JP2012101879A - Substrate housing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate housing device configured to discharge a substrate or a substrate holding member in a first-in, first-out manner.SOLUTION: A substrate housing mechanism houses one or more stacked substrates 100, and includes a support table 17 for supporting the stacked substrates 100 from below. The support table 17 is pressed upward by the substrate 100a supplied from below, and moves in a retracting position for allowing the substrate 100a to be supplied to pass. When pressure by the substrate 100a is released, the support table 17 moves to a support position for supporting the stacked substrates 100b by biasing force of a spring.

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate accommodation apparatus that accommodates a substrate and a substrate holding member (for example, a pallet) that holds the substrate.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, apparatuses for performing various types of processing on a substrate in order to mount components such as semiconductor elements on a printed circuit board are widely known. Such an apparatus is often provided with a substrate accommodation mechanism for accommodating a substrate holding member such as a substrate to be used or a pallet holding the substrate. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a substrate accommodation mechanism that accommodates a plurality of printed circuit boards in a stacked manner. The substrate transfer device takes out the stacked substrates one by one in order from the top, and supplies the substrates to various devices at the subsequent stage.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-035889

  By the way, in such a conventional substrate accommodation mechanism, when the number of accommodated substrates decreases, a new substrate is added from the upper side. In this case, a substrate added later is stacked on the substrate previously accommodated in the accommodation mechanism. In this case, the transfer device first takes out the substrate stacked on the upper side (that is, the substrate added later). When such a procedure is repeated, the previously added substrate is located in the lower layer of the substrate laminate and will be left for a long time without being taken out.

  If the substrate before soldering is left for a long time, the land portion is oxidized, which makes it difficult to attach the solder. In order to avoid such a problem, a new substrate may be added after all the substrates accommodated in the accommodation mechanism are taken out. However, in this case, the operator has to add a new substrate in a short time after the last substrate is taken out until the next substrate is taken out, and the burden on the operator is large. In addition, if the addition of the board is delayed, various processes on the board in the subsequent stage are stagnated, resulting in a problem that the efficiency of component mounting is lowered.

  In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a substrate storage device that is extracted earlier as the substrate or the substrate holding member added earlier.

  The substrate accommodation apparatus of the present invention is a substrate accommodation device that accommodates one or more substrates or substrate holding members in a stacked state, and is a support member that supports the stacked substrates or substrate holding members from below. When the substrate or substrate holding member supplied from above is pressed upward, the substrate or substrate holding member is moved to a retracted position allowing passage of the substrate or substrate holding member, and when the pressing is released, the layers are stacked. A support member that moves to a support position that supports the substrate or the substrate holding member is provided.

  In a preferred aspect, the apparatus includes an urging unit that urges the support member in the support position direction, and the support member resists the urging force of the urging unit when pressed upward by the substrate or the substrate holding member. Then, it moves to the retracted position by turning upward.

  According to the present invention, since a new substrate or substrate holding member can be added from below, the previously added substrate or substrate holding member does not become the lower side of the substrate or substrate holding member added later. . As a result, the first added substrate or substrate holding member is taken out first.

It is a perspective view of the substrate pretreatment apparatus which constitutes the electronic component mounting system which is an embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view of the component mounting apparatus which comprises the electronic component mounting system which is embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic top view of a substrate pretreatment apparatus. It is the upper side figure and front view of an accommodation mechanism. It is a figure which shows an example of another accommodation mechanism. It is the front view and side view of a conveyance head. It is a figure which shows the mode of the board | substrate delivery by an extrusion plate. It is a front view around a marker head. It is a side view around a cleaner unit. It is a front view around a screw fastening head. It is a perspective view of a pallet. It is a schematic top view of an upper unit. It is a front view of a dispensing part. It is the front view and top view of a dispensing head. It is a perspective view of a discard disc. It is a side view of a mount head. It is a timing chart in the case of buffer filling at the time of tape exchange. It is a timing chart in the case of buffer filling between mounting operations. It is a schematic side view of a lower unit. It is a schematic front view of a raise part.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a substrate pretreatment apparatus 10 constituting an electronic component mounting system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a component mounting apparatus 49 constituting the electronic component mounting system.

  The electronic component mounting system of the present embodiment is a system for mounting electronic components such as semiconductor elements on a printed circuit board, and includes two devices, a substrate pretreatment device 10 and a component mounting device 49.

  First, the flow of component mounting on the board 100 in this electronic component mounting system will be briefly described. The substrate 100 before mounting is normally stored in a state where it is stacked on the substrate housing portion 12 provided in the substrate pretreatment apparatus 10. The transport head 20 takes out the necessary substrate 100 from the substrate housing portion 12 and transports it. Markers necessary for identifying the substrate 100 are marked on the front and back surfaces of the transported substrate 100 by the marker head 26. Subsequently, the marked substrate 100 is cleaned by a pair of cleaner units 34 arranged to face each other. The cleaned substrate 100 is carried to the connector set position by the conveyor. When the screw fastening head 46 is screwed and fastened to the board 100, the pretreatment of the board 100 is completed.

  The substrate 100 for which the pretreatment has been completed is set in the component mounting apparatus 49 by the operator's manual work. In the component mounting apparatus 49, the board 100 is transported while being held by a holder called a pallet 110. On one pallet 110, a substrate 100f with the front side facing up and a substrate 100b with the back side facing up are set.

  The component mounting apparatus 49 is roughly divided into an upper unit 50 and a lower unit 80. The upper unit 50 is provided with a dispense unit 51 for applying cream solder to the substrate 100 and a mount unit 67 for mounting electronic components on the substrate 100. The lower unit 80 is provided with a reflow unit 81 for heating the substrate 100 on which electronic components are mounted.

  The substrate 100 is first put into the upper unit 50 together with the pallet 110. The dispense head provided in the dispense unit 51 applies cream solder to the upper surface of the substrate 100 in accordance with an instruction from a control unit (not shown). Prior to the solder application to the substrate 100, the dispense head executes a discarding operation for applying cream solder to the discard disk on a trial basis. Further, the dispense head reads the marker attached to the substrate 100 to identify the type of the substrate 100 and, in turn, the location where the cream solder is applied.

  Subsequently, electronic components are mounted on the upper surface of the substrate 100 coated with the cream solder by a mount head provided in the mount portion 67. The mount portion 67 is provided with a tape delivery mechanism 72 that sequentially feeds out carrier tapes 71 that hold the electronic components in a line. The mount head takes out an electronic component from the carrier tape 71 sent out by the tape sending mechanism 72 and mounts it on the substrate. When all the electronic components are taken out from the carrier tape 71, the operator takes out the carrier tape 71 from the tape delivery mechanism 72 and sets a new carrier tape 71 instead. The mount portion 67 is also provided with a buffer portion in which electronic components to be used during the replacement of the carrier tape 71 are set. The mount head takes out the electronic component from the carrier tape 71 or the buffer unit according to the progress of processing, and mounts it on the substrate.

  The substrate 100 on which the electronic component is mounted is conveyed to the lower unit 80 by the lowering mechanism provided in the lowering portion 84. The substrate 100 transported to the lower unit 80 is transported in one direction by a conveyor provided in the lower unit 80. A plurality of reflow furnaces for heating the substrate 100 and melting the cream solder applied to the substrate 100 are provided on the transport path of the substrate 100 in the lower unit 80. The substrate 100 that has passed through the plurality of reflow furnaces is output to the rising portion 85.

  In the ascending portion 85, the substrate 100 on which the component mounting on both the front surface and the back surface is completed is taken out as a completed substrate 100c. It is conveyed again to the upper unit 50 and component mounting is performed on the back surface.

  Note that the substrate pretreatment device 10 and the component mounting device 49 described above may be controlled by a common control unit, or each has a separate control unit. You may make it control by a control part. In any case, it is desirable that the substrate pretreatment apparatus 10 and the component mounting apparatus 49 are controlled in conjunction with each other.

  The above is the flow of electronic component mounting in the electronic component mounting system. Below, each part of this electronic component mounting system will be described in detail.

