JP2627460B2 - Electronic component chip alignment supply device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a plurality of electronic component chips (including passive components, active components, and other electrical components. (Including parts as products.)
The present invention relates to an electronic component chip aligning and supplying device for supplying the electronic component chips while aligning them in a predetermined direction, and more particularly, to improving a passage for moving the electronic component chips after being aligned.

[Prior Art] The applicant of the present application filed an application such as Japanese Patent Application No. 62-96925 (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-272686) to mount an electronic component chip to be subjected to a chip mounting step. An electronic component chip storage cassette which can be advantageously used to supply such a plurality of electronic component chops when supplying to a station has been proposed.

The above electronic component chip storage cassette is basically
A case, in which a plurality of electronic component chips and a storage space for accommodating the electronic component chips are provided therein, and a discharge port for discharging the electronic component chips is formed in communication with the storage space. And an openable lid.

Such an electronic component chip storage cassette is not only applied as it is as a packaging form when an electronic component chip manufacturer ships electronic component chips, but also on the electronic component chip consumer side, this is not changed. The present invention can be applied to a chip mounting machine for supplying a plurality of electronic component chips to a chip mounting station.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a chip mounting step is performed using the electronic component chip storage cassette 1 (shown by imaginary lines). The cassette 1 is directly mounted on the hopper 2 of the chip mounter. More specifically, when the cassette 1 is fixed to the hopper 2 with the outlet of the cassette 1 facing the opening 3 of the hopper 2 and the lid of the cassette 1 is opened, Are supplied to the hopper 2 from the discharge port.

The hopper 2 is normally inclined, and the inclination angle 5 is selected to be, for example, about 45 degrees. The electronic component chips 4 supplied into the hopper 2 first flow into the large room 6, then into the small room 7, and finally reach the alignment passage 8. The alignment passage 8+ has a function of guiding the plurality of electronic component chips 4 to move in an aligned state in a predetermined direction, respectively, as shown in the figure. In order to achieve this function, the sectional size and shape of the alignment passage 8 are selected in relation to the sectional size and shape of the corner electronic component chip 4.

In the vicinity of the inlet 9 of the alignment passage 8, there is provided a blowing passage 10 for introducing compressed air from the outside, for example, intermittently. The compressed air introduced through the blowing passage 10 blows off the electronic component chip 4 near the inlet 9 of the alignment passage 8 and exerts a stirring action on the electronic component chip 4.

In this way, the plurality of electronic component chips 4 given from the cassette 1 pass through the large room 6 and the small room 7 and
When reaching the alignment passage 8 and entering the inlet 9 of the alignment passage 8, it is aligned in a predetermined direction, and then guided by the alignment passage 8 and discharged from the outlet 11 of the alignment passage 8. Since the electronic component chips 4 discharged from the outlet 11 are aligned in a predetermined direction, if the electronic component chips 4 are thereafter handled so as not to lose this alignment, the chip mounting process can be efficiently performed. it can.

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] FIGS. 12 and 13 show a cross-sectional view of a part of the alignment passage 8 as viewed from the direction of arrow A in FIG.

In the alignment passage 8, the electronic component chip 4 first
Must be oriented in a certain direction. Also, the electronic component chips 4 must be aligned in a line in the alignment passage 8. Further, the electronic component chips 4 are aligned with the alignment passages 8.
Must be able to move smoothly inside.

In order to satisfy such a condition, the size of the clearance between the electronic component chip 4 and the wall surface defining the alignment passage 8 must be set relatively strictly. For example, as shown in FIG. 12, when the cross-sectional dimension of the alignment passage 8 is small and / or the cross-sectional dimension of the electronic component chip 4 is large, the above-mentioned clearance becomes too small, and the electronic component chip 4 becomes unaligned. 8 may be clogged. On the other hand, when the cross-sectional dimension of the alignment passage 8 is large and / or the electronic component chip 4 is small, not only the clearance becomes too large and the orientation of the electronic component chip 4 deteriorates, but also as shown in FIG. In addition, two or more electronic component chips 4 may overlap, and as a result, smooth movement of the electronic component chips 4 may be hindered.

Naturally, the cross-sectional dimension of the alignment passage 8 is determined in consideration of the cross-sectional dimension of the electronic component chip 4 so as not to cause the above-described inconvenience. Even if they are used, the cross-sectional dimensions are relatively slightly different between manufacturers, between production lots, and the like, and therefore, the above-mentioned problems are often encountered.

