JP2000025950A - Conveyor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a conveyor that is easy to adjust in parts feed speed and carries a plurality of parts at required intervals. SOLUTION: This conveyor comprises a parts input mechanism 10, 11 for inputting parts 15 one by one into a feed pipe 1 through which they pass, and a fluid supply mechanism 2, 3, 4 for supplying pressure fluid to the feed pipe 1. The feed pipe 1 is sized to keep a clearance to the parts 15 passing therethrough, and is constructed to feed them by means of a flow A of the fluid from the fluid supply mechanism 2, 3, 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a conveying device for sequentially feeding fine parts one by one.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional transfer apparatus shown in FIG.
The spherical part 15 of mm is sent to the processing step 14. The component 15 is put into the transport path 12 from the hopper 10 via the disk feeder 11 and sent to the processing step 14. The disc feeder 11 includes a disc body 11
A plurality of receiving portions 11b into which the components 15 enter one by one are formed on the outer periphery of the disk drive 11a. When the disk main body 11a is rotated, the components 15 are received one by one from the hopper 10 and the receiving portions 11b are placed on the transport path 12. The part 15 is turned upside down and the component 15 is put into the transport path 12. The receiving portions 11b of the disc feeder 11 are formed at equal intervals. Therefore, when the disk main body 11a is rotated at a constant speed,
The components 15 are fed into the transport path 12 at regular intervals.

The transport path 12 is formed by inclining a gutter-shaped member. A component 15 slides on a slope 13,
It rolls. The parts 15 fed at regular intervals from the disk feeder 11 pass over the slope 13 and
Each of them arrives at the processing step 14 one after another. The component 15 sent to the processing step 14 is subjected to the processing there, and is sent to the next step. For example, the components 15 are sent one by one through the same transport path 12 as described above to a process for performing another process, an inspection process, and a sorting process.

[0004] It is desirable that the parts 15 sent in this manner be kept at equal intervals even in the course of their transportation. This is because these parts are processed one by one in the processing step 14 at the destination. if,
If the parts 15 are sent together in the processing step 14, the processing of each of them becomes almost impossible. In order to prevent such a situation, the component 15 is intermittently fed as described above.

[0005]

However, the above-described feeder has a problem that it is difficult to control the feed speed of the component 15. For example, depending on the processing step 14, some processing times are long, and others are short. These processing steps 1
In order to correspond to the processing time of No. 4, it is necessary to control the transport speed. However, in this conventional device, the control is difficult as described above, and the reason will be described in detail below. When the component 15 is placed on the slope 13, it starts moving at a speed determined by the inclination of the slope 13 and the frictional force of the surface, and is sent to the processing step 14. Thus, the slope 13
The speed of one component 15 moving upward is determined by the inclination of the transport path 12, the coefficient of friction of the surface, and the like. Therefore, in order to adjust the transport speed, it is necessary to change the inclination angle of the transport path 12 or change the friction coefficient of the surface of the transport path 12. However, it is extremely difficult to change the inclination angle and the friction coefficient in this way.

Further, if not only the conveying path 12 but also the shape and the surface of the component are different, the speed of sliding down the slope 13 changes. Alternatively, in the case of the spherical component 15 as described above, the speed differs depending on whether the vehicle slides or rolls on the slope 13. Thus, the transport speed of the component 15 is
Not only the condition 2, but also the shape of the component 15 and the like, the factors for controlling the speed are very large. As a result, controlling the feed rate of the part 15 has actually been quite difficult. In particular, as the component 15 becomes finer, its moving speed is more likely to be affected by the surface roughness of the slope 13. Therefore, transport path 1
Even if the inclination angle of 2 can be controlled to some extent, it is not possible to accurately control the conveying speed of the fine parts. After all, it can be said that the conventional device is not suitable for fine components such as semiconductor components.