[Outline of substrate pretreatment equipment]
First, a schematic configuration of the substrate pretreatment apparatus 10 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of the substrate pretreatment apparatus 10. In this figure, the conveyance head 20, marker heads 26f and 26b (hereinafter, alphabetical suffixes are omitted unless otherwise distinguished, the same applies to other members), and the arrows and circles attached to the screw fastening head 46 are respectively The movable direction of each head 20, 26, 46 is shown. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the transport head 20 and the screw fastening head 46 can move in three directions of the X direction, the Y direction, and the Z direction, and the marker head 26 can move only in the X direction and the Z direction. Yes.

  As described above, the substrate pretreatment device 10 is a device that performs pretreatment such as marking, cleaning, and connector fastening on the substrate 100 before mounting electronic components. Two accommodation mechanisms are installed side by side in the X direction in the substrate accommodation portion 12. In each accommodation mechanism, the same type of substrate 100 is stacked and accommodated.

  Here, the substrate 100 handled in the present embodiment is shaped like a “convex” kanji in which a smaller rectangle protrudes from one side of a substantially rectangular shape. Two fastening holes 102 that allow passage of screws for fastening the connector are formed at one corner of the substrate 100. The substrate 100 has a front surface and a back surface, and components can be mounted on both surfaces.

  The transport head 20 is a head that takes out and transports the substrates 100 one by one from the substrate housing portion 12. The transport head 20 moves in a state where the substrate 100 is sucked and held by two suction pads arranged in the X direction, and places the substrate 100 on the rail 31 extending in the Y direction. In the vicinity of the rail 31, a front marker head 26 f installed so that the pen tip faces downward and a back marker head 26 b installed so that the pen tip faces upward are provided. The front marker head 26f is marked on the surface of the substrate 100, and the back marker head 26b is marked on the back surface of the substrate 100, respectively. As will be described in detail later, each marker head is movable only in the X direction and the Z direction, and the relative positional relationship between the marker head 26 and the substrate 100 in the Y direction is determined by the substrate in the transport head 20. It is adjusted by a Y-direction transport amount of 100.

  The substrate 100 on which the marking has been performed is transported downstream in the Y direction by the conveyor 43. A pair of cleaner units 34 arranged vertically opposite to each other are provided on the transport path. Each cleaner unit 34 is provided with a brush that sweeps up dust adhering to the front or back surface of the substrate 100 and a vacuum mechanism that sucks and collects the dust swept up by the brush. In the present embodiment, the brush and the conveyor are driven by the same drive source, which will be described later.

  A connector set 47 is provided downstream of the conveyor 43 in the Y direction. The connector set portion 47 is a recess in which a connector to be fastened to the board 100 is accommodated. The operator sequentially sets the connector in which the two screw holes are formed in the connector setting portion 47 in such a posture that the screw holes face upward. The conveyor 43 conveys the substrate 100 to a position where the screw hole of the connector accommodated in the connector set portion 47 and the fastening hole 102 formed in the substrate 100 substantially coincide with each other. The screw fastening head 46 inserts a fastening screw into the fastening hole 102 and the screw hole when the screw hole of the connector and the fastening hole 102 of the board 100 substantially coincide with each other, and screw and fasten the connector to the back surface of the board 100.

  Each unit as described above is controlled by the same control unit (not shown). The control unit identifies the type of the substrate 100 that needs to be pre-processed based on an instruction from the host controller or the user, and instructs the transport head 20 and the marker head 26 for the driving amount corresponding to the type of the substrate. . In addition, the driving of the cleaner unit 34, the conveyor 43, and the screw fastening head 46 is also instructed.

[Substrate housing part]
FIG. 4 is a top view and a front view of the accommodation mechanism. The substrate 100 before component mounting is accommodated in a stacked state in an accommodation space 14 constituted by four frames 13. The transport head 20 takes out the stacked substrates 100 one by one from the top.

  Here, the conventional apparatus is also provided with such a substrate accommodation mechanism. However, the conventional accommodation mechanism has a problem that a substrate added later is taken out before a substrate added earlier. It was.

  That is, even in the conventional accommodation mechanism, the stacked and accommodated substrates are taken out one by one from the upper side. However, in the conventional accommodation mechanism, when the number of accommodated substrates decreases, a new substrate is added from the upper side. It was. In this case, the substrate added later is stacked on the substrate previously added to the accommodation mechanism. In this case, the transport head is first taken out from the substrate stacked on the upper side (that is, the substrate added later). When such a procedure is repeated, the previously added substrate is located in the lower layer of the substrate laminate and will be left for a long time without being taken out.

  If the substrate before soldering is left for a long time, the land portion is oxidized, which makes it difficult to attach the solder. In order to avoid such a problem, a new substrate may be added after all the substrates accommodated in the accommodation mechanism are taken out. However, in this case, the operator has to add a new substrate in a short time after the last substrate is taken out until the next substrate is taken out, and the burden on the operator is large. In addition, if the addition of the board is delayed, various processes on the board in the subsequent stage are stagnated, resulting in a problem that the efficiency of component mounting is lowered.

  In the present embodiment, in order to avoid such a problem, the accommodation mechanism for the substrate 100 allows a new substrate 100 to be added from the lower side, whereby the previously added substrate 100 is taken out first. It is configured. More specifically, the accommodation mechanism of the present embodiment includes four frames 13 constituting the accommodation space 14 and a support base 17 provided so as to protrude into the accommodation space 14.

  Each frame 13 includes an upper portion 13u having a substantially L-shaped cross section and a lower portion 13d having a substantially flat plate shape. Therefore, the accommodating space 14 includes an upper space 14u whose four corners are defined by a frame upper portion 13u having a substantially L-shaped cross section, and a lower space 14d whose both sides are defined by a substantially flat frame lower portion 13d. It is divided roughly. In the upper space 14u, the movement of the substrate 100 in the XY direction is restricted, and only the movement in the Z direction (up and down direction) is allowed. On the other hand, in the lower space 14d, only both sides are defined by the substantially flat frame lower portion 13d, so that the substrate 100 can move not only in the Z direction but also in the Y direction. As a result, the substrate 100 can be inserted into the lower space 14d from the front of the lower space 14d.

  Near both sides of the upper space 14u, a pair of support bases 17 are provided so as to protrude into the upper space 14u. The support base 17 is a base that supports both ends in the width direction of the stacked substrate 100b (see FIG. 4B) from the lower side. The stacked substrate 100b is placed on the support base 17 so as to remain in the upper space 14u without dropping.

  This support base 17 is attached to an L-shaped angle 15 attached to the frame 13 via a hinge 16 with a spring. Due to the movability of the spring-loaded hinge 16, the support base 17 supports the stacked substrate 100b (a position indicated by a solid line in FIG. 4B) and the lower space 14d to the upper space 14u. It is possible to move to a retracted position (a position indicated by a broken line in FIG. 4B) that allows the substrate 100a to pass therethrough.

  The spring-equipped hinge 16 has a spring that urges the support base 17 toward the support position, and is normally supported by the urging force of the spring (that is, when the support base 17 is not receiving force from below). The base 17 is located at the support position. On the other hand, when an upward force is applied to the support base 17 from below, the support base 17 rotates upward (outside of the upper space 14u) against the urging force of the spring and moves to the retracted position. And move.

  A flow when the substrate 100 is added to the accommodation mechanism having the above configuration will be described. The substrate 100b before component mounting is supported by the support base 17 in a stacked state, and is accommodated in the upper space 14u. When it is desired to add a new substrate 100a to the upper space 14u, the operator inserts the new substrate 100a into the lower space 14d from the front.

  If the new substrate 100a is moved to the lower side of the already accommodated substrate 100b, the new substrate 100a is subsequently moved upward. In the course of this movement, the new substrate 100a comes into contact with the bottom surface of the support base 17 and presses the support base 17 upward. The support base 17 that has received the upward force rotates upward (outward direction) against the biasing force of the spring-loaded hinge 16, and moves to a retracted position that does not hinder the upward movement of the new substrate 100a. And move. When the support table 17 moves to the retracted position, the existing substrate 100b that has been supported by the support table 17 falls from the support table 17 and rests on the newly added substrate 100a. In other words, a stacked body in which the substrate 100b added earlier is stacked on the substrate 100a added later is formed. The operator moves the newly formed laminate to the upper side from the support base 17. When the laminated body moves upward from the support base 17 and the force pushing the support base 17 upward is released, the support base 17 returns to the support position by the biasing force of the spring hinge 16.

