JP2651765B2 - Variable width belt conveyor - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a variable width belt conveyor device capable of freely adjusting the width of a conveyance guide according to the width of an object to be conveyed. More specifically, fulcrum pulleys are provided on the outside and inside, and a belt of one wheel is changed in direction in an S-shape manner and wrapped around each pulley of the opposing transport guides to keep the belt length constant. The present invention relates to a conveyor device in which one transport guide can be freely moved toward and away from the other transport guide, and the interval between the two transport guides can be freely set. This belt conveyor of variable width is not particularly limited, but is useful, for example, for transporting a board such as an inspection table used in a circuit board inspection apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a hybrid IC board inspection apparatus and the like, a conveyor-type inspection table (stage) is used to transport a substrate to an inspection section. Since this inspection table is usually installed on an XY table, it is necessary to reduce the weight as much as possible. In addition, since the dimensions of the substrate to be inspected change in various ways, it is necessary to be able to cope with them (that is, to be able to freely set the width of the conveyor) and to be able to accurately position and hold the transported inspection object (substrate). Is done.

In order to transport substrates having different width dimensions so as to be accurately positioned, a conveyor device capable of freely changing the width so that the substrates can be held on both sides is required. Conventional variable-width belt conveyors that can meet this demand generally have transport pulleys at both ends (front and rear in the transport direction), and two transport guides with a belt stretched between them are parallel to each other. It is arranged so that one of the transport guides is fixed to the base member and the other is movable with respect to the base member so that the distance between the two transport guides can be freely adjusted. The belt forms a loop for each conveyance guide. That is, two independent belts are arranged in parallel.

In this case, in order to drive each belt of both transport guides, a system for independently attaching a belt drive motor to each of the transport guides, a single motor is used, and the belt is driven on a fixed side. Either of a method of transmitting power using a spline shaft is adopted for the movable side of the transport guide attached to the transport guide.

[0005]

The conveyor-type inspection table in the above-described substrate inspection apparatus is required to be as small and lightweight as possible because it is installed on an XY table. desirable. In the prior art, in the method of independently driving the belts of both conveyance guides by motors, since two motors are used, the size and weight are increased accordingly. In addition, it is difficult to accurately operate the two belts synchronously. On the other hand, the method of transmitting power using a spline shaft enables the movable transport guide to move smoothly and freely with respect to the fixed transport guide, and reduces the backlash to reduce the movement of the belts of both transport guides. Matching is quite troublesome, both mechanically and precisely.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and to provide a variable width belt conveyor device which has a simple mechanism, can be reduced in size and weight, and can easily control the driving of the belt. is there.

[0007]

As shown schematically in FIGS. 1 and 2, a variable width belt conveyor according to the present invention comprises: a fixed conveyance guide 12 having conveyance pulleys 10a and 10b at both ends; Transport pulleys 14a, 14b at both ends
The movable transport guide 16 is provided in parallel with the fixed transport guide 12 so as to be freely movable toward and away from the movable transport guide 12 (the movable direction of the movable transport guide 16 is indicated by a double-headed arrow M). Fixed transport guide 12 outside movable transport guide 16
An external fulcrum pulley 18 is provided on the opposite side, an internal fulcrum pulley 20 is provided near the fixed conveyance guide, and a first driven pulley 22a and a second driven pulley 22b that move together with the movable conveyance guide 16 are provided. One belt 2 is attached to each pulley so that the belts move in the same direction by the two conveyance guides 12 and 16.
Cross over 4. Belt portion that connects between both transport guides 12 and 16 (first driven pulley 22a → belt portion of internal fulcrum pulley 20, and internal fulcrum pulley 20 → external fulcrum pulley 18 → belt portion of second driven pulley 22b)
Becomes just like an S-shape as a whole. In the present invention, the “S-shape” includes not only an S-shape in a strict sense but also an inverted S-shape (S-shape viewed from the back side). The belt 24 thus wound is driven by a motor.

Here, since the external fulcrum pulley 18 is easy to increase its outer diameter, it is desirable that the external fulcrum pulley 18 be used as a driving pulley and a motor shaft be coupled to its shaft to drive the belt. In addition, the belt 24 is twisted when passing through the pulley at several places, and therefore, a belt having a circular cross section is suitable. The internal fulcrum pulley 20 is a two-stage (two-stage) in terms of miniaturization of the device.
Although it is preferable to have a structure, it may be separated into two.

[0009]

In the fixed conveyance guide 12, the internal fulcrum pulley 2
The path from zero to the position of the internal fulcrum pulley 20 through the conveyance pulleys 10a and 10b and the path from the second driven pulley 22b of the movable conveyance guide 16 to the first driven pulley 22a through the conveyance pulleys 14a and 14b are as follows. The length of the belt portion is always constant. The distance from the internal fulcrum pulley 20 to the external fulcrum pulley 18 also depends on the two fulcrum pulleys 18 and 2.
Since the position of the rotation axis 0 is fixed, it is always constant. The distance from the first driven pulley 22a to the internal fulcrum pulley 20 and the distance from the external fulcrum pulley 18 to the second driven pulley 22b change when the position of the movable conveyance guide 16 changes. Does not change the sum of both distances (if one increases, the other decreases). Therefore, the movable transport guide 16
, The entire length of the belt does not change, so that the operation of adjusting the entire length of the belt is not required, and the width (interval) W of both transport guides can be freely set.

