JP2000168055A - Apparatus and method for cleaning printing screen - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide apparatus and method for cleaning a printing screen capable of holding an accuracy of screen printing good by wiping off an adherent of the screen by a low cost and a resource conservation. SOLUTION: This apparatus for cleaning a printing screen comprises a wiping-off unit 110 for wiping off an adherent of the screen 1, a first vertically moving unit 120 for moving the unit 110 in a vertical direction, a suction unit 130 for sucking the adherent of the screen, a second vertically moving unit 140 for moving the suction unit in the vertical direction, and a horizontally moving unit 150 for moving the unit 110 and the unit 130 in a horizontal direction. The respective moving units are suitably operated to sequentially moving the unit 110 and the unit 130 brought into contact with one surface of the screen to wipe off and suck the adherent.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for cleaning a screen used for printing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a method of forming a circuit pattern on a substrate on which electronic components are mounted, a screen printing method is frequently used. This screen printing method has been required to have higher precision with the recent increase in component mounting density.
For that purpose, it is an important element how to reliably remove the clogging of the opening of the screen and the cream solder, the conductive paste, and the like that have run around the back surface.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing an example of a conventional printing screen cleaning device. In the printing screen cleaning apparatus 10, a roll paper 11 is suspended between two drive rollers 12, and a substantially central portion of a lower surface of the roll paper 11 is pushed upward by a tip of a supply pipe 14 extending from a solvent tank 13. Configuration. Further, a vacuum suction mechanism 15 is connected to the vacuum pump 16 and is arranged on the roll paper 11 side. And
These are configured to be vertically movable by a vertical mechanism 17.

An operation example of such a configuration will be described. After the printing is completed, the screen 1 is horizontally moved above the printing screen cleaning device 10 to start cleaning. First, the roll paper 11 and the vacuum suction mechanism 15 are raised by the up-and-down mechanism 17, and the approximate center of the upper surface of the roll paper 11 and the suction port 15 a of the vacuum suction mechanism 15 are brought into contact with the back surface of the screen 1. Next, a solvent is supplied from a solvent tank 13 to a substantially central portion of the lower surface of the roll paper 11 through a supply pipe 14, and the drive roller 12 is driven to wind up the roll paper 11, and the vacuum pump 16 is driven to drive the suction port. Negative pressure is applied to 15a. At the same time, the screen 1 is moved horizontally. As a result, the clogging of the opening of the screen 1 and the cream solder or conductive paste or the like that has turned to the back surface are wiped off on the upper surface of the roll paper 11 and are sucked in vacuum from the suction port 15a.

[0005]

The conventional cleaning device 10 for a printing screen described above uses a disposable roll paper 11 for wiping off the deposits on the screen 1, so that the cost is increased and the used printing paper is used. Paper must be discarded. In addition, the operation of wiping off the deposit on the screen 1 is as follows.
Since the screen is in a fixed direction with respect to the screen 1, uneven wiping and wiping habits are likely to remain on the screen 1, and the accuracy of screen printing is reduced.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and is capable of wiping off deposits on a screen at low cost and with resource saving, and cleaning a printing screen capable of maintaining good screen printing accuracy. It is an object to provide an apparatus and a cleaning method.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for cleaning a screen used for printing, the apparatus comprising: a wiping unit for wiping off substances adhering to the screen; A first vertical moving unit for moving the suction unit in a vertical direction, a suction unit for sucking the deposits on the screen, a second vertical moving unit for moving the suction unit in the vertical direction, and the wiping unit and the suction unit in the horizontal direction. With a horizontal moving unit to move,
By appropriately operating the moving parts, the wiping part and the suction part are sequentially moved in contact with one surface of the screen to wipe off and adhere the adhering matter.

In the present invention, the object of the present invention is to wipe off deposits on a screen used for printing with a wiper.
A method of cleaning the screen by sucking with a suction unit, wherein the wiping unit and the suction unit are horizontally moved from a retracted position to a vicinity of a predetermined position of the screen, and the wiping unit is vertically moved. A predetermined portion of the screen is brought into contact, the wiping unit is horizontally moved along a predetermined path to wipe off the attached matter, and the wiping unit is vertically moved away from the screen and the suction unit is vertically moved to move the wiping unit vertically. This is achieved by bringing one end of the screen into contact, horizontally moving the suction section to suck the attached matter, and vertically moving the suction section away from the screen.

According to the above configuration, the conventional roll paper type is changed to a detachable waste type so that an arbitrary wiping operation such as a linear operation or an oblique operation can be performed. It is possible to improve the accuracy of screen printing without generating any used paper, leaving no wiping unevenness or wiping habit.