  At this time, the substrate is stacked and accommodated in the upper space 14u with the previously added substrate 100b on the upper side and the later added substrate 100a on the lower side. In this state, if the stacked substrates 100 are taken out one by one in order from the top, the previously added substrate 100b is taken out first. As a result, the substrate 100 is not left for a long time, and component mounting can be performed satisfactorily. Further, since a new substrate 100 can be added regardless of the number of remaining substrates 100, it is possible to add a substrate at a timing convenient for the worker, and the burden on the worker can be reduced.

  In the present embodiment, the support base 17 is made movable by using the hinge 16 with a spring. However, the retreat position allows the passage of the substrate 100a by being pressed upward by the substrate 100a supplied from below. As long as the stacked substrate 100 can be supported when the pressure is released, the other configuration may be adopted.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the bottom surface of the support base 17 is tapered, and the compression coil spring 16 a that biases the support base 17 toward the inner side of the upper space 14 u, and the horizontal direction of the support base 17. A rail 16b for guiding advancement / retraction may be provided. In the case of this configuration, when the support base 17 is pressed upward by the substrate 100a supplied from below, the support base 17 moves outward against the urging force of the compression coil spring 16a. As a result, upward movement of the newly added substrate 100a is allowed. When the newly added substrate 100a reaches the upper side of the support base 17, the support base 17 returns to the support position for supporting the stacked substrates 100 from the lower side by the biasing force of the compression coil spring 16a. .

[Conveyance head]
Next, the transport head 20 will be described in detail. FIG. 6 is a front view and a side view of the transport head 20. The transport head 20 takes out and transports the substrates 100 stacked and accommodated in the accommodation mechanism one by one. The transport head 20 has two suction pads 23 arranged in the X direction, and each suction pad 23 is connected to a pressure pump (not shown) via a nozzle. The control unit controls the holding and release of the substrate 100 by the transport head 20 by controlling the driving of the pressure pump. The two suction pads 23 are attached to a flat frame 22 that is long in the X direction. The transport head 20 is movable in the XYZ directions. Since the transfer structure of the head can be configured using various known techniques, a detailed description thereof is omitted here. In any case, the substrate 100 is transported by driving the transport head 20 in the XYZ directions while the substrate 100 is sucked and held by the suction pad 23.

  A pressure sensor (not shown) is provided between the suction pad 23 and the frame 22, and the height of the suction pad 23 is controlled based on the detection value of the pressure sensor. That is, in the present embodiment, when the substrate 100 is taken out, the suction pad 23 is gradually lowered toward the upper surface of the stacked substrates 100. When the suction pad 23 comes into contact with the upper surface of the substrate 100 as a result of the lowering, the contact pressure is detected by the pressure sensor. If such a contact pressure is detected, the control unit determines that the suction pad 23 has been lowered to the upper surface of the substrate 100 and starts sucking and holding the substrate 100 by the suction pad 23.

  An extrusion plate 24 having a substantially L-shaped cross section is attached to the frame 22 of the transport head 20 so as to protrude in the Y direction. The extrusion plate 24 is transported by the transport head 20, and is a member that moves the substrate 100 in the Y direction by pushing the end portion of the substrate 100 placed on the rail 31 (see FIG. 3) in the Y direction. It is. By providing such an extrusion plate 24, it is possible to widen the transfer range of the substrate in the Y direction. This will be described with reference to FIG.

  Because of the stroke of the transport head 20, it is assumed that the suction pad 23 can move only to the Y-direction limit position L1 shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. In this case, the substrate 100 can be transported only to the position illustrated in the upper part of FIG. 7 simply by sucking and holding the substrate 100 with the suction pad 23.

  In order to widen this transfer range, it is conceivable to widen the stroke of the transport head 20. However, in order to widen the stroke of the transport head 20, it is necessary to greatly increase the output of a drive source that drives the transport head 20, or to improve the rigidity of various members that support the transport head 20, which increases the size of the apparatus. Incurs the problem of increased costs.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, in order to widen the transport range of the substrate 100 without expanding the stroke of the transport head 20, the substrate 100 is held by the suction pad 23 and transported, and then the extruded plate 24 described above is used. The end of 100 is pushed in the Y direction. That is, the control unit drives the transport head 20 in a state where the substrate 100 is sucked and held by the suction pad 23, and places the substrate 100 on the rail. Thereafter, when the end of the substrate is pushed in the Y direction with the extrusion plate 24 provided in the transport head 20, the substrate 100 can be further transferred to the back side in the Y direction as shown in the lower part of FIG. That is, after the substrate 100 is held and transported, the end of the transported substrate 100 is pushed and the substrate 100 is sent out, in other words, without increasing the stroke of the transport head 20. The conveyance range of the substrate 100 can be greatly expanded without increasing the size.

[Marker head]
Next, the marker head 26 will be described in detail. FIG. 8 is a front view of the periphery of the marker head 26. The marker head 26 is for providing a mark for identifying the substrate 100 on the front surface or the back surface of the substrate 100. The subsequent-stage dispense head or mount head identifies the type of the substrate 100 based on the mark given to the substrate 100, and based on the identified substrate type, the solder application position, the component type to be mounted, etc. Is identified.

  In the present embodiment, a front marker head 26f for marking the front surface of the substrate 100 and a back marker head 26b for marking the back surface of the substrate 100 are provided. The two marker heads 26 have the same basic configuration, although their installation positions and pen tip orientations are different.

  The two marker heads 26 stand by on both sides of the rail 31 on which the substrate 100 is placed. Here, the rail 31 is a member that supports both sides of the substrate 100. In the present embodiment, two rails 31 that are long in the Y direction are arranged in the X direction with a space slightly smaller than the width of the substrate 100.

  Each marker head 26 is movable in the XZ direction, and includes an angle 28 and a marking pen 29 held by the angle 28. The angle 28 is a metal fitting that detachably holds the marking pen 29. When the ink of the attached marking pen 29 runs out, the worker removes the marking pen 29 from the angle 28 and attaches a new marking pen 29.

  The marking pen 29 functions as a marker member that actually gives a mark on the substrate 100. The marking pen 29 is not particularly limited as long as it can give a mark to the substrate 100. For example, a commercially available oil-based felt pen can be used.

  At the standby position of the marker head 26, a lid 30 that covers the pen tip 29a of the marking pen 29 attached to the marker head 26 is fixedly installed. The lid 30 is a block member in which a hole into which the pen tip 29a of the marking pen 29 can be inserted is formed. By storing the pen tip 29a inside the hole, the pen tip 29a is prevented from drying.

  Here, as described above, in this embodiment, the marker head 26 is movable only in the two directions XZ. This is because the drive source and transmission mechanism involved in the Y-direction movement are omitted, thereby reducing the size and cost.

  On the other hand, if it can only move in the XZ direction, it is not possible to adjust the relative positional relationship in the Y direction between the marking pen 29 and the substrate 100 simply by driving the marker head 26. As a result, marking cannot be performed at a desired position. There is a fear. Therefore, in this embodiment, in order to avoid such a problem, the relative position in the Y direction between the marking pen 29 and the substrate 100 is adjusted by the Y direction conveyance amount of the substrate 100 by the conveyance head 20. That is, in this embodiment, the substrate 100 is transported by the transport head 20 to a position where the relative position in the Y direction between the marking pen 29 and the substrate 100 becomes a desired relationship. When the relative positional relationship in the Y direction becomes a desired state by the transport head 20, the marker head 26 moves to a desired X direction position and marks the front surface or the back surface of the substrate 100. When the marking process is completed, the marker head 26 moves to a standby position where the pen tip 29a of the attached marking pen 29 is inserted into a hole provided in the lid 30 and waits.

[Cleaner mechanism and conveyor]
Next, the cleaner unit 34 and the conveyor 43 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the cleaner unit 34 and the conveyor 43.

  The conveyor 43 is a member that conveys the marked substrate 100 to the downstream side in the Y direction (the right side of the drawing in FIG. 3), and has two conveyor belts 42 arranged in the X direction. As shown in FIG. 9, each conveyor belt 42 is stretched around a plurality of conveyor rollers 41a, 41b, 41c, and 41d, and circulates and rotates while maintaining an appropriate tension. By the circulation rotation of the conveyor belt 42, the substrate 100 placed on the upper surface of the conveyor belt 42 is conveyed downstream in the Y direction. Note that a plurality of driven rollers 45 that prevent the substrate 100 from being lifted are provided above the conveyance path formed by the conveyor 43.

