Metal working – Means to assemble or disassemble – Means to assemble electrical device
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-07
2001-01-23
Young, Lee (Department: 3729)
Metal working
Means to assemble or disassemble
Means to assemble electrical device
C029S709000, C029S721000, C029S729000, C029S740000, C029S741000, C029S742000, C029S743000, C029S832000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06176007
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to mounting electronic components using more than one nozzle provided on a transfer head for picking up electronic components placed on more than one vertically-staged tray, and transferring and mounting them onto a substrate.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
At present, a common type of electronic component mounting equipment picks up a selection of electronic components supplied via an electronic component feeder by vacuum suction of a transfer head nozzle and transfers and mounts them onto a substrate. There are various types of feeders which supply electronic components to the nozzle of the transfer head, and one type employs a tray.
An electronic component feeder of the prior art which employs this tray is explained next.
FIG. 13
shows a side view of an electronic component feeder of the prior art. In
FIG. 13
, a magazine
1
houses a tray
2
which stores more than one electronic component aligned lengthwise and crosswise in vertical multiple stages. A certain in/out level
3
is specified in the conventional electronic component feeder, and the magazine
1
is raised or lowered by elevation means
4
to move the tray
2
to this in/out level
3
for moving the tray
2
to a subsequent pickup stage
6
next. In/out means
5
is for ejecting the tray
2
at the in/out level
3
from the magazine
1
to the pickup stage
6
, or to return the tray
2
on the pickup stage
6
to the magazine
1
.
When the tray
2
required to be on the pickup stage
6
(refer to the tray
2
represented by a dotted line) is ejected, a nozzle
8
of a transfer head
7
lowers toward the tray
2
, and an electronic component P on the tray
2
is picked up by suction at the tip of the nozzle
8
. The electronic component P, shown by a dotted line, is then transferred and mounted onto a substrate
9
, for example, a printed circuit board.
With the above electronic component feeder of the prior art, however, a long time is required to replace the tray
2
positioned on the pickup stage
6
, resulting in a longer feeding cycle time, which in turn lowers productivity. The reasons are as follows. For replacing the tray
2
shown by the dotted line in
FIG. 13
with the tray
2
x
in the magazine
1
, the following series of operations cannot be avoided:
(1) the in/out means
5
returns the tray
2
from the pickup up stage
6
to the magazine
1
;
(2) the elevation means
4
raises the magazine
1
to set the tray
2
x
to the in/out level
3
; and
(3) the in/out means
5
ejects the tray
2
x
set to the in/out level
3
to the pickup stage
6
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method and equipment for mounting electronic components which enables the shortening of feeding cycle time, and which also allows the high speed transfer and mounting of electronic components onto a substrate.
The electronic component mounting equipment of the present invention comprises a positioning unit for positioning a substrate, an electronic component feeder for supplying electronic components, and a transfer head which moves between the electronic component feeder and the positioning unit for transferring and mounting supplied electronic components onto a positioned substrate. The abovementioned electronic component feeder comprises tray holders for holding a tray storing more than one electronic component, a frame support having more than one vertical stage for the tray holders so as to move each tray holder horizontally at each height level, and more than one in/out means moving mechanism disposed for the tray holders for transferring each tray holder from a standby stage to a pickup stage. The abovementioned transfer head comprises a nozzle for suctioning electronic components and a vertical movement mechanism for moving the nozzle in accordance with a height of each tray on the pickup stage.
The electronic component mounting method of the present invention is to move electronic components stored on a tray to the pickup stage, pick up an electronic component using the nozzle of the transfer head, and mount it on the substrate. In this method, more than one level for ejecting and returning the tray to and from the pickup stage is provided with a certain interval in the vertical direction. The tray is ejected at each level for positioning the tray on the pickup stage, and the electronic component on the tray is then picked up with the nozzle to be mounted on the substrate.
The electronic component mounting method of the present invention further picks up electronic components on the trays set at more than one vertical level of the pickup stage with more than one vacuum suction nozzle provided on the transfer head, and transfers and mounts the electronic component onto a substrate positioned with the positioning unit. The transfer head is moved over the trays disposed on the plurality of vertical stages, and electronic components are picked up in order from the upper tray to the lower tray by moving more than one nozzle vertically in order. When one nozzle is lowered for picking up an electronic component, other nozzles which do not pick up electronic components also lower together.
The electronic component mounting equipment as configured above operates as follows.
Each tray can be independently ejected to and returned from the pickup stage at different levels. The nozzle of the transfer head also moves vertically in response to the level of the tray positioned on the pickup stage by the vertical movement mechanism. This allows prompt setting up of the required tray at the pickup stage as required for picking up the electronic component with the nozzle to immediately mount it on the substrate. In other words, the present invention enables the saving of time required for elevating the magazine and ejecting or returning the tray after elevation, which is unavoidable with the electronic component mounting equipment of the prior art. Accordingly, the mounting cycle time can be reduced.
Moreover, by providing more than one level with a certain interval in the vertical axis for ejecting or returning the tray at each level to and from the pickup stage, the ejection or returning operation of a required tray can be promptly executed without interfering with other trays, also resulting in a reduction of the mounting cycle time. Furthermore, by disposing the transfer head over the trays disposed in more than one vertical stage, electronic components are picked up in order from the upper to the lower trays by the vertical movement of more than one nozzle. Those nozzles which do not pick up electronic components also lower together with the nozzle which lowers to pick up electronic components. This allows the reduction of the cycle time required for picking up electronic components on the tray by moving the nozzle vertically and the cycle time required for moving the nozzle over the substrate and then moving vertically again to mount the electronic component on the substrate. Thus, electronic components on the tray can be mounted on the substrate at high speed with good operability.
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Kashiwagi Yasuhiro
Morita Takeshi
Nagao Kazuhide
Yamauti Jun
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Nguyen Binh-An
Wenderoth , Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
Young Lee
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