• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.54-62
• /
• 2021

This study has investigated the 3-D deflection characteristics of a flexible plate levitated by non-contact grippers using SPIV method. The measuring instrument consisted of a flexible plate located under four non-contact grippers and two cameras at the bottom of a transparent acrylic plate. Measurements were made on two materials (PVC and PC) for the plate with 50×50 cm2 area and 1 mm thickness. The deflection characteristics and flatness vary depending on the plate material, the gripper position and the air flow supplied to the gripper. For the material of PVC, the overall defection is convex. As the gripper position goes outward from the plate center, the upmost bending point also moves to the outside of the plate with the flatness increasing. However, the air flow rate does not affect the deflection pattern except for the small increase of flatness. For the material of PC, the shape of deflection changes from convex to concave as the gripper position goes out. The flatness is the highest at the point of transition from convex to concave, but the air flowrate has little effect on the flatness.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.401-407
• /
• 2012

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.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.563-569
• /
• 2012

In the semiconductor and display device production processes, the handling of sensitive objects needs new carrying technology. Floating carrying motion is a practical alternative solution for non-contact handling of parts and substrates. This paper presents a study of through paths inside the air pressure pick-up head to generate the floating motion. The air motion by conceptual designed paths inside the head gradually develops positive pressure and vacuum between narrow objects. Positive pressure occurs through the head tip before discharging outside of the head. Negative pressure is developed by evacuating the inside head bottom as result of the radial flow connecting the vertical through-holes. The numerical analysis was done to figure out the stable levitation caused by the two acting forces between surfaces. In comparing with the standard case that the levitation gap gets 0.7-0.9 mm, it confirms the suggested head characteristics to show floating capacity in accordance with the head size, number of through-hole, and locations of through-hole in succession of conceptual design for a prototype.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
• /
• 2005.06a
• /
• pp.615-618
• /
• 2005

All over the world, many kinds of micro-actuators were already developed for various applications. The actuators are using various principles such as electromagnetic, piezoelectric and thermopneumatic etc. The most of the micro-actuators have been made using 2D based MEMS technology. In these actuators, it is difficult to drive 3-dimensional motion. This characteristic gives the limit of actuator application. However, micro-stereolithography technology has made it possible to fabricate freeform three-dimensional microstructures. In this technology, 2-dimensional micro-shape layer is cumulated on the other layers. This layer-by-layer process is the main principle to fabricate 3-dimensioal micro-structures. In this research, a micro-bellows actuator that is vertically moving was developed using the micro-stereolithography technology. When pressure was applied into the bellows, a non-contact actuating motion is generated. For actuation experiment, syringe pump and laser interferometer were used for applying pressure and measuring the displacement. Several hundreds micro-scale actuation was observed. And, to demonstrate the feasibility of proposed actuation principle, in this research, a micro-gripper was developed using half-bellows structure.