Metal working – Means to assemble or disassemble – Means to assemble electrical device
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-08
2002-04-16
Vo, Peter (Department: 3729)
Metal working
Means to assemble or disassemble
Means to assemble electrical device
C029S742000, C414S331140, C414S416010, C414S416030
Reexamination Certificate
active
06370765
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a component mounting apparatus equipped with a tray parts feeder comprising a plurality of stacked trays each accommodating electronic components in rows.
2. Description of Prior Art
Component mounting apparatus of such kind is designed to be flexible in its function of supplying various types of parts and has come into increasing use in recent years. With the widening demand, it has been accordingly desired to improve its performance, and among other things, to reduce the area for installation of the apparatus and to shorten the tact time of mounting operation. Prior art examples of a component mounting apparatus equipped with a tray parts feeder will be described below with reference to
FIGS. 8A
,
8
B and
FIGS. 9A
,
9
B.
FIG. 8A
is a block diagram in plan and
FIG. 8B
is a left side elevation view thereof, showing a component mounting apparatus of so-called “direct feed type” wherein a mounting head takes out parts from a tray and directly mounts them onto a substrate.
In
FIGS. 8A
,
8
B, reference numeral
101
denotes the tray parts feeder, which stocks trays
103
placed on respective tray plates
102
. A substrate transfer section denoted
104
is provided for transferring a substrate
105
along guide rails
106
. Reference numeral
7
shows some of parts pick-up positions, which can be anywhere on the tray
103
, where a mount head (not shown) takes out parts P from tray
103
. The movable range of mount head covers the entire area including tray
103
and substrate
105
as indicated in dot-dash lines denoted
8
. A tray draw-out driver
9
having a location function using a pulse motor or the like and a position detector is provided for pulling out tray plate
102
from tray parts feeder
101
and locating it at any given position. The surfaces of tray
103
drawn out from tray parts feeder
101
and substrate
105
are positioned at the same elevation so that mount head needs to move only a small distance in upward and downward directions.
The above described component mounting apparatus operates as described below.
Substrate
105
is loaded in along guide rails
106
and located at a predetermined position in substrate transfer section
104
. Meanwhile, tray draw-out driver
9
pulls out a tray
103
which is placed at a predetermined position on tray plate
102
from tray parts feeder
101
. Mount head takes out parts P aligned in rows on tray
103
and mounts them on substrate
105
.
As shown in
FIG. 8A
, in order to take out all of the parts P on tray
103
, there is given a space between tray parts feeder
101
and substrate transfer section
104
by the length A of a longer side of tray
103
, and the mount head operates within the range indicated in dot-dash lines
8
covering the area including both of the tray
103
and substrate
105
.
In such component mounting apparatus of direct feed type shown in
FIGS. 8A
,
8
B, the moving range
8
of mount head needs to be wide enough to include the area extending the length A. Since the mount head needs to move with a wide stroke, it takes time to pick up parts P from tray
3
and mounts them on substrate
5
. Thus the tact time cannot be shortened, and moreover, the apparatus needs a large space for installation.
FIG. 9A
is a block diagram in plan and
FIG. 9B
is a left side elevation view thereof, showing another conventional component mounting apparatus of the type using a shuttle, in which parts are taken out and placed on the shuttle with a transfer unit, and the mount head picks up the parts from the shuttle and mounts them on the substrate.
In
FIGS. 9A
,
9
B, same reference numerals are used to indicate the elements identical to those shown in
FIGS. 8A
,
8
B.
A component transfer device
10
comprises a shuttle
13
for transporting parts P from a position denoted
11
in the vicinity of the tray parts feeder
101
to a pick-up position denoted
12
where the mount head (not shown) picks up parts, and a locatable transfer unit
14
provided in the vicinity of tray parts feeder
101
for taking out parts P from tray
103
and placing them onto shuttle
13
when it is located at position
11
. The movable range of mount head is indicated in dot-dash lines denoted
15
and covers the area including the pick-up position
12
of shuttle
13
and the substrate
105
. Reference numeral
16
denotes the position of a suction nozzle of the transfer unit
14
where it takes out parts P from tray
103
.
Tray
103
is pulled out from tray parts feeder
1
by means of tray draw-out driver
9
and located such that the parts P
1
in the first row on tray
103
are positioned just below the suction nozzle position
16
of transfer unit
14
. Transfer unit
14
moves in a transverse direction in the figure for taking out parts P
1
and placing them onto shuttle
13
which is located at position
11
. Shuttle
13
loaded with parts P
1
moves to the pick-up position
12
of mount head. When all the parts P
1
in the first row on tray
103
have been fed, tray draw-out driver
9
pulls out tray
103
further so that parts P
2
in the second row on tray
103
are located below the suction nozzle position
16
. Parts are taken out similarly to the parts P
1
in the first row. All the parts are thus taken out successively and mounted on substrate
105
.
The surfaces of tray
103
drawn out from tray parts feeder
101
and substrate
105
are positioned at the same elevation so that mount head and transfer unit
14
need to move only a small distance in upward and downward directions.
In the component mounting apparatus shown in
FIGS. 9A
,
9
B, although the moving range
15
of mount head is considerably smaller than that
8
of the apparatus shown in
FIG. 8A
, tray parts feeder
101
and substrate transfer section
104
are distanced from each other by the length B corresponding to the length of a longer side of tray
103
so as to allow all of the parts P to be taken out from tray
103
.
The moving stroke of the shuttle
13
extends the length B which is the distance between tray parts feeder
101
and substrate transfer section
104
, and it takes time to transport the parts P. Thus the tact time cannot be shortened further and also, the apparatus needs a large space for installation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention solves these problems by providing a component mounting apparatus in which the space for locating the tray plate and the movable range of the mount head are remarkably reduced so that the tact time of picking up and mounting parts P is shortened and the space for installing the apparatus is diminished.
To accomplish the above object, a component mounting apparatus of the present invention generally comprises a tray parts feeder accommodating stacked trays on which components are stocked in rows, a substrate transfer section having guide rails for transferring a substrate, a mount head for mounting components onto a substrate; and a tray draw-out driver capable of pulling out a tray from the tray parts feeder at any given pitch and positioning same at a predetermined location, wherein a part of the tray drawn out from the tray parts feeder passes under the guide rails of the substrate transfer section.
According to the present invention, pick-up positions of the mount head where it takes out components from tray can be set close to the guide rails for the substrate, since the tray, as it is drawn out by a predetermined pitch, passes under these guide rails. In other words, the moving stroke of the mount head is reduced, and the tact time for taking out components and mounting them onto substrate is accordingly shortened. Moreover, since the space between the tray parts feeder and guide rails for substrate transfer is made smaller, the overall size of the apparatus is reduced and the area for installation thereof is diminished.
It is more preferable if the above apparatus further includes a component transfer device for taking out the components accommodated in rows on the tray and for tr
Hiramoto Koji
Kido Kazuo
Uchida Hideki
Jordan and Hamburg LLP
Tugbang A. Dexter
Vo Peter
LandOfFree
Component mounting apparatus with tray parts feeder does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Component mounting apparatus with tray parts feeder, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Component mounting apparatus with tray parts feeder will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2859291