Metal working – Means to assemble or disassemble – Means to assemble electrical device
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-10
2003-07-22
Eley, Timothy V. (Department: 3724)
Metal working
Means to assemble or disassemble
Means to assemble electrical device
C029S759000, C029S833000, C029S836000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06594887
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a component installing device, and more particularly, to a component installing device used in cases where electronic components of various types are installed directly on a circuit board, or cases where an electronic circuit board is manufactured by provisionally setting electronic components by means of cream solder, or the like, and then installing said components by means of reflow processing, or the like, and to a component supply device used to supply various components in a component installing device of this kind.
BACKGROUND ART
In order to install various electronic components of this type in a circuit board automatically (including provisional setting and actual installation), component supply mechanisms corresponding to the various types of components have been proposed and employed. For example, fine chip components are handled by means of component supply cassettes such as tape cassette or bulk cassette, in which components are supplied, one by one, to a prescribed position for use. Irregular components having a large or special shape, such as integrated circuits, connectors, or the like, are stored in an array in trays, several components of each different type being thus stored. When used, a prescribed tray of the various trays stored is selected and moved to a prescribed component supply position, where the components accommodated therein are supplied for use.
Conventionally, a variety of electronic components are supplied in a stable fashion by using component supply mechanisms of this kind in conjunction with a single component installing device, and even in the case of electronic circuit boards requiring a variety of electronic components, these components can be installed using a single component installing device or few component installing devices, thereby ensuring adaptability to increasing diversification in electronic components.
In recent years, there has been significant diversification and expansion of electronic components, with progress of integrated circuits, development in connectors, and the like. Therefore, it has become necessary to handle electronic components of many different types, forms, shapes, and sizes in components supply devices and component installing devices. Moreover, the number of electronic components required to manufacture a single electronic circuit board has also increased, due to increases in the size and functional range of electronic devices. In conjunction with this, there has also been demand for even higher speed operation in component supply, in order to achieve further improvements in productivity.
However, conventionally, in order to install the required types of components, a variety of component supply cassettes and a tray component supply mechanism have simply been used in conjunction with each other, but this has not enabled all of the various demands described above to be satisfied.
For example, depending on the electronic circuit board being fabricated, it may be necessary to install various types of large-scale electronic components, but if these components are mounted accordingly in a single tray component supply mechanism, there is a limit on the number of types of components that can be accommodated.
Moreover, although the tray component supply mechanism is suitable for supplying large-scale or specially shaped electronic components, it provides poor efficiency in supplying the plurality of trays accommodated therein, in a sequential fashion, according to the selection of component type. In other words, it moves a required tray of the trays accommodated in plural stages in a tray magazine to a position opposing a component supply position, whereupon the electronic component accommodated therein is supplied by drawing the tray out to the component supply position. Each time a different tray is selected, the tray at the component supply position is first accommodated in the tray magazine, whereupon a task for moving the subsequent tray to the component supply position is performed according to the same procedure, and hence a time lag arises when components of different types are supplied from the tray component supply mechanism in a sequential fashion, thereby causing productivity to decline. Moreover, since the component supply pattern is simple, it is difficult to achieve compatibility with various different component use patterns.
Furthermore, in the case of electronic components having a special shape, such as large-scale electronic components, connectors, or the like, which are not balanced with respect to their centre of gravity, the components are liable to fall off when handled by a component installing tool or component transfer head, and hence they cannot be handled at high speed. Therefore, if installing a variety of components by using various component supply cassettes and a tray component supply mechanism, which are provided conjointly, in a simple sequential fashion, it is necessary to delay the installation of other components whilst handling and installing components which have a slow handling speed, thereby impeding further speed increases in component installation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a component installing device comprising a plurality of component supply cassettes and tray component supply mechanisms, whereby a plurality of different types of components can be handled by a single installing machine, and installation can be carried out at higher speed by devising component supply modes.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a component supply device whereby the supply of components using trays can be performed with good efficiency, in accordance with the pattern of use of various components.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In order to achieve the aforementioned objects, the component installing device according to the present invention is characterized in that it comprises: a tray component supply section having a plurality of conjointly provided tray component supply mechanisms for selecting trays accommodating prescribed components, and moving the trays from a storage position to a component supply position, according to need, thereby providing the components accommodated therein for use; a cassette component supply section having a plurality of mutually aligned component supply cassettes for carrying components in a tape cassette or a bulk cassette, and transporting the components to a component supply position, one at a time, thereby providing the components for use; and an installing head for picking up components accommodated in the respective trays located at the component supply positions of the respective tray component supply mechanisms in the tray component supply section, and components transported to the component supply positions of the respective component supply cassettes in the cassette component supply section, according to need, and installing the components at prescribed positions on an installation object.
According to this construction, small components having a high frequency of use are handled by a cassette component supply section and components of various types are supplied successively from a plurality of component supply cassettes and are handled and installed at prescribed positions on an installation object by means of an installing head, in a continuous fashion corresponding to their frequency of use. In the meantime, special types of components are supplied in an alternating fashion by a plurality of adjacently provided tray component supply mechanisms in a tray component supply section, whereby even if the time for supplying and handling individual components is long, the time required to supply components of special types in a sequential fashion is reduced by a half and the supply rate of special components from trays is doubled, thus making it easier for the supply of special components from trays to be completed in time, whilst the installing head is handling and installing components supplied from the cassette component supply section in a continuous fa
Inoue Mamoru
Kabeshita Akira
Kitamura Naoyuki
Mori Kazuo
Okuda Osamu
Eley Timothy V.
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
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