This application discloses an apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel and a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel. The manufacturing apparatus includes a vacuum attaching station, a pneumatic transmission mechanism and a sealant curing station, the vacuum attaching station is configured to support the liquid crystal panel on which sealant coating and substrate attaching have been completed, the pneumatic transmission mechanism is disposed at the vacuum attaching station and between the vacuum attaching station and the sealant curing station, the pneumatic transmission mechanism is provided with a plurality of air holes, and an angle included between an air discharging direction of the air holes and the liquid crystal panel is an acute angle.

The invention is an atmosphere formation apparatus that is provided in a floatation conveyance apparatus, the floatation conveyance apparatus conveying a workpiece while performing floating support of the workpiece by gas injection, the atmosphere formation apparatus including a small-range atmosphere formation device that forms a small-range atmosphere B in a large-range atmosphere A, the large-range atmosphere A being an atmosphere in a large-range region containing a conveyance path along which the conveyance is performed, the small-range atmosphere B being an atmosphere in a small-range region containing the conveyance path, the small-range atmosphere B being different from the large-range atmosphere A.

According to one embodiment, a floating conveyor is configured to convey a substrate while floating the substrate. The floating conveyor includes a lower floating section and an upper floating section with a conveying path of the substrate therebetween. A plurality of floating blocks that constitute at least one of the lower floating section and the upper floating section are arranged to be separated by a space, and a floating block that constitutes the other is arranged to face the space.

An apparatus for conveying a substrate includes a base along which the substrate is conveyed, a first upward gas ejecting section, a second upward gas ejecting section and a third upward gas ejecting section disposed over the base, the third upward gas ejecting section being disposed between the first and second upward gas ejecting sections, and a first downward gas ejecting section and a second downward gas ejecting section disposed above and facing respective portions of the third upward gas ejecting section. Gas ejected upward from the first, second and third upward gas ejecting sections floats the substrate. The substrate is subjected to pressure by gas ejected downward from the first and second downward gas ejecting sections. The first and second downward gas ejecting sections are spaced to provide a working area therebetween and through which the substrate is irradiated with a laser beam.

A method for cutting a thin glass including the steps of guiding, by a transport device, the thin glass ribbon over a levitation support, and directing, within a range of the levitation support, a laser beam onto the thin glass ribbon, which heats up the thin glass ribbon at an impingement point of the laser beam. The method also includes the step of blowing, by a cooling jet generator, a cooling fluid onto the track heated by the laser beam so that a region heated by the laser beam is cooled down and a mechanical stress is created. The cooling fluid contains vapor of a liquid at a saturation ratio of at least 0.5 or a plurality of liquid droplets. The liquid droplets form a contact angle on a surface of the thin glass ribbon which is smaller than that of water on the same surface.

A system may include a support surface for supporting a substrate, a plurality of first passages arranged to distribute flows of a first gas to establish a gas bearing to float the substrate above the support surface, and a plurality of second passages arranged to distribute flows of a second gas to convey the substrate along the support surface. A method may include floating a substrate above a support surface of a substrate support apparatus via a gas bearing; and while floating the substrate, conveying the substrate along the support surface by flowing gas toward a surface of the substrate and in a nonperpendicular direction relative to the surface of the substrate.

A substrate support system 10 for a conveyor printer is provided, comprising a support unit 100 comprising a plurality of vacuum apertures 108 arranged for fluidic communication with a source of negative pressure. The support unit 100 also comprises at least one air bearing 114 arranged for fluidic communication with a source of positive pressure. The air bearing 114 comprises porous media 116. The substrate support system 10 also comprises a conveyor belt 150 arranged over the support unit 100 for supporting a substrate 170 to be printed on. The conveyor belt 150 comprises a plurality of belt apertures. The vacuum apertures 108 are arranged to convey a negative pressure through the belt apertures for retaining the substrate 170 on the conveyor belt 150. The at least one air bearing 114 is arranged to convey a positive pressure to support the conveyor belt 150.

A method of manufacturing a glass film includes a forming step of forming a band-shaped glass film by pulling down a glass ribbon flowing down from a forming trough while sandwiching the glass ribbon from both front and back sides through use of roller pairs and a conveyance direction changing step of changing a conveyance direction of the glass film from the vertical direction to the horizontal direction by conveying the glass film along a conveyance path having an arc shape while supporting the glass film from a back surface side with a roller conveyor so that a front surface of the glass film after having passed through the conveyance path faces upward. A first roller to be brought into abutment against the glass film from the front surface side is arranged between a roller pair arranged in a lowermost stage and the roller conveyor.

Disclosed are apparatuses and methods for non-contact processing a substrate, for example a glass substrate, overtop a gas layer. The support apparatus includes a plurality of gas bearings positioned on a pressure box supplied with a pressurized gas. Some embodiments are directed to a method of supporting and transporting softened glass. The method includes placing the glass in proximity to a gas bearing device having a support surface with a plurality of outlet ports disposed therein. Some embodiments are in directed to a glass processing apparatus comprising an air table configured to continuously transport and support a stream of glass and a plurality of modular devices supported by a support structure and disposed above the air table. Some embodiments are directed to a method for flattening viscous glass using a two-sided gas bearing device or a one-sided gas bearing device.

A noncontact support platform includes pressure ports distributed on a surface of a table, each connected to a pressure source. Vacuum ports are distributed on the surface of the table, each connected to a vacuum source. Outward flow through the pressure ports and inward flow through the vacuum ports form a fluid cushion to support a workpiece at a nonzero distance from the table. A plurality of channels each connect at least two of the vacuum ports to enable flow of fluid between the connected vacuum ports. When one of the connected vacuum ports is covered by an edge of the workpiece and the other is not, a suction force that is exerted by the connected vacuum ports on the edge is weaker than the suction force that is exerted on a part of the workpiece where both of the connected vacuum ports are covered.