JP2002370817A - Device for supplying component - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To discriminate a posture of a component of which the light reflectance of a surface varies with its longitudinal direction, by arranging only one sensor. SOLUTION: The sensor is provided to detect continuously luminous energy of reflected light from the surface of the component passing through a prescribed position of a conveying passage, plural comparators 10, 11, 12 are provided for comparing a detection output X of the sensor with plural preset threshold values X1 , X2 , X3 , and a digital circuit is provided to discriminate the posture of the component by combining signals output respectively from the plural comparators 10, 11, 12, so as to discriminate the posture of the component of which the light reflectance of the surface varies with its longitudinal direction, by arranging the only one sensor.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a component supply device for transporting a component whose surface light reflectance changes in the front-back direction along a transport path and supplying the component to a discharge end.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Some components supplied using a component supply device such as a vibrating bowl feeder, a vibrating linear feeder, and a belt conveyor have a surface whose light reflectance changes in the front-back direction. FIG. 1 shows an electronic chip component 1 as an example.
A metal electrode 1b having a high light reflectivity is provided so as to cover both front and rear ends of a ceramic base 1a, and a mark portion 1 having a low light reflectivity is provided on the front surface of the substrate 1a.
c is provided. The base 1a has an intermediate light reflectance between the electrode 1b and the mark 1c.

Conventionally, when such a component 1 is supplied, as shown in FIG. 9, a trigger sensor 52 for detecting the component 1 and a light amount reflected from the surface of the component 1 are provided in the middle of a transport path 51. And the attitude determination sensor 53 for detecting the
1 are arranged at predetermined intervals in the conveyance direction of the component 1, and when the trigger sensor 52 detects the tip of the component 1, the amount of reflected light at a predetermined portion of the component 1 is detected by the posture determination sensor 53, 1 is determined.

In this case, the interval between the trigger sensor 52 and the attitude determination sensor 53 is set to be slightly shorter than half the length of the component 1 so that the trigger sensor 52
The component 1 has a desired front-facing and front-facing posture depending on whether or not the detection output of the posture determination sensor 53 when the tip of the component 1 is detected matches the reflected light amount of the target mark portion 1c as the predetermined portion. Or any other posture. The part 1 having a poor posture determined to be not in the desired posture is removed from the transport path 51, and the part 1 having the desired posture is removed.
Only the feed is aligned at the discharge end.

[0005]

In the above-described conventional component supply apparatus, it is necessary to arrange a trigger sensor and an attitude determination sensor at a predetermined interval in order to determine the attitude of the component. It takes time and effort to align
In addition, since the number of sensors increases, there is a problem that the cost increases.

In particular, when supplying electronic chip components,
In recent years, since electronic chip components have been extremely miniaturized,
It is becoming difficult to perform the alignment between the above sensors, which require the accuracy of these parts or less.

When a vibrating bowl feeder or a vibrating linear feeder that reciprocates the conveying path in the conveying direction is used in the component supply device, it is necessary to separately mount the above-mentioned sensors at a position not affected by the vibration system. Therefore, alignment between these sensors becomes more difficult.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a component supply device which can determine the orientation of a component whose surface light reflectance changes in the front-rear direction only by disposing one sensor.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention relates to a component for conveying a component whose surface light reflectance changes in the front-rear direction along a conveyance path and supplying it to a discharge end. The supply device includes a sensor that continuously detects the amount of reflected light from the surface of the component that passes through a predetermined position of the transport path, and a plurality of comparators that compare a detection output of the sensor with a plurality of preset thresholds. And a determination device for determining the attitude of the component based on a combination of signals output from the plurality of comparators.

That is, there is provided a sensor for continuously detecting the amount of reflected light from the surface of a component passing a predetermined position of the transport path, and a plurality of comparators for comparing the detection output of this sensor with a plurality of preset thresholds. By providing a discriminating device for discriminating the attitude of a component based on a combination of signals output from each of the plurality of comparators, it is possible to dispose a component whose surface light reflectance changes in the front-rear direction only by disposing one sensor. The posture can be determined, and the alignment between the two sensors is not required.

At least one of the plurality of comparators compares a detection output of the sensor with two thresholds, and outputs a signal when the detection output of the sensor is a value between these two thresholds. It can be.