  Further, a cleaner unit 34 for removing dust from the front and back surfaces of the substrate 100 is provided in the middle of the conveyance path formed by the conveyor 43. As shown in FIG. 9, the cleaner unit 34 includes a pair of cleaner brushes 35 u and 35 d disposed so as to face each other with a conveyance path interposed therebetween. Both of these two cleaner brushes 35 rotate in the same direction as the transport direction of the substrate 100, and discharge the dust attached to the front and back surfaces of the substrate. Thus, by making the rotation direction of the cleaner brush 35 the same direction as the substrate transport direction, the transportability of the substrate 100 can be improved and the substrate 100 can be transported more reliably.

  A substantially box-shaped cover body 36 that covers the cleaner brush 35 is provided around each cleaner brush 35. The cover body 36 is connected to a suction pipe 37 that sucks the dust swept up by the cleaner brush 35.

  Here, in this embodiment, while the conveyor 43 is driven and the substrate 100 is conveyed, the cleaner brush 35 is rotationally driven to sweep up dust. In other words, the drive timing of the conveyor 43 and the drive timing of the cleaner brush 35 are substantially the same. In this embodiment, the drive source of the cleaner brush 35 and the conveyor 43 that are driven at the same timing is made common in order to reduce the cost, the size, and the like, and is driven by a single motor 44.

  This will be described in detail with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, a conveyor roller 41 a and a first pulley 39 a for driving a brush are connected to the output shaft of the motor 44, and the conveyor roller 41 a and the first pulley 39 a are interlocked with the driving of the motor 44. To rotate. The above-described conveyor belt 42 is stretched around the conveyor roller 41 a, and the conveyor belt 42 circulates and rotates as the conveyor roller 41 a rotates and, as a result, the motor 44 is driven.

  A timing belt 40 is stretched around the first pulley 39a for driving the brush, and the other end of the timing belt 40 is stretched around the second pulley 39b. The second pulley 39b is connected to the rotation shaft of the lower cleaner brush 35d, and the lower cleaner brush 35d rotates with the rotation of the second pulley 39b. A first gear 38d is also connected to the rotation shaft of the lower cleaner brush 35d. The second gear 38u meshing with the first gear 38d is connected to the rotation shaft of the upper cleaner brush 35u, and the rotation of the first gear 38d is also transmitted to the upper cleaner brush 35u via the second gear 38u. It has come to be.

  In this way, by adopting a configuration in which the conveyor 43 and the upper and lower cleaner brushes 35 are driven by one drive source (motor 44), the number of parts can be reduced, and as a result, the size and cost can be reduced.

[Screw fastening head]
Next, the screw fastening head 46 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 10 is a front view of the periphery of the screw fastening head 46. The screw fastening head 46 is a head for screwing and fastening the connector 104 to the back surface of the substrate 100. The screw fastening head 46 is movable in the XYZ directions and is driven according to an instruction from the control unit. The screw fastening head 46 includes a guide tube 46a provided at the tip, a driver tube 46b provided on the upper side of the guide tube 46a, and a screw supply tube 46c connected at an angle near the upper end of the guide tube 46a. It is equipped with. A driver for rotating a screw is accommodated in the driver cylinder 46b. The driver appropriately descends to a position protruding from the tip of the guide tube 46a, engages the head of the screw, and rotates in that state to perform screw tightening. Screws used for screwing and fastening are accommodated in the screw supply cylinder 46c. The accommodated screw is appropriately supplied to the guide cylinder 46a, and the screw supplied to the guide cylinder 46a falls according to the guide cylinder 46a and is a screw hole or a fastening hole positioned directly below the guide cylinder 46a. Plugged into.

  The screw fastening operation by the screw fastening head is performed on the upper side of the connector set portion 47. The connector set portion 47 is a portion that accommodates the connector 104 to be fastened to the substrate 100, and is provided with a concave portion corresponding to the connector 104. This recess is located on the lower side of the substrate 100 that has been transported. The operator sets the connector 104 in the concave portion (connector setting portion 47) in such a posture that the screw hole 105 faces upward. Moreover, the conveyor 43 conveys the board | substrate 100 to the position which the screw hole 105 of this set connector 104 and the fastening hole 102 formed in the board | substrate 100 overlap.

  When the board 100 is transported to a specified position and the screw hole 105 of the connector 104 and the fastening hole 102 of the board 100 overlap, the control unit drives the screw fastening head 46 and moves the guide tube 46 a to the true position of the fastening hole 102. The tip of the guide tube 46a is moved close to or in contact with the upper surface of the substrate 100. In this state, a fastening screw is supplied from the screw supply cylinder 46c. The supplied screw falls while being guided by the guide tube 46 a and falls into the fastening hole 102 and the screw hole 105. In this state, the driver is lowered from the driver cylinder 46b, the driver is engaged with the screw head, and the driver is rotated in this state. As a result, the connector 104 is screwed and fastened to the back surface of the substrate 100. Then, when the screw fastening of the connector 104 is completed, the pretreatment of the substrate 100 is completed. The substrate 100 for which the pretreatment has been completed is supplied to the mounting apparatus 49 by the operator's hand.

  The above is the specific configuration of the pretreatment device 10. As is clear from the above description, in this embodiment, the substrate supply function, the marking function, the cleaning function, and the connector fastening function are all mounted on one pretreatment apparatus 10. Therefore, the installation space can be greatly reduced as compared with the prior art in which each function is a separate and independent device.

[palette]
Next, the mounting apparatus 49 will be described. Before describing each part of the mounting apparatus 49, first, the state of the substrate 100 supplied to the mounting apparatus 49 will be described. In the present embodiment, the substrate 100 is supplied to the mounting apparatus while being held by a holder called a pallet 110. FIG. 11 is a schematic perspective view of the pallet 110. The pallet 110 is formed with two accommodating recesses 114 for accommodating and holding the substrate 100 side by side in line. Each receiving recess 114 has a shape corresponding to the outer shape of the substrate 100. Further, a through hole 112 is formed in the center of the accommodation recess 114, and only the periphery of the substrate 100 accommodated in the accommodation recess 114 is supported. From another viewpoint, the entire upper surface and most of the bottom surface of the substrate 100 accommodated in the accommodation recess 114 are exposed to the outside.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12, among the two receiving recesses 114, the receiving recess located on the back side (the right side in FIG. 12) has a substrate 100b whose components have been mounted on the surface thereof. Housed with the back side facing up. Of the two housing recesses, the housing recess positioned on the near side is output from the pre-processing device 10 so that the substrate 100f on which no component is mounted on any of the front and back surfaces faces upward. Be contained.

  The substrate 100 f with the front surface facing upward and the substrate 100 b with the back surface facing upward are put into the upper unit 50 of the mounting device 49 while being accommodated in the pallet 110. The dispense head 52 and the mount head 68 provided in the upper unit 50 apply solder and mount components on the upward surface of each substrate 100. That is, in the process in which the pallet 110 passes through the upper unit once, solder coating and component mounting are performed on the front surface of one substrate 100f and the back surface of the other substrate 100b. Thereafter, the two substrates 100 are supplied to the lower unit 80 and are heated by the reflow furnace. Of the two substrates 100 output from the lower unit 80, the substrate 100b whose back surface faces upward is taken out and output as a completed substrate 100c in which component mounting on both the front surface and the back surface is completed. On the other hand, the board 100f whose surface is facing upward is a semi-finished board in which only the surface component mounting is completed. This semi-finished board (the board on which only the component mounting on the front surface has been completed) is reset on the pallet 110 in a reversed form (a form in which the back surface faces upward). In addition, a new substrate 100 which is output from the pretreatment device 10 and has no component mounted on any of the front and back surfaces is set on the pallet 110. Then, the pallet 110 on which these two substrates 100 are mounted is loaded into the upper unit 50 and the lower unit 80 again.

  As is apparent from the above description, according to the present embodiment, component mounting on the surface of one board 100f and the other board 100b are performed in the process in which the pallet 110 passes through the upper unit 50 and the lower unit 80 once. Both component mounting on the back side is executed. Then, one completed substrate 100c and one semi-finished substrate are obtained in the process of one pass. The completed board 100c is taken out at any time, and in place of the completed board 100c, a new board 100 in which no component is mounted on any of the front and back surfaces is input to the component mounting process as needed. The semi-finished board is also immediately put into the next component mounting process. That is, according to the present embodiment, the board 100 is not left at the stage where the component mounting on one side is finished, and each board 100 is efficiently put into the component mounting process. In other words, according to the present embodiment, the intermediate stock can be eliminated, and efficient processing becomes possible.

