JP2857189B2 - Article transfer equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a device for transporting articles, and more particularly, to a device which can be effectively used for an apparatus for inspecting while sequentially transporting small electronic components such as ICs. It relates to a transport device.

(Prior Art) In general, an IC inspection apparatus or the like inspects a plurality of items, so that a long transport line is provided, a plurality of inspection positions are provided along the transport line, and the inspection is sequentially performed. In this case, the IC moving sequentially on the transport line is
It is necessary to send out one to each inspection position. Therefore, immediately before each inspection position, the flow of ICs is temporarily stopped by a stopper, and the ICs upstream of the first IC are engaged by locking means in order to send out the ICs one by one from the first IC to the inspection position. After stopping, the stopper is released, and the leading IC is sent out to the inspection position.

FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b) are views showing the transport status of ICs in a conventional transport device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-69616 filed by the present applicant.

The transfer rail 1 is provided with an inclination so that the IC can be dropped by its own weight, and an IC stopper 2 and an IC holding lever 3 are provided on the transfer rail at an upstream side of a predetermined inspection position A on the transfer rail 1. It is provided to move up and down. The IC slides down from the upstream side of the transport line 1 sequentially. FIG. 4 (a) shows a situation in which the ICs are sequentially conveyed normally. The IC stopper 2 is lowered toward the conveyance surface of the conveyance rail 1 to stop the flow of the ICs, and then the IC holding lever is moved. 3 is lowered to abut the second IC to lock this IC. After that, raise the IC stopper 2 and move the IC
And stop the first IC with its own weight at the inspection position A.
Move to At this time, since the second IC is locked by the IC pressing lever 3, the second IC remains at the original position without sliding down the transport line 1. After the leading IC moves to the inspection position A, lower the IC stopper 2 again, and then
The holding lever 3 is raised to release the lock of the second IC, and is moved to the position of the IC stopper 2 of this IC.
In this way, the sequentially conveyed ICs are sent out one by one to a predetermined inspection position.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, since the package of the IC is a molded resin molded product, burrs can inevitably be formed at the joint on the outer periphery of the package. Therefore, in the conventional method described above, as shown in FIG. 4B, even if the IC stopper 2 is raised while the IC on the upstream side is locked by the IC pressing lever 3, the packages of both ICs are raised. It was confirmed that there was often a problem that the IC on the downstream side did not slide down well due to burrs. The present applicant has tried to blow air to smoothly move the IC on the downstream side, but the IC may still not be able to leave well. If the IC on the downstream side does not move, this IC remains on the upstream side of the IC stopper 2, and the packages are successively transported to the upstream side, causing a so-called jam (JAM), which is a great problem for IC inspection and the like. It will cause trouble.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks and to provide an article transporting apparatus in which ICs are sent out, in particular, ICs are not entangled by burrs of a package.

(Means and Actions for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a means for stopping articles sequentially conveyed on a conveying line, and an upstream side of the articles stopped by the stopping means. Means for locking the article located on the upstream side, and while the article positioned on the upstream side is locked by the locking means, the stop of the stop means is released and stopped by the stop means. In the article conveying apparatus configured to send the article to the downstream side, the locking means includes: a rotating roller; means for rotatably supporting the rotating roller at an eccentric position; and vertically moving the supporting means. And in its descending movement,
The rotating roller is brought into contact with the article located on the upstream side, and the article is temporarily returned to the upstream side of the transport line by the rotation of the rotating roller following the lowering of the supporting means after the contact, and And means for releasing the locked state by separating the rotating roller from the article during the ascent operation.

As described above, in the present invention, by lowering the support means, the rotating roller rotatably and eccentrically supported by the support means is brought into contact with the article located on the upstream side of the article to be sent downstream, and Since the article is once returned to the upstream side by the rotation of the rotating roller following the lowering of the means, the article on the upstream side can be reliably separated from the article on the downstream side stopped by the stopper. Therefore, even when burrs between the upstream article and the downstream article are entangled, the burrs can be surely separated and the downstream article can be sent out smoothly.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are perspective views showing an embodiment in which the transfer apparatus of the present invention is applied to an IC inspection apparatus. As shown in FIG. 1, the IC is conveyed while sliding down from the upstream side to the downstream side by its own weight on the conveying rail 1 disposed at an appropriate inclination. Above the transfer rail 1, an IC stopper 2 that can move vertically is installed. An inspection position is provided downstream of the stopper 2. IC stopper 2
Acts to stop the flow of the movement of the IC by descending to above the transport rail 1 under the control of a control device (not shown). An IC locking device 4 is arranged upstream of the stopper 2. The structure of the IC locking device 4 is as follows. An arm 8 is attached via a pin 7 to an upper part of a support base 6 installed on the base 5, and a hole 8 a is formed in a rear end of the arm 8 so that the support base 6
And a coil spring 10 connected to a pin 9 provided at substantially the center. Since the rear end of the arm 8 is pulled downward by the coil spring 10, the arm 8 receives a force so as to rotate about the pin 7 in the direction indicated by the arrow a, and the movement is fixed to the support base 6. It is limited by the stopper 11. The support 6 is further provided with a solenoid 12, and a link plate 14 is pivotally connected to a plunger of the solenoid via a pin 13. The link plate 14 is further connected to a substantially central portion of the arm 8 by a pin 15, and the movement of the solenoid 12 is controlled by the arm 8
It is configured to transmit to. The tip of the arm 8 is pivotally attached to an IC holding shaft 17 via a pin 16. The lower end of the IC pressing shaft 17 is connected to a U-shaped rotary roller receiver 18. Inside the rotary roller receiver 18, an IC pressing lever 19 and a semicircular rotary roller connected to this lever are provided.
20 is pivoted on axis 21. As clearly shown in FIG. 2, the shaft 21 is set eccentrically downstream from the center axis of the rotating roller 20 when viewed in the IC transport direction. A hole 19a is drilled at the other end of the IC pressing lever 19, and is connected to a pin 23 attached to a substantially central portion of a bearing case 22 surrounding a central portion of the IC pressing shaft 17 by a coil spring 24. . The inside of the bearing case 22 is as shown in FIG. Bearings or bearings 25a, 25b are attached to the upper and lower ends of the IC holding shaft 17, and the center is
It is chamfered as shown in the figure. IC holding shaft 17
A shaft 26 is provided in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the shaft 26, and the surface of the shaft 26
The chamfered surface 17a of the IC holding shaft 17 is brought into contact with the IC holding shaft 17 to restrict the IC holding shaft 17 from rotating.
Bearings 27a and 28b are attached to both ends of the shaft 26.

