JP2017218318A - Part feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problems of a conventional part feeder that there is a high possibility that a workpiece is rubbed and damaged since two faces of the workpiece are moved while being in contact with each other in a conveyance route, and that a workpiece is prevented from being conveyed/moved when dirt and dust adhere to the workpiece itself and the conveyance route.SOLUTION: In a part feeder 1, a conveyance route 2 includes a positive pressure chamber 2A for blowing out air, a plate-like or sheet-like porous material 2B provided on the top face of the positive pressure chamber 2A, a guide plate 2C provided to the end part in a direction orthogonal to a moving direction of a workpiece W on the surface of the porous material 2B, pins G0, G1, B1, G2, and B2 provided to the porous material 2B and the guide plate 2C that can advance and retreat to/from each of the surfaces. The conveyance route 2 is inclined on a guide plate 2C side and an advancing direction side.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a parts feeder that can be easily and quickly changed in posture and conveyed, and that suppresses damage caused by rubbing a minute object such as an electronic component.

  For example, in Patent Documents 1 to 4, in order to align and transport minute objects (hereinafter referred to as workpieces) such as electronic components, an inclination is provided in the transport path and air is injected into the transport path. The parts feeder is shown.

  The parts feeder of Patent Document 1 selects a rectangular plate-shaped member as an object of selection from the inner peripheral wall of the lower end of the slope on the inclined track inclined upward by 30 degrees from the center of the bowl to the outside in the radial direction, rather than the width of the part. A part whose length direction is orthogonal to the transfer direction is blown out from the inner peripheral wall of the large and slanted lower end by air blown from the air blow holes arranged in the transfer direction at a position larger than the width of the part and smaller than the length. The air blown from the air blowing holes opened in the inner peripheral surface of the outer peripheral wall at the position corresponding to the upper end portion of the blown up part is blown behind the part to be selectively removed from the inclined track.

  The parts feeder of Patent Document 2 moves a rectangular part whose width and height are approximated along one side wall of a vibration track having an obtuse opening angle and a V-shaped cross section. Front and back detection means are provided opposite to the side wall of the first and when the front and back detection means detect the back side, air is ejected from an air ejection hole formed in the one side wall to bring the component into a flying state. After rotating around its center of gravity and landing on the other side wall, the strength and air of the air to be jetted to reverse the front and back so as to rotate around the contact point with the other side wall The position of the ejection hole is determined.

  The parts feeder of Patent Document 3 includes a linear feeder and a ball feeder that supplies workpieces to the linear feeder, an air blast port is provided on the track of the ball feeder, a work receiver is provided on the air blast port, A workpiece separating mechanism is configured by the workpiece receiver, and the workpiece receiver has a cylinder body that is a net support and a net body provided at the upper end of the cylinder body.

  In the parts feeder of Patent Document 4, a first conveyance path having a V-shaped cross section and a second conveyance path having a cross-sectional shape having an R-shaped bottom are provided in parallel, and the first conveyance path and the second conveyance path are provided. A convex protrusion PT is provided between the first and the second conveyance paths, and an air ejection part is provided on the other inclined surface of the first conveyance path.

  These configurations common to the parts feeders of Patent Documents 1 to 4 eject air and change the posture of the workpiece to align and convey the workpiece, or eject air and align and convey the workpiece with different postures. That is, the workpiece conveyance path is inclined.

  The parts feeders of Patent Documents 1 to 4 eject air and float the work, but the part from which air is ejected is only the part where the posture is changed or blown away, and the work is this air Float only at the part where In other words, the work moves while sliding along the inclined conveyance path, except for the part where the air is ejected, without floating.

  On the other hand, the reason that the workpiece conveyance path is inclined is that at least two surfaces of the workpiece, that is, the bottom surface that contacts the conveyance path and the side surface adjacent to the bottom surface are in contact with each other to stabilize the movement posture, In order to move it by its own weight.

  From the above, the parts feeders of the conventional Patent Documents 1 to 4 are moving while rubbing the two surfaces of the work other than the part where the air is injected, and the possibility that the work is damaged is increased. There's a problem.

