Metal working – Means to assemble or disassemble – Means to assemble electrical device
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-22
2001-10-09
Young, Lee (Department: 3729)
Metal working
Means to assemble or disassemble
Means to assemble electrical device
C029S832000, C029S743000, C029S834000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06298547
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus for holding components of a type, e.g., mounting electronic components on electronic circuit boards, a component mounting apparatus with the component holding apparatus and a component mount method carried out by the component mounting apparatus.
A component sucking head part of a component mounting apparatus, which automatically mounts electronic components to an electronic circuit board, has a nozzle for sucking the electronic components and thereby mounting the component to the electronic circuit board. To precisely control touching of the nozzle and the electronic component at the time of the sucking and mounting is one factor in improving the quality of the electronic circuit board produced. An example of a conventional electronic component mounting apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.
14
.
FIG. 14
shows a component sucking head part
101
comprising the nozzle, a suction device
103
for sucking the electronic component by the nozzle, an X-Y robot
102
for moving the head part
101
in X, Y directions and a control device
104
for controlling operations of the head part
101
. The head part
101
is constructed as described hereinbelow.
FIG. 14
shows only primary parts constituting the head part
101
, and a body part of the head part
101
, etc. are not illustrated in the drawing. A reference numeral
135
in
FIG. 14
denotes a spline shaft, having a nozzle
136
set at one end part
135
a
for sucking an electronic component
138
through a suction operation and, a rotation receiver
143
provided at the other end part
135
b.
The suction device
103
for carrying out the suction operation is connected to the other end part of the spline shaft via a suction tube
105
. The air is sucked through the nozzle
136
and the spline shaft
135
to the suction device
103
by the suction operation of the suction device
103
. A blow device
106
branches off the suction tube
105
and is connected to the other end part
135
b
of the spline shaft
135
. The blow device
106
includes a valve for returning the interiors of the spline shaft
135
and nozzle
136
from a state in vacuum to a state of atmospheric pressure so as to free the electronic component
138
from the suction operation by the nozzle
136
.
Two nuts
131
,
134
are fitted to the spline shaft
135
to allow the spline shaft
135
to slide in the axial direction. These nuts
131
,
134
are held to the body part (not shown) of the head part
101
via respective bearings
132
,
133
. The spline shaft
135
is accordingly movable in the axial direction relative to the body part and also rotatable about an axis of the spline
135
.
The rotation about the axis of the line
135
is conducted by a motor
142
. A pulley
139
is engaged with the spline shaft
135
, which rotates along with the spline shaft
135
. The spline shaft
135
is movable in the axial direction relative to the pulley
139
. Meanwhile, a pulley
141
is connected to a driving shaft of the motor
142
. The pulley
139
and pulley
141
are coupled by a belt
140
. When the pulley
141
is rotated by the motor
142
, the spline shaft
135
is related about the axis via the belt
140
and pulley
139
.
The movement in the axial direction of the spline shaft
135
is achieved by a motor
149
. More specifically, a nut
146
projecting a lever
147
is meshed with a ball screw
145
connected to a driving shaft of the motor
149
via a coupling
148
. The lever
147
has, at its leading end, a roller
144
fitted in a groove
143
a
formed in the rotation receiver
143
. Therefore, when the ball screw
145
is rotated by the motor
149
, the lever
147
moves in the axial direction with the roller
144
engaged with the rotation receiver
143
, thereby moving the spline shaft
135
in the axial direction.
The operation of the conventional component mounting apparatus in the above construction will be described with reference to FIG.
15
.
At step (denoted by “S” in the drawing)
101
, the X-Y robot
102
is moved by a control operation of the control device
104
, thereby moving the head part
101
to a component suction position where the electronic component is to be sucked. At next step
102
, the motor
149
is driven through the control of the control device
104
and, the spline shaft
135
, namely, nozzle
136
is lowered. The suction device
103
is activated at step
103
, and as a consequence the electronic component is sucked by the nozzle
136
at step
104
. At step
105
, the ball screw
145
is turned in reverse-rotation by the motor
149
to move the nozzle
136
up. Thereafter, the motor
142
is driven by the control of the control device
104
to rotate the nozzle
136
to a proper position so as to correctly position the sucked electronic component in a mount direction. At subsequent step
106
, the X-Y robot is operated again to move the head part
101
to a component mount position on the electronic circuit board, and at step
107
the motor
149
is driven again to move the nozzle
136
down. Then at step
108
the electronic component
138
is mounted on the electronic circuit board while the blow device
106
is driven. After the mounting, the suction to the electronic component
138
is released, at step
109
, and then the nozzle
136
is raised via the spline shaft
135
.
Recently, high-speed operation is required for the mounting of the electronic component
138
. However, in the above-described conventional component mounting apparatus, the blow device
106
is connected to the other end part
135
b
opposite to the one end part
135
a
of the spline shaft
135
where the nozzle
136
for sucking of the electronic component
138
is arranged. Therefore, it takes a long time for the interior of the nozzle
136
to return to atmospheric pressure state after the blow device
106
is activated to release the suction of the electronic component
138
. In other words, the nozzle
136
stands still for a long time (a portion IV in
FIG. 16
) in a state while the electronic component
138
is mounted on the circuit board, thereby there is a disadvantage that the mounting time (a portion V in
FIG. 16
) required for mounting the electronic component
138
is increased. In the meantime, if the blow device
106
were started earlier during the descent of the nozzle
136
to shorten the above mount time, the nozzle
136
would be returned to the atmospheric pressure state before the electronic component
138
is completely mounted on the circuit board, thus causing the electronic component
138
to be blown away and mounted unstably.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention was developed to solve the aforementioned disadvantages and has for its object to provide an apparatus for holding components, an apparatus for mounting components which comprises the component holding apparatus and a method for mounting components, whereby the mounting time for mounting components is shortened as compared with the prior art.
In order to achieve the above-described object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for holding a component which includes a shaft with a nozzle for holding of the component set at one end part thereof and moved in an axial direction of the shaft.
The component holding apparatus comprising:
a suction device which is connected at the other end part of the shaft to an air passage formed in the shaft and communicating with the nozzle and which sucks an interior of the air passage, thereby letting the nozzle suck the component via the air passage and hold the component;
a first blow device which is connected at the other end part of the shaft to the air passage and which returns the interior of the air passage to a state of an atmospheric pressure, thereby releasing the suction of the component to the nozzle; and
a second blow device which is connected in the vicinity of the one end part of the shaft to the air passage and which returns the interior of the air passage to the
Kabeshita Akira
Kitamura Naoyuki
Okuda Osamu
Shida Satoshi
Yoshida Yoshihiro
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Trinh Minh
Wenderoth , Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
Young Lee
LandOfFree
Apparatus for holding component, apparatus for mounting... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Apparatus for holding component, apparatus for mounting..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Apparatus for holding component, apparatus for mounting... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2607076