Development of a non-contact conveyance system composed of distributed nozzle units

A non-contact manipulation is required in order to treat such objects as semiconductor wafers. This paper deals with a conveyance system using an air flow to levitate and move the objects. It is also important to adapt the system composition for various layouts of factory lines. This research employs the concept of distributed systems composed of many units. We have developed elemental units so as to arrange a conveyance system according to its layout. A prototype of the elemental unit, whose dimensions are 100 mm×100 mm×30 mm, is developed and demonstrated. Experimental investigation is applied in order to evaluate characteristics of the developed system