Each of the above component supply devices is suitable for supplying minute components of approximately 1 mm ³ or less.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, this component supply device is a small electronic chip component 1 of approximately 1 mm ³ or less.
As shown in FIG. 2, the vibration-type bowl feeder 2 passes through the transport path 4 in the middle of a spiral transport path 4 provided on the inner periphery of the bowl 3 to which the torsional vibration is applied. A photoelectric sensor 5 for continuously detecting the amount of reflected light from the upper surface of the component 1 is disposed, and the photoelectric sensor 5 is connected to a controller 6 in which a digital circuit as a discriminating device for discriminating the attitude of the component 1 is incorporated. ing.

The transport path 4 at the detection position of the sensor 5
A nozzle 7 for injecting air toward the inside of the bowl 3 is provided on the side wall.
And an electromagnetic valve 9 connected to a compressed air source (not shown). The controller 6 is also connected to an electromagnetic valve 9.

As described above, the electronic chip component 1 is provided with a metal electrode 1b having a high light reflectance covering the front and rear end portions of a ceramic base 1a, and is provided on the front surface thereof close to the front end electrode 1b. Thus, the mark portion 1c having a low light reflectance is provided, and the base 1a has a light reflectance between the electrode 1b and the mark portion 1c.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), when the component 1 passes through the position of the sensor 5 facing up and forward, as shown in FIG. Is highest when passing through the electrodes 1b at the front and rear ends, becomes low when passing through the mark portion 1c, and has an intermediate value when passing through the exposed portion of the base 1a. Since the light reflectance of the transport path 4 is lower than the light reflectance of the mark portion 1c, the sensor 5
Is the lowest when the component 1 does not pass.

FIG. 4 shows a digital circuit for determining the attitude of the component 1 incorporated in the controller 6. This digital circuit has three threshold values X ₁ , X ₂ , X _{3 in} advance.
Is set. As shown in FIG. 3B, the threshold X
₁ is set to a slightly lower level than the detection output X of the electrode 1b component 1, the threshold X ₂ is lower than the detection output X of the base body 1a, a slightly higher level than the detection output X of the mark portion 1c, threshold X ₃ is set higher than the detection output X of the transport path 4 and slightly lower than the detection output X of the mark portion 1c.

Hereinafter, using the example of determination of the attitude of the component 1 shown in FIGS.
The posture determination logic will be described. 5 shows the case where the component 1 passes below the sensor 5 in a desired frontward and forward posture, FIG. 6 shows the case where the component 1 passes in a frontward but rearward direction, and FIG. This is an example of a case where the vehicle passes through face down.

The detection output X input from the sensor 5
Are two comparators 10, 11 and one window
Each threshold value X is calculated by the comparator 12.₁, X_Two, X_ThreeAnd big and small relationship
And the comparators 10 and 11 respectively determine X>
X₁, X> X_TwoOutput S when ₁, S_TwoOccurs and the wi
Window comparator 12 has X_Three<X <X_TwoOut when
Force S_ThreeOccurs. Therefore, the comparator 10
While the electrodes 1b at the front and rear ends pass, S₁And output
The parator 11 exposes both the electrodes 1b and the base 1a.
While the part passes_TwoIs output, and the window
The parator 12 and the part 1
At the moment when the front and rear ends of_ThreeIs output. Fig. 7
When the article 1 is facing down, the mark 1c is not detected.
In the window comparator 12, the front and rear ends of the component 1
S only at the moment of passing_ThreeIs output.

The output S ₁ is connected to the direct and NOT circuit 1
The signal is sent to each of the latch circuits 14 and 15 via 3 and the latch circuit 14 generates and holds the output Q ₁ simultaneously with the rise of the output S ₁ . The latch circuit 15 holds and produces an output Q ₂ together with the loss of output S _1. These held outputs Q ₁ and Q ₂ are cleared by a reset signal RST from a reset signal generating circuit 18 described later.

The output Q ₂ is a judgment timing generation circuit 1
6 and the determination timing generation circuit 16 generates the determination enable signal T when simultaneously receiving the clock signal CLK and the output Q ₂ sent from the oscillation circuit 17 at the same time. Therefore, the determination enable signal T is generated after passing through the electrode 1b on the front end side and after passing through the electrode 1b on the rear end side, that is, after passing through the component 1.