  In addition, when two surfaces of the workpiece are in contact with each other, for example, in the case of a very small workpiece, for example, an electronic element of a micron unit, only a few dusts or dirt adhere to the surface of the workpiece itself or the surface contacting the workpiece in the transport path. Even if the movement of the workpiece is hindered and the conveyance path is inclined in the traveling direction, the conveyance may stop.

JP-A-11-208772 JP 2001-187628 A JP 2007-91384 A JP 2007-276993 A

  The problems to be solved are that the parts feeders of the conventional patent documents 1 to 4 are likely to be damaged by rubbing because the two surfaces are in contact with each other along the conveyance path, and the workpiece itself and the conveyance path. If dust or dust adheres to the surface, the transfer of the workpiece is hindered.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, a parts feeder according to the present invention is a parts feeder that transports a minute work in a transport path that is a transport path. The transport path is a positive pressure chamber that ejects air, and an upper surface of the positive pressure chamber. A plate-like or sheet-like porous material provided on the surface, a guide plate provided at an end of the surface of the porous material in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the workpiece, and provided on the porous material and the guide plate Each of the pins has a pin that can be moved back and forth to the surface thereof, and the conveyance path is inclined toward the guide plate side and the traveling direction side.

  In the parts feeder of the present invention, the conveyance path is composed of two surfaces, that is, the surface of the porous material that is the main path and the guide plate that is the sub-path. Since the air is ejected, there is an advantage that the work is not contacted and floats at least on the surface of the porous material, and the possibility that the work is rubbed and damaged during the transfer movement is reduced.

  Further, the parts feeder of the present invention projects the pins from the surface of the porous material or from the guide plate with respect to the work floating on the surface of the porous material, so that the posture of the work can be changed with a very small force. At the same time, since the conveyance path and the workpiece are not rubbed, there is an advantage that damage to the workpiece is also suppressed.

The schematic structure of the parts feeder of this invention is shown, (a) is E arrow view of (b), (b) is A arrow view of (a). FIG. 1 is an enlarged view of a part B of FIG. 1 of the parts feeder according to the present invention, where (a) is a view taken in the direction of arrow D in FIG. It is D arrow line view of FIG.1 (b) which expanded and showed the C section of FIG. 1 of the parts feeder of this invention. (A) (b) is a figure for demonstrating the attitude | position state of a workpiece | work. (A)-(d) is a figure for demonstrating the drive condition of the pin in the parts feeder of this invention. In the parts feeder of this invention, it is a figure for demonstrating the example of a drive of the pin with respect to the attitude | position state of a workpiece | work. (A)-(e) is a figure for demonstrating the drive example of the deceleration member in the parts feeder of this invention.

  Since the parts feeder of the present invention moves in contact with two surfaces on the transport path, it is highly likely to be damaged by rubbing, and when the workpiece itself or the transport path is attached with dust or dirt, the transport of the work is prevented. The positive pressure chamber that blows out air, the plate-like or sheet-like porous material provided on the upper surface of this positive pressure chamber, and the movement direction of the workpiece on the surface of this porous material are obstructed. And a guide plate provided at an end portion in the direction, and a porous path and a pin provided on each of the surfaces provided on the guide plate, and the conveyance path is inclined to the guide plate side and the traveling direction side. Improved.

  In addition to the above configuration, the parts feeder according to the present invention may be provided with a speed reducing member on the lower surface of the porous material for controlling the opening and closing of the hole of the porous material to decelerate the workpiece. By carrying out like this, the workpiece | work with the same conveyance attitude | position can be separately conveyed downstream with a predetermined space | interval.

  Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Since the parts feeder 1 of the present invention has main characteristics in the transport path 2, for example, the upstream process and downstream process equipment of the transport path of the workpiece W and the peripheral configuration other than the transport path 2 in the parts feeder 2 are described. Not shown and explanation is omitted. In addition, about the illustration, since each component of the parts feeder 1 of the present invention is small, the extremely small workpiece W is exaggerated and enlarged for easy interpretation.

  The parts feeder 1 of the present invention performs image processing on a transport path 2 described later, a camera 3 that captures the situation of a work W transported on the upstream side of the transport path 2, and image data captured by the camera 3. In order to analyze and make it the same posture, the control part 4 which controls the exit / exit of the below-mentioned pins G0, G1, B1, the pins G2, B2 and the later-described deceleration member 2D is provided in this example.

