JP3321720B2 - Printed circuit board receiver - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a process for performing various processes such as plating and washing on a printed circuit board and arranging the same in a line for continuously manufacturing printed circuit boards. And a receiver for continuously receiving a large number of printed wiring boards.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to form a printed wiring board by performing various processes such as plating on the printed wiring board, the printed wiring board is continuously placed in various devices such as a plating device, a washing device, and a drying device. And receive it after processing. In many cases, these various devices are constituted by themselves, and in order to arrange these in various types and constitute one line, a device for bridging between the devices naturally becomes necessary. . A part of this bridging work is the receiver to which the present invention is applied.

An important function of a receiver is to collectively receive printed wiring boards, which are to be printed wiring boards, one by one on a transport path connected to the next process. In recent years, various forms have been proposed and used.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 58-188241 discloses that, as shown in FIG. There has been proposed a plate material carrier having a drive chain for displacing and moving in a horizontal state and a guide device (hereinafter referred to as prior art 1).

As shown in FIG. 6, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 57-62732 discloses a device for gripping only one of the uppermost sheets of a laminated thin plate, which is supported by a column and is vertically moved. And an arm capable of horizontal movement, a sliding inclined surface which is rotatably supported on the arm via a pivot, and has opposed inner surfaces extending downward, and a terminal end of the inclined surface. An automatic gripper having at least a pair of claws provided with a groove in the same direction and a spring device for urging the claws in a closing direction (hereinafter referred to as prior art 2) has been proposed.

Further, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho 62-16431 discloses, as shown also in FIG.
A plurality of sheet materials 1 are stacked in an inclined position downward in the supply direction, and are stacked on a loading table 2 and a loading table 2 which can be moved up and down. A guide plate 15 which is in contact with the leading end of the thin sheet material 1 and is set up obliquely, and the uppermost thin sheet material 1 ′ of the thin sheet material 1 loaded on the loading table 2 is substantially at the same position as the upper end of the guide plate 15. Sensor 16 for detecting that
And a suction member 4 for vacuum-sucking the vicinity of the upper end of the uppermost thin plate 1 'and lifting the thin plate 1'.
And the thin plate material 1 ′ lifted by the suction member.
A notch-shaped plate 17 having a comb-shaped lower portion is inserted between the sheet material 1 and the other sheet material 1 substantially parallel to the loading sheet material 1, and the sheet material 1 ′ is placed on the plate 17. And a plurality of endless belts 7 inserted into the notches of the plate 17 "(hereinafter referred to as prior art 3).

[0007] These prior arts 1 to 3 relate to a so-called loading machine for loading a printed wiring board or the like one by one into a required place. It would seem that the receiver, which is the subject of the present invention, could easily be constructed. However,
In recent years, printed wiring boards are manufactured in various sizes and shapes in order to cope with so-called high-mix low-volume production. Applying the above conventional techniques 1 to 3 to a receiver is as follows. It is difficult for a reason.

First, according to Prior Art 1, as shown in FIG. 5, both upper and lower portions of the printed wiring board must be sucked and lifted by rubber pads for suction. If it is half that shown, the rubber pad must be repositioned. Not only that, but the mounting fixture with both rubber pads attached has one end attached to the drive chain and the other end guided by a guide device.
Even if the printed wiring board becomes half that shown in FIG. 5, the time required for the displacement movement in the horizontal state cannot be reduced.

In the prior art 2 shown in FIG. 6, the picked-up printed circuit board can be received by rotating and vertically moving the arm, so that the shape of the printed circuit board is changed. However, although it is not a very important problem to shorten the injection time, the adjustment of the dimension between the claws rotatably supported on the arm via the pivot is performed by adjusting the shape of the printed wiring board to be received. If there is a change, it must be done. Therefore, if the position between the pivots supporting the claws cannot be adjusted, the automatic gripper of the prior art 2 cannot operate at all when the size of the printed wiring board changes. become.

