed is in a curved state protruding in the conveying direction, and thus the rigidity against bending in the vertical direction is increased. For this reason, even if external forces such as vibration, wind pressure, and inertial force act on the sheet material during conveyance, the sheet material maintains a stable posture and prevents the sheet material from swinging, bending, breakage, etc. be able to. Further, since the sheet material protrudes in the conveying direction, it is possible to easily receive the wind from the front to the rear. As a result, it becomes easy to increase the conveying speed of the sheet material, and the manufacturing efficiency can be improved.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a sheet material conveying apparatus of the present invention. 2A is a front view of the outer chuck, and FIG. 2B is a plan view thereof. 3A is a front view of the inner chuck, and FIG. 3B is a plan view thereof. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the positional relationship before and after the movement of the chuck holding the glass sheet.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment relating to a sheet material conveying device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The sheet material conveyance method of the present invention will be described together with the description of the sheet material conveyance device. However, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the configurations described in the embodiments and drawings described below.

<Configuration of sheet material conveying apparatus>
The sheet material conveying apparatus of the present invention is an apparatus used for conveying a sheet material. The sheet material to be conveyed is a thin material having a certain degree of elasticity, and examples thereof include a glass sheet, a resin film, a paper product, a fiber product, a metal sheet, and a wooden sheet. In this specification, a glass sheet will be described as an example of the sheet material to be conveyed. Therefore, in the following description, the sheet material conveying apparatus of the present invention is treated as a “glass sheet conveying apparatus”.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a glass sheet conveying apparatus 100. In the same figure, the process which conveys the glass sheet G to the pallet 30 by the glass sheet conveying apparatus 100 is shown stepwise in order of (a)-(e). The conveying direction of the glass sheet G is the direction indicated by the arrow A in FIG. The glass sheet conveying apparatus 100 includes a chuck 10 as a holding unit that holds the glass sheet G, and a base 20 as a conveying unit that conveys the glass sheet G. In addition, about the base 20, in order to make the operation | movement of the chuck | zipper 10 easy to see, it has shown with the virtual line (broken line). The glass sheet G to be conveyed is, for example, a thin glass sheet having a thickness of 0.2 mm or less manufactured by the overflow down draw method. A glass sheet G formed by cutting a thin glass sheet into sheets of a predetermined size is held in a suspended state at the upper end by the chuck 10, and the base 20 is operated in this suspended holding state to perform subsequent steps (for example, Pallet loading process).

  The base 20 that conveys the glass sheet G includes a moving mechanism (not shown) that is driven by a driving source (not shown) such as a motor. A chuck 10 is attached below the base 20. A plurality of chucks 10 are provided so that the glass sheet G can be stably held. In the present embodiment, four chucks 10 a to 10 d are provided below the base 20 as the chuck 10. Among these, the chucks 10a and 10d are outer chucks that hold the outside of the glass sheet G (close to the edge in the vertical direction), and the chucks 10b and 10c are internal chucks that hold the inside (close to the center) of the glass sheet G. is there. As will be described later, the chucks 10a to 10d are a “linear array” that is an array when the glass sheets G are held in a flat state and a “curve array” that is an array when the glass sheets G are held in a curved state. It is configured as a movable chuck that can be changed between. Further, the chucks 10a to 10d are configured as operation-free chucks that can change the posture following the shape of the glass sheet G while holding the glass sheet G. Further, the chucks 10a to 10d are configured to be able to adjust the holding force so that the thin glass can be held safely and reliably. The operations of the chucks 10a to 10d as the movable chuck and the operation free chuck are as follows. The transport direction A of the glass sheet G is the y direction, and the direction perpendicular to the transport direction A in the horizontal plane is the x direction. , Movement in the y direction, and rotation in the xy plane. In each of FIGS. 1A to 1E, the x direction and the y direction are shown. For reference, the length direction (longitudinal direction) of the glass sheet G held in a suspended state by the chuck 10 is shown as the z direction. The specific structure of the chucks 10a to 10d functioning as the movable chuck and the operation-free chuck will be described in detail in the section “Configuration of chuck” described later.

