STUDY ON THE FLOW AND HEAT TRANSFER ACCORDING TO THE NOZZLE SHAPE OF A NON-CONTACT GLASS TRANSPORTATION UNIT

摘要

Vertical sputtering system is the key equipment for manufacturing liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. During the sputtering process for LCD panels, glass plate has to be transported from chamber to chamber for various processes such as to deposit chemical species on the surface. Minimization of the surface scratch and damage of the glasses, gas consumption rate, and stability of the floating glass plate are the object functions of a gas pad design. To develop new non-contact transportation system for large, thin glass plate, various nozzle shape of gas pad unit was considered in this study. The negative pressure was used to depress undesired fluctuation of a glass plate in the proposed nozzle design. After varying nozzle shape by numerical simulations, the best dimensions are determined. Heat transfer rate from the glass plate due to the gas jet was also investigated. It is found that the well-known correlation equation of Nusselt number for the circular jet array can be applicable to the cooling of glass plate.