[Overview of upper unit]
Next, an outline of the upper unit 50 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 12 is a schematic top view of the upper unit 50. As described above, the component mounting apparatus of the present embodiment has a two-stage configuration of the upper unit 50 and the lower unit 80 provided below the upper unit 50. With such a two-stage configuration, the size of the apparatus can be reduced.

  The upper unit 50 is provided with a dispense portion 51 for applying cream solder and a mount portion 67 for mounting an electronic component on the upper surface of the substrate (the surface facing upward). The pallet 110 containing the substrate 100 is conveyed by a conveyor 65 that cuts the dispensing unit 51 and the mount unit 67 vertically. The pallet 110 transported to the most downstream side by the conveyor 65 is transported to the lower unit 80 by the descending portion 84 connected to the downstream end of the upper unit 50. A rising portion 85 is connected to the upstream end of the upper unit 50. The ascending unit 85 ascends and conveys the pallet 110 output from the lower unit 80 to the upper unit 50. The pallet 110 transported by the ascending unit 85 is reintroduced into the upper unit 50.

[Dispensing part]
Next, the dispensing unit 51 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 13 is a front view of the dispensing unit, and FIG. 14 is a front view and a top view of the dispensing head 52. FIG. 15 is a schematic perspective view of the discarded disk 61.

  The dispensing unit 51 is a part for applying cream solder to the upper surface of the substrate 100 conveyed by the pallet 110. The dispensing unit 51 conveys a dispensing head 52 that actually applies cream solder, a discarding disc 61 that accepts trial soldering (discarding), and a pallet 110 (substrate 100) to the downstream side in the conveying direction. A conveyor 65 and the like are provided.

  The conveyor 65 and the discarding disc 61 are installed on the same support plate 60. The support plate 60 moves along a Y-axis rail 56Y extending in the Y-axis direction in response to driving of a drive source (not shown) (for example, a motor). As the support plate 60 moves in the Y-axis direction, the position of the conveyor 65 placed on the support plate 60 and, in turn, the substrate 100 placed on the conveyor 65 is adjusted with respect to the dispense head 52. Is done. In other words, in this embodiment, instead of moving the dispensing head 52 in the Y-axis direction, the relative positional relationship between the two in the Y-axis direction is adjusted by moving the substrate 100 in the Y-axis direction. ing.

  The reason for this configuration is as follows. In order to move the dispensing head 52 provided on the upper side of the substrate 100 in the Y-axis direction, it is necessary to provide the Y-axis rail connected to the dispensing head 52 at the same height as the dispensing head 52. . When a Y-axis rail is provided at the same height as the dispense head 52, the Y-axis rail (connected to the dispense head 52) is used to drive the mount head 68 in the Y-axis direction. There is a risk of interference with the rail 77Y (see FIG. 16). In order to avoid this interference, the distance in the Y-axis direction between the dispensing unit 51 and the mount unit 67 must be increased. In this case, there is a problem that the size of the entire mounting apparatus 49 is increased. In the present embodiment, in order to avoid such problems, the Y-axis rail connected to the dispense head 52 is not provided, and the Y-axis rail 56Y for moving the substrate 100 in the Y-axis direction is provided in the vicinity of the floor surface of the upper unit 50. Yes. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to prevent interference between the Y-axis rails, and consequently reduce the size of the mounting device 49 in the Y-axis direction.

[Dispensing head]
The dispense head 52 is a head that actually applies cream solder to the upper surface of the substrate 100. The dispense head 52 is provided with a first applicator 54, a second applicator 55, an imaging mechanism 53, and a distance measuring sensor 59 (see FIG. 14B). The first applicator 54 and the second applicator 55 are both devices that apply cream solder to the substrate. Among these, the first applicator 54 has an air dispensing configuration in which cream solder stored in a syringe is applied by extrusion with air pressure. The second applicator 55 has a screw dispense configuration in which cream solder stored in a syringe is extruded and applied with a screw. The first applicator 54, which is an air dispenser, can apply solder in a relatively large shape. The second applicator 55, which is a screw dispense, can apply solder in a relatively fine shape. Each syringe is equipped with a temperature controller using a Peltier or the like for keeping the viscosity of the contained cream solder appropriately.

  Here, in the conventional apparatus, the solder is often printed and applied using a metal plate. That is, conventionally, a metal plate in which holes corresponding to the solder application shape are formed is disposed on a substrate, and solder is often applied (printed) thereon. In addition, lead parts such as connectors, switches, capacitors, etc., are often soldered again after the soldering of other parts is completed as a retrofit part.

  On the other hand, in this embodiment, solder is applied using the applicators 54 and 55. In particular, according to the second applicator 55 capable of applying solder in a fine shape, it is possible to obtain a fine solder shape similar to that when printing using a metal plate. Therefore, it is not necessary to change the metal plate appropriately, and the mounting apparatus can be simplified. In the case of a printing process in which a metal plate is placed on a substrate, a projecting object such as a connector cannot be fastened to the substrate in advance, and the connector must be fastened after soldering. On the other hand, according to the present embodiment, since it is not necessary to place a metal plate on the substrate 100, it is possible to fasten a protruding component such as the connector 104 to the substrate in advance.

  In the present embodiment, the lead component is drawn by the first applicator 54 that can obtain a relatively large coating shape. Therefore, post soldering can be eliminated and the process can be further simplified.

  The photographing mechanism 53 is a mechanism for photographing the upper surface of the substrate 100 and the discarding disk 61, and includes a camera 53a having a vertically downward optical axis, and a ring illumination 53b provided directly below the camera 53a. ing. In the ring illumination 53b, light sources (for example, LEDs) are annularly arranged at positions outside the angle of view of the camera 53a, and illuminate a subject to be photographed.

  The camera 53a photographs the solder applied to the substrate 100 or the discarding disk 61. The control unit acquires an accurate position of the substrate 100 based on the image of the substrate 100 obtained by photographing, and finely adjusts the relative position between the dispense head 52 and the substrate 100 based on the obtained position. Further, the control unit identifies a marker attached on the substrate 100 based on the captured image of the substrate 100, and also determines the substrate type based on the marker. Then, a solder application position to be performed later is determined in accordance with the determined substrate type. Further, the control unit obtains the amount of solder applied by the applicators 54 and 55 based on the solder image applied to the scraping disc 61, and in each of the applicators 54 and 55 based on the obtained amount of application. Adjust the solder application pressure.

  The distance measuring sensor 59 is a non-contact sensor that measures the distance to the solder application surface (the upper surface of the substrate 100 or the upper surface of the scraping disk 61). The control unit controls the drive amount in the Z-axis direction of the applicators 54 and 55 based on the detection value of the distance measuring sensor 59.

  Here, among the components constituting the dispense head 52, the photographing mechanism 53 and the distance measuring sensor 59 can move only in the X-axis direction, and the first and second applicators 54 and 55 move in the XZ-axis direction. It is possible. That is, the photographing mechanism 53, the distance measuring sensor 59, and the Z-axis rail 56Z are connected to the X-axis rail 56X via the first frame 57a, and can move along the X-axis rail 56X. Yes. The first and second applicators 54 and 55 are connected to the Z-axis rail 56Z via the second frame 57b. Accordingly, the first and second applicators 54 and 55 can be moved up and down along the Z-axis rail 56Z. Further, an air cylinder 58 (see FIG. 14B) that can be moved up and down in the Z-axis direction is further provided between the first applicator 54 and the second frame 57b. Therefore, only the first applicator 54 can be moved up and down along the Z-axis rail 56 </ b> Z and can be moved up and down in two stages, that is, the air cylinder 58. In other words, the height of the first applicator 54 relative to the second applicator 55 is variable. Therefore, while the solder application is performed by the second applicator 55, the first applicator 54 can stand by at a higher retracted position than the tip of the second applicator 55. Further, while the solder application by the first applicator 54 is necessary, it can be lowered to an application position lower than the tip of the second applicator 55, causing interference between the second applicator 55 and the substrate 100. In addition, solder application by the first applicator 54 becomes possible.

