[BACKGROUND TECHNOLOGY] [2] Formerly, conveyors for plate-shaped members used in the manufacturing process of semiconductor wafers and glass LCD panels have been designed to convey the glass panel being supported by the roller conveyor as indicated in public announcement No. 158866 of the Japanese Patent Information in 1998.

[3] Serious defects are caused when even the slightest of particles becomes attached to the plate- shaped members such as the semiconductor wafers, LCD or glass panels. If dust is present on the conveyor, there is the possibility that dust will attach to the surface of the glass panel because in the past, conveyors for plate-shaped members transported the glass panels using roller conveyors.

[4] Furthermore, the edges of the glass panels receive a certain degree of shock while moving from one roller to the next during the conveying of glass panels on the roller conveyor. Therefore, it is not possible to raise the conveying speed of glass panels higher than a certain level, which is a limiting factor of productivity.

[5] In particular, LCD precision is improving annually, and as a result, glass panels are increasingly thinner. However, the thinner the glass panels, the weaker their resistance to shocks. Therefore, damages occur during transportation making it difficult to enhance productivity.

[6] Recently, glass panels of 0. 4mm-0. 7mm in thickness, 2600mm in length and 2300mm in width have been planned for LCD use.

[BRIEF EXPLANATION ON FIGURES] [7] Fig. 1 is a section view of example 1 of the conveying system for the plate-shaped members of this invention.

[8] Fig. 2 is an isometric view of example 1 of the conveying system for the plate-shaped members of this invention.

[9] Fig. 3 is a section view of example 2 of the conveying system for the plate-shaped members of this invention.

[10] Fig. 4 is a section view of example 3 of the conveying system for the plate-shaped members of this invention.

[11] (Explanation of the symbols for major parts in the figures.) [12] 1: Plate-shaped Member [13] 2: Conveyor [14] 3: Conveyor Belt [15] 4: Lower Part of Plate-shaped Member [16] 5: Conveyor Frame [17] 6: Roller Conveyor [18] 7: Floating Device [19] 8: Individual Unit [20] 9: Main Body [21] 10: Porous Material [22] 11: Pressurized Fluid Supply Pipe [23] 12: Pressurized Fluid Layer [24] 14: Horizontal Sealing Plate [25] 15: Rotating Guide Roller DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE------ INVENTION] [26] The purpose of this invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem, and to provide a highly productive conveying system for plate-shaped members that won't allow damage to the members or generation of dust particles.

[COMPOSITION OF INVENTION] [27] In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the conveying system for plate-shaped members of this invention consists of a conveyer frame (5) that can fix the floating device (7); a conveyor that is mounted under the above conveyor frame (5) in the vertical longitudinal direction and conveys a plate-shaped member (1) in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor frame; several individual units (8) on the flat part of the conveyor frame (5) on which the above conveyor (2) is installed; and a horizontal sealing plate (14) as a floating device (7), which is arranged for sealing the spaces between several individual units (8) causing the above plate-shaped member (1) to stand by the pressurized fluid ejecting from the floating device (7) toward the side of the plate-shaped member (1), conveyed with only its bottom being contact-supported while it is not in contact with the floating device (7).

[28] The invention indicated in claim 1 installs a porous material having at least one flat part, attaches the porous material onto the main body supplying the pressurized fluid with the flat part facing upward, attaches the horizontal sealing plate a little higher than the upper flat part of the porous materials, and ejects pressurized fluid through the porous material while simultaneously making the porous material and the flat part of the horizontal plate become vertical so that the plate- shaped member that is supported by the pressurized fluid ejecting from the porous material can be conveyed with only its bottom being contact-supported while it is not in contact with the floating device. The film of the pressurized fluid formed between the flat part of the floating device and the plate-shaped member allows the plate-shaped member to be float-supported without falling off and conveyed with only its bottom contacting the conveyor.

[29] This invention floats and conveys the plate-shaped members being supported on the conveyor with a volume of pressurized fluid less than 1/10 of the fluid volume required by the patent of the applicant of this invention,'Plate-shaped Membçr Conveying and Washing System' (Korea Patent No. 0339716). In the figures, the shape of porous materials is shown to be rectangular only; however, various shapes such as circular, oval, triangle, etc. are applicable in accordance with the various circumstances. Also, although belt conveyors are used for conveying plate-shaped members in this invention, other conveying methods such as a roller conveyor or magnet roller conveyor that can convey the plate-shaped member can be used.

