Metal working – Method of mechanical manufacture – Electrical device making
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-23
2001-11-13
Young, Lee (Department: 3729)
Metal working
Method of mechanical manufacture
Electrical device making
C029S832000, C029S740000, C029S743000, C474S102000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06314640
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to component mounting method and apparatus for mounting, for example, a component such as an electronic, mechanical, or optical component to a specified position on an object to be mounted such as a printed circuit board. More particularly, the invention relates to component mounting method and apparatus which make it possible to mount the component on the object with high precision, by driving a rotating mechanism so that the component will be rotated in one direction, with a view to suppressing the occurrence of lost motions of the rotating mechanism in correcting the postural angle of the component during the mounting operation.
FIG. 14
is a perspective view of a conventional electronic component mounting apparatus
100
for mounting electronic components. A conveyor
132
conveys circuit boards to and from the electronic component mounting apparatus
100
, and further holds the circuit boards during production. Electronic component feeders
133
and
134
store and feed electronic components to be mounted on the circuit boards. The electronic component feeder
133
is a reel type electronic component feeder in which electronic components are stored on a reel, and the electronic component feeder
134
is a tray type electronic component feeder in which electronic components are stored on a tray. A component pickup head
136
, which is equipped with a nozzle
138
for picking up an electronic component from the electronic component feeders
133
,
134
, performs up and down motions, rotating motion and other motions of the nozzle
138
. The rotating motion is effected by a rotating mechanism connected to the component pickup head
136
. The component pickup head
136
is provided with a second component recognition camera
11
for capturing an image of the electronic component from above. A component recognition camera
137
is provided for capturing from blow, an image of the posture of the electronic component picked up by the nozzle
138
. An X-Y robot
135
moves the component pickup head
136
in X and Y directions.
The electronic component mounting apparatus
100
performs the following operations. For picking up an electronic component, the X-Y robot
135
moves the component pickup head
136
, i.e. the nozzle
138
, to an electronic-component pickup position in the electronic component feeder
133
or
134
and then lowers the nozzle
138
to pick up an electronic component. The nozzle
138
is lifted after the pickup.
Next, as shown at Step (“S” in the drawings)
101
of
FIG. 16
, the nozzle
138
, after picking up the electronic component is rotated by the rotating mechanism circumferentially of the nozzle
138
about the center axis of the nozzle
138
, according to a mounting angle preset for the picked-up electronic component. Subsequently, at Step
102
, the X-Y robot
135
moves the component pickup head
136
to the location of the component recognition camera
137
, where the posture of the electronic component picked up by the nozzle
138
is recognized by the component recognition camera
137
. Next, at Step
103
, a difference between the actual angle of the picked-up electronic component and the mounting angle is determined based on the recognition result, and an angular correction for the picked-up electronic component is performed so that the difference value becomes zero. This correction is performed by rotating the nozzle
138
, which is effected by again driving the rotating mechanism. Then, at Step
104
, the electronic component, picked up by the nozzle
138
, is moved to a specified position on the electronic circuit board in the X- and Y-directions by the component pickup head
136
, which is moved by the X-Y robot
135
. Further with an operation of the component pickup head
136
, the nozzle
138
is lowered so that the electronic component is mounted to the specified component mounting position on the electronic circuit board, where the electronic component is released from the pickup head. By iterating these operations, electronic components are removed one after another from the electronic component feeder
133
or
134
and mounted onto the electronic circuit board.
The aforementioned rotating mechanism for the nozzle
138
is shown in FIG.
15
. The nozzle
138
is fixed to a gear
102
so as to be inserted through center part of the gear
102
. The gear
102
is connected to a motor output shaft
105
via a timing belt
101
. Accordingly, rotation of the output shaft
105
is transferred to the pickup nozzle
138
via the gear
102
by the timing belt
101
, by which the electronic component picked up by the pickup nozzle
138
is rotated to the specified mounting angle.
However, the timing belt
101
or the gear
102
has a backlash. Moreover, depending on whether the angle of the electronic component is too large or too small relative to the target mounting angle, the direction in which the nozzle
138
is rotated differs. Therefore, by rotating the nozzle
138
clockwise, or counterclockwise, or clockwise and counterclockwise together with the gear
102
or the like, there can occur an error in the final mounting angle of the electronic component due to the backlash.
To suppress the occurrence of such errors, the resolution of the timing belt
101
or the gear
102
is enhanced or a mechanism which directly, transforms rotation of the motor output shaft into rotation of the pickup nozzle is adopted, responsive to the required precision. However, this increases the manufacturing costs and requires a large space for the installation of the motor and the nozzle
138
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been accomplished to solve these and other issues. An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a component mounting method and apparatus which allow a component to be mounted at a mounting angle with good precision.
In accomplishing these and other objects, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting method by which a component stored in a component feeder is held by a component holding member for holding the component and is then mounted in a mounting position on an object. The method comprising: when a mounting posture of the component in which the component is mounted onto the object is inclined with respect to a basic posture of the component by a mounting angle, holding the component from the component feeder by the component holding member that has preliminarily been rotated to the mounting angle in such a direction as to depart from a reference posture of the component holding member prior to the mounting of the component to the object, and afterwards, rotating the component holding member in a specified direction to finally return the component holding member to the reference posture, and then mounting the component on the object.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting method by which a component stored in a component feeder is held by a component holding member for holding the component and then mounted to a mounting position on an object to be mounted. The method comprising: when a mounting posture of the component in which the component is mounted onto the object is inclined with respect to a basic posture of the component by a mounting angle, detecting that the posture of the component in the component feeder is inclined with respect to an ideal position by a component posture angle by recognizing by a recognition device the component fed by the component feeder; based on the mounting angle and the component posture angle, calculating a pre-holding rotational angle, which is an angle for preliminarily rotating the component holding member before holding the component; holding the component from the component feeder by the component holding member that has preliminarily been rotated to the pre-holding rotational angle in such a direction as to depart from a reference posture of the component holding member; and rotating the component ho
Kabeshita Akira
Takeda Takeshi
Yoshida Noriaki
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Tugbang A. Dexter
Wenderoth , Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
Young Lee
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