JP2006062209A - Screen printing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a screen printing machine being excellent in properties of arrangement and in improvement of the efficiency of the use of an electronic material paste, by enabling replacement of a mask without collecting the electronic material paste remaining on the mask. <P>SOLUTION: In this screen printing machine, paste collecting scoops for receiving the electronic material paste such as a solder paste are provided respectively at the upper part of the mask in the front and rear stroke ends of a squeegee. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a screen printing machine used for supplying an electronic material paste such as cream solder to an electronic circuit board, and is particularly excellent in setup at the time of mask replacement, and improves the use efficiency of an electronic material paste such as cream solder. It relates to an excellent screen printer.

  As a conventional screen printing machine, there is one shown in Patent Document 1. This screen printing machine includes a substrate carry-in conveyor, a substrate carry-out conveyor, a stage portion provided with a lift mechanism, a mask having a transfer pattern as an opening, a squeegee, a squeegee lift mechanism and a squeegee head provided with a horizontal movement mechanism, and these mechanisms After the substrate is placed on the stage and placed on the stage, the stage is raised to bring the substrate close to the mask, and the mask is opened while the mask is in contact with the substrate by the squeegee. The part is filled with paste such as cream solder, the stage is further lowered, the paste is transferred onto the substrate by separating the substrate and the mask, and then the substrate is taken out of the apparatus for printing.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-200975

  In the screen printer, when replacing the mask to change the product to be printed, first, scrape and collect the electronic paste such as cream solder remaining on the mask with a tool such as a spatula. In addition, it is necessary to replace the new mask and supply the electronic material paste on the mask again. Therefore, there is a problem that not only the operation of collecting and supplying the electronic material paste is accompanied at the time of changing the setup, but also there is a considerable loss of the electronic material paste.

  In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is excellent in set-up performance and improved use efficiency of the electronic material paste by enabling the replacement of the mask without collecting the electronic material paste remaining on the mask. An object of the present invention is to provide a screen printer.

  In order to achieve the above object, the screen printing machine of the present invention is characterized in that a paste collection scoop for receiving an electronic material paste such as cream solder is provided on the upper part of the mask at the stroke ends before and after the squeegee.

  By using the screen printing machine of the present invention, it is possible to replace the mask without recovering the electronic material paste remaining on the mask, so that the setup property is excellent and the use efficiency of the electronic material paste is improved. A screen printer can be provided.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the screen printing machine of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, a squeegee head 3 is provided on the upper part of a main body frame 1 of the screen printing machine and is guided by a pair of guide rails 2 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction (substrate loading / unloading direction). The squeegee head 3 drives a motor (not shown) and is moved in the front-rear direction of the drawing by a ball screw 4 coupled to the motor shaft.

  A squeegee 5 is mounted on the squeegee head 3. The squeegee 5 can be moved up and down by a squeegee lifting cylinder 6. A plate frame receiver 7 is provided on the main body frame 1, and a plate frame 9 with a screen (mask) 8 having a printing pattern as an opening is set on the plate frame receiver 7. A printing table 10 is provided below the screen mask 8 to place and hold a substrate 15 that is a printing target so as to face the mask. The printing table 10 includes an XYθ table 11 that moves the substrate in the horizontal direction and aligns the substrate with the mask, and a table lifting mechanism that receives the substrate from the conveyor 12 and brings the substrate close to or in contact with the mask surface. (Not shown in particular). A substrate receiving conveyor 12 is provided on the upper surface of the printing table 10. The substrate 15 carried by the substrate carrying conveyor 13 is received on the printing table 10, and when the printing is completed, the substrate 15 is discharged to the substrate carrying conveyor 14.

  The fully automatic screen printer has a function of automatically aligning the mask 8 and the substrate 15. That is, the CCD camera 16 images the alignment marks provided on each of the mask 8 and the substrate 15, and performs image processing to obtain a positional deviation amount, and the XYθ table 11 is corrected so as to correct the deviation amount. It is driven and aligned.