  The conveyance path 2 is configured as follows. 2A is a positive pressure chamber that ejects air and is connected to an air pump (not shown). The positive pressure chamber 2A has a box shape with an upper surface having a predetermined width and a transfer path length. The positive pressure in the positive pressure chamber 2A means that the air supplied from the air pump is filled and blown out from the upper surface.

  2B is a plate-like or sheet-like porous material provided on the upper surface which is the opening surface of the positive pressure chamber 2A. In this example, a plate-like material in which innumerable holes penetrating the front and back are formed as the porous material 2B. The porous material 2B constitutes the floor surface of the conveyance path 2 where the bottom surface of the workpiece W being conveyed is located. The work W is transported in a state where air filled in the positive pressure chamber 2A is ejected from the surface of the porous material 2B and floated. The porous plate 2B does not show the holes individually in the figure, but indicates that there are innumerable holes by hatching.

  2C is a guide plate provided on one side surface of the positive pressure chamber 2A. The guide plate 2C is provided in a state of protruding upward at a predetermined height from the surface of the porous material 2B.

  G0, G1, and G2 are pins provided on the guide plate 2C in order from the upstream side. The pins G0, G1, and G2 are configured to be withdrawn and withdrawn instantaneously by a driving unit (not shown) from the surface of the guide plate 2C facing the porous material 2B.

  B1 and B2 are pins provided in the positive pressure chamber 2A on the lower surface of the porous material 2B in order from the upstream side. The pins B1 and B2 are configured to be withdrawn and withdrawn instantaneously from the surface of the porous material 2B by driving means (not shown).

  In this example, pins G0, G1, B1, G2, and B2 are provided in this order from the upstream side of the transport path, and all of the protrusions are rotated by 90 ° as shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b). The control unit 4 is configured to control the half protrusions to be rotated and the full protrusions to be rotated by 180 ° as shown in FIGS. 5 (c) and 5 (d). This control will be described later.

  In this example, 2D is a speed reduction member 2D provided in the positive pressure chamber 2A further downstream from the position where the pin B2 is provided. The speed reduction member 2D moves from the side opposite to the side where the guide plate 2C is located in the positive pressure chamber 2A (hereinafter referred to as the anti-guide plate 2C side) to the guide plate 2C side, and is within the transport path range of the workpiece W. The workpiece W is decelerated by closing the air ejection portion of the porous material 2A, and the workpiece W is moved from the guide plate 2C side to the anti-guide plate 2C side to open the air ejection portion of the porous material 2A within the conveyance path range of the workpiece W. Thus, the work W is set to the normal speed. The movement control of the deceleration member 2D is performed by the control unit 4. This control will be described later.

As shown in the figure, the conveyance path 2 configured in this way is formed in a straight line, and the conveyance upstream end of the workpiece W is inclined upward and the conveyance downstream end is inclined downward by an angle θ1, and ,
Porous material 2B (positive pressure chamber 2A and guide plate 2C are integrated), the guide plate 2C side is inclined downward, and the end of the porous material 2B on the side where the guide plate is not provided is inclined upward by an angle θ2. ing.

  In other words, the transport path 2 is provided with a slope having a downward slope (angle θ1) toward the transport direction and a slope with a downward slope (angle θ2) on the guide plate 2C side. Thereby, the workpiece | work W will be in a floating state with the air from the positive pressure chamber 2A ejected from the porous material 2B.

  Note that the angle θ1 and the angle θ2 of the conveyance path 2 are related to the weight of the workpiece W, and the workpiece W in the parts feeder 1 of the present invention floats along the entire length of the conveyance path 2, and therefore, several degrees. It is sufficient to incline within a range (for example, 5 ° to 20 °). In particular, if it is greatly inclined in the transport direction, the transport speed can be increased, but there is a possibility that the time for adjusting the posture cannot be secured.