On the other hand, the intervals between the components are controlled by the disk feeder 11. However, as described above, since the transport speed of the component 15 differs depending on the shape of the component in addition to the condition of the transport path 12, it is quite difficult to keep the interval between components in the transport process constant at all times. . In particular, in the case where the rotational speed of the disk main body 11a is increased and the components 15 are loaded at a high speed in order to cope with high-speed processing, the component intervals on the transport path 12 become narrow. The smaller the component spacing, the more difficult it is to maintain that spacing. If the interval cannot be maintained, the components 15 may collide with each other during the transport process. If the parts collide with each other in this way, they may be damaged and become unusable. Also, if a plurality of parts are sent without a gap in the machining process or inspection process that must be processed one by one,
The individual processing cannot be performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a transfer device capable of easily adjusting the feed speed of a component. Also,
Another object is to provide a transport device that can transport a plurality of components while maintaining a necessary interval.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transporting apparatus comprising: a transport pipe through which components are passed; a component input mechanism which inputs components one by one into the transport pipe; and a pressure fluid in the transport pipe. And a fluid supply mechanism for supplying
It is characterized in that the transport pipe has a size to maintain a gap between the transport pipe and a component passing therethrough, and the component is configured to send a component by a flow of fluid from the fluid supply mechanism. Here, the gap is a space inside the pipe having a size necessary for the fluid to pass around the component. According to a second aspect of the present invention, the fluid supply mechanism includes a pulse generating unit, and the pulse generating unit intermittently supplies a high pressure into the transport pipe according to the pulse frequency, so that the high pressure region and the low pressure region are provided in the transport pipe. It is characterized in that a component is positioned in this low-pressure region while generating a pulse flow.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a conveying pipe 1 for passing parts is provided horizontally, and air, which is a fluid of the present invention, is supplied into the conveying pipe 1. Although this is different from the conventional example, it will be described in detail below. Spherical parts 15 having a diameter of about 1 mm are fed into the transport pipe 1 at regular intervals from the hopper 10 by the disk feeder 11, and the hopper 10 and the disk feeder 11 constitute a part feeding mechanism of the present invention. However, the hopper 10 and the disc feeder 1
1 is the same as the conventional one.

An air pipe 2 is connected to the transport pipe 1, and an air supply source 4 is connected to the air pipe 2 via an opening / closing valve 3. The air pipe 2, the opening / closing valve 3 and the air supply source 4 constitute a fluid supply mechanism of the present invention. The air supply source 4 generates a uniform air flow with almost no pressure fluctuation. When the open / close valve 3 is opened, a uniform air flow A is supplied to the transport pipe 1. Note that the diameter of the transport pipe 1 is slightly larger than the diameter of the component 15 so that the flow of the air flow A is not interrupted even when the component 15 is put into the transport pipe 1.

Next, the operation of the transfer device will be described. First, the open / close valve 3 is opened to generate a uniform air flow A in the transport pipe 1. Then, components 15 are introduced into the air flow A via the disk feeder 11 at equal intervals. The component 15 is transported to the processing step 14 on the air flow A in the transport pipe 1. At this time, each part 1
5 flows at a speed substantially equal to the flow velocity of the air flow A, and arrives at the processing step 14 while maintaining a substantially constant interval. The interval between the components 15 is determined by the disc feeder 11.

That is, in the processing step 14, the part 15
Each is supplied separately. In other words, unlike the conventional case, a plurality of parts are not supplied to the processing step 14 collectively. Therefore, the parts 15 are sent one by one even during processing, inspection of the shape and size, classification, and the like, so that the work is easy. If a plurality of parts 15 are sent in series, individual processing becomes difficult. In addition, individual shapes may not be determined, or a plurality of parts 15 may be regarded as one. In addition, transport pipe 1
By adjusting the inner diameter of the component to the size of the component, any fine component can be conveyed. In addition, since the transport speed and the transport interval can be controlled even for a fine component, it is suitable for transporting a component such as a semiconductor silicon ball, for example.

Further, in the transfer device of the first embodiment, the moving speed of each component 15 is determined by the flow velocity of the air flow A, so that the feed speed of the component 15 can be controlled by adjusting the flow velocity of the air flow A. . Therefore, the control of the transport speed is overwhelmingly simpler than in the conventional case where the transport path 12 is replaced. Moreover, since it is only necessary to adjust the flow velocity of the air flow A, it is possible to control the flow with high accuracy. In this embodiment, the air flow A is used as the flow for carrying the component 15 thereon. However, the fluid is not limited to air, and may be a liquid other than various gases. In addition, although the disc feeder 11 is used for the component input mechanism, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the feeder 11. In short, any material that can intermittently supply the component 15 to the transport pipe 1 may be used.

