A wafer chuck includes a chuck body and a plurality of seal rings. The chuck body includes a carrying surface configured to receive a wafer and at least one vacuum hole disposed on the carrying surface. A ratio of a diameter of the carrying surface to a diameter of the wafer is substantially equal to greater than 45% and substantially equal to or smaller than 90%. The seal rings are disposed on the carrying surface and configured to physically contact with the wafer. The seal rings surround the vacuum hole.

There is disclosed a vacuum table 400 comprising a vacuum plate 402 separating a first vacuum chamber 406 from a substrate zone 60 for receiving a substrate 50. The vacuum plate has a plurality of suction holes 404 for conveying a gas flow from the substrate zone 60 to the first vacuum chamber 406. There is an evacuation port 422 in communication with a second vacuum chamber 420 to evacuate gas from the substrate zone 60 when a substrate 50 is received over the suction holes 404 of the vacuum plate 402, and a vacuum port 424 for discharging gas received in the second vacuum chamber 420 to a vacuum source 423. The first vacuum chamber 406 and the second vacuum chamber 420 are in fluid communication via a valve 430 so that gas flows from the first vacuum chamber 406 to the vacuum port 424 via the second vacuum chamber 420. The valve 430 is controllable to vary a gas flow rate through the vacuum plate 402 and thereby vary a retaining force on a substrate 50 received thereon.

A soft-acting and non-deforming vacuum suction device includes a vacuum generating structure and a suction head. The suction head includes a positioning block and a suction nozzle. The positioning block defines a through hole. The vacuum generating structure is open to the through hole, so that the nozzle pulls on or releases a workpiece by creating or releasing the vacuum of the through hole. When the workpiece to be transferred is pulled to the suction nozzle, the workpiece abuts softly against a first surface of the positioning block.

A workpiece receiving and supporting device that is configured to sequentially contact a plurality of types of different non-flat surfaces provided on a plurality of workpieces, and subsequently support the workpieces, includes: at least one positioning member that contacts the workpieces and positions the workpieces; and a plurality of surface copying members that contacts the workpieces positioned by the positioning member, and provided so as to be rotationally movable and linearly movable in accordance with surfaces of the workpieces, wherein the positioning member and the surface copying member include at least a contact portion that contacts the workpieces and supports the workpieces, and at least a sliding portion that is slidable in accordance with surfaces of the workpieces when contacting the workpieces on both sides of the contact portion.

The present disclosure discloses a flamed-based vacuum generator, including a shell and a combustion assembly, where the shell has a cavity, the cavity being a space having at least one opening, and the combustion assembly includes a combustible object and an igniter, the igniter being configured to ignite the combustible object, the combustible object generating a flame in the cavity, and the flame extinguishing in the cavity. In the present disclosure, through in-depth study of the internal mechanism of vacuum generated by flame combustion, it is found that the extinguishing process of a flame is the key to the generation of vacuum, and a larger flame and more sufficient combustion indicate a higher vacuum pressure generated in the cavity after the flame is extinguished.

Systems and methods are provided for trimming and installation. One embodiment is a system for cutting out portions of a fuselage section. The system includes an Inner Mold Line (IML) tool comprising an inner gripping element configured to apply suction to a portion of the fuselage section, and further comprising an outer gripping element configured to apply suction to an area surrounding the portion, an Outer Mold Line (OML) tool configured to operate a cutter to cut the portion out from the fuselage section while suction is applied to the portion and to the area surrounding the portion, and a track that is disposed between the IML tool and the OML tool, wherein the fuselage section is configured to be pulsed in a process direction along the track, such that the fuselage section remains disposed between the IML tool and the OML tool when pulsed in the process direction.

An ergonomic frame-filler placement tool is manually operable to supply a vacuum fluid flow at a distal end of the tool that can be used by a worker to pick up and hold a piece of frame-filler material to the distal end of the tool, which enables the worker to manipulate the tool to position the piece of frame-filler material over a desired location of a fuselage mandrel and then manually stop the vacuum fluid flow at the distal end of the tool to position the piece of frame-filler material at the desired location on the mandrel.

A color unevenness inspection system (100) of the present disclosure includes: an inspection stage (20) on which a flexible display (10) including a flexible substrate (12) is to be placed, the inspection stage (20) having a vacuum chuck surface (22); and a porous sheet (30) placed on the vacuum chuck surface (22) , the porous sheet being to be in contact with a lower surface of the flexible substrate (12). The porous sheet (30) has a plurality of pores for sucking in a single or a plurality of foreign objects (60) adhered to the lower surface of the flexible substrate (12) such that flatness of the lower surface is maintained.

Embodiments described herein provide for devices and methods for retaining optical devices. The devices and methods described herein provide for retention of the substrate without contacting sensitive portions of the substrate. The devices and methods utilize retention pads or vacuum pins to contact the exclusion zones i.e., inactive areas of the substrate to retain the substrate and prevent the substrate from moving laterally. Additionally, a holding force retains the substrate in the vertical direction, without contacting the substrate. The methods provide for adjusting the devices to account for multiple geometries of the substrate. The methods further provide for adjusting the devices, such as adjusting a gap between the optical device and a suction pad, to alter the holding force of the devices on the optical devices.

The present disclosure provides a flexible workpiece pedestal capable of tilting a workpiece support surface. The workpiece pedestal further includes a heater mounted on the workpiece support surface. The heater includes a plurality of heating sources such as heating coils. The plurality of heating sources in the heater allows heating the workpiece at different temperatures for different zones of the workpiece. For example, the workpiece can have a central zone heated by a first heating coil, a first outer ring zone that is outside of the central zone heated by a second heating coil, a second outer ring zone that is outside of the first outer ring zone heated by a third heating coil. By using the tunable heating feature and the tilting feature of the workpiece pedestal, the present disclosure can reduce or eliminate the shadowing effect problem of the related workpiece pedestal in the art.