Also, there are various electronic component chips 4 to be handled in the electronic component chip aligning and feeding device such as the hopper 2 described above in terms of cross-sectional dimensions and shapes. It is necessary to prepare various ones having different cross-sectional dimensions and shapes of the alignment passage 8. Usually, the electronic component chip 4 is classified into several ranks according to the size and shape of the cross section, and the size and shape of the cross section of the alignment passage 8 are determined for each rank. Therefore, a dedicated hopper 2 is required for each rank of the cross-sectional size and shape of the electronic component chip 4 to be handled.

Therefore, various types of hoppers 2 must be prepared, and the price of the hopper 2 increases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic component chip alignment and supply device which can cope with a variation in the cross-sectional dimension of an electronic component chip.

Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to adjust and fix the cross-sectional dimension of the alignment passage, so that various electronic component chips having different cross-sectional dimensions and shapes can be used while commonly using one electronic component chip alignment supply device. To be able to handle it.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention defines a room for accommodating a plurality of electronic component chips, a space communicating with the room and having a smaller cross section than the room, and After receiving a plurality of stored electronic component chips from the entrance in an aligned state oriented in a predetermined direction, each is guided to move in the aligned state, and then the exit is maintained in the aligned state. The present invention is directed to an electronic component chip aligning / supplying device including an aligning passage for discharging from the device, and is characterized by having the following configuration in order to solve the above-described technical problem.

That is, the distance between at least a part of the wall surface that defines the alignment passage and a portion facing the wall is adjustable, and is fixed after the adjustment, and the alignment passage is a predetermined one of the electronic components. It is characterized by accepting only one cross section.

As described above, the distance between at least a part of the wall surface defining the alignment passage and the opposing portion is adjusted and fixed after the adjustment, and the alignment passage is fixed to a predetermined one of the electronic components. In order to receive only the cross section, for example, at least a part of the wall surface defining the alignment passage is made movable, and an adjusting member is arranged in the alignment passage.

According to the present invention, the distance between at least a part of the wall surface that defines the alignment passage and the part facing the wall is adjusted, and is fixed after the adjustment, so that the alignment passage is fixed. The most suitable effective cross section can be given to the alignment passage in relation to the size and shape of the cross section of the electronic component chip to be passed through.

Therefore, it is possible to cope with a variation in the cross-sectional dimension of the electronic component chip that may occur between manufacturers, between production lots, and the like, and the electronic component chip can always be appropriately moved in the alignment passage. That is, the electronic component chips can move smoothly in the alignment passage while being arranged in a line while being directed in a predetermined direction. Therefore, clogging of the electronic component chip in the alignment passage does not occur, and the reliability of the chip mounting process and the operation rate of the chip mounting machine are respectively improved.

Further, the change of the effective cross section of the alignment passage according to the present invention is as follows.
It is possible to cope with not only variations in cross-sectional dimensions and shapes between electronic component chips of the same type, but also differences in cross-sectional dimensions and shapes inherent in different types of electronic component chips. Therefore, an electronic component chip aligning and feeding device is not required for each type of electronic component chip having different cross-sectional dimensions and shapes, and as a result, costs required for chip mounting, management and maintenance costs can be reduced. it can.

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a part of a hopper 2a corresponding to the hopper 2 shown in FIG. More specifically, FIG. 1 shows the vicinity of the outlet 11a of the alignment passage 8a. FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

The alignment passage 8a has one side wall surface 12, the other side wall surface 13,
It is formed in a through hole having a square cross section and having a lower wall 14 and a lower wall 15. Then, a long side wall forming member 16 is arranged along the one side wall surface 12, and a long upper wall forming member 17 is arranged along the upper wall surface 14. These side and upper wall forming members 16 and 17 respectively extend over the entire length range of the alignment passage 8a. Therefore, the wall surface defining the alignment passage 8a is composed of the side wall surface forming member 16 and the upper wall surface forming member 17, and the side wall surface 13 and the lower wall surface 15 facing each of them.

The side wall forming member 16 is movable in the direction indicated by the arrow. Thus, the distance between the side wall surface forming member 16 and the side wall surface 13 facing the side wall forming member 16 can be changed. On the other hand,
The upper wall forming member 17 is movable in a direction indicated by an arrow 19. Thereby, the distance between the upper wall surface forming member 17 and the lower wall surface 15 opposed thereto can be changed.

As described above, in order to be movable, the side wall forming member 16 is fixed to the hopper by bolts 20 provided at a plurality of locations.
On the other hand, the upper wall forming member 17 is held on the hopper 2a by bolts 21 provided at a plurality of locations. The details of such a holding structure are described in the second section.
It is shown in the figure.