In view of the above, the prior art 3 shown in FIG. 7 does not need to adjust the position of the rubber pad and the gripper, so that it can sufficiently cope with a change in the size of the printed wiring board. However, the following problems remain. That is, as shown in FIG. 8 and the fifth column of the above-mentioned publication, the “thin sheet supply device” is configured such that “the suction member 4 swings counterclockwise to feed the thin sheet 1 ′ 8 in contact with the laminated sheet material 1 on the opposite side of FIG.
Lift up as shown in (a). Next, the guide shaft 19 is rotated to move the plate 17 in the upper right direction, so that the plate 17 is inserted between the thin sheet material 1 ′ whose one side is lifted and the other stacked thin sheet material 1. The plate 17 is made of a thin plate 1 '.
Use a low friction material such as Teflon so as not to scratch the surface. After the plate 17 is inserted below the thin plate 1 ', when the suction of the suction portion 4 is released by a solenoid valve (not shown) or the like, the thin plate 1' is placed on the plate 17 (FIG. 8B). Next, if the plate 17 is moved to the lower left, the notch of the plate 17 is inserted between the endless belts 7,
The right end of the thin plate 1 ′ rides on the endless belt 7, and the right end of the thin plate 1 ′ slides on the plate 17,
It is transferred to the endless belt 7 and transported (FIG. 8C). This effect is shown in FIG. 8 (c).
The receiver can be configured by changing from (a) to (b),
First, the "plate 17" must be made so as not to scratch the printed wiring board 70 which is a thin plate material. Conversely, since the “plate 17” is inserted between the printed wiring boards 70, the printed wiring board 70 is easily scratched when inserted.

Further, when the "plate 17" is used as a receiver, the lower end (the left end in FIG. 8) of the printed wiring board 70 is moved before the printed wiring board 70 is moved forward with the printed wiring board 70 mounted thereon. The "plate 17" and the conveyor belt must intersect at some point completely, so that they must be able to move to a position where they come into complete contact with the conveyor belt. Since the specific configuration is not specified, it cannot be used as it is in a receiver as the object of the present invention.

Further, the biggest difficulty of the prior art 3 is that
Even when the size of the printed wiring board 70 becomes half that shown in FIG. 8, the amount of movement of the “plate 17” does not change. That is, in order to lift the printed wiring board by the "suction member 4" as shown in FIG. 8A, the "plate 17" must move forward as much as possible. Even after that, the moving amount of the "plate 17" does not change, and the receiving time of the printed wiring board 70 cannot be shortened.

Therefore, the present inventor has proposed a printed circuit board 7.
0 can be received without damaging the printed wiring board 70 at all, and if the printed wiring board 70 is reduced in size, various examinations are carried out on how to shorten the receiving time accordingly. As a result,
The present invention has been completed.

[0014]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and the problem to be solved is to improve the efficiency of receiving the printed wiring board 70.

It is an object of the present invention that the printed wiring board 70 can be received from the previous process without scratching the printed wiring board 70, and of course, the shape of the printed wiring board 70 can be changed. An object of the present invention is to provide a receiver 100 having a simple structure capable of shortening the operation time according to the above.

[0016]

Means for Solving the Problems To solve the above problems, the means adopted by the present invention will be described with reference to the reference numerals used in the embodiments. The receiving device 100 receives a large number of printed wiring boards 70 received by the rack 20 on the rack transport path 10 in a state of standing against the same, and a state where the receiving side of the receiving path 100 and the predetermined space are provided on the end side of the output path 80. Rack 20
Lifting conveyance path 30 which is located at substantially the same angle of inclination as the leaning surface 22 of the surface, and is disposed below the lifting conveyance path 30 and the unloading path 80 and is lifted by the lifting conveyance path 30 and then falls obliquely. And a guide member 40 for guiding each of the printed circuit boards 70 to come on the rack 20. "
It is.

That is, the receiver 100 according to the present invention comprises:
A printed wiring board 70 sequentially sent out in a substantially horizontal state to the left in the drawing by the carry-out path 80 shown in FIG.
0 is received in a leaning state.
Each printed wiring board 70 is set up by the lifting transport path 30 which is arranged in an inclined state on the front end side (left side in the figure) of the printed wiring board 70, and then the printed wiring board 70 is
The guide is guided on the support base 21 by means of

In this case, as the guide device 40, FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 3, the nipping roller 41, the suction belt 42
And a device constituted by the suction device 50,
Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 4, it is possible to adopt a configuration constituted by only a total of four holding rollers 41 of up, down, left and right.

