Tape feeder for component part mounter

Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Surface bonding means and/or assembly means therefor – Presses or press platen structures – per se

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C156S345420, C221S025000, C221S079000, C221S087000, C414S411000, C414S416060

Reexamination Certificate

active

06318437

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tape feeder for a part mounter, and more particularly, to a tape feeder for a part mounter which can supply electronic parts at compact density and is improved in its indexing function.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical part mounter is automated equipment used to mount electronic parts such as a semiconductor chip on a printed circuit board. This part mounter supplies component parts in various ways and mounts the parts on a printed circuit board using a suction nozzle which is operated by a robot. The manner of supplying parts varies according to operating conditions and the characteristics of the parts. For example, large parts are supplied by being carried on a tray but small parts do not require a tray. In particular, very small parts are frequently lost or damaged during mounting, and thus require a special tape feeder.
A tape feeder uses a tape reel where parts are attached at predetermined intervals on a tape. In order for the tape feeder to supply parts, a tape must be released from the reel, and a cover must be removed from parts attached to the tape A suction nozzle of a robot absorbs the parts attached to the tape from which the cover has been removed, thereby separating the parts from the tape and moving the separated parts to certain positions on the printed circuit board.
FIG. 1
is an exploded perspective view of a typical tape feeder for a part mounter.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, the tape feeder includes a guide frame
11
, a front cover
12
installed on the front surface of the guide frame
11
, and a back cover
13
which covers the rear surface of the guide frame
11
. The front and rear surfaces of the guide frame
11
have various parts for helping the tape feeder function. A portion of the guide frame
11
is cut away, and a driving motor
16
is installed in the open portion. A worm gear
17
is installed around the rotation shaft of the driving motor
16
. A peel roller
18
and a pinch roller
19
are installed in such a manner that they come into contact with each other. An axle gear
23
is installed on the rear surface of the guide frame
11
coaxially with respect to the peel roller
18
. A gear train comprised of a plurality of gears
17
,
27
,
281
29
and
23
(see
FIG. 2
) is installed on the rear surface of the guide frame
11
and thus transfer the rotation driving force of the motor
16
to the axle gear
23
.
A take-up reel
24
is formed on the front surface of the guide frame
11
. The take-up reel
24
is also rotated by receiving the driving force of the driving motor
16
. A cover on a tape to which parts are attached is wound around the take-up reel
24
. That is, after the cover is separated from the tape, it is wound around the takeup reel
24
.
A shield
14
covering the rear surface of the guide frame
11
, and a printed circuit board
15
having various electronic parts formed thereon are interposed between the guide frame
11
and the back cover
13
.
A sensor (not shown) is installed on the upper portion
22
of a stripper
20
on the guide frame
11
. The sensor senses arrival of a part at a suction position, and accordingly, the suction nozzle separates parts from the tape and transfers them to certain positions. The stripper
20
is installed on the upper portion of the guide frame
11
by being elastically supported by a stabilizer spring
21
. One end of a compression spring
21
′ is supported by the lateral surface of the stripper
20
, and the other end thereof is inserted into a boss (not shown) formed on the guide frame
11
.
Some parts of upper portion of the front cover
12
is cut out to avoid collision with the stripper
20
when the front cover
12
is installed on the guide frame
11
. A magnified view of the front cover
12
is shown in FIG.
5
. That is, the stripper
20
is separately manufactured, and part of the upper portion of the front cover
12
is cut out as shown in
FIG. 1
to install the stripper
20
on the upper lateral portion of the guide frame
11
.
FIG. 2
is an exploded perspective view of the rear surface of the guide frame
11
.
Referring to
FIG. 2
, a pulley
25
is installed on the rear surface of the guide frame
11
, and first, second and third gears
27
,
28
and
29
are installed in mesh with each other thereon. The third gear
29
is engaged with the axle gear
23
. The worm gear
17
of the motor
16
shown in
FIG. 1
is engaged with the first gear
27
. A pulley (not shown) around which a belt
26
is to be wound is installed on the first gear
27
. The belt
26
is also wounded around the pulley
25
. The pulley
25
is installed coaxially with respect to the take-up reel
24
(see
FIG. 1
) installed on the front surface of the guide frame
11
. The axle gear
23
is installed coaxially with respect to the peel roller
18
(see FIG.
1
). Accordingly, the rotating force of the motor
16
rotates the take-up reel
24
through the first gear
27
, the belt
26
and the pulley
25
, and rotates the axle gear
23
through the first through third gears
27
through
29
to thereby rotate the peel roller
18
. Reference numeral
31
is a lever. The lever
31
is installed to be capable of being pivoted while receiving an elastic force from a spring
33
, A lower end
31
a
of the lever
31
is fit into a groove on the mounting portion of an unshown chip mounter, thus constantly positioning the entire part feeder on the chip mounter.
FIG. 3
is a schematic exploded perspective view of the first through third gears and a sprocket
32
.
Referring to
FIG. 3
, the sprocket
32
is coaxially installed on the third gear
29
. The sprocket
32
is shaped with a plurality of saw teeth
41
and a plurality of slots
42
around the circumference as shown in FIG.
4
. The saw teeth
41
can be seen on the front side of the guide frame
11
through a cut-off portion of the guide frame
11
, and the saw teeth
41
of the sprocket
32
seen through the guide frame
11
lies under the stripper
20
shown in FIG.
1
. The saw teeth
41
of the sprocket
32
are inserted into grooves formed on a tape, and accordingly, when the sprocket
32
rotates, the tape is released from the reel and moves forward at predetermined pitches. To be more specific, a plurality of holes are formed along the edge of the tape onto which parts are attached, and the saw teeth
41
of the sprocket
32
are inserted into these holes, and the tape moves forward along a predetermined path by the rotation of the sprocket
32
. Also, a light emitting sensor (not shown) to be described later is installed, and light emitted from the light emitting sensor passes through the slots
42
of the sprocket
32
. That is, a light receiving sensor (not shown) senses whether the light from the light emitting sensor passes through the slots
42
or is blocked by portions other than the slots, whereby the rotation pitch of the sprocket
32
can be determined.
FIG. 6
shows the above-described gears and sensors.
Referring to FlG.
6
, an encoder
61
is installed in front of the rotation shaft of the worm gear
17
, and a first sensor
62
a
for sensing rotation of the encoder
61
is installed. A second sensor
62
b
for sensing rotation of the sprocket
32
described referring to
FIG. 4
is installed. The first and second sensors
62
a
and
62
b
sense the rotations of the worm gear
17
and the sprocket
32
and transmit corresponding signals to a controller
63
, and the controller
63
controls the driving of the motor in response to the signals. Reference numeral
64
represents a part of the traveling path of a tape onto which parts are attached, and reference numeral
65
represents a cover separated from the tape. The cover
65
is wound around the take-up reel
24
. In the circle indicated by reference character A, the encoder
61
viewed from the right side of
FIG. 6
is shown.
Referring to
FIGS. 1 and 6
, a tape having parts attached thereto reaches a portion where the stripper
20
is installed, along a predetermined path

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