FIG. 2 shows a state where the side wall forming member 16 is held by the bolt 20. At the end of the bolt 20, a male screw 22
On the other hand, the side wall forming member 16 has an external thread 22
Is formed. Male screw 22 is a hopper
It is held rotatably with respect to 2a, but its movement in the axial direction is prohibited. Therefore, a flange 24 is formed on the male screw 22, and the flange 24 is sandwiched between a part of the hopper 2a and a cover 25 fixed to the hopper 2a.

Therefore, by rotating the bolt 20, the side wall forming member 16 can be moved in the direction indicated by the arrow 18.

A similar structure is employed between the upper wall forming suture 17 and the bolt 21. In this case, the bolt 21 is
Therefore, the bolt 20 is longer than the bolt 20 because of the shape of the bolt. Similarly to the case of the side wall forming member 16, by rotating the bolt 21, the upper wall forming member 17 is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow 19.

By moving the side wall forming member 16 and the upper wall forming member 17 in this manner, the cross-sectional dimension given by the wall defining the alignment passage 8a can be changed.

Note that the hopper 2a is substantially the same as the hopper 2 shown in FIG. 11 except for the structure related to the alignment passage 8a, and a description thereof will be omitted.

In the embodiment described above, of the four walls defining the alignment passage 8a having a rectangular cross section, two adjacent walls are movable. However, even if only one wall is movable, 3 One or four walls may be movable. When only one wall surface is moved, it is preferable to leave the side wall surface forming member 16 rather than the upper wall surface forming member 17. Because, in the alignment passage 8a, the electronic component chip
Due to gravity, it moves in contact with the lower wall 15,
This is because the dimension in the width direction (horizontal direction) of the alignment passage 8a has a greater effect on the alignment of the electronic component chips.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the upper wall forming member 17 is provided in order to change the size of the alignment passage 8a in the vertical direction (vertical direction). The wall forming member corresponding to 17 may be arranged not along the upper wall 14 but along the lower wall 15. However, it is preferable to leave the lower wall surface 15 as it is for the following reasons. This is because, as described above, since the lower wall surface 15 provides a contact surface when the electronic component chip moves, it is preferable to keep this surface as smooth as possible. By providing the wall forming member, such smoothness may be impaired. Also, the outlet 11a of the alignment passage 8a
It is preferable that the electronic component chips discharged from the device be brought to a height position as constant as possible when viewed in relation to the subsequent passages for the electronic component chips connected to the alignment passage 8a. When the wall forming member is provided movably along the lower wall surface 15, the height position of the electronic component chip discharged from the outlet 11a changes according to the movement of the wall forming member.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a screw device is used in order to make the side wall forming member 16 and the upper wall forming member 17 movable, but the structure of such a screw device itself is used. In addition, various other modifications may be possible. In addition, a mechanism other than the screw device may be used in order to be movable.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention. Third
In the figure, a part of the hopper 2b corresponding to the hopper 2 shown in FIG. 11 is shown in a front view. The hopper 2b is the hopper body
And a side plate fixed along the hopper body so as to close various recesses formed in the hopper body. FIG. 3 shows this side plate removed.

A large room 6b, a small room 7b, and an alignment passage 8b are formed in the hopper 2b similarly to the hopper 2 shown in FIG. The alignment passage 8b has an inlet 9b and an outlet 11b.
In this embodiment, the alignment passage 8b is curved and oriented horizontally at the outlet 11b, but this is not an essential feature.

The cross-sectional dimension of the alignment passage 8b provided in the hopper body 26 is
It is suitable for an electronic component chip having a large sectional dimension, more specifically, a large thickness dimension.

When the hopper 2b is used for an electronic component chip having a small thickness, the adjusting member 27 is arranged in the alignment passage 8b as shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the adjusting member
27 is attached by screws or mounting along the upper wall surface of the alignment passage 8b.

The adjustment member 27 is made of, for example, a metal or a resin that has been subjected to measures to prevent generation of static electricity. The adjusting member 27 does not have to have a width dimension extending over the entire width of the alignment passage 8b. Further, the illustrated adjusting member 27 is provided with an alignment passage.
Although it extends continuously over the entire length of 8b, a plurality of adjustment members divided in the length direction may be used for one alignment passage instead.

The adjusting member 27 described above may be replaced by an adjusting member 28 having a cross-sectional shape as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4, the adjusting member 28 has an L-shaped cross section. Therefore, this adjusting member 28 is aligned with the alignment passage 8b.
With respect to the cross-sectional dimension of the electronic component chip 4 therein, an adjusting function can be given not only to the dimension in the thickness direction but also to the dimension in the width direction.