[0010]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the embodiments described below are preferred specific examples of the present invention,
Although various technically preferable limits are given, the scope of the present invention is not limited to these modes unless otherwise specified in the following description.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall structure of an embodiment of the printing screen cleaning apparatus of the present invention. The printing screen cleaning apparatus 100 includes a wiping unit 110 for wiping off the deposits on the screen 1, a first vertical moving unit 120 for vertically moving the wiping unit 110, and a suction unit 130 for sucking the deposits on the screen 1. A second vertical moving unit 140 for vertically moving the suction unit 130, a horizontal moving unit 150 for horizontally moving the wiping unit 110 and the suction unit 140,
A rotating unit 160 for rotating the wiping unit 110, a dropping unit 170 for dropping the solvent, and a control unit 180 for controlling the operation of each unit
It is roughly composed of

The cleaning device 100 for a printing screen having such a configuration is integrally provided below a screen 1 of a screen printing machine for printing a predetermined pattern on a substrate or the like using cream solder, conductive paste or the like. And each moving unit 1
By appropriately operating 20, 140, and 150, the wiping unit 110 and the suction unit 130 are sequentially moved in contact with the back surface of the screen 1 to wipe off and suck the attached matter.

The wiping unit 110 has a structure in which a cloth (a woven cloth) 112 made of a nonwoven fabric or the like for wiping off the adhered substance on the screen 1 is detachably wound around a prismatic holding member 111 made of plastic. Has become. Holding member 111
Both ends of the rotating part 160 attached to the base 113,
That is, the movable shaft 162 having the spring 161 and the rotating shaft 164 of the step motor 163 are rotatably and detachably supported by the shaft. According to such a configuration, the wiping surface of the cloth 112 can be replaced by driving the step motor 163 to rotate the holding member 111 by a predetermined angle.

Further, the movable shaft 162 is pulled outward and pulled out from one end of the holding member 111, and the wiping unit 110 is attached to the pedestal 11
By removing the cloth 112, the cloth 112 can be replaced. Although the holding member 111 in this example is formed in a square pillar shape, it may be formed in an arbitrary prism shape. Further, instead of the movable shaft 162 provided with the spring 161, an air cylinder or a hydraulic cylinder may be used.

The first vertical moving section 120 is composed of a pedestal 113 and two air cylinders 121 disposed between the X moving table 151 located below the pedestal 113.
Each of the air cylinders 121 is disposed so as to support the lower end of both ends of the pedestal 113 such that the driving direction is in the Z direction (vertical direction). According to such a configuration, the wiping unit 110 can be moved up and down by simultaneously driving the air cylinders 121 in the same direction. Note that, instead of the air cylinder 121, a combination of a hydraulic cylinder or a motor and a ball screw / nut may be used.

The suction unit 130 is mounted on the pedestal 13 such that the hollow prism-shaped suction port 131 made of plastic faces upward.
2 is fixed. A vacuum pump 133 is connected to the end of the suction port 131. According to such a configuration, the suction port 131 can be set to a negative pressure by driving the vacuum pump 133.

Similarly to the first vertical moving unit 120, the second vertical moving unit 140 also includes two air cylinders 141 disposed between a pedestal 132 and an X moving table 151 located below the pedestal 132. Have been. Each air cylinder 141
Supports the lower ends of both ends of the pedestal 132 such that the driving direction is in the Z direction (vertical direction).
0 is arranged so as to line up with the wiping unit 110. According to such a configuration, the suction unit 130 can be moved up and down by simultaneously driving the air cylinders 141 in the same direction. In addition, instead of the air cylinder 141,
A combination of a hydraulic cylinder or a motor and a ball screw / nut may be used.

The horizontal moving unit 150 is in the X direction (horizontal direction).
, A Y movable table 152 disposed below the X movable table 151 and movable in the Y direction (horizontal direction), and an X motor 1 for moving the X movable table 151.
53 and X ball screw nuts 154 and 155, and a Y motor 156 and Y ball screw nuts 157 and 158 for moving the Y moving table 152. According to such a configuration, the wiping unit 110 and the suction unit 13 are driven by appropriately driving the X motor 153 and the Y motor 156.
0 can be moved horizontally at the same time. Note that the horizontal moving unit 150 may not be configured as a separate body, but may be a horizontal moving unit of a screen printing machine.

The dripping section 170 comprises a discharge valve 171 for discharging a solvent supplied from a solvent supply source (not shown) and a nozzle 172 for dropping the solvent. According to such a configuration, while horizontally moving the wiping unit 110 below the nozzle 172, the solvent is dripped from the nozzle 172, so that the solvent can be uniformly permeated on the wiping surface of the cloth 112. it can. In addition, you may comprise so that the dripping part 170 itself can move horizontally independently.