  When holding the flat glass sheet G before conveyance, as shown to Fig.1 (a), chuck | zipper 10a-10d becomes a linear arrangement | sequence arranged in a straight line. In this linear arrangement, the chucks 10a to 10d are arranged at substantially equal intervals to suspend and hold the upper end portion of the glass sheet G (holding step). Moreover, the chuck | zipper 10a-10d pulls up the glass sheet G to a z direction to the position where the lower end part of the glass sheet G floats in the air as needed, with the state which hold | maintained the glass sheet G. When the holding of the glass sheet G is completed, the glass sheet G is transported in the transport direction A (y direction).

  When the glass sheet G held by the chuck 10 is transported, the chucks 10a to 10d are arranged in a curved line on a curved line as shown in FIG. In order to obtain a curved array, for example, the chucks 10a and 10d located on the outer side are separated from the chucks 10b and 10c located on the inner side in the transport direction A (that is, the y direction), and the transport direction. In the direction perpendicular to A (that is, the x direction), the chuck is moved in a direction approaching the chucks 10b and 10c located inside. At this time, since the held glass sheet G is curved, the chucks 10 a and 10 d that are configured to freely rotate are rotated in opposite directions so as to be in a posture along the curvature of the glass sheet G. And the chuck | zipper 10b and 10c located inside move and rotate so that the curve of the glass sheet G currently hold | maintained may be followed. As a result, the chucks 10 a to 10 d are arranged in a curved shape protruding in the conveyance direction A of the glass sheet G. At the same time, the glass sheet G held by the chucks 10a to 10d is also in a curved state protruding in the transport direction A. At this time, since the upper end portion of the glass sheet G is held by the chucks 10a to 10d, the curved state of the glass sheet G is steep at the upper end portion and becomes gentler downward, and the lower end portion is almost a straight line. Become. In the curved state in which the glass sheet G protrudes in the transport direction A, the base 20 is driven to transport the glass sheet G in the transport direction A (transport process). At this time, since the glass sheet G is in a curved state, the rigidity of the glass sheet G against bending in the vertical direction (vertical direction) is increased. For this reason, the glass sheet G is stable even when an external force acts on the glass sheet G, such as vibration is applied to the glass sheet G, wind pressure is applied from the front, or inertia force acts on the glass sheet G. Maintaining the posture, it is possible to prevent rocking, bending, and breakage. Moreover, since the glass sheet G protrudes in the conveyance direction A, the wind from the front can be easily received backward. As a result, it becomes easy to raise the conveyance speed of the glass sheet G, and it can improve manufacturing efficiency.

  As shown in FIG. 1C, the base 20 conveys the glass sheet G to the position of the pallet 30 (loading position). Here, the pallet 30 has a placement surface 31 on which the glass sheet G is placed. The mounting surface 31 is configured by a rectangular surface having a size larger than that of the glass sheet G so that the glass sheet G can be received. The placement surface 31 is provided so as to be inclined at an inclination angle α such that the lower side of the rectangular surface is the front side and the upper side is the back side when viewed from the transport direction A. The inclination angle α of the mounting surface 31 can be set to an arbitrary value, and is set to a range of 10 to 30 degrees, for example, but is set to 18 degrees in the present embodiment. Since the placement surface 31 of the pallet 30 is inclined so as to fall from the near lower side to the far side, when the base 20 conveys the glass sheet G in the conveyance direction A, the glass sheet G is brought to the position of the pallet 30. When it arrives, the lower end part of the glass sheet G contacts the mounting surface 31 of the pallet 30 first. Since the lower end portion of the glass sheet G is almost in a straight line state as described above, it makes line contact with the placement surface 31 of the pallet 30. When the base 20 further advances in the transport direction A from this state, the glass sheet G is in close contact with the placement surface 31 so as to expand upward from the lower end side. And when the adhesion area of the glass sheet G with respect to the mounting surface 31 has expanded to some extent, the holding of the glass sheet G by the chucks 10a to 10d is released as shown in FIG. Then, the glass sheet G elastically returns from the curved state to the original flat state, and is loaded on the placement surface 31 of the pallet 30 as it is, as shown in FIG. When the glass sheet G is stacked on the placement surface 31, a buffer sheet is sandwiched between the glass sheet G and the placement surface 31 as necessary. When the glass sheets G are stacked, a buffer sheet is further arranged on the placed glass sheet G, and the glass sheets G are stacked so as to sandwich the buffer sheets.