In the second embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the fluid supply mechanism is provided with a flip-flop element 5 of a pure fluid element, which is a pulse generation unit of the present invention. In the transfer device of the second embodiment, an alignment pipe 7 in which components 15 are lined up one by one is connected below the hopper 6 as a component input mechanism, and the opening at the lower end of the alignment pipe 7 is connected to the transfer pipe 1. Connected to An air ejection pipe 8 is provided inside the hopper 6, and the air ejection pipe 8 is connected to an external air supply source (not shown). Then, high-pressure air is ejected from the air ejection pipe 8.
The reason why the high-pressure air is ejected in this way is to solve the problem that occurs when the component 15 is very fine. In other words, the fine parts 15 tend to adhere to each other in the hopper 6, but the blast
The parts 15 inside can be loosened. Part 1
If 5 is loosened and supplied to the alignment pipe 7, 1
It is surely aligned one by one.

On the other hand, the above-mentioned flip-flop element 5 of the pure fluid element is a known element that converts high-pressure air supplied from the air supply source 4 into a pulse flow, and functions as follows. That is, high-pressure air supplied from the air supply source 4 flows into the flip-flop element 5 from the main port 5a. The high-pressure air that has flowed into the main port 5a is discharged from the first port 5b or the second port 5c. However, the first port 5a is connected to the air pipe 2, and a part of the flow is fed back to the control port 5d. In addition, the second port 5c is opened to the atmosphere via a throttle, and a part of the flow is fed back to the control port 5e. Therefore, high-pressure air from the air supply source 4 is supplied to the air pipe 2 via the first port 5b, or is discharged to the atmosphere via the second port 5c. Moreover, since the flip-flop element 5 alternately repeats the supply of the high-pressure air to the first port 5b and the second port 5c, the high-pressure air is intermittently supplied to the air pipe 2.

If the state where the high-pressure air is intermittently supplied is regarded as the flow of the fluid in the air pipe 2, the flow becomes a pulse flow. The pulse flow generated in this manner is applied to the high pressure region H and the low pressure region L in the air pipe 2.
And are alternately arranged. Then, the flip-flop element 5 can change the interval between the high-voltage regions H as the cycle of the pulse flow. As described above,
The pulse flow generated in the air pipe 2 is supplied to the transport pipe 1 as it is. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), the pulse flow B
Occurs.

The operation of the transfer device according to the second embodiment will be described below. As shown in FIG. 1, the component 15 of the hopper 6
They are aligned in the alignment pipe 7. And the part 15
Each one falls by its own weight and is thrown into the transport pipe 1. The component 15 that has fallen under its own weight is pushed and moved in the high-pressure area H. In this way, the part 15 is
Is moved from the opening portion, the next component 15 falls again into the transport pipe 1 by its own weight. The area where the next component 15 has fallen is the next low pressure area L following the previous high pressure area H. As described above, the operation of moving the component 15 in the high-pressure area H and dropping the next component 15 to the next low-pressure area L following the high-pressure area H is repeated.
Is transported.

FIG. 3A shows this state of conveyance, and FIG. 3B shows the state of pressure in the conveyance pipe 1 corresponding to FIG. 3A. And FIG.
In FIG. 7A, a portion having a small arrow is a high-pressure area H, and the number of the arrows indicates the magnitude of the pressure in the air flow path. That is, the higher the number of arrows, the higher the pressure. In any case, the component 15 is supplied into the low-pressure region L of the pulse flow B as described above. Therefore, each component 15 is pushed by the intermittently supplied high-pressure area H and moves toward the processing step 14.

Therefore, each component 15 is transported in the transport pipe 1 while being sandwiched by the high-pressure area H. And
The interval between the high-pressure areas H is the interval between the components 15. Therefore, by controlling the frequency of the pulse stream B,
The transfer interval of the component 15 can also be controlled. And the pulse flow B
Can be easily controlled by adjusting the flip-flop element 5. The moving speed of the component 15 is determined by the flow velocity of the pulse flow B. This flow rate is ultimately determined by the amount of air supplied from the air supply source 4. Therefore, by controlling the supply amount of the air, the transport speed of the component 15 can be controlled.