  Next, the operation of the screen printing machine of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  The substrate 15 on which the electronic material paste is printed is supplied to the substrate receiving conveyor 12 by the substrate carry-in conveyor 13 and fixed at a predetermined position on the printing table 10. Subsequently, the CCD camera 16 takes an image of a position recognition mark (not shown) provided on the substrate 15 and the mask 8 and transfers it to a control device (not shown). In an image processing device (not shown) in the control device, the amount of positional deviation between the mask 8 and the substrate 15 is obtained from the image data, and based on the result, the control device operates the XYθ table 11 of the printing table 10 to operate the mask 8. The position of the substrate 15 relative to is corrected. Thereafter, the printing table 10 is raised, and the substrate 15 and the mask 8 are brought into contact with each other. Thereafter, the squeegee 5 is lowered onto the mask surface by the squeegee elevating cylinder 6, and the electronic material paste supplied onto the mask 8 by the movement of the squeegee head 3 is filled in the opening of the mask 8 and transferred to the substrate. The squeegee 5 rises after a certain distance stroke in the horizontal direction. Then, the printing table 10 is lowered, the mask 8 and the substrate 15 are separated, and the electronic material paste filled in the opening of the mask 8 is transferred to the substrate 15.

  Then, the substrate 15 printed with the electronic material paste is sent to the next process via the substrate carry-out conveyor 14.

  FIG. 2 is a top view of FIG. The screen printing machine of the present invention is provided with a paste recovery mechanism for recovering excess paste on the mask. This paste recovery mechanism includes a front paste recovery scoop unit (abbreviated as front scoop) 20f and a back paste recovery scoop unit (abbreviated as back scoop) 20b (see FIG. 3). The front scoop portion 21 can be moved up and down by a cylinder 23, and the rear scoop portion 22 can be moved up and down by a cylinder 24. In addition, the width direction of each scoop part (the left-right direction in FIG. 1) is formed wider than the substrate width (wider than the squeegee width), and the tip part contacts the mask so that the paste can be easily collected. An inclination is provided obliquely from the portion to be performed. Further, in this embodiment, the front scoop portion only moves up and down, so it is fixedly installed in the front-rear direction. This is because the substrate 15 is placed on the printing table 10 so as to substantially coincide with the tip position of the front scoop.

  The cylinder 24 is attached to a back scoop support 25, and the back scoop support 25 can be moved back and forth by a rodless cylinder 26. The rodless cylinder 26 rides on the guide rail 2 of the squeegee head 3 and is normally fixed by a brake (not shown), but is movable in the front-rear direction when the brake is released. The back scoop 20b is connected to a connecting block provided on the rodless cylinder 26 of the back scoop 20b by a back scoop connecting cylinder 27 provided on the squeegee head 3, and is moved in the moving direction of the squeegee by the squeegee head 3. There is a configuration to move together.

  In this embodiment, since the substrate transport reference is the front reference (the substrate transport rail is fixed on the front side and the back side is adjusted according to the substrate width), the front scoop portion 21 is only moved up and down, and the rear scoop is used. The part 22 can be moved back and forth in addition to the vertical movement. In the case of the back side reference, the configuration may be reversed so that the back side scoop portion only moves up and down so that the front side scoop portion can move together with the squeegee head. In the case of the center reference, both scoop parts must be movable back and forth.

  FIG. 3 is an AA arrow view of FIG. 3, the same elements as those in FIGS. 1 and 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals. FIG. 3 shows a state where both the front scoop part 21 and the back scoop part 22 are at the rising end position (scoop standby position). In FIG. 3, the squeegee 5 is a sealed squeegee as an example, but it goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to a general open squeegee. The sealed squeegee 5 includes a squeegee 5a used for forward moving printing and a squeegee 5b used for backward moving printing. A paste remaining amount detection sensor 30 is provided inside the sealed squeegee 5.