  When the placement of the glass sheet G on the pallet 30 is completed, the chucks 10a to 10d in the curved array return to the original linear array so that the next new glass sheet G can be held. Return to the position to hold the glass sheet G. The return of the chucks 10a to 10d from the curved array to the linear array can be performed by performing an operation reverse to the operation of changing the array of the chucks 10a to 10d from FIG. 1 (a) to FIG. 1 (b). . In addition, in order to return the chucks 10a to 10d whose postures have changed due to operation free to the postures before the change, an elastic member (not shown) is attached to the chucks 10a to 10d to constitute a return mechanism, and the chucks 10a to 10d When the hold is released, it automatically returns to the original posture. In this case, when the glass sheet conveying apparatus 100 finishes conveying one glass sheet G, releases the holding, and goes to pick up the next glass sheet G, the chucks 10a to 10d are straight from the curvilinear arrangement by the return mechanism. Therefore, the work can be efficiently transported without interruption. In this case, the elastic force (restoring force) of the elastic member may be set smaller than the elastic force of the glass sheet G.

<Chuck configuration>
2 and 3 show one of the plurality of chucks 10 provided in the glass sheet conveying apparatus 100 of the present invention. 2A is a front view of the chuck 10a which is an outer chuck, and FIG. 2B is a plan view thereof. (A) The inside of the blowing in the front view shows a state in which the holding portion 18 of the chuck 10a is rotated by 90 °. The chuck 10d, which is another outer chuck, has the same configuration as the chuck 10a. 3A is a front view of the chuck 10b, which is an inner chuck, and FIG. 3B is a plan view thereof. (A) The inside of the blowing in the front view shows a state in which the holding portion 18 of the chuck 10b is rotated by 90 °. The chuck 10c, which is another inner chuck, has the same configuration as the chuck 10b. As described above, the chucks 10a to 10d are configured as movable chucks that can be changed between the “linear array” and the “curve array”, and the glass sheet G is held while the glass sheet G is held. It is configured as an operation-free chuck that can change its posture following the shape of. As described above, the operations of the chucks 10a to 10d as the movable chuck and the operation free chuck are a combination of the movement in the x direction, the movement in the y direction, and the rotation in the xy plane. 3, the x direction and the y direction are indicated by double arrows.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the chucks 10a and 10d, which are outer chucks, include an x operation mechanism 11 including a guide portion 19 operable in the x direction and a y operation mechanism including a guide portion 19 operable in the y direction. 12. The x operation mechanism 11 and the y operation mechanism 12 are provided with a ball screw 13 and a motor 14, respectively. As the motor 14, it is preferable to use a servo motor capable of accurately controlling the moving distance (that is, the rotation speed). When the motor 14 rotates the ball screw 13 to operate the x operation mechanism 11 and the y operation mechanism 12, respectively, the chucks 10a and 10d move in the x direction and the y direction. When the x operation mechanism 11 and the y operation mechanism 12 are operated at the same time, the chucks 10a and 10d move directly to the positions interpolated between both directions. At this time, the chucks 10 a and 10 d are not restricted in rotating operation, and are configured to be free to rotate in the xy plane via the ball bearing 15. For this reason, the chucks 10a and 10d rotate freely following the shape change of the glass sheet G being held, and change their postures. Therefore, even after the operations of the x operation mechanism 11 and the y operation mechanism 12 are completed, the glass sheet G does not receive stress from the chucks 10a and 10d.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the chucks 10b and 10c, which are inner chucks, include an x moving mechanism 16 having a guide portion 19 movable in the x direction and a y moving mechanism having a guide portion 19 movable in the y direction. 17. The movable range (stroke) of the x moving mechanism 16 and the y moving mechanism 17 may be set smaller than the movable range (stroke) of the x operating mechanism 11 and the y operating mechanism 12 provided in the chucks 10a and 10d. Further, the x moving mechanism 16 and the y moving mechanism 17 do not have a driving mechanism such as a ball screw or a motor provided in the x operating mechanism 11 and the y operating mechanism 12. The chucks 10b and 10c are not restricted in operation in the x and y directions and in rotation, and are configured to be free of movement in the x and y directions and rotation in the xy plane. It can freely move and rotate following the shape of the glass sheet G, and its posture can be changed. Therefore, when the glass sheet conveying apparatus 100 moves the chucks 10a and 10d by controlling the x operation mechanism 11 and the y operation mechanism 12 that operate the outer chuck in order to bend the glass sheet G, the glass sheet G is moved accordingly. Is deformed, following the shape change of the glass sheet G, the x moving mechanism 16 and the y moving mechanism 17 provided in the inner chuck are operated, and the chucks 10b and 10c are moved. In this case, since the chucks 10b and 10c are operation free, the glass sheet G is not subjected to stress from the chucks 10b and 10c.