As described above, since the control of the pulse flow B is sufficient for the transfer speed and the transfer interval of the component 15, the control is simpler and more accurate than the conventional one in which the transfer path must be replaced. Can be. If the inner diameter of the transfer pipe 1 is adjusted to the size of the component, any fine component can be transferred. In addition, the transfer speed and the transfer interval of fine components can be controlled. In particular, in this second embodiment, any fine parts
Since the transfer interval can be accurately maintained, it is most suitable for transferring components such as semiconductor silicon balls.

In the second embodiment, the flip-flop element 5 is used as the pulse generating mechanism, but the pulse generating mechanism is not limited to this. For example, there are a mechanical pulse generating mechanism for providing a rotating disk having a slit on the flow path of the pressure air and periodically shutting off the pressure air, and a method using oscillation by a high-speed jet. Although there are various types of flip-flop elements, any type may be used.

Further, when the pulse flow B is used as in the second embodiment, the interval between the individual parts 15 is made larger than when the uniform air flow A is used as in the first embodiment. It can be kept stable. When the component 15 is put in the uniform air flow A as in the first embodiment, as shown in FIG.
A vortex 9 is generated ahead of the component 15 in the transport direction, and turbulence occurs in the flow. This occurs because, by forcibly pushing the part 15 in the middle of a uniform flow, the fluid corresponding to the volume of the part 15 is pushed back and forth. Due to such a turbulence, a differential pressure occurs before and after the component 15,
The component 15 may lag behind the air flow A. Then, the degree of the delay of the transport speed changes depending on the degree of the turbulence of the air flow A.

On the other hand, since the turbulence of the air flow A is delicate due to a slight difference in the shape of parts and the timing of injection, it is almost impossible to control the degree of the turbulence from the outside. For this reason, the differential pressure generated before and after the component 15 varies for each component 15, and the transport speed may vary for each component 15. If the transfer speed is not constant, the transfer interval of the component 15 will not be constant. As described above, the turbulence may cause the gap between the components 15 to be out of order, but it is difficult to prevent this. In such a case, if the feeding interval of the components 15 is too narrow, the rear component may catch up with the preceding component. In the case of high-speed flow,
Since the turbulence easily occurs, the flow velocity of the air flow A may not be able to be increased so much.

On the other hand, in the second embodiment, the high pressure region H
Since the pulse flow B in which the low pressure region L and the low pressure region L are alternately used is used, the component 15 can be put into the low pressure region L. The component 15 put in the low-pressure area L in this manner pushes air out, as in the first embodiment. However, since the low-pressure area L has a low pressure as a matter of course, the influence of the pushing-out is low. Is small. As described above, since the influence of the component 15 for pushing the air is small, the turbulence of the air flow hardly occurs. If the turbulence of the air flow is eliminated, the conveying speed of the parts becomes constant, so that the distance between the conveying parts is hard to be turbulent. In addition, under such conditions in which turbulence is unlikely to occur, the flow velocity of the fluid can be increased. Therefore, it is possible to cope with high-speed conveyance. Further, the pulse flow B of the second embodiment
Is used, since the component 15 is located in the low-pressure area L, a high-pressure area H is formed between the components 15 in the transport path. The pressure in the high-pressure region H exerts the function of an air cushion. Even if the position of the components 15 is slightly shifted back and forth under some conditions, they do not approach each other so that they come into contact with each other.

In the first and second embodiments, the gap between the transport pipe 1 and the component 15 is made as small as possible within a range where the air flow is not interrupted. For example, diameter 1
The diameter of the transfer pipe 1 is 1.5 mm or less for a spherical part 15 of mm. If the gap is not too large, the component 15 can be sent stably. If,
The diameter of the transfer pipe 1 is 1
When the size is increased to 0 mm, the component 15
However, it moves in a wavy manner in the transport pipe 1, and the moving speed in the axial direction becomes unstable.

Since the optimum size of the gap differs depending on the size and shape of the parts to be conveyed and the type of fluid, it is necessary to select the gap in consideration of various conditions. However, the shape of the components that can be transferred by the transfer device of the present invention is not limited to a spherical shape, and the size is not limited. Also, the second
The configuration of the component input mechanism of the embodiment is not limited as long as the component 15 is continuously supplied to the transport pipe 1. For example, a disk feeder similar to that of the first embodiment may be used.