  In the parts feeder 1 of the present invention, since the workpiece W is floating as described above and the conveyance path 2 is inclined to the guide plate 2C side by the angle θ2, the workpiece W is promptly moved to the guide plate 2C. Since it is aligned here and the conveyance path 2 is inclined in the conveyance direction by an angle θ1, it moves in the conveyance direction (from upstream to downstream) by its own weight of the workpiece W while being aligned by the guide plate 2C. It is easy to do.

  When the workpiece W is conveyed in an intended posture and aligned at an intended interval, the workpiece W is conveyed with its own weight as described above. However, the workpiece W sent from the upstream has different postures and intervals. is there.

  Therefore, the parts feeder 1 of the present invention configured as described above takes images one by one with the work W by the camera 3 before reaching the position of the pin G0 in the conveyance path 2, and the control unit 4 individually images the imaged data. After processing, the current posture and interval are analyzed, and the drive control of the pins G0 to G2, the pins B1 and B2, and the deceleration member 2D is performed, and the leading end of the workpiece W is conveyed from the upstream side. Even if the surface that is the upper surface and the surface that is the upper surface are individually separated, they are transported in the same posture and individually separated one by one. This operation will be described in detail below.

  Hereinafter, the workpiece W has six surfaces, and as illustrated in FIG. 4, the intended correct conveyance posture is described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 4B, the control unit 4 determines whether the workpiece W conveyed from the upstream side has the surface 5 or the surface 6 on the front end surface or the rear end surface in the conveying direction as shown in FIG. In addition, it is determined whether the surface 2 or the surface 4 is at the front end surface or the rear end surface in the transport direction. If the state shown in FIG. 4A, the pin G0 is not driven, and if the state shown in FIG. The pin G0 is driven to protrude half way.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 4B, when the surface 2 of the workpiece W is positioned at the front end surface and the surface 4 is positioned at the rear end surface, the pin G0 is positioned when the tip end of the workpiece W is positioned at the protruding position of the pin G0. When it is half-projected, it rotates 90 ° in the tip direction and the surface 6 becomes the tip surface, and when the rear end of the workpiece W is located, if the pin G0 is half-projected, it rotates 90 ° in the rear end direction and the surface 5 becomes the tip. It becomes a surface. In the case of this example, since the surface 5 is the front end surface, the pin G0 is projected halfway when the front end portion of the workpiece W is positioned.

  By the time the workpiece W passes through the position of the pin G0, the tip end surface of the workpiece W is the surface 5 or 6 and then the control unit 4 determines whether the tip surface of the workpiece W is the surface 5 or the surface 6 Based on the analysis result of whether the upper surface is the surface 1 to the surface 4, the driving of the pins G1, B1, G2, and B2 and the signal of the half protrusion or the total protrusion when driving are given to the workpiece W. Are output continuously at the timing based on the interval.

  For example, when the surface 5 or the surface 6 is on the front end surface, it can be classified as shown in FIG. 6, and each is controlled as follows. In FIG. 6, half white / half black circles indicate half protrusions (90 ° rotation), and full white circles indicate full protrusions (180 ° rotation). In this example, the pins G1 and G2 push the upper part of the work W in the direction of the anti-guide plate 2C to rotate in one direction, and the pins B1 and B2 push up the rear end of the work W and push the rear end in the front end direction. An example of control for rotating in one direction, that is, adjusting the posture by rotating in either direction will be described.

<Surface 1 is top surface: Surface 5 is the tip surface> Since the intended normal posture, none of the pins G1 and B2 are driven. In addition, when the surface 5 is on the tip surface, the pins B1 and B2 are not driven in this example.
<Surface 2 is the upper surface: Surface 5 is the front end surface> The surface 1 that is the adjacent surface of the surface 4 by partially projecting the pin G2 after the pin G1 is fully protruded and the surface 4 opposite to the surface 2 is the upper surface On the top.

<Surface 3 is the upper surface: Surface 5 is the front end surface> The pin G1 is fully projected so that the surface 1 opposite to the surface 3 is the upper surface.
<Surface 4 is an upper surface: Surface 5 is a front end surface> The pin G1 is made to project halfway and the surface 1 that is adjacent to the surface 4 is used as the upper surface.