  As described above, since the chucks 10a to 10d can move so as to follow the shape of the glass sheet G being held, the chucks 10a to 10d can be changed between the linear array and the curved array. If the chucks 10a to 10d are configured as operation-free chucks as described above, the chucks 10a to 10d can move during the conveyance of the glass sheet G, but the shape of the glass sheet G changes during the conveyance. When it is not necessary to make it, it is preferable to provide a lock mechanism for fixing the arrangement of the chucks 10a to 10d. The lock mechanism can be configured, for example, by providing a brake mechanism in each guide portion 19 of the x operation mechanism 11 and the y operation mechanism 12 and in each guide portion 19 of the x movement mechanism 16 and the y movement mechanism 17. In this case, since the chucks 10a to 10d are locked in a curved arrangement and can be conveyed while maintaining the curved state of the glass sheet G, the posture of the glass sheet G during conveyance can be further stabilized. it can.

<Adjustment of chuck movement>
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the relative positional relationship before and after the movement of the chucks 10a to 10d holding the glass sheet G. The adjustment of the movement amount of the chucks 10a to 10d for setting the curved state of the glass sheet G will be described with reference to FIG. The curved state of the glass sheet G is appropriately determined according to the glass sheet G to be conveyed, but the curved state is set by adjusting the movement amount of the chucks 10a to 10d. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, in a case where a glass sheet G having a width of 2000 mm is held at intervals of 500 mm by chucks 10a to 10d, the glass sheet G is curved so as to form an arc having a radius R = 1000 mm. The movement amount (Δx1, Δy1) of the chuck 10a is obtained as follows.
Δx1 = 750 (mm)-x1 ≒ 68 (mm)
Δy1 = 1000 (mm) −y1≈268 (mm)
As shown in FIG. 4, x1 and y1 in the above formula are the positions (x1, y1) of the chuck 10a after movement based on the center of the arc obtained by bending the glass sheet G.

Similarly, the movement amount (Δx2, Δy2) of the chuck 10b is obtained as follows.
Δx2 = 250 (mm) −x2≈3 (mm)
Δy2 = 1000 (mm) −y2≈31 (mm)
In the above formula, x2 and y2 are the positions (x2, y2) of the chuck 10b after the movement with reference to the center of the arc obtained by curving the glass sheet G, as shown in FIG.

  The amount of movement of the chuck 10d and the chuck 10c can also be obtained by the same calculation as described above. The chuck 10d has substantially the same amount of movement as the chuck 10a, and the chuck 10c has substantially the same amount of movement as the chuck 10b. If the movement amount thus obtained is set in the x operation mechanism 11 and the y operation mechanism 12 and the chucks 10a and 10d are moved, the chucks 10a to 10d become an arcuate curved array, and the glass sheet G is set. Can be deformed into a curved state. In this embodiment, since only the chucks 10a and 10d need to be moved, complicated control is unnecessary.

  As described above, according to the glass sheet conveying apparatus 100 of the present invention, by curving the glass sheet G, it is possible to convey the glass sheet G that is easily bent in the vertical direction with rigidity. It becomes. Therefore, the glass sheet conveying apparatus 100 of the present invention can be suitably used for conveying a thin glass sheet having a thickness of 0.2 mm or less or a G11 class glass sheet having a length exceeding 3000 mm. Moreover, the glass sheet conveying apparatus 100 of the present invention can be realized by a small-scale improvement in the conventional glass sheet conveying apparatus by simply replacing the fixed chuck with a movable operation-free chuck. Accordingly, it is possible to increase the loading efficiency of the glass sheets G while suppressing the equipment cost, and it can be said that the apparatus is excellent in practicality.