  In this way, by arranging the scoop across the substrate, the squeegee 5 moves to the top of the scoop while keeping the state of applying the paste while contacting the mask, and moves the residual paste onto the scoop.

  Next, the operation at the start of the operation of the screen printer of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 showing a typical state of the squeegee.

  In starting the printing operation, first, substrate conditions (substrate size, color, mark position, size, shape, color, mark recognition condition, etc.) are set. When the print operation start button is pressed, each unit executes an initial setting operation. In the initial setting operation, as shown in FIG. 3, the squeegee 5 rises to the rising end position, and the squeegee head 3 moves backward (401). When the squeegee head 3 arrives at the standby position of the back scoop unit 20b (402), the connecting cylinder 27 is extended, and is connected to the hole of the connecting block 28 (403) (see FIG. 5). Next, the squeegee head 3 is advanced until the back scoop unit 20b arrives at a position that matches a preset substrate size (404). Then, the brake (not shown) of the rear scoop unit 20b is turned on at that position (405). Thereafter, the connection between the squeegee head 3 and the back scoop unit 20b is released (406), and the squeegee head 3 moves to a fixed position (407). Next, the rodless cylinder 26 of the back scoop unit 20b is operated to advance the back scoop portion 22 (408). Thereafter, the front scoop part 21 and the back scoop part 22 operate the upper and lower cylinders 23 and 24 to lower each scoop lower surface until they contact the upper surface of the mask 8 (409).

  In this state, the electronic material paste 31 to be printed on the front scoop unit 21 is manually supplied (410).

  Next, when the print start button is pressed, the squeegee head 3 moves to a print start position (above the position where the electronic material paste of the front scoop is sandwiched) and stands by (411). The above is the initial setting operation.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the electronic material paste 31 is manually supplied. However, the paste supply mechanism is provided in the squeegee head, and the squeegee head is automatically moved from the squeegee head. Alternatively, a desired amount of electronic material paste may be supplied. In this case, the supply of paste and the movement to the standby position are reversed.

  Next, the printing operation of the screen printing machine according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  When the substrate 15 to be printed arrives on the printing table 10 as shown in FIG. 6, the CCD camera 16 images the position recognition marks (not shown) provided on the substrate 15 and the mask 8 as described above. To a control device (not shown). In an image processing device (not shown) in the control device, the amount of positional deviation between the mask 8 and the substrate 15 is obtained from the image data, and based on the result, the control device operates the XYθ table 11 of the printing table 10 to mask 8 The position of the substrate 15 relative to is corrected. Thereafter, the printing table 10 is raised and the substrate 15 and the mask 8 are brought into contact with each other. When these operations are completed, the squeegee 5 descends (to the position where the electronic material paste 31 on the front scoop portion 21 is between the squeegee 5a and the squeegee 5b) (FIG. 6). In this state, printing is performed while the squeegee head 3 moves to the back side. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, printing of one substrate is completed when the squeegee 5 reaches a position on the back scoop unit 22. In this state, the printing table 10 is lowered, the substrate 15 is transferred to the receiving conveyor 12, the substrate is transferred to the discharging conveyor 14, and the substrate 15 is discharged. Next, when a new substrate 15 is carried in, the substrate 15 and the mask 8 are aligned and the printing table 10 is raised, the closed squeegee 5 rotates clockwise as shown in FIG. Printing is executed by the front side movement of the squeegee head 3 in a state where 5a is in contact with the mask 8. Then, as shown in FIG. 9, printing of one substrate is completed when the squeegee 5 reaches the position of the front scoop portion 21. Then, the substrate 15 is discharged by the same operation as described above. Thereafter, when a new substrate 15 is carried in, the substrate 15 and the mask 8 are aligned and the printing table 10 is raised, the sealed squeegee 5 rotates counterclockwise, and this time the squeegee 5b contacts the mask 8. In this state, printing is executed by the back side movement of the squeegee head 3. Printing on the substrate 15 is continued by automatically repeating the above operation.

