Component feeder apparatus and method

Details Component feeder apparatus and method Component feeder apparatus and method

1999-04-07

2003-09-16

Lillis, Eileen D. (Department: 3652)

Conveyors: power-driven

Conveyor for changing attitude of item relative to conveyed...

By conveying randomly faced items and turning items to...

C198S390000, C221S236000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06619467

ABSTRACT:

This application corresponds to Japanese Patent Application No. 10-94517, filed on Apr. 7, 1998, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a feeder and feeding technique for feeding electronic chip components, and more particularly, to a feeder and feeding technique for feeding a plurality of randomly oriented electronic chip components in an aligned state.
2. Description of the Related Art
Feeders can be used for aligning and feeding a plurality of randomly oriented electronic chip components (such as capacitors, resistors, transistors, and filters).
FIG. 4
schematically illustrates one related feeder for feeding electronic chip components. The feeder
1
shown there for feeding electronic chip components includes a retaining section
2
, an aligning section
3
, a conveying section
4
, and a dispensing section
5
, as respective functional sections.
The retaining section
2
includes a hopper
7
for retaining a plurality of electronic chip components
6
(illustrated in aggregate) in a randomly oriented state. A discharge opening
8
is formed in the bottom of the hopper
7
. The aligning section
3
is associated with the discharge opening
8
.
FIG. 5
is a cut-away perspective view showing the aligning section
3
. As indicated there, an aligning path forming member
10
for forming a tubular aligning path
9
is disposed in the aligning section
3
. The aligning path forming member
10
is placed inside the discharge opening
8
, and reciprocates in the axial direction of the discharge opening
8
with a predetermined stroke
11
(or “stroke range”), as indicated by solid lines and dotted lines in FIG.
5
. This allows the aligning path forming member
10
to agitate electronic chip components
6
, which are to be discharged from the discharge opening
8
. Only the electronic chip components
6
oriented in a predetermined direction by this agitation are received into the aligning path
9
.
In the aligning section
3
shown in
FIG. 5
, a fixed pipe
12
for guiding the electronic chip components
6
in an aligned state can be further provided within the tubular aligning path
9
of the aligning path forming member
10
. This fixed pipe
12
serves to enable very small electronic chip components
6
to be handled. The inner diameter of the fixed pipe
12
is selected so as to receive an electronic component
6
only when the longitudinal direction of the electronic chip component
6
agrees with the axial direction of the fixed pipe
12
.
As described above, the aligning path forming member
10
agitates the electronic chip components
6
, by reciprocating movement thereof so as to smoothly move the electronic chip components
6
in the hopper
7
, and to guide them to the aligning path
9
or the fixed pipe
12
. In order to more smoothly guide the electronic chip components
6
to the aligning path
9
or the fixed pipe
12
, a conical concave surface is formed on an end surface
13
located within the hopper
7
of the aligning path forming member
10
.
Referring again to
FIG. 4
, the electronic chip components
6
which have passed through the aligning path forming member
10
or, more specifically, through the fixed pipe
12
, arrive at the conveying section
4
. In the conveying section
4
, a conveying path
14
provided by, for example, a conveyor belt (not shown), is formed. The conveying path
14
conveys the electronic chip components
6
passing through the fixed pipe
12
in an aligned state.
The dispensing section
5
, is formed at the end of the conveying path
14
. In the dispensing section
5
, a dispensing mechanism (not shown) is disposed for dispensing the electronic chip components
6
. A device, such as a vacuum chuck, for picking up the electronic chip components
6
, can be used as the dispensing mechanism.
In the feeder
1
for electronic chip components as described above, the number of the electronic chip components
6
guided into the aligning path
9
or the fixed pipe
12
per unit of time is usually set to be larger than the number of the electronic chip components
6
dispensed in the dispensing section
5
per unit of time. Therefore, a number of electronic chip components
6
are retained in the conveying path
14
so that the electronic chip components
6
, which are to be dispensed, are not depleted from the dispensing section
5
.
As described above, since the aligning path forming member
10
agitates the electronic chip components
6
by reciprocating movement thereof so as to guide the components into the aligning path
9
or the fixed pipe
12
, one to more electronic chip components
6
should ideally be guided into the fixed pipe
12
in each cycle of the reciprocating movement of the aligning path forming member
10
without any interruption.
However, while the aligning path forming member
10
performs its reciprocating movements, a phenomenon may occur, as observed by the present inventors, in which the electronic chip components
6
fail to be guided into the aligning path
9
or the fixed pipe
12
. For example, when 50,000 electronic chip components
6
, each having the dimensions of 1.0×0.5×0.5 mm, are placed into the hopper
7
, and when the number of the electronic chip components
6
remaining in the hopper
7
decreases to less than 10,000, the electronic chip components
6
are often not smoothly guided into the aligning path
9
or the fixed pipe
12
.
FIG. 6
illustrates this phenomenon. In
FIG. 6
, the vertical axis represents the guiding-capacity corresponding to the number of the electronic chip components
6
to be guided into the aligning path
9
per reciprocating cycle of the aligning path forming member
10
, and the horizontal axis represents the number of electronic chip components remaining in the hopper
7
. It is observed that high guiding capacity is obtained when the remaining number of electronic chip components
6
is relatively large, such as “R
1
” or more, but the guiding capacity is reduced when the remaining number is less than “R
1
,” and decreases to “R
2
” and “R
3
.”
As discovered by the present inventors, the indicated curve may vary with the dimensions of each electronic chip component
6
and the length of the stroke
11
. When each electronic chip component
6
has the dimensions of 1.0×0.5×0.5 mm and the stroke
11
is 12 mm, “R
1
” is 10,000, “R
2
” is 5,000, and “R
3
” is 3,000. When the remaining number of electronic components
6
decreases to about 3,000, the guiding capacity is significantly reduced.
One reason for the reduction in the guiding capacity may be as follows. That is, when a small number of electronic chip components
6
remain in the hopper
7
, the electronic chip components
6
jump in the hopper
7
due to the reciprocating movement of the aligning path forming member
10
and the lack of a large number of other electronic chip components
6
to dampen their movements, preventing them from entering into the aligning path
9
or the fixed pipe
12
. In addition, the existence of only a small number of electronic chip components
6
in the hopper
7
, to the extent that they are tossed by the reciprocating movement of the aligning path forming member
10
, means the probability of the electronic chip components
6
being near the discharge opening
8
is low, and hence, there is a reduced opportunity for the electronic chip components
6
to be guided into the aligning path
9
of the aligning path forming member
10
or the fixed pipe
12
due to the effects of gravity.
In order to prevent the reduction in the aforementioned guiding capacity, new electronic chip components
6
may be added to the hopper
7
so that the number of electronic chip components
6
remaining in the hopper is not reduced to less than 10,000, for example. In this case, however, the following problems are encountered.
The electronic chip components
6
of different lots may be mixed into one hopper
7
. That is, some of the electronic chip components
6
rem

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