The control unit 180 includes a wiping unit 110, a first vertical moving unit 120, a suction unit 130, a second vertical moving unit 140,
It has a function of controlling the operations of the horizontal moving unit 150, the rotating unit 160, and the dropping unit 170 by program. In particular, based on the dimension data and imposition data of the substrate to be printed,
The wiping operation range of the wiping unit 110 is set.

An operation example of such a configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. In the initial state, the wiping unit 110, the suction unit 130, and the like are at the retracted position, that is, a position horizontally separated from the lower part of the screen 1 by a predetermined distance, and the wiping part 110 is arranged below the dropping part 170. (A position A in FIG. 2). Control unit 180
When the wiping start signal is received from the screen printing machine, the X motor 153 is driven to reciprocate the wiping unit 110 in the X direction (arrow a in FIG. 2A), and at the same time, the discharge valve 171 is opened. The solvent is dripped straight from the nozzle 172 onto the upper surface of the cloth 112 (arrow b in FIG. 2B).
The solvent dripping is indispensable in the case of wet cleaning, but is omitted in the case of dry cleaning.

Next, the control unit 180 drives the Y motor 156 to move the wiping unit 110 and the suction unit 130 horizontally from the retracted position (arrow c in FIG. 2B), and the screen 1
(Refer to a position B in FIG. 2 (B)), which is in front of the substrate area formed at the bottom of the screen 1 and below the screen 1 (hereinafter referred to as a start position). Then, the first vertical moving unit 120 is driven to vertically move the wiping unit 110 (FIG. 2).
(B) arrow d), the upper surface of the cloth 112 is brought into contact with the back surface of the screen 1.

Next, the control unit 180 drives the X motor 153 and the Y motor 156 to set the wiping unit 110 to cover the range of the substrate area based on the dimension data and imposition data of the substrate. The horizontal movement is performed within the wiping operation range, and the cream solder or the like adhering to the back surface of the screen 1 is wiped off on the upper surface of the cloth 112, thereby completing the rough wiping. The wiping operation of the wiping unit 110 at this time includes a parallel operation wiping operation in which the wiping unit 110 horizontally moves the screen 1 substantially horizontally at a predetermined feed pitch and wipes it, as shown by an arrow e in FIG. As shown in f, diagonal operation wiping is performed in which the screen 1 is horizontally moved obliquely at a predetermined feed pitch with respect to the screen 1 and wiped. Note that, in this case, the operation is completed by one rough wiping operation, but an arbitrary number of times can be set.

After completion of the rough wiping operation, the control unit 180
The first vertical moving unit 120 is driven to lower the wiping unit 110 vertically (arrow g in FIG. 2B), and the X motor 153 and the Y motor 156 are driven to drive the wiping unit 110 and the suction unit 1.
30 is moved horizontally and positioned at the start position. Then, the control unit 180 drives the second vertical movement unit 140 to raise the suction unit 130 in the Z direction (arrow h in FIG. 3B), and brings the suction port 131 into contact with the back surface of the screen 1.

The control unit 180 controls the Y motor 156
Is driven to move the suction unit 130 horizontally, and the vacuum pump 133 is driven.
The remaining cream solder or the like adhering to the back surface of is sucked. The suction operation of the suction unit 130 at this time is as shown in FIG.
As shown by an arrow i, one-way operation suction is performed in which the screen 1 is horizontally moved in one direction (Y direction) and suction is performed. Note that, in this case, the operation is completed by one suction operation, but an arbitrary number of times can be set.

After the suction operation is completed, the control unit 180 drives the second vertical moving unit 140 to lower the suction unit 130 vertically (arrow j in FIG. 3B), and drives the Y motor 156 to As shown by the arrow k in FIG. 3, the wiping unit 110 and the suction unit 130 are moved horizontally and positioned at the start position. Then, the control unit 180 drives the step motor 163 to rotate the wiping unit 110 by 90 °, and replaces the wiping surface of the cloth 112. Then, the first vertical moving unit 120 is driven to vertically lift the wiping unit 110, and the upper surface of the cloth 112 is brought into contact with the back surface of the screen 1, and the wiping operation described above is executed again to complete the final wiping.

In this case, the finishing operation is completed by one finish wiping operation, but an arbitrary number can be set. This finish wiping may be omitted when the screen 1 can be almost completely cleaned only by rough wiping and suction. afterwards,
The control unit 180 drives the Y motor 156 to drive the wiping unit 11
0 and the suction unit 130 are moved horizontally from the start position (arrow 1 in FIG. 2B), and retracted to the retracted position to complete the cleaning. The interval until the next cleaning can be set arbitrarily.