As shown in FIG. 8, the delay time Δt of the detection output X of the sensor 5 is such that the mark portion 1c and the base 1a have a maximum speed (about 3 m / sec).
Is sufficiently shorter than the transit time of the exposed portion of
The determination enable signal T after b has passed is reliably generated.

[0023] The determination enable signal T via an AND circuit 19 together with the output Q _1, 2 two AND circuits 2
0, 21 are sent. Output S ₂ of the comparator 11 is also sent to the AND circuit 20, AND circuit 20, when these AND condition is satisfied, and outputs an injection signal of the nozzle 7. The output S ₃ of the window comparator 12 is sent to the AND circuit 21,
Outputs a count signal of the number of non-defective products passing in a desired posture similarly when the AND condition is satisfied.

Therefore, when the component 1 shown in FIG. 5 has a desired front and front posture, after passing through the electrode 1b on the front end side, a non-defective product count signal is output, and the controller 6 integrates the supplied number of non-defective products. However, when the component 1 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 is not in a desired posture, an ejection signal of the nozzle 7 is output after passing through the electrode 1b on the tip side, and the controller 6
Opens the electromagnetic valve 9. The component 1 having a poor posture, to which air has been injected from the nozzle 7, is returned to the bottom of the bowl 3.

In the above-described embodiment, both the discrimination signal for the component having a good posture and the discrimination signal for the component having a bad posture are output. However, if necessary, only one of the signals is output. It may be. Further, the digital circuit for determining the orientation of the component is not limited to that of the embodiment, and each threshold is appropriately set according to a change pattern of light reflectance in the front-rear direction of the component which is known in advance. Thus, the output signals of each comparator can be combined.

Furthermore, the component supply device according to the present invention is not limited to the vibratory bowl feeder of the embodiment, but can be applied to a vibrating linear feeder, a belt conveyor, and the like. The present invention can also be applied to a device that supplies a component other than the micro component.

[0027]

As described above, the component supply apparatus of the present invention is provided with a sensor for continuously detecting the amount of reflected light from the surface of a component passing through a predetermined position of the transport path, and the detection output of this sensor is previously determined. A plurality of comparators for comparing with a plurality of set thresholds are provided, and a discriminating device for discriminating the posture of the component based on a combination of signals output from each of the plurality of comparators is provided.
It is possible to determine the attitude of the component whose light reflectance on the surface changes in the front-back direction, and it is not necessary to perform time-consuming alignment between the two sensors.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing an example of a component in which light reflectance of a surface changes in a front-back direction.

FIG. 2 is a partially omitted external perspective view showing an embodiment of a component supply device.

FIG. 3A is an enlarged perspective view showing components detected by the sensor of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3B is a graph showing a detection output of the sensor of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram of a posture determination digital circuit incorporated in the controller of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a graph showing an output example of the digital circuit of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a graph showing an output example of the digital circuit of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a graph showing an output example of the digital circuit of FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a graph showing an enlarged detection output of the sensor of FIG.

FIG. 9 is an external perspective view showing a sensor arrangement state for discriminating a posture of a component in a conventional component supply device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Component 1a Base 1b Electrode 1c Mark part 2 Bowl feeder 3 Bowl 4 Transport path 5 Sensor 6 Controller 7 Nozzle 8 Flexible piping 9 Electromagnetic valve 10, 11, 12 Comparator 13 NOT circuit 14, 15 Latch circuit 16 Judgment timing generation circuit 17 Oscillation Circuit 18 Reset signal generation circuit 19, 20, 21 AND circuit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A component supply device that conveys a component whose surface light reflectance changes in the front-rear direction along a transport path and supplies the component to a discharge end, wherein the surface of the component passes a predetermined position of the transport path. And a plurality of comparators for comparing the detection output of the sensor with a plurality of thresholds set in advance, and the component is provided by combining signals output from the plurality of comparators. And a discriminating device for discriminating the posture of the component. 2. At least one of the plurality of comparators
2. The component supply device according to claim 1, wherein the component supply device is a window comparator that compares a detection output of the sensor with two thresholds and outputs a signal when the detection output of the sensor is a value between these two thresholds. 3. . 3. The component supply device according to claim 1, wherein the component is a micro component having a size of about 1 mm ³ or less.