[0019]

The operation of the receiver 100 according to the present invention, constructed as described above, will be described below in accordance with the movement of the printed wiring board 70.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, a printed circuit board 70, which has been processed by a processing device (not shown) located on the right side in FIG. The printed circuit boards 70 carried out by the carry-out path 80 are lifted up at their leading ends beyond a predetermined space, and come into contact with the transfer path 30. This lifting transport path 30
Is made of a soft material having a high coefficient of friction, such as rubber, which is driven to rotate in the direction indicated by the arrow in the figure. It is lifted as shown by the solid line 2. As a result, each printed wiring board 70 is in a state where the front end thereof is upward, and finally, the rear end (FIG. 2).
(The lower end in FIG. 3) can be dropped into a predetermined space formed by the lifting transport path 30 and the tip of the discharge path 80.

A guide device 40 is arranged below a predetermined space between the lifting transport path 30 and the leading end of the carry-out path 80, and each printed circuit board 70 is guided on the rack 20 by the guide device 40. However, two types of configurations of the guide device 40 are conceivable, a first case shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and a second case shown in FIG. In each of these cases, the guide state of the printed wiring board 70 will be described as follows.

When the guide device 40 is the first one, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the lower end of the printed circuit board 70 that has fallen in the upright state is held by the clamping device constituting the guide device 40. The sheet is immediately nipped by the roller 41 and the suction belt 42 whose upper end is opposed to the nipping roller 41. The suction belt 42 is driven to rotate in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 1, and a suction device 50 that suctions air from outside the suction belt 42 is disposed in the suction belt 42. As shown in FIG. 2, the printed wiring board 70 sandwiched between the belt 42 and the sandwiching roller 41 is directed toward the rack 20 while being sucked by the left side surface of the suction belt 42 in the drawing. At this time, the holding roller 41 is a so-called free roller that rolls when the printed wiring board 70 is held in cooperation with the suction belt 42, and the printed wiring board 70 is sucked on the illustrated left surface of the suction belt 42. Therefore, the surface of the printed wiring board 70 is not scratched by the holding roller 41 and the suction belt 42 at all. That is, the nipping roller 41 and the suction belt 42
It does not rub against the printed wiring board 70, and has no maximum effect on the plated surface, the conductive circuit, and the like formed on the surface and the like of the printed wiring board 70.

When the printed circuit board 70 is lowered to a predetermined position, a limit switch (not shown) is operated to stop the suction operation by the suction device 50, and the printed circuit board 70 is placed on the support 21 of the rack 20. It is dropped quietly. Further, the suction belt 42 is disposed so as to be substantially parallel to the upright surface 22 of the rack 20 together with the above-described lifting conveyance path 30, so that the printed wiring board 70 dropped on the rack 20 is placed on the upright surface 22 of the rack 20. It is easy to fall to the side, and there is almost no impact when it falls. Therefore, the reception of the printed wiring board 70 by the rack 20 is performed without causing scratches, damage, or noise on the printed wiring board 70.

In the embodiment described below, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, a nozzle 60 for injecting air is disposed inside the suction belt 42 and on the side where the printed wiring board 70 descends.
In response to a signal from the above-described limit switch that detects that the printed wiring board 70 has descended to a predetermined position, air is injected between the suction belt 42 and the printed wiring board 70 that has been sucked on the surface thereof. Things. As a result, each printed wiring board 70 immediately separates from the surface of the suction belt 42 and is pushed down toward the leaning surface 22 side of the rack 20, and the receiving of the printed wiring board 70 by the rack 20 is performed within a short time. It is.

On the other hand, when the guide device 40 is of the second embodiment shown in FIG.
0 is directed toward the rack 20 while being pinched by a total of four pinching rollers 41 in the upper, lower, left and right directions.
Of course, the printed wiring board 70 may fall by its own weight between each of the holding rollers 41 assuming that each of the holding rollers 41 rotates freely. The roller 41 is a so-called drive roller, and actively sends the printed wiring board 70 to the rack 20 side.

As shown in FIG. 4, each of the holding rollers 41 is arranged so that the feeding direction of the printed wiring board 70 is substantially parallel to the leaning surface 22 on the rack 20 side. The printed wiring board 70 that has been released from being pinched by the rollers 41 gently falls to the leaning surface 22 side of the rack 20 as it is. In the case of the second guide device 40 as well, if the above-described nozzle 60 is arranged below, it is natural that the printed wiring board 70 can be reliably pushed down to the leaning surface 22 side.