[Discarded Disc]
Next, the discarded disc 61 will be described with reference to FIGS. The discarding disc 61 is a disc provided beside the conveyor 65 and at a position that does not hinder the conveyance of the substrate 100. In the present embodiment, trial solder application, so-called discarding, is performed on the upper surface of the discard disk 61.

  That is, normally, when solder is applied to the substrate 100, in order to determine whether or not the application pressure (application amount) is appropriate, prior to application to the substrate 100, a test is performed in another place. Dispose of solder. The control unit determines whether or not the application pressure (application amount) is appropriate based on the shape of the solder applied by the discarding and controls the application pressure. Here, conventionally, such discarding has often been performed on disposable tapes. That is, the long tape is pulled out from the supply roll and wound up on the winding roll. In the discarding section provided between the supply roll and the take-up roll, the tape is discarded. Each time discarding is performed, the tape is wound around a winding roll, and a new portion of the tape is positioned at the discarding portion. And if all the tapes are taken up by the take-up roll, this tape is discarded and replaced with a new tape. In the conventional configuration using such a disposable tape, there is a cost corresponding to the tape, and there is a burden on the environment of disposable.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, instead of the tape, the discarding disc 61 is discarded. The discard disk 61 functions as a member to be coated on the upper surface of which a bonding material (solder) is experimentally applied, and is a disk that can be rotated about a rotation axis by driving a motor 63.

  A cleaner member 62 is provided above the discard disk 61. The cleaner member 62 is a member installed with its bottom surface 62 a in close contact with a part of the top surface of the discarded disk 61. A material suitable for wiping off the applied solder, such as a fiber material, is disposed on the bottom surface 62a of the cleaner member 62. Further, the cleaner member 62 is urged in a direction approaching the discarding disc 61 by an urging member (a spring or the like) (not shown) so as to be in close contact with the upper surface of the discarding disc 61. Then, when the cleaning member 62 and the discarding disc 61 move relative to each other with the rotation of the discarding disc 61, the bottom surface 62a of the cleaner member 62 wipes away the solder applied on the top surface of the discarding disc 61 and discards it. The solder is removed from the upper surface of the punching disc 61.

  When the discarding operation is performed on the discarding disk having such a configuration, first, solder is applied to the exposed portion of the discarding disk 61 by the dispensing head 52 as a test (discarding). The applied solder is photographed by a camera 53 a provided in the dispense head 52. The control unit determines whether the application pressure is appropriate based on an image obtained by photographing. Further, when the trial application is completed, the control unit drives the motor 63 to rotate the rounding disc 61 360 degrees, that is, one rotation. During this rotation, the applied solder is wiped off by the cleaner member 62a and removed. As a result, the upper surface of the discarding disc 61 is in a clean state in which the solder can be applied again, and can be discarded again. In other words, according to this embodiment, the rounding disc 61 that is a member to which solder is applied can be used repeatedly. Therefore, the waste of throwing away the tape as in the conventional case can be eliminated.

  In the present embodiment, the member to be coated on which the solder is applied on a trial basis has a disk shape. However, as long as it can be used repeatedly, it is not limited to the disk and may have other shapes. For example, a plate-like member that advances and retreats in the Y direction may be used. Even in this case, the applied solder may be removed by providing a cleaner member that is in close contact with the upper surface of the plate-like member, and advancing and retracting the plate-like member each time it is thrown away. Further, in the present embodiment, the member to be coated (rounded disk) is moved, but the cleaner member may be moved instead of the member to be coated to wipe the solder.

  In the present embodiment, the discarding disk is rotated 360 degrees each time it is discarded. This is because solder can be applied (discarded) to the same position in the discarded disc 61. The reason for applying the solder to the same portion in this way is to prevent the height of the application surface (the upper surface of the round disc 61) from changing. That is, it is difficult to keep the scraping disc 61 strictly level. Therefore, the height of the upper surface of the discard disk 61 is slightly different depending on the rotation angle. This difference in the height of the upper surface may affect strict judgment of the coating pressure. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the discarding disk is rotated 360 degrees every time it is thrown away, so that the height of the coated surface is always the same. Of course, if the rounding disc 61 is installed strictly horizontally or the upper surface height is measured every time it is thrown away, it may be rotated at less than 360 degrees.

[Mount section overview]
Next, the mount portion 67 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 16 is a side view of the mount head 68 provided in the mount portion 67.

  The mount part 67 is a part for mounting an electronic component such as a semiconductor element on the upper surface of the substrate 100 that has been transported. The mount portion 67 is provided with a mount head 68, a tape delivery mechanism 72, a buffer portion 73, a component photographing mechanism 69, a head replacement mechanism 70, and the like.

  The mount head 68 is a head that holds and conveys electronic components and mounts them on the substrate 100. The configuration of the mount head 68 will be described in detail later. The mount head 68 can move in the XYZ directions, and the suction head 74 for sucking and holding the components can rotate around the Z axis.

  The tape delivery mechanism 72 is a mechanism that sequentially delivers the carrier tape 71 holding electronic components. On one carrier tape 71, electronic components of the same type are arranged at intervals in a row. Each time an electronic component is taken out by the mount head 68, the tape feed mechanism 72 feeds out the carrier tape 71 so that a new electronic component is positioned at a take-out position where the mount head 68 can take it out. Here, in this embodiment, since many types of components are arranged on one substrate 100, it is necessary to prepare a large number of tape delivery mechanisms 72. When such a large number of tape delivery mechanisms 72 are arranged in a row, the taper mechanism is elongated in one direction, resulting in an increase in the size of the apparatus. Further, when the long lines are arranged in one direction, the stroke of the mount head 68 for taking out components from the tape needs to be long in one direction. However, when the stroke is excessively increased, it is necessary to improve the output of the motor and the rigidity of the support member, which causes problems such as further increase in size of the apparatus and increase in cost. Therefore, in this embodiment, a part of the large number of tape delivery mechanisms 72 is arranged in the X direction, and the remaining tape delivery mechanisms 72 are arranged in the Y direction. From another point of view, in this embodiment, a part of the tape delivery mechanism 72 is arranged along one side of the drive range E (see FIG. 12) of the mount head 68 and the remaining tape delivery mechanism 72 is placed in the drive range E. It is arranged along the other side. By adopting such a configuration, the arrangement range of the tape is prevented from becoming long in one direction. Thus, it is not necessary to increase the stroke of the mount head 68 only in one direction, and as a result, increase in cost and size can be prevented.

  The buffer unit 73 is a part that temporarily holds an electronic component, which will be described in detail later. The head exchange mechanism 70 is a mechanism for exchanging the suction nozzle 75 provided at the tip of the suction head 74 provided in the mount head 68. That is, as described later, the mount head 68 is provided with a suction head 74 that sucks and holds components. The shape of the suction nozzle 75 provided at the tip of the suction head 74 is preferably exchanged as appropriate according to the shape and size of the component to be held. Therefore, in the present embodiment, a plurality of replacement suction nozzles 75 are prepared, and the suction nozzles 75 can be appropriately replaced.

  The component photographing mechanism 69 is a mechanism for photographing a component sucked and held by the suction head 74. The component photographing mechanism 69 is provided with an annular illumination for illuminating a component held by the suction head 74 and a camera having a vertically upward optical axis. The suction head 74 that takes out a part from the carrier tape 71 or the buffer unit 73 and sucks and holds the part moves to a position directly above the part photographing mechanism 69 prior to the mounting operation. The camera of the part photographing mechanism 69 photographs the part held by the suction head 74.

  The control unit calculates the rotation angle of the sucked and held component in the horizontal plane based on the image captured by the component imaging mechanism 69, and based on the calculation result, the angle of the component in the horizontal plane is appropriate. The suction head 74 is rotated around the Z axis so that This makes it possible to mount the component at an appropriate angle.

[Mount head]
Next, the mount head 68 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The mount head 68 takes out components from the carrier tape 71 or the buffer unit 73 and mounts them on the substrate 100. The mount head 68 is provided with a suction head 74 and a photographing mechanism 78.

  The photographing mechanism 78 is a mechanism for photographing the upper surface of the substrate 100, and includes a camera 78a having a vertically downward optical axis, and a ring illumination 78b provided immediately below the camera 78a. The control unit specifies an accurate position of the substrate and a marker attached to the substrate 100 based on the image of the substrate 100 photographed by the photographing mechanism 78. Then, the relative position between the suction head 74 and the substrate 100 is finely adjusted based on the specified substrate position. Further, the board type is determined based on the obtained marker, and the mounting position of the component is determined according to the determined board type.