Here, the wiping surface used for rough wiping or the wiping surface used for finishing wiping is replaced with another wiping surface by rotating the wiping unit 110 after, for example, 30 wiping operations are completed. To At this time, if the number of times of wiping is counted, and an alarm is sounded when the number of times of wiping is exceeded, the wiping surface can be reliably replaced. As described above, since the wiping surface can be easily updated, the cleaning efficiency can be improved.

After using the entire wiping surface, the wiping unit 1
10 and remove the cloth 112 from the holding member 111,
While winding a new cloth 112, the used cloth 112
To be washed. In this way, the cloth 112 can be easily replaced and the cloth 112 can be reused, so that the cleaning efficiency can be increased and the cleaning cost can be reduced. Further, by making the rotations of the X motor 153 and the Y motor 156 variable, the rough wiping speed and the finishing wiping speed can be set, respectively, and the feed pitch can be arbitrarily set.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The deposits on the screen can be wiped off at low cost and with resource saving, and good screen printing accuracy can be maintained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an overall configuration of a printing screen cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a first plan view showing an operation example of the printing screen cleaning device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a second plan view showing an operation example of the cleaning device for a printing screen of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing another operation example of the printing screen cleaning device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a side view showing an example of a conventional printing screen cleaning device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Screen, 100 ... Cleaning device of the printing screen, 110 ... Wiping part, 111 ... Holding member, 112 ... Cloth (waste), 113 ... Base, 1
20: first vertical moving section, 121: air cylinder, 130: suction section, 131: suction port, 132
... pedestal, 140 ... 2nd vertical movement part, 141 ...
・ Air cylinder, 150 ・ ・ ・ Horizontal moving part, 151 ・ ・
X moving table, 152 Y moving table, 153 X motor, 154 X ball screw, 155 X ball nut, 156 Y motor, 157 Y ball screw, 158 ... Y ball nut, 160 ... rotating part, 161 ... spring, 162 ... movable shaft, 163
... Step motor, 164 ... Rotary shaft, 170
..Drip section, 171, discharge valve, 172, nozzle, 180, control section

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for cleaning a screen used for printing, comprising: a wiping unit for wiping off substances adhering to the screen; a first vertical moving unit for moving the wiping unit in a vertical direction; A suction unit that sucks the kimono, a second vertical movement unit that moves the suction unit in the vertical direction, and a horizontal movement unit that moves the wiping unit and the suction unit in the horizontal direction. A cleaning device for a printing screen, wherein the wiper unit and the suction unit are moved in contact with each other to sequentially move the wiper unit and the suction unit in contact with one surface of the screen to wipe off and adhere the adhering matter. 2. The cleaning device for a printing screen according to claim 1, wherein a cloth for wiping the attached matter is detachably wound around the wiping portion. 3. The cleaning device for a printing screen according to claim 2, further comprising a rotating unit that rotates the wiping unit to replace a wiping surface of the cloth. 4. The cleaning device for a printing screen according to claim 1, further comprising a dripping section for dripping the solvent onto the wiping section while moving horizontally relative to the wiping section. 5. The printing screen cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit that sets a wiping operation range of the wiping unit based on the dimension data and the imposition data of the printing target. 6. A method for cleaning the screen by wiping off a substance attached to a screen used for printing with a wiping unit and sucking the same with a suction unit, wherein the wiping unit and the suction unit are moved from a retracted position. Moving the wiping part vertically to contact a predetermined part of the screen by moving the wiping part vertically in the vicinity of a predetermined part of the screen, horizontally moving the wiping part along a predetermined path, and wiping the attached matter; Moving the suction part vertically away from the screen and moving the suction part vertically to contact one end of the screen, horizontally moving the suction part to suck the attached matter, and vertically moving the suction part A method for cleaning a printing screen, comprising separating the screen from the screen. 7. The method for cleaning a printing screen according to claim 6, wherein a cloth for wiping the attached matter is detachably wound around the wiping portion. 8. The printing screen according to claim 7, wherein after the wiping operation by one wiping surface of the cloth is completed a predetermined number of times, the wiping unit is rotated to be replaced with another wiping surface of the cloth. Cleaning method. 9. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wiper is moved horizontally from a retracted position to a vicinity of a predetermined position on the screen while the drip part for dropping the solvent and the wiper are relatively horizontally moved. The method for cleaning a printing screen according to claim 6, wherein the solvent is dropped on the portion. 10. The wiping unit according to claim 6, wherein, after vertically moving the suction unit and separating from the screen, the wiping unit is rotated to change the wiping surface, and the wiping operation by the wiping unit is executed again. Cleaning method of the printing screen described in the above. 11. The printing screen cleaning method according to claim 6, wherein the wiping operation range of the wiping unit is set based on dimensional data and imposition data of the printing target.