The cross-sectional shape of the adjusting member such as the adjusting member 27 or 28 described above is arbitrary. In addition, the shape may be a “U” shape, a “B” shape, or the like.

5 to 10 show still another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a front view showing a part of the hopper 2c corresponding to the hopper 2 shown in FIG. Fifth
Also in the figure, the side plate to be combined with the hopper body 29 has been removed. In FIG. 8, a part of the side plate 30 is shown.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the alignment passage 8c communicating with the room 7c is substantially provided by the adjusting member 31. Sixth
The figure shows the hopper body 29 after the adjustment sewing material 31 has been removed, and FIG. 7 shows the adjustment member 31 alone.
8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VIII-VIII of FIG. 6, FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IX-IX of FIG. 7, and FIG. It is sectional drawing in alignment with line XX.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 8, the hopper body 29 has a groove 32 for receiving the adjusting member 3. This groove 32 can be regarded as an alignment passage.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 10, most of the adjustment member 31 has a "U" -shaped cross section.
Further, as shown in FIG. 9, one end of the adjustment member 31 is
It has an “L” -shaped cross section, and this portion is located in the room 7c as shown in FIG. The portion having the “L” -shaped cross-sectional shape does not have to be particularly provided.

As well shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the adjusting member 31 is provided with a plurality of positioning pins 33,
The hopper body 29 has positioning holes 34 for receiving the positioning pins 33, respectively. Therefore, when the adjustment member 31 is located in the groove 32, each of the positioning pins 33 is inserted into the corresponding positioning hole 34, whereby
The adjustment member 31 is reliably positioned with respect to the hopper body 29. Then, when the side plate 30 shown in FIG. 8 is fitted to the hopper main body 29, the adjusting member 31 is fixed to the hopper main body 29.

The adjusting member 31 is made of, for example, a metal or a resin for which a measure for preventing static electricity has been taken.

In the above-described embodiment, if a plurality of types of adjusting members 31 having different cross-sectional dimensions or shapes of the alignment passage 8c are prepared, electronic components chips of various sizes and shapes can be used while using the hopper body 29 in common. Can respond.

In the illustrated embodiment, the case where the electronic component chip aligning and supplying device according to the present invention is applied to the hopper 2a, 2b or 2c has been described. For example, the electronic component chip aligning and supplying device is aligned with the electronic component chip storage cassette 1 itself shown in FIG. A configuration having a passage may be used, and a configuration which is a feature of the present invention may be employed in connection with the alignment passage.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a part of a hopper 2a for explaining an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. FIG. 3 is a front view showing a part of a hopper 2b as another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a sectional view of an alignment passage 8b for explaining still another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 shows a hopper as still another embodiment of the present invention.
It is a front view which shows a part of 2c. FIG. 6 is a front view showing a part of the hopper body 29 provided in the hopper 2c alone. FIG. 7 is a front view showing the adjusting member 31 provided in the hopper 2c alone. FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line VIII-VIII in FIG. FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along line IX-IX in FIG. FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. FIG. 11 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a hopper 2 as an example of a conventional electronic component chip alignment and supply device. FIG. 12 and FIG.
FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of the alignment passage 8 as seen from the direction of arrow A in FIG. 11 for explaining the problem to be solved by the present invention. In the figure, 2, 2a, 2b, 2c are hoppers (electronic component chip alignment supply device), 4 is an electronic component chip, 6, 7, 7b, 7c is a room,
8, 8a, 8b, 8c is an alignment passage, 9, 9b is an inlet, 11, 11a, 11b is an outlet, 12, 13 is a side wall surface, 14 is an upper wall surface, 15 is a lower wall surface, 16 is a side wall forming member, 17 is an upper wall forming member, 20 and 21 are bolts, 22 is a male screw, 23 is a female screw, and 27, 28 and 31 are adjusting members.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A room for accommodating a plurality of electronic component chips, a space communicating with the room and having a smaller cross section than the room, and a plurality of electronic devices housed in the room. After receiving the component chips from the entrance in an aligned state oriented in a predetermined direction, the component chips are guided to move in the aligned state, and then the alignment paths are discharged from the outlet in the aligned state. An electronic component chip alignment supply device, comprising: a distance between at least a part of a wall surface defining the alignment passage and a part opposed thereto is adjustable, and is fixed after adjustment, and aligned. The electronic component chip alignment and supply device, wherein the passage receives only one predetermined cross section of the electronic component.