Next, the operation of the apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The stopper 2 is moved down to the transport rail 1 to stop the IC 28 moving on the transport rail 1. Then 2
The second IC 29 moves on the transport rail 1 and stops upstream of the IC 28. At this time, the arm 8 is in a state of being pulled up to the position of the stopper 11 by the action of the coil spring 10, so that the rotating roller 20 is stopped above the IC 29. At this time, the coil spring 24 is attracting the lever 19. The solenoid 12 is driven by a control device (not shown), and the arm 8 is moved downward via the link plate 14 against the force of the coil spring 10. The shaft 17 descends in conjunction with the movement of the arm 8, and as the shaft 17 descends, the rotating roller 20 descends and comes into contact with the upper surface of the IC 29. This initial contact position is located slightly downstream of the upper surface of IC29.
Preferably, the locking device 4 is positioned. After contact with IC29, by further lowering the shaft 17,
The rotating roller 20 rotates in the direction shown by the arrow b in FIGS. 2 and 3 against the force of the coil spring 24. With the rotation of the rotating roller 20, the IC 29 is pushed back to the upstream side of the transport rail 1 and is separated from the IC. After this,
The stop of the IC 28 is released by raising the stopper 2, and the IC 28 slides down on the transport rail 1 by its own weight and is sent to the inspection position. During this time, the IC 29 is pressed by the rotating roller 20 and locked on the transport rail 1 and does not move. next,
After lowering the stopper 2 again, when the drive of the solenoid 12 is stopped under the control of the control device, the coil spring 10
1C, the 1C holding shaft 17 is pulled up via the arm 8 to release the engagement of the rotating roller 20 with the IC 29. The rotating roller 20 is driven by the lever 19 by the action of the coil spring 24.
, Rotates in the direction opposite to the direction shown by the arrow b, and returns to the original position. The IC 29 slides on the transport rail by its own weight, moves to this position by the stopper 2, and stops.
When the next IC is conveyed and stops upstream of the IC 29, the above-described operation is repeated to send out the ICs one by one to the inspection position.

In the above-described embodiment, the entire rotating roller is formed of metal. However, a mesh-shaped groove may be formed on the rotating surface to generate a frictional force with the IC surface. The surface may be covered with an elastic body. Further, the entire rotating roller may be formed of an elastic body such as rubber. Further, the shape of the rotating roller is not limited to a semicircular shape as long as the portion that contacts the IC is a curved surface. In addition, the present invention is not limited to the inspection of ICs, but can be applied to a case where articles having burrs on the outer periphery such as plastic toys are sequentially conveyed.

(Effects of the Invention) As described in detail above, according to the present invention, the IC locking device has an eccentric cam structure, and the rotation of the IC is locked by contacting a rotating roller with the IC, and the IC is locked. Because the IC package on the upstream side and the IC package on the downstream side are entangled by burrs because they are once pushed back to the upstream side, they can be separated from each other even if they are entangled by burrs, and the ICs can be sent out one by one to the inspection position smoothly it can. Therefore, jamming due to the burrs does not occur, so that the transport efficiency and the inspection efficiency of the entire inspection apparatus using the transport apparatus of the present invention can be significantly improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of a part of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a conventional transport device. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Convey rail, 2 ... Stopper 4 ... IC locking device, 5 ... Base 6 ... Support base 7, 9, 13, 15, 16, 23 ... Pin 8 ... Arm, 8a, 19a … Hall 10, 14… Coil spring 11… Stopper, 12… Solenoid 14… Link plate, 17… IC press shaft 18… Rotating roller receiver, 19… IC press lever 20… Rotating roller, 21 ... Eccentric shaft 22 ... Bearing case 22 25a, 25b, 27a, 27b ... Bearing 26 ... Shaft, 28,29 ... IC

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A means for stopping articles sequentially conveyed on a conveying line; and means for locking an article located upstream of the article stopped by the stopping means. An article conveying device configured to release the stop of the stopping means while the article positioned on the upstream side is locked and to send out the article stopped by the stopping means to the downstream side. The locking means includes: a rotating roller; a means for rotatably supporting the rotating roller at an eccentric position; and moving the supporting means up and down to move the rotating roller on the upstream side in the descending operation. The article is temporarily returned to the upstream side of the transport line by the rotation of the rotating roller following the lowering of the supporting means after the abutting, and the rotating roller is moved up in the ascending operation of the supporting means. Means for releasing the locked state by separating from the article.