  Next, a setup change operation when printing of a certain number of lots is completed and printing is performed using a new mask will be described with reference to FIGS.

  When printing of a certain number of lots is completed in a state where the squeegee 5 has arrived at the front scoop 21, the front scoop portion 21, the squeegee 5 and the rear scoop portion 22 are raised (FIG. 10), and in this state the plate frame 9 and the mask 8 are replaced with a new plate frame 9 'and a mask 8' (FIG. 11). Next, the brake of the back scoop unit 20b is released and the back scoop unit 20b and the squeegee head 3 are connected to move the back scoop unit 20b to a position that matches the size of the substrate to be newly printed. Lower (FIG. 12). Then, after the brake of the back scoop unit 20b is turned on, the connection between the back scoop unit 20b and the squeegee head 3 is released. Then, as in FIG. 5, the squeegee head 3 moves to the printing start position, lowers the back scoop unit 22 and waits for a new board printing start command.

  When printing of a certain number of lots is completed in a state where the squeegee 5 has arrived at the back unit 22, the front scoop unit 21, the squeegee 5 and the back scoop unit 22 are raised, and in this state, the plate frame 9 and the mask 8 is replaced with a new plate frame 9 'and mask 8'. Next, the brake of the back scoop unit is released and the back scoop unit and the squeegee head 3 are connected to move the back scoop unit to a position that matches the size of the substrate to be newly printed. Then, after turning on the brake of the back scoop unit, the front scoop 21 and the back scoop 22 are lowered to wait for a new board printing start command.

  As described above, by using the screen printer of the present invention, it is possible to shift to printing on a new substrate without removing excess paste on the mask when changing the mask.

It is the schematic for demonstrating a structure and operation | movement of the screen printer of this invention. It is a top view of the screen printer of the present invention. It is an AA arrow line view of FIG. It is a flowchart of the initial setting operation at the time of printing. It is drawing of the state which united the back side scoop unit and the squeegee head. It is a figure which shows the printing start condition to a board | substrate. It is a figure which shows the condition at the time of the printing completion to a board | substrate. It is a figure which shows the printing start condition of the following board | substrate. It is a figure which shows the condition at the time of the completion | finish of printing of the following board | substrate. It is a figure which shows the state at the time of the board | substrate printing completion of 1 lot. It is a figure which shows the condition of mask exchange. It is a figure which shows the condition of a new initial setting.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Main body frame, 3 ... Squeegee head, 5 ... Squeegee, 6 ... Squeegee raising / lowering cylinder, 8 ... Mask, 9 ... Plate frame, 10 ... Printing table, 15 ... Substrate, 21 ... Front side scoop, 22 ... Back side scoop, 23 ... Front scoop vertical cylinder, 24. Back scoop vertical cylinder, 25. Back scoop support, 26. Rodless cylinder, 27. Back scoop connecting cylinder, 28.

Claims (4)

Substrate carry-in conveyor, substrate carry-out conveyor, X-axis, Y-axis, and θ-axis positioning mechanism and a printing table provided with a lifting mechanism, a mask having a transfer pattern as an opening, and a camera for imaging a positioning mark provided on the substrate and the mask A squeegee, a squeegee head provided with a squeegee lifting mechanism and a horizontal movement mechanism, and a screen printing machine provided with a control device for controlling these mechanisms.
A screen printing machine, wherein a paste collection scoop unit for receiving an electronic material paste is provided at each of stroke ends before and after the squeegee and above the mask.   The screen printing machine according to claim 1, wherein the paste collecting scoop unit includes a drive mechanism for moving the scoop up and down.   The screen printing machine according to claim 1, wherein at least one end side of the paste collecting scoop unit is movable back and forth. 4. The screen printing machine according to claim 3, wherein the paste collecting scoop unit movable in the front-rear direction includes a connection mechanism connected to the squeegee, and is moved back and forth by the movement mechanism of the squeegee connected to the squeegee. .

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