In order to facilitate the above-mentioned reception, the rack 20 is gradually advanced in accordance with the amount received in the rack transport path 10 shown in the embodiment.
Also, an opening 23 is formed in the center of the rack 20,
Since the space for accommodating the nozzle 60 disposed at the lower end of the suction belt 42 and its vicinity is secured in the opening 23, the rack 20 can sufficiently approach the suction belt 42 and the like. It is.

As described above, regardless of the size of each printed circuit board 70, even if the size of each printed circuit board 70 is changed, the printed circuit board 70 is attracted even if the guide device 40 is configured in either of the first and second cases. Since the belt 42 is attracted by the left side surface in the drawing or is clamped by the four clamping rollers 41, in each case, each printed wiring board 70 is sent out onto the support 21 of the rack 20. Therefore, even if each printed wiring board 70 is large or small, the reception by the rack 20 is performed without any limitation, and it is extremely efficient. The receiving operation time corresponding to the case where the wiring board 70 becomes smaller is sufficiently reduced.

[0029]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, a receiver 100 according to the present invention will be described with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings. FIGS. 1 to 3 are schematic side views of the receiver 100 in which the guide device 40 is the first case. The receiving device 100 is disposed at the end of the unloading path 80 with a predetermined space interposed between the receiving apparatus 100 and the rack 2.
The lifting transport path 30 which is positioned at substantially the same inclination angle as the leaning surface 22 of the zero, the lifting transport path 30 and the unloading path 80
And a guide member 40 that guides each printed wiring board 70 that is obliquely dropped after being lifted by the lifting transport path 30 to the rack 20.

The receiver 100 has a printed wiring board such that a pre-process for performing various processes for forming the printed wiring board 70 into a printed wiring board is provided on the right side in the drawing and a post-process is provided on the left side in the drawing. The printed wiring board 70, which has been processed in the previous step and is substantially horizontally supported by the unloading path 80 and sequentially unloaded to the left in the drawing, is disposed in the unloading path. It functions to place the rack 20 on the rack 20 on the rack transport path 10 located below 80.

The rack transport path 10 has a rack 20 thereon.
Are sequentially conveyed to the left in the figure, and while the rack 20 is receiving each printed wiring board 70, the rack 20 is advanced in small increments in accordance with the received amount, so that the rack 20 has a fixed amount. When the printed wiring board 70 is mounted on the printed circuit board 70, it is detected by a limit switch (not shown) or the like, and the rack 20 is transported toward a post-process side.

The rack 20 has a large number of printed circuit boards 7
0 is placed on the support 21 in a leaning state, and a leaning surface 22 for the printed wiring board 70 is formed on the left side of the drawing. An opening 23 is formed in the center of the support base 21 of the rack 20, and the rack 20 moves backward (moves rightward in the figure) without interfering with a guide device 40 described later. Is what makes it possible. If the front end (right end in the figure) of the upper surface of the support base 21 is inclined upward, a large amount of the printed wiring board 70 can be stably mounted.

The lifting conveyance path 30 arranged in a state where a predetermined space is secured in front of the discharge path 80 is configured to be substantially parallel to the leaning surface 22 of the rack 20. Each printed wiring board 70 whose front end is in contact with the rack 20 rises substantially parallel to the leaning surface 22 of the rack 20. That is, the lifting conveyance path 30 is formed by using a material having a high frictional resistance such as rubber, or has a large number of small protrusions formed on the surface thereof, and is a belt that is driven to rotate in the direction of the arrow in FIG. . Thus, the lifting transport path 30 lifts up the printed wiring board 70 with which the leading end abuts as shown in FIG. 2, and sends the printed wiring board 70 to the next guide device 40.

The guide device 40 includes the first case shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and the second case shown in FIG. 4. First, the first case will be described as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 1 in particular, the first guide device 40 is configured to hold the nipping roller 4 located below a predetermined space formed by the lifting conveyance path 30 and the front end of the unloading path 80.
1 and the upper end of the rack 20
Belt 42 positioned substantially parallel to the leaning surface 22
And a suction device 50 disposed in the suction belt 42.