<Surface 1 is the upper surface: Surface 6 is the front end surface> The pin G1 is fully projected to make the surface 3 opposite to the surface 1 the upper surface, the pin B1 is fully projected to make the surface 5 the front end surface and the surface 3 The opposite surface 1 is the top surface.
<Surface 2 is the upper surface: Surface 6 is the front end surface> The pin B1 is fully protruded to make the surface 5 the front end surface, the surface 4 opposite to the surface 2 is the upper surface, and the pin G1 is made to protrude halfway. Adjacent surface 1 is the top surface.

<Surface 3 is upper surface: Surface 6 is front end surface> The pin B1 is fully projected to make the surface 5 the front end surface, and the surface 1 opposite to the surface 3 is the upper surface.
<Surface 4 is the upper surface: Surface 6 is the front end surface> The pin B1 is fully protruded to make the surface 5 the front end surface, the surface 3 opposite to the surface 4 is the upper surface, and the pin G2 is made to protrude halfway. Adjacent surface 1 is the top surface.

  In this example, the control example that does not need to drive the pin B2 is shown. However, the installation position and number of the pins G1, B1, G2, and B2 and the drive control are not limited to the above, and have seven or more surfaces. However, it is not limited to the above because it may be necessary to change the posture of the workpiece W.

  In this example, all the workpieces W have the same intended posture (the surface 1 is the top surface and the surface 5 is the leading surface) before passing the pin B2, and then the control unit 4 determines that the workpiece W is in the transport direction. Based on the analysis of the distance between each other, as shown in FIG. 7, the withdrawal of the deceleration member 2D is controlled.

  As shown in FIG. 7 (a), when the three workpieces continue from the beginning in the transport direction, and continue two at a predetermined (appropriate) interval, and the workpiece W arrives at the position of the deceleration member 2D, the control unit 4 Immediately before the workpiece W finishes passing over the deceleration member 2D, the deceleration member 2D is moved to the guide plate side 2C to close the air ejection hole of the porous material 2B and decelerate as shown in FIG. 7B.

  The speed reduction member 2D blocks the air ejection hole of the porous material 2B, but the work W in a floating state does not land on the porous material 2B, and is slightly enough to reduce the speed of its own weight conveyance due to floating and inclination. In such a range, the air ejection holes of the porous member 2B are closed for a short time so that the amount of air ejection is reduced slightly.

  In this example, the control unit 4 moves the speed reduction member 2D to the guide plate side 2C as shown in FIG. 7 (d) immediately before the third work W from the head has finished passing, and the porous material 2B. Close the air outlet hole and decelerate. By carrying out like this, the workpiece | work W will be conveyed to a downstream process separately at substantially equal intervals with the same attitude | position.

  As described above, the parts feeder 1 according to the present invention is conventionally transported in a state where the two surfaces of the workpiece W are always in contact with each other, whereas the workpiece in a floating state is in contact with one surface of the guide plate 2C. Since it can be conveyed in a state, the possibility of being damaged by rubbing during the conveyance movement can be reduced.

  Further, the parts feeder 1 of the present invention moves the pins G0 to G2 and the pins B1 and B2 out of the surface of the porous material 2B and the guide plate 2C with respect to the workpiece W floating on the surface of the porous material 2B. Since the posture of the workpiece can be changed with an extremely small force and the workpiece W does not rub, damage can be suppressed.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Parts feeder 2 Conveyance path 2A Positive pressure chamber 2B Porous material 2C Guide plate 2D Deceleration member 3 Camera 4 Control part G0, G1, G2 (Retracts and retracts from a guide plate) Pin B1, B2 (Retracts and retracts from a porous material) ) Pin W Workpiece

Claims (2)

  In a parts feeder that transports a minute work in a transport path that is a transport path, the transport path is a positive pressure chamber that ejects air, and a plate-like or sheet-like porous material provided on the upper surface of the positive pressure chamber, A guide plate provided at an end of the porous material surface in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the workpiece, and the porous material and a pin provided on the guide plate, each of which can be moved back and forth. The parts feeder is characterized in that the conveying path is inclined to the guide plate side and the traveling direction side.   The parts feeder according to claim 1, wherein a speed reducing member that decelerates the workpiece by controlling opening and closing of the hole of the porous material is provided on the lower surface of the porous material.

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