Planar Flat Product Transport Using Viscous Traction

In this paper a new contactless transport system for thin, flat products, such as glass substrates and silicon wafers, is introduced. The transport function is realized using viscous traction on the product surface. After an explanation of the operating principles, a mathematical model is presented. Preliminary computations indicate that the generated acceleration is approximately 2.5 m/s² for a glass substrate with a surface area of 2 m² and a thickness of 0.7 mm. Furthermore, the vertical bearing stiffness for the considered actuator geometry of the system is 4.2·10⁶ N/m, depending on the properties of the inflow and outflow points of the actuator cells.