Study on the basic characteristics of a contactless air film conveyor using viscous traction

Many industries require contactless transport of delicate or clean products such as silicon wafers, flat foodstuffs and freshly painted objects. In this study, a contactless air film conveyor for flat objects is introduced. The object is supported by a thin film formed between the object and the con...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Part J, Journal of engineering tribology Journal of engineering tribology, 2016-09, Vol.230 (9), p.1139-1148
Main Authors: Zhong, Wei, Xu, Ke, Li, Xin, Tao, Guoliang, Kagawa, Toshiharu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air flow
Airflow
Computational fluid dynamics
Contact problems
Conveyors
Drag
Flats
Flow rate
Flow velocity
Force distribution
Mechanical engineering
Navier-Stokes equations
Pressure distribution
Reynolds equation
Silicon wafers
Stress concentration
Suction
Thin films
Traction
Viscosity
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Summary:Many industries require contactless transport of delicate or clean products such as silicon wafers, flat foodstuffs and freshly painted objects. In this study, a contactless air film conveyor for flat objects is introduced. The object is supported by a thin film formed between the object and the conveyor surface and transported by viscous traction which is generated by controlled airflow underneath the object. Experimental and theoretical investigations are conducted on the basic characteristics (flow rate characteristics, film pressure distribution and viscous force). A theoretical model based on Reynolds equation coupling with incompressible Navier–Stokes equation is established to help analyze and understand these characteristics. The results show that air film pressure is symmetrically distributed along the direction perpendicular to the airflow in the actuating cells and non-symmetrically distributed along the airflow direction. The viscous force obtained by differentiating the pressure distribution implies that it consists of an actuating force produced by airflow in the pockets and a drag force resulted from airflow across the dam area. In addition, the influences on the viscous force from gap thickness, suction flow rate, inner bulge and depth of the pocket are discussed.
ISSN:1350-6501
2041-305X
DOI:10.1177/1350650116629905