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http://dx.doi.org/10.7735/ksmte.2012.21.3.401

Design of the Air Pressure Pick-up Head for Non-Contact Wafer Gripper  

Kim, Joon-Hyun (서울과학기술대학교 기계공학과)
Publication Information
Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers / v.21, no.3, 2012 , pp. 401-407 More about this Journal
Abstract
The recent manufacturing process in the thin wafers and flat panel necessitate new approaches to reduce handling fragile and surface-sensitive damage of components. This paper presents a new pneumatic levitation for non-contact handling of parts and substrates. This levitation can achieve non-contact handling by blowing air into an air pressure pick-up head with radial passages to generate a negative pressure region. Negative pressure is caused by the radial air flow by nozzle throat and through holes connecting to the bottom region. The numerical analysis deals with the levitational motion with different design factors. The dynamic motion is examined in terms of force balance(dynamic equilibrium) occurring to the flow field between two objects. The stable equilibrium position and the safe separation distance are determined by analyzing the local pressure distribution in the fluid motion. They make considerable design factors consisting the air pressure pick-up head. As a result, in case that the safe separation distance is beyond 0.7mm, the proposed pick-up head can levitate stably at the equilibrium position. Furthermore, it can provide little effect of torque, and obtain more wide picking region according to the head size.
Keywords
Air levitation; Air pressure pick-up head; Non-contacting; Wafer handling; Wafer gripper;
Citations & Related Records
Times Cited By KSCI : 1  (Citation Analysis)
연도 인용수 순위
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