[0010]

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a variable width belt conveyor device according to the present invention, FIG. 4 is a front view thereof, FIG. 5 is a view taken along arrows XX, and FIG. 6 is a side view. It is. The entire device is assembled on a base member 30. Base member 3
The fixed transport guide 32 and the movable transport guide 34 are erected on the zero by using an L angle or the like so as to face each other. The movable transport guide 34 includes two parallel linear guides 35a. 35b
, And can be parallel to and away from the fixed transport guide 32. And the movable conveyance guide 34
The foot 35 provided on the outside of the base member 30 is fitted to the rail 36 on the base member 30 and the wing nut 37 is tightened, so that the foot 35 can be freely fixed at an arbitrary position.

At both ends of the fixed conveyance guide 32, an upper main conveyance pulley 38a, 38b and a lower sub conveyance pulley 39a,
39b is provided sideways (rotation axis is horizontal), and 2
The fulcrum pulley 40 of the step is provided vertically (the rotation axis is vertical). At both ends of the movable conveyance guide 34, upper main conveyance pulleys 42a and 42b and lower sub conveyance pulleys 43a and 43b are provided laterally, and a first driven pulley 44a and a second driven pulley 44b are disposed vertically below the center. Provide. A driving pulley 45 is provided vertically outside the movable conveyance guide 34, and the rotation shaft of a motor 46 is connected to the shaft. Then, one round belt 47 is wound around each of the pulleys. The fulcrum pulley 40 and the two driven pulleys 44a, 44 such that the belt portion extending in an S-shape from one transport guide to the other transport guide is almost perpendicular to the directions of both transport guides.
b, the outer diameter and the mounting position of the driving pulley 45 are determined.

The fixed transport guide 32 has a lifting bar 51 which can be moved up and down by two linear guides 50a and 50b.
Is provided, and the push-up bar 51 is
To drive the upper round belt portion toward the upper holding plate 53 (see FIG. 6). The same applies to the movable conveyance guide 34. A push-up bar 55 that can move up and down is provided by two linear guides 54a and 54b, and the push-up bar 55 is driven by an air cylinder 56 so that the upper round belt portion is moved upward. It can be pushed up toward the holding plate 57. At one end in the middle of the conveyance direction between the two conveyance guides 32 and 34,
The stopper 58 for positioning the substrate to be inspected is
9 makes it possible to move up and down.

This belt conveyor device is designed so as to be suitable for hybrid IC board inspection, and is installed on an XY table of the inspection device. Before and after this belt conveyor device, there is another conveyor device for loading and unloading substrates.

The substrate to be inspected is carried by a carry-in conveyor device, and delivered to the belt conveyor device. The width of both transport guides 30 and 32 is adjusted to match the width of the substrate. This is performed by moving the movable conveyance guide 30 and tightening the wing nut 37 at an appropriate position. A in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, a hard stainless steel material is used for the sliding contact portion 62 with the substrate 60 to prevent wear. In addition, there is usually some margin between the round belt 47 and the holding plate 53 (at the time of conveyance), so that even if the thickness of the substrate changes, it can sufficiently cope with it. At the time of carrying in the substrate, the positioning stopper 58 is lowered, so that there is no trouble in carrying in the substrate. When the motor 46 rotates, the round belt 47 is driven, and the substrate 60 can be directly carried forward.

After loading, as shown in FIG. 7B, after loading the substrate, the air cylinder 59 is operated to raise the positioning stopper 58. By rotating the motor 46 in this state in the reverse direction, the substrate 60 is slightly retracted until it hits the positioning stopper 58. This completes the positioning in the loading direction. Next, the air cylinders 52, 56 are operated to push up the push-up bars 51, 55. Then, the upper round belt portion is pushed up, the upper portions of both side edges of the substrate 60 hit the holding plates 53 and 57, and the substrate is held at that position. Various inspections are performed in this state. After the inspection, the air cylinders 52, 56 are released in the reverse operation to release the push-up bars 51,
55 is lowered, and the motor 46 is driven to carry out the substrate 60 forward. The air cylinder 59 is released and the positioning stopper 58 is lowered to the original position.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, by devising the way of applying the belt, even with one belt, the movement of the belt in the same direction can be given to both the conveyance guides.
Driving with a single motor becomes possible. In addition, since one transport guide can be freely moved toward and away from the other transport guide, and in this case, there is no need to adjust the length of the belt, the present invention can be easily applied to transported objects having various widths. Since only one motor is required and one belt is used, the mechanism is simple, the size and weight can be reduced, and the control of the belt drive becomes easy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a belt bridging structure of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a belt crossing viewed from above.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing one embodiment of a belt conveyor device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a view taken along the line XX in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a side view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory diagram of the belt conveyor device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10a, 10b Transport pulley 12 Fixed transport guide 14a, 14b Transport pulley 16 Movable transport guide 18 External fulcrum pulley 20 Internal fulcrum pulley 22a First driven pulley 22b Second driven pulley 24 Belt

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A fixed conveyance guide provided with conveyance pulleys at both ends, a movable conveyance guide also provided with conveyance pulleys at both ends and installed parallel and freely to and away from the fixed conveyance guide, and fixing the movable conveyance guide. An external fulcrum pulley located on the opposite side of the transport guide, an internal fulcrum pulley located near the fixed transport guide, the first and second driven pulleys that move together with the movable transport guide, and have the same orientation in both transport guides. And a motor for driving the belt, a belt portion between the first driven pulley and the internal fulcrum pulley, and an internal fulcrum pulley and an external fulcrum pulley. Wherein the belt portion passing through the driven pulley is entirely S-shaped. 2. The belt conveyor according to claim 1, wherein the external fulcrum pulley is a driving pulley, and a motor shaft is connected to a shaft of the driving pulley to drive the belt.