Corning Incorporated

Tetsuzou Yamada

Gautam Narendra Kudva

Weiwei Luo

Yoshihiro Nakamura

Chih Yuan Lu

Non-contact, liquid-ejecting bearings () are provided for conveying flexible glass sheets (), such as LCD substrates, at high conveyance speeds, e.g., speeds of 15 meters/minute and above. The operating parameters and physical properties of the bearings satisfy at least one of the following conditions: (a) the average flow rate from the bearing's orifices () is in the range of 100-800 milliliters/minute/orifice; (b) the orifices' average horizontal pitch (P) is in the range of 20-55 millimeters; and/or (c) the orifices' average size (e.g., D) is in the range of 1.0-4.5 millimeters. The bearings () can reduce the time-averaged, peak-to-peak variation in the spacing between a LCD substrate () traveling at 15 meters/minute and the face () of the bearing () to less than 100 microns, thus reducing the chances that the bearing () will lose control of the substrate () or that the substrate () will hit the bearing ().

Liquid-ejecting bearings for transport of glass sheets

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for etching flexible glass sheets () in which the sheets () are transported in a vertical or near vertical orientation past non-contact, liquid-ejecting bearings () which apply an etching solution (e.g., an aqueous NaF/HPOsolution) to one or both sides of the sheets (). In certain embodiments, the uppermost liquid-ejecting bearing () is above the top edge of the sheet () and thus is able to apply etching solution to the top of the sheet. In other embodiments, a top shower (), which includes a set of spray nozzles () located above and distributed along the length of the apparatus, is used to apply etching solution to the top of the sheet (). Using the disclosed methods and apparatus, glass sheets () produced by a fusion process are provided which have areas greater than five square meters and average surface roughness values in the range of 0.5 nanometers to 1.1 nanometers.

Non-contact etching of moving glass sheets

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for etching flexible glass sheets () in which the sheets () are transported in a near vertical orientation past non-contact, liquid-ejecting bearings () which apply an etching solution (e.g., an aqueous NaF/HPOsolution) to the sheets (). In certain embodiments, the uppermost liquid-ejecting bearing () is above the top edge of the sheet () and thus is able to apply etching solution to the top of the sheet. In other embodiments, a top shower (), which includes a set of spray nozzles () located above and distributed along the length of the apparatus, is used to apply etching solution to the top of the sheet (). Using the disclosed methods and apparatus, glass sheets () produced by a fusion process are provided which have areas greater than five square meters and average surface roughness values in the range of 0.5 nanometers to 1.1 nanometers.

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Mankinohara, Japan

Tetsuzou Yamada