  The suction head 74 is a head for sucking and holding components, and a suction nozzle 75 is attached to the tip thereof. The suction nozzle 75 is connected to a pump (not shown), and sucks and holds components and releases suction according to the driving of the pump. As described above, the suction nozzle 75 is replaceable according to the shape of the component to be held.

  The suction nozzle 75 and the imaging mechanism 78 are movable along the Y-axis rail 77Y and the X-axis rail 77X in conjunction with each other. Further, the suction head 74 is movable (movable up and down) in the Z-axis direction according to the driving of the cylinder 76, and is also rotatable around the Z-axis.

[Buffer part]
Next, the buffer unit 73 will be described in detail. As described above, the mount portion 67 is provided with the buffer portion 73 that temporarily accommodates components to be mounted (see FIG. 12). The parts accommodated in the buffer unit 73 are used while exchanging the empty carrier tape 71.

  That is, as described above, the carrier tape 71 has a large number of electronic components of the same type arranged at intervals in a row. The mount head 68 takes out components one by one from the carrier tape 71 and places them on the substrate 100. The tape delivery mechanism 72 feeds out the carrier tape 71 each time a part is taken out, and places a new electronic part at a take-out position where it can be taken out by the mount head 68.

  When all the parts are removed from the carrier tape 71 and the carrier tape 71 becomes empty, the operator removes the empty carrier tape 71 from the tape delivery mechanism 72 and sets a new carrier tape 71 instead. It is necessary to replace the tape. Of course, the mount head 68 cannot remove the parts from the carrier tape 71 during this tape change. Therefore, in the conventional mounting apparatus in which the buffer unit 73 is not provided, there is a problem that the mounting operation of the parts cannot be performed during the tape replacement, and the processing efficiency is lowered.

  In order to avoid such a problem, in this embodiment, a buffer unit 73 that holds at least the number of electronic components required during the time required for the tape replacement is provided. During the tape exchange, the components are taken out from the buffer unit 73 and mounted on the substrate 100. As a result, the mounting operation can be continued during the tape replacement time, and the processing efficiency can be improved.

  In the present embodiment, the used carrier tape 71 is used to hold components in the buffer unit 73. That is, the carrier tape 71 after all the parts have been removed is usually discarded. However, the carrier tape 71 is formed with a recess corresponding to the outer shape of the component in order to hold the component. By disposing the carrier tape 71 having such recesses in the buffer part 73 and disposing buffer parts in the recesses, the parts can be held more stably. Further, by effectively utilizing the discarded carrier tape 71, it is not necessary to manufacture a new component holding component, and the cost can be reduced.

  By the way, the setting of the parts to the buffer unit 73 may be performed manually or automatically by the mount head. When performing manually, for example, a necessary number of parts are transferred from the carrier tape 71 to the buffer unit 73 in advance at the start of production.

  As another form, when the mounting device 49 is started and when the replacement of the carrier tape 71 is completed, the shortage of parts in the buffer unit 73 is detected and automatically (by the mount head), the carrier tape 71 corresponding to the shortage. May be supplied to the buffer unit 73.

  FIG. 17 is a timing chart in this case. The first stage of FIG. 17 shows the timing for taking out the components from the carrier tape 71 and mounting the second stage, the timing of replacing the tape, and the third stage by the mount head 68 from the carrier tape 71 to the buffer unit 73. The buffer filling timing for replenishing the components is shown, and the fourth row shows the timing for taking out the components from the buffer unit 73 and mounting. In FIG. 17, the ratio of each time is changed from the actual one for the sake of easy viewing. In practice, the normal mounting time is longer and the buffer filling time is shorter.

  When the mounting apparatus 49 is activated at time T1, the control unit detects the number of parts shortage in the buffer unit 73. Here, the shortage number is a number obtained by subtracting the number of components arranged in the buffer unit 73 from the number of electronic components required during the time required for tape replacement.

  When it is determined that there is a shortage of parts, a buffer filling operation (third stage in FIG. 17) is performed. That is, the control unit drives the mount head 68 to supply the buffer part 73 with a shortage of parts from the carrier tape 71. Of course, no mounting work is done during this time.

  When the filling of the parts into the buffer unit 73 is completed at time T2, a normal mounting operation (first stage in FIG. 17) is performed. In other words, the mount head 68 performs an operation of taking out components from the carrier tape 71 and mounting them on the substrate 100.

  When the carrier tape 71 becomes empty at time T3, the operator replaces the carrier tape 71 (second stage in FIG. 17). On the other hand, the control unit instructs the mount head 68 to take out the components from the buffer unit 73. In response to this instruction, the mount head 68 takes out the component from the buffer unit 73 and performs the mounting operation (fourth stage in FIG. 17). Here, since the buffer 73 has as many components as necessary during the time required for the tape replacement, the mounting operation can be continued until time T4 when the tape replacement is completed.

  When the tape replacement is completed at time T4, the control unit instructs the mount head 68 to take out the component from the carrier tape 71. Upon receiving this instruction, the mount head 68 resumes the normal mounting operation for taking out and mounting the components from the carrier tape 71 (first stage in FIG. 17).

  After that, when the tape becomes empty again at time T5, the operator starts tape replacement (second stage in FIG. 17). At this time, since the parts of the buffer unit 73 are not used at the previous tape replacement, they cannot be used at the time of the current tape replacement. Therefore, the mounting operation is interrupted from time T5 to time T7 when buffer replenishment to be described later is completed.

  When the tape replacement is completed at time T <b> 6, the control unit detects the number of parts shortage in the buffer unit 73 and instructs the mount head 68 to supply only the shortage. In response to this instruction, the mount head 68 takes out the component from the carrier tape 71 and replenishes the buffer to be arranged in the buffer unit 73 (third stage in FIG. 17).

  When the buffer filling is completed at time T7, the normal mounting operation of taking out the components from the carrier tape 71 and mounting them on the substrate is started again (first stage in FIG. 17). Thereafter, the same operation is repeated.

  As is clear from the above description, according to this embodiment, it is not necessary to interrupt the mounting operation every time the tape is exchanged, so that the operating rate of the apparatus can be improved more efficiently than in the past. According to this embodiment, every time the two carrier tapes 71 are used up, the mounting operation must be interrupted for the time required for tape replacement and the time required for buffer filling. However, the time required for buffer filling is sufficiently shorter than the time required for tape replacement. For this reason, the total mount interruption time in this embodiment is sufficiently small as compared with the prior art in which the mount operation is interrupted for the time required for the tape change every time the tape is changed. Also, here, the case where the number of parts required for one tape replacement time is arranged in the buffer unit 73 is illustrated, but a larger number of parts may be kept waiting in the buffer unit 73. Good. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to shorten the suspension time of the mounting of the device due to the tape replacement, and it is possible to further improve the operating rate of the device.

  In this embodiment, the buffer is filled when the tape replacement is completed. However, the buffer may be filled during normal mounting. This will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 18 is a timing chart when the buffer is filled during normal mounting. The first stage of FIG. 18 shows the timing for taking out the components from the carrier tape 71 and mounting the second stage, the timing of the tape replacement, and the third stage by the mount head 68 from the carrier tape 71 to the buffer unit 73. The timing at which the parts are supplied, and the fourth level shows the timing at which the parts are taken out from the buffer unit 73 and mounted.

  In FIG. 17, it is illustrated that the mounting operation is performed without interruption during the normal mounting operation, but actually, after the mounted substrate 100 is output from the mounting unit 67, a new substrate 100 is mounted. There are often times when the mounting operation cannot be performed, for example, until the unit 67 is sent. As a result, as shown in the first row of FIG. 18, a minute interruption time Tk repeatedly occurs in the normal mounting operation in which components are taken out from the carrier tape 71 and mounted.

  During this minute interruption time Tk, the parts may be taken out from the carrier tape 71 and the buffer filling for filling the parts into the buffer unit 73 may be performed. In this case, the control unit determines whether or not there is a shortage of parts in the buffer unit 73 every time the interruption time Tk occurs. If it is determined that there is a shortage of parts, the mount head 68 is driven to take out the parts from the carrier tape 71 and refill the buffer 73 (third stage in FIG. 18).