As in the first and second embodiments described above, if each processing step is connected by a transfer device capable of sequentially sending parts one by one, the processing in each step is performed efficiently. be able to. In addition, an in-line type mechanism for inspection and classification can be provided by utilizing the fact that components pass one by one in the transport path of the transport device. By providing the above mechanism in the middle of the transport path, transport, inspection and classification can be integrated. Further, in the case where a chemical treatment is performed on the surface of the component, it is possible to perform the surface treatment while transporting the component by using, for example, a reactive gas used for the chemical treatment as a fluid for transporting the component. In this way, processing can be performed while transporting components without stopping in each processing step, and workability can be further improved.

[0029]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to easily control the transport speed of the parts only by adjusting the flow velocity of the fluid. Therefore, the control of the transport speed is overwhelmingly simple as compared with the conventional case where the transport path is replaced.
In addition, since it is only necessary to adjust the flow velocity of the fluid, the control can be performed with high accuracy.

According to the second aspect, the intervals between the components can be stably maintained. Therefore, the parts do not collide with each other during the transportation process and are not damaged. In particular, in the case of a semiconductor component, even a small scratch becomes useless, but this device does not cause such a problem. Moreover, if the inner diameter of the transport pipe is adjusted to the size of the component, a fine component such as a solder ball or a semiconductor component, for example, a silicon ball, can be transported. Since the transfer speed and the transfer interval can be accurately maintained, it is optimal for transferring fine components such as the solder balls and silicon balls.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a transport device according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a transfer device according to a second embodiment.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are partially enlarged views of the second embodiment, in which FIG. 3A is a view inside a transfer pipe and FIG. 3B is a view showing fluid pressure inside the transfer pipe.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a situation in which a vortex is generated around a component.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a conventional apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Conveyance pipe 2 Air pipe 3 Opening / closing valve 4 Air supply source 5 Flip-flop element 6, 10 Hopper 7 Alignment pipe 11 Disk feeder 15 Parts H High pressure area L Low pressure area A Air flow B Pulse flow

[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] April 15, 1999 (1999.4.1
5)

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Drawing

[Correction target item name] Fig. 5

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

FIG. 5 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ───

[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] June 21, 1999 (1999.6.2
1)

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0007

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

On the other hand, the intervals between the components are controlled by the disk feeder 11. However, as described above, since the transport speed of the component 15 differs depending on the shape of the component in addition to the condition of the transport path 12, it is quite difficult to keep the interval between components in the transport process constant at all times. . In particular, in the case where the rotational speed of the disk main body 11a is increased and the components 15 are loaded at a high speed in order to cope with high-speed processing, the component intervals on the transport path 12 become narrow. The smaller the component spacing, the more difficult it is to maintain that spacing. If the interval cannot be maintained, the components 15 may collide with each other during the transport process. With such components to each other collide, with a <br/> scratch them, it had become useless. Also, if a plurality of parts are sent without a gap in the machining process or inspection process that must be processed one by one,
The individual processing cannot be performed.

[Procedure amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0011

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

An air pipe 2 is connected to the transport pipe 1, and an air supply source 4 is connected to the air pipe 2 via an opening / closing valve 3. The air pipe 2, the opening / closing valve 3 and the air supply source 4 constitute a fluid supply mechanism of the present invention. The air supply source 4 generates a uniform air flow with almost no pressure fluctuation. When the open / close valve 3 is opened, a uniform air flow A is supplied to the transport pipe 1. Note that the diameter of the transport pipe 1 is slightly larger than the diameter of the component 15 so that there is no gap between the component 15 and the transport pipe 1.
A gap is formed so that the flow of the air flow A is not interrupted even when the component 15 is put into the transport pipe 1.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A transport pipe for passing components, a component loading mechanism for loading components one by one into the transport pipe,
A fluid supply mechanism that supplies a pressurized fluid into the transport pipe, wherein the transport pipe has a size that maintains a gap between components passing through the transport pipe, and a flow of fluid from the fluid supply mechanism. A conveying device configured to send parts. 2. The fluid supply mechanism includes a pulse generator, which intermittently supplies a high pressure into a transport pipe according to a pulse frequency, and includes a high-pressure region and a low-pressure region in the transport pipe. 2. The transport apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a component is positioned in the low pressure region while generating a pulse flow.