Multi-Height Upper Rollers for Vertical Sheet Conveying
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing devices for conveying sheets of substrates, such as glass, in a close-to-vertical configuration face challenges in maintaining stability due to buckling, sagging, and thermo-mechanical deformations, which can lead to sheet breakage and incompatibilities with production processes.
Innovation Solution
A conveying device with a plurality of upper rollers positioned at different heights from the conveying plane, allowing for improved stabilization of the sheet substrate and partial compensation of thermo-mechanical deformations during processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single row of upper rollers is used to convey the substrate sheet, then the device structure is simple, but the substrate sheet experiences large deformations due to buckling and sagging
Solution Approach 1:
The single row of upper rollers is segmented into multiple rows positioned at different heights from the conveying plane. This segmentation distributes the support points across multiple levels, reducing the span between support points and thereby reducing buckling and sagging deformations of the substrate sheet during conveying.
Solution Approach 2:
The support structure is extended from a single plane to multiple planes by positioning upper rollers at different heights. This three-dimensional arrangement of rollers provides additional support points that constrain the substrate sheet in multiple directions, effectively reducing deformations without significantly increasing device complexity.
2Area of stationary object
If the substrate sheet is conveyed in a close to vertical position, then the ground extent of the device is reduced, but large deformations occur due to buckling and sagging
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the upper rollers into multiple rows at different heights, the support structure provides more frequent contact points with the substrate sheet. This reduces the unsupported span length in the vertical configuration, minimizing buckling and sagging while maintaining the compact vertical conveying arrangement.
Solution Approach 2:
The conveying system uses a composite arrangement of rollers at different heights, creating a multi-level support structure that provides enhanced stability for vertically conveyed substrate sheets, preventing deformations while maintaining compact ground footprint.
3Device complexity
If rollers are positioned at the same height, then the conveyor structure is simple, but unwanted displacements occur when the sheet is not perfectly flat
Solution Approach 1:
By positioning upper rollers at different heights from the conveying plane, the system creates a three-dimensional support network that can accommodate variations in substrate sheet flatness. This multi-height arrangement ensures continuous contact and support even when the sheet is not perfectly flat, preventing unwanted displacements during conveying.
Data Source
AI summary
A device for conveying a sheet of substrate having two opposed main faces linked b y an edge face, wherein one of the main faces of the sheet of substrate is positioned along a reception plane of the device, the reception plane being close to a vertical plane, including a plurality of lower rollers positioned side by side along a conveying direction, each of them being able to rotate about a lower rotation axis extending perpendicularly to the conveying direction in a conveying plane and being arranged to receive a part of the edge face of the sheet of substrate, a plurality of upper rollers, each of them being arranged to receive one of said main faces of the sheet of substrate and being able to rotate about an upper rotation axis orthogonal to the conveying direction.