<Another embodiment>
(1) In the above embodiment, the ball screw 13 and the motor 14 are used as drive sources for the x operation mechanism 11 and the y operation mechanism 12 that move the chucks 10a and 10d in the x direction and the y direction. It is also possible to adopt a system in which a conductive actuator is connected to 10d and driven in the x and y directions, or a driving system using a belt. In this case, the configuration of the drive source can be simplified.

(2) In the above embodiment, the example in which the x operation mechanism 11 and the y operation mechanism 12 are driven and controlled so that the outer chucks 10a and 10d move in the x direction and the y direction has been described. It is also possible to drive and control the rotation operation. In this case, since only one rotation driving motor is required for each of the chucks 10a and 10d, the configuration of the drive source can be simplified.

(3) In the above embodiment, the driving source is connected only to the outer chucks 10a and 10d, and the inner chucks 10b and 10c are moved following the deformation of the glass sheet G accompanying the movement of the chucks 10a and 10d. Although configured, it is also possible to connect a drive source to the chucks 10b and 10c, and to comprehensively control the movements of all the chucks 10a to 10d in the x and y directions and the rotation operation in the xy plane. In this case, the arrangement of the chucks 10a to 10d can be positively switched and the switching response can be improved.

(4) In the above embodiment, the four chucks 10a to 10d are provided as the chuck 10 that holds the glass sheet G. However, the number of chucks 10 can be further increased. When the number of chucks 10 is set to 5 or more, the curved state of the glass sheet G can be set more finely. On the other hand, the number of chucks 10 may be at least three. In this case, the apparatus configuration can be simplified.

  The sheet material conveying apparatus and the sheet material conveying method of the present invention can be used for conveying a glass sheet, but are materials other than glass and have a certain degree of elasticity, for example, resin films, paper products, etc. It can also be applied to transport of textile products, metal sheets, wooden sheets and the like.

10 Chuck (holding part)
10a, 10d outer chuck 10b, 10c inner chuck 11 x operation mechanism 12 y operation mechanism 13 ball screw 14 motor 15 ball bearing 16 x movement mechanism 17 y movement mechanism 18 clamping unit 19 guide unit 20 base (conveying unit)
100 Glass sheet conveying device (sheet material conveying device)
G Glass sheet (sheet material)
A Transport direction

Claims (6)

A sheet material conveying device for conveying a sheet material,
A holding part capable of holding the sheet material in a curved state protruding in the conveying direction;
A transport unit that transports the sheet material by moving the holding unit;
Equipped with a,
The holding portion includes a plurality of chucks that hold the upper end portion of the sheet material in a suspended state,
The plurality of chucks are configured to be changeable between a linear array that is an array when the sheet material is held in a flat state and a curved array that is an array when the sheet material is held in a curved state. has been that the sheet material conveying device. The sheet material conveying device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of chucks are configured to be capable of changing a posture following a shape change of the sheet material while holding the sheet material. The plurality of chucks includes an inner chuck that holds the inner side of the sheet material, and an outer chuck that holds the outer side of the sheet material,
When the conveyance direction of the sheet material is the y direction and the direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction in the horizontal plane is the x direction, the inner chuck is free to operate in the movement in the x direction and the y direction and the rotation in the xy plane. Configured, the outer chuck is configured to be free of movement in rotation in the xy plane,
The sheet material conveying apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the sheet material is changed between a flat state and a curved state by adjusting a relative position of the outer chuck in the xy plane with respect to the inner chuck. The sheet material conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a lock mechanism for fixing an arrangement of the plurality of chucks is provided. When said plurality of chuck releases the holding of the sheet material bending state, any one of claims 1 to 4, return mechanism for returning a plurality of chucks to said linear array from the curved array is provided The sheet | seat material conveying apparatus of description. A holding step for holding the sheet material;
A transporting process for transporting the held sheet material;
A sheet material conveying method including:
In the holding step, the upper end portion of the sheet material is held in a suspended state by a plurality of chucks,
The plurality of chucks are configured to be changeable between a linear array that is an array when the sheet material is held in a flat state and a curved array that is an array when the sheet material is held in a curved state. Has been
In the conveying step, the plurality of chuck and the curved arrangement, you conveyed in a curved state of projecting the sheet in the conveying direction, the sheet material conveying method.

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