Porous air floating platform with the load transfer technology of non-contact mode for semiconductor industry
The traditional air floating platform generally adopts small hole throttling, torus throttling or slit throttling technology, which is characterized by simple processing technology, but when the supply air pressure changes, it is easy to produce whistling phenomenon, the sound is sharp, and the bearing capacity also fluctuates, which is not suitable for quiet and stable pressure working environment.
Traditional TFT-LCD glass substrates are carried out by robot arms (Robots) and AGV (Automated guided vehicle)
systems. Glass substrate in the production process. It is a contact operation with the load shifting platform (or roller). When the glass substrate is in contact with the load shifting platform or roller, touching and friction causes these damage or defects problems of missing corners, cracking, damage, contamination, and static electricity on the surface of the glass substrate , and then affect the production yield and product quality, in addition to the use of roller rotation transfer load, still have technical problems to overcome. These problems have a profound impact on the production efficiency of large-size glass substrates and are urgently needed to be improved. If the non-contact air floating platform technology can replace the problems derived from the traditional contact load shifting technology, it will be an effective solution.
Advantages Of Air Floating System:
1. Zero friction.
2. Zero wear.
3. Straight motion, Rotation motion are applicable.
4. Silent and smooth operation.
5. Higher damping.
6. Eliminate oil.
The structure of the air floating platform is composed of nano-porous ceramics embedded in the base to form
a vacuum chamber. clean compressed air with water-free and oil-free is input into the air mode gap between
the bearing surface and the air floating guide rail through the gas pipe. The gas flows in the air mode gap
to make the bearing surface float on the air floating guide rail. The gas acts as a lubricant to move or
transport objects without friction.
The construction for common air floating hole:
a) Orifice throttling structure
b) Porous structure
The largest customized size: length 1600mm, width 1000mm
Non-contact conveying and load shifting equipment is mainly to improve the problems caused by traditional handling technology after the glass substrate becomes larger, because in the conveying and load shifting process is not directly in contact with the operation object, so it can avoid the occurrence of pollutant attachment, stress, static electricity and damage to the glass substrate. Porous material, on the other hand, significantly reduces gas flow, achieves uniform air pressure and good distribution of air cushion, and provides sufficient floating height required for operation.