The nipping roller 41 receives the lower end of each printed wiring board 70 located in the space between the lifting conveyance path 30 and the unloading path 80 in cooperation with the suction belt 42, and the driving force of the suction belt 42 It rolls and holds the printed wiring board 70. The suction belt 42 has a number of small holes,
Alternatively, they are arranged at predetermined intervals, and FIG.
As shown in (2), by suctioning the air on the front side by the suction device 50 disposed in the suction belt 42,
This is to suck the printed wiring board 70 located on the front surface side on the left side in the figure. In other words, the suction belt 42 is connected to each of the raised printed circuit boards 7.
0 is prevented from dropping directly on the rack 20 and the printed wiring board 70 is gently carried onto the rack 20. Therefore, the suction device 50 is provided in the suction belt 42.
Is arranged.

In this embodiment, FIG.
As shown in (b) and (b), a nozzle 60 for blowing air between the printed wiring board 70 lowered by the suction belt 42 and the suction belt 42 is disposed below and inside the guide device 40. The nozzle 60 ejects air at all times or when the printed wiring board 70 descends to a predetermined position, so that each printed wiring board 70 can be separated from the suction belt 42 in a short time. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3B, a free roller slightly protruding from the suction belt 42 is provided between the suction belts 42, and the printed wiring board 70 rides on the free roller. Thus, the separation from the suction belt 42 can be performed more reliably.

As shown in FIG. 4, the guide device 40 in the second case is constructed by combining a total of four holding rollers 41 in the upper, lower, left and right directions. Two rollers are used as drive rollers. A guide passage for guiding the printed wiring board 70 is formed by the four holding rollers 41 so as to be continuous with a predetermined space between the lifting conveyance path 30 and the carry-out path 80. It is configured to be substantially parallel to the leaning surface 22 of the rack 20. Of course, each of the sandwiching rollers 41 has its surface formed of a relatively soft material so that the surface of each printed wiring board 70 is not scratched and the thickness of each printed wiring board 70 is reduced. It is designed to respond to changes.

[0038]

As described in detail above, in the present invention,
As exemplified in the above embodiment, “the receiver 100 receives a large number of printed circuit boards 70 sent in a substantially horizontal state on the carry-out path 80 by the racks 20 on the rack transfer path 10 while leaning against the same. A lifting transport path 30 that is disposed at an end of the output path 80 with a predetermined space therebetween and that is positioned at substantially the same inclination angle as the leaning surface 22 of the rack 20; Unloading route 8
And a guide member 40 that guides each printed wiring board 70 that is disposed below the space between the printed circuit boards 70 and that is obliquely dropped after being lifted by the lifting transport path 30 onto the rack 20. ” With this, it is possible to receive the printed wiring board 70 from the previous process without damaging the printed wiring board 70, and to shorten the working time according to the change in the shape of the printed wiring board 70. Can be provided with a simple structure.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a main part of a receiver according to the present invention with a guide device as a first one, showing a state in which each printed wiring board is carried out of a carry-out path.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing the receiver, in which each printed wiring board is being sent to a guide device side.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part of the receiver, in which FIG. 3A is a side view showing the entirety, and FIG.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a main part of a receiver according to the present invention in which a second guiding device is used.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing Conventional Technique 1.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing Conventional Technique 2.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing a conventional technique 3.

FIG. 8 is a partial side view showing the operation of the device shown in FIG. 7 in order.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Receiving machine 10 Rack conveyance path 20 Rack 22 Standing surface 30 Lifting conveyance path 40 Guide device 41 Nipping roller 42 Suction belt 50 Suction device 60 Nozzle 70 Printed wiring board 80 Unloading path

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A receiving device for receiving a large number of printed circuit boards sent in a substantially horizontal state on a carry-out path by a rack on a rack transfer path in a state of leaning against the same, wherein the receiver is provided at an end of the carry-out path. A lifting transport path that is disposed with a predetermined space therebetween and that is positioned at substantially the same inclination angle as the standing surface of the rack; and the lifting transport that is disposed below between the lifting transport path and the unloading path. A guide member for guiding each printed wiring board, which is lifted by a road and falls obliquely, onto the rack.