[EFFECTS OF INVENTION] [30] With the afore-mentioned components, high productivity conveying systems for plate-shaped members are created, enabling transportation with minimum power by non-contact floatation of the plate-shaped members at vertical or inclined positions without creating dust or causing damage.

[31] As well, the plate-shaped member conveying system of this invention can convey plate-shaped members of different sizes even up to extra large through smaller areas compared to the horizontal conveying system, resulting in cost reduction of the highly expensive clean room type factory.

[OPTIMUM FORM FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF INVENTION] [32] Hereinafter, the execution examples of the conveying system for plate-shaped members of this invention are explained with drawings.

[33] Figure 1 is a plan view of the conveying system for the plate-shaped member in this invention.

Part No. 1 in Figure 1 is a plate-shaped member, an object of transportation. Part No. 2 is a conveyor (2), on which the conveyor belt (3) is installed. Only the bottom of the plate-shaped member (1) contacts the conveyor belt (3).

[34] Part No. 7 is a floating device consisting of individual units (8) and a horizontal sealing plate (14). On the above conveyor frame (5), there are individual units (8) arranged like plovers and the horizontal sealing plate (14), which seals the space among the individual units, (8) installed horizontally a little higher up than the upper surface of the individual units (8). Each individual unit consists of a cup-shaped main body (9), a pipe (11) supplying the pressurized fluid to the interior of the main body (9), and porous material (10) through which the pressurized fluid supplied through the pipes installed at the opening of the main body (9) is ejected to the main body (9). Porous materials (10) are flat shaped and installed so that the upper surface is horizontally parallel with the plate-shaped member.

[35] Furthermore, the horizontal sealing plate (14) is designed not to cause damage even when in contact with the glass by using plastic or acryl plates with a lesser degree of hardness than the glass, which is the main material of the plate-shaped members.

[36] Air, water or special cleansing fluid can be used as the afore-mentioned pressurized fluid. The fluid is transferred to the pressurized fluid supply pipe (11) by a pump (not shown in the figure).

[37] The number of floating devices (7) used in this invention varies from one to several depending on the size and use of the plate-shaped member (1) to be conveyed. Its width can also be adjusted as deemed appropriate.

[38] Figure 2 presents example 1, which is an isometric view of the conveying system for the plate- shaped member in this invention [39] Figure 3 is a section view of example 2 of the conveying system for the plate-shaped members of this invention. When the plate-shaped member (1) is conveyed vertically as shown in Fig. 1, since the plate-shaped member (1) may fall off to the opposite side of the floating device (7), it is conveyed with the floating device (7) being inclined at an angle of 0 for the stable transportation of the plate-shaped member (1). In this case, the inclination angle 6 can be adjusted from 0 degrees to 90 degrees. However, in the case of practical use, the angle 6 is within the range of 2 to 90 degrees.

[40] In Figure 4, a roller conveyer (6) is used instead of a belt conveyor for the transportation conveyor. In addition, rotation guide rollers (15) are mounted on the upper side of the conveyer for the stable transportation of the plate-shaped member.

[41] The conveying system for the plate-shaped member in this invention is composed as described above. The operation method is explained hereafter.

[42] First, by supplying pressurized fluid through the pipe (11), the interior of the main body (9) is filled with pressurized fluid. The pressurized fluid then passes through the porous material (10) and is ejected to the bottom of the plate-shaped member (1) from the top of the porous material (10).

[43] If a plate-shaped member (1) is located on the porous material at this time, a layer of pressurized fluid (12) is formed between the porous material (10) and horizontal sealing plate (14), and the plate-shaped member (1). That is, the plate-shaped member (1) is floating on the pressurized fluid layer.

[44] Accordingly, the plate-shaped member (1) acquires a frictionless state, floating above the porous ceramic material (10) and horizontal sealing plate (14) without contacting. Moreover, at this state if only the bottom part (4) of the plate-shaped member (1) is made to contact the conveyor belt (3), it moves in the direction in which the conveyor belt (3) moves as soon as the conveyor belt (3) rotates. The movement of the plate-shaped member halts when the conveyer belt (3) stops rotating.

[45] Since the friction of the plate-shaped member (1) is very low during floating, the plate-shaped member (1) is conveyed with only its weight being imposed on the belt of the belt conveyor (3).