Electronic component feeding apparatus

Details Electronic component feeding apparatus Electronic component feeding apparatus

1998-12-08

2001-10-02

Hess, Douglas (Department: 3652)

Conveyors: power-driven

Conveyor system for moving a specific load as a separate unit

System includes an oscillating or reciprocating load...

C198S396000, C221S212000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06296104

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic component feeding apparatus for conveying electronic components by intermittent movement of a belt.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Heisei6-232596 has disclosed an apparatus for conveying chip components using a belt.
This apparatus has an endless belt wound around a pair of pulleys, a ratchet mechanism for intermittently moving a belt through a predetermined distance by driving one of the pulleys, and a lever mechanism for transmitting the power to the ratchet mechanism. When the power is transmitted to the ratchet mechanism by moving an operating portion of the lever mechanism in a predetermined direction, one pulley is turned through a predetermined angle in a predetermined direction by the ratchet mechanism, and the belt is moved through a predetermined distance in a predetermined direction by the turning of the pulley. Chip components, arranged in an orderly way on the belt, are conveyed in the same direction by the movement of the belt, and the foremost chip component is fed to a predetermined takeout position. The foremost chip component fed to the takeout position is taken out by using a suction nozzle. When the operating portion of the lever mechanism is moved again, the succeeding chip component is fed to the takeout position in the same way as described above.
The apparatus of this type has widely been used for a component mounter, component mounting line, and the like. In recent years, there has been demanded a mechanism which can respond to high-speed component takeout cycle, specifically a mechanism which can take out components in a very short cycle as short as 0.1 sec.
However, on the aforesaid apparatus, since the operating portion of the lever mechanism is directly connected to an driving portion of the ratchet mechanism, the speed at which the belt moves is substantially proportional to the speed at which the operating portion of the lever mechanism is moved. That is to say, if the operation speed of the operating portion of the lever mechanism is increased to respond to the high-speed component takeout cycle, the belt movement speed increases substantially proportionally, so that the chip components on the belt cannot follow the belt initial speed. Thereby, a slip occurs between the belt and the chip components on the belt, so that only the belt moves while the chip component is left, with the result that components cannot be conveyed satisfactorily by means of the belt.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a new electronic component feeding apparatus which can properly convey components by using a belt even when a component takeout cycle becomes fast.
To achieve the above object, the electronic component feeding apparatus of the present invention comprises a belt for conveying electronic components, a belt moving mechanism for moving the belt by a predetermined distance based on a predetermined motion which is transmitted, and a motion changing mechanism for changing an input motion for moving the belt to an unequal speed motion having a low initial speed and for transmitting the changed unequal speed motion to the belt moving mechanism.
In this apparatus, even if the input motion is made fast to respond to high-speed component takeout cycle, the motion changing mechanism can change the input motion to an unequal speed motion having a low initial speed, and transmit the changed motion to the belt moving mechanism. Therefore, even if the speed of the input motion is increased, the initial speed of belt can be decreased by the motion change. Thereby, a slip produced between the belt and the electronic component is prevented, so that the components can be conveyed properly and stably by using the belt.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by referring to the following description and accompanying drawings.


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patent: 6-232596 (1994-08-01), None

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