  Thereafter, when the carrier tape 71 becomes empty and the tape replacement is started, the component is taken out from the buffer unit 73 and mounted on the substrate 100. When the tape replacement is completed, normal mounting is performed in which the parts are taken out from the carrier tape 71 again.

  As described above, if the buffer filling is performed during the minute interruption time Tk that normally occurs during the mounting operation, it is not necessary to interrupt the mounting operation for tape replacement, and the operating rate of the apparatus can be further improved.

[Lower unit (reflow part)]
Next, the lower unit 80 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 19 is a schematic side view of the lower unit 80. The lower unit 80 is provided with a reflow unit 81 that heats the substrate and melts the solder. The reflow unit 81 is provided with a conveyor 83 for transporting the substrate 100 (pallet 110) and three sets of six reflow furnaces 82 in total.

  The substrate 100 output from the mount unit 67 of the upper unit 50 is transported to the same height as the lower unit 80 by the lowering mechanism provided in the lowering unit 84 and is put into the reflow unit 81. The board | substrate 100 thrown into the reflow part 81 is conveyed downstream by the conveyor 83. FIG. Here, the conveyance direction is reversed between the lower unit 80 and the upper unit 50. That is, in the upper unit 50, as shown in FIG. 12, the substrate is transported from the rising portion 85 side to the lowering portion 84 side, whereas in the lower unit 80, the lowering portion 84 side is moved to the rising portion 85 side. It is conveyed.

  The reflow furnace 82 is a unit including a heater for heating the substrate 100, a fan for sending heat from the heater, and the like. In this embodiment, a total of six reflow furnaces 82 are provided, which are opposed to each other up and down across the conveyor 83. In the process of being conveyed between the reflow furnaces 82, the solder applied to the substrate 100 is melted, and components are soldered to the substrate 100. The substrate 100 output from the reflow furnace 82 is carried by a rising mechanism provided in the rising portion. Then, by cooling in the process of conveyance by the ascending mechanism, the solder is fixed, and the component is fixed to the substrate 100.

[Descent part and rise part]
Next, the descending part 84 and the ascending part 85 will be described in detail. As described above, the lowering portion 84 is a mechanism for transporting the substrate 100 (pallet 110) output from the upper unit 50 to the lower unit 80, and the rising portion 85 is the substrate 100 output from the lower unit 80. This is a mechanism for transporting the (pallet 110) to the upper unit 50.

  The descending unit 84 is, for example, a table on which the pallet 110 is placed, a transmission mechanism (for example, a lead screw, a gear, and a chain) that converts the rotation of the motor into a linear motion and transmits the table, and a drive source. It consists of a motor that becomes. Since such a lowering mechanism can be configured using various known techniques, detailed description thereof is omitted here.

  Next, the rising portion 85 will be described in detail. FIG. 20 is a schematic front view of the ascending portion 85 (a schematic view in the direction A in FIG. 12).

  The raising portion 85 is provided with a raising mechanism 86 that raises the substrate 100 together with the pallet 110, an accommodation mechanism 94 that accommodates the raised pallet 110, and a take-out mechanism 96 that takes out the completed substrate 100 c from the pallet 110. Yes. The raising mechanism 86 includes a raising arm 92 that pushes up the pallet 110 output from the lower unit 80 from below. Both ends of the ascending arm 92 are inserted through a guide shaft 93 that stands in the vertical direction, and the ascending arm 92 moves only along the guide shaft 93 in the vertical direction. A gear 90 is connected to the output shaft of the motor 88 that is a drive source, and the rotation of the gear 90 is converted into a linear motion and transmitted to the ascending arm 92 via the chain 91. It has become. As the motor 88 is driven, the raising arm 92 is raised, whereby the pallet 110 output from the lower unit 80 is pushed up and conveyed to the accommodation mechanism 94.

  The take-out mechanism 96 is a mechanism for taking out the completed substrate 100c prior to the lift of the pallet 110 by the lift arm 92. The take-out mechanism 96 is provided with a suction head 97 for sucking the substrate 100. Then, the suction head 97 moves while the substrate 100 is sucked and held, whereby the completed substrate 100c is taken out from the pallet 110 and conveyed. The suction head 97 can be rotated around the Z axis, moved up and down along the Z axis, and moved along the X axis by the rotary actuator 98R, the Z axis robot 98Z, and the X axis robot 98X.

  The removal of the completed substrate 100c by the suction head 97 will be briefly described. When the pallet 110 is output from the lower unit 80, the suction head 97 moves to a position directly above the completed substrate 100c held on the pallet 110, and sucks and holds the completed substrate 100c. Then, in a state where the completed substrate 100c is sucked and held, the suction head 97 is slightly raised, so that the completed substrate 100c is detached from the pallet 110. Thereafter, the suction head 97 rotates around the Z axis and moves away from just above the pallet 110. Subsequently, the suction head 97 rises to a position slightly higher than the finished product rail 99 on which the finished substrate 100c is placed. And if it moves to the X-axis direction and moves to the position just above the finished product rail 99, the suction by the suction head 97 is released, and the finished substrate 100c is placed on the finished product rail 99.

  By the movement of the take-out mechanism 96, only the semi-finished board 100 on which component mounting is performed only on one side remains on the pallet 110 conveyed to the upper unit 50 by the raising mechanism 86. The pallet 110 in which only one semi-finished substrate 100 remains is loaded again into the upper unit 50 after a new unfinished substrate 100 is additionally set.

  Here, it is desirable that the pallet 110 is re-inserted into the upper unit 50 in the same manner as the substrate 100 is inserted in the pretreatment apparatus 10 so that the pallet 110 added earlier is supplied first. Therefore, the rising portion 85 of the mounting device 49 is also provided with a storage mechanism 94 similar to the storage mechanism (see FIG. 4) in the pretreatment device 10.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 20, a support plate 95 that supports the stacked pallets 110 from below is provided on the transport path (lift path) of the pallets 110 by the lift mechanism 86. The support plate 95 can be rotated by a hinge with a spring, and is moved upward by a pallet 110 supplied from below to move to a retracted position allowing passage of the supplied pallet 110. To do. When the pressing by the pallet 110 is released, the support plate 95 returns to the support position for supporting the stacked pallets 110 by the urging force of the spring provided on the spring hinge.

  By providing such a support plate 95, the pallets 110 output first from the lower unit 80 are stacked on the upper side, and as a result, are put into the upper unit 50 first. Thereby, one substrate 100 is not left for a long time, and deterioration of the substrate 100 is prevented.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Substrate pretreatment apparatus, 12 Substrate accommodating part, 14 Accommodating space, 16 Spring hinge, 17 Support base, 20 Conveying head, 24 Extruding plate, 26 Marker head, 29 Marking pen, 34 Cleaner unit, 35 Cleaner brush, 43 Conveyor , 46 Screw fastening head, 47 Connector set part, 49 Component mounting device, 50 Upper unit, 51 Dispense part, 52 Dispense head, 53, 78 Imaging mechanism, 54, 55 Applicator, 58 Air cylinder, 59 Distance sensor, 61 Discard disk, 62 Cleaner member, 67 Mount part, 68 Mount head, 69 Parts photographing mechanism, 70 Head exchange mechanism, 71 Carrier tape, 72 Tape feed mechanism, 73 Buffer part, 74 Suction head, 75 Suction nozzle, 80 Lower side Unit, 82 reflow Furnace, 84 descending part, 85 ascending part, 86 ascending mechanism, 92 ascending arm, 94 accommodating mechanism, 95 support plate, 96 take-out mechanism, 97 suction head, 100 substrate, 104 connector, 110 pallet.

Claims (2)

A substrate housing apparatus that houses one or more substrates or substrate holding members in a stacked state,
A support member that supports the stacked substrate or substrate holding member from below, and is pressed upward by a substrate or substrate holding member that is supplied from below, so that the substrate or substrate holding member that is supplied passes therethrough. A substrate receiving apparatus comprising: a supporting member that moves to a permissible retreat position and moves to a supporting position that supports the stacked substrate or substrate holding member when the pressing is released. It is a board | substrate accommodation apparatus of Claim 1, Comprising:
Urging means for urging the support member in the direction of the support position;
The support member moves to the retracted position by rotating upward against the biasing force of the biasing means when pressed upward by the substrate or the substrate holding member.
A substrate receiving apparatus characterized by the above.

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