JP4039505B2 - Appearance inspection device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is not limited to a large electronic component having a side of, for example, several millimeters to several centimeters. For example, a minute chip having a shape of 0.3 mm (H) × 0.3 mm (W) × 0.6 mm (L) The present invention relates to an appearance inspection apparatus suitable for efficiently inspecting the appearance of such electronic components while conveying them at high speed and sorting them according to their quality.
[0002]
[Related background]
Recently, along with miniaturization and high-density mounting of various electronic circuit units, for example, chip-shaped electronic components having a side of about 3 to 4 mm are often used. Particularly recently, for example, a rectangular or substantially rectangular parallelepiped minute electronic component P made of, for example, a ceramic resistor or capacitor, specifically, 1.0 mm (L ) × 0.5 mm (H) × 0.5 mm (W), and further, 0.6 mm (L) × 0.3 mm (H) × 0.3 mm (W), which is called [0603]. A large number of minute chip-shaped electronic components having a dimensional shape have been used.
[0003]
By the way, as a technique for assuring the quality of this kind of electronic components, inspect the appearance of those that have scratches on the surface and whose functions as electronic components may be impaired, or those that lack electrodes. Prior to supplying parts, defective products are eliminated. By the way, this external appearance inspection is to generally inspect the external appearance of the above-mentioned small-sized electronic component over its six surfaces (upper surface, lower surface, right side surface, left side surface, front end surface, rear end surface), or In order to inspect the four main surfaces (upper surface, lower surface, right side surface, left side surface), for example, an electronic component guided in front of the camera is gripped by a handling mechanism or sucked and held by a vacuum chuck. In this way, each surface of the electronic component is sequentially imaged in each posture while converting the posture into vertical and horizontal directions.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, each time an electronic component is held and an image of a certain surface of the electronic component is taken, it takes time to change the posture and direct another surface to the camera, and the posture control and position control are complicated. There is a problem that inspection efficiency is very bad. Furthermore, it is said that it is very difficult to hold the electronic component by the handling mechanism or to hold the electronic component by suction with the vacuum chuck in the minute electronic component called [0603] described above. There's a problem.
[0005]
In addition, when the appearance inspection is performed continuously at a high speed while sequentially transporting a plurality of electronic components one by one, the handling mechanism is used to hold the electronic components using the handling mechanism or the vacuum chuck in order to change the imaging posture. There is a problem that a high-speed operation of the mechanism and the vacuum chuck and high-precision timing control are required, and the apparatus configuration becomes considerably large. Furthermore, if it is intended to inspect about 1000 to 1500 electronic parts per minute, it will be extremely difficult to realize.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and its purpose is to improve the appearance of the electronic component while transporting it at high speed without changing the posture of the electronic component using a handling mechanism or a vacuum chuck. It is an object of the present invention to provide an appearance inspection apparatus having a simple configuration that can be inspected automatically.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above-described object, an appearance inspection apparatus according to the present invention includes, for example, a ball feeder and a linear feeder, a supply mechanism that supplies a plurality of electronic components having a rectangular parallelepiped shape or a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape and supplies them one by one in sequence.
A rotating table, a linear conveyor, or the like that places and conveys electronic components sequentially supplied from the supply mechanism, and includes different first and second surfaces of the electronic components in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction. A first transport mechanism for imaging by the first and second cameras;
A guide having a semicircular arc shape or a twisted shape for guiding the electronic component conveyed through the first conveying mechanism is provided, the electronic component is conveyed along the guide, and the electronic component is orthogonal to the conveying direction. A reversing mechanism for reversing the direction and reversing the lower surface of the electronic component by 180 ° or 90 °;
The first surface and the second surface of the electronic component in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction, such as a rotary table or a linear conveyor that places and conveys the electronic component whose direction is reversed via the reversing mechanism, Is a second transport mechanism for providing different third and fourth surfaces for imaging by the third and fourth cameras,
Image processing means for determining whether the appearance is good or bad from images of the first to fourth surfaces of the electronic parts captured by the cameras are different from each other.
[0008]
According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, as described in claim 2, the first and second cameras are mounted on the first transport mechanism and transported from the upper surface of the electronic component and the first transport mechanism. And a surface facing the one side of the transport path formed by the camera, and the third camera and the fourth camera are mounted on the second transport mechanism and transported on the upper surface of the electronic component. A surface facing the one side portion of the transport path formed by the second transport mechanism is provided so as to capture an image. The reversing mechanism has its guide directed downward so that the lower surface of the electronic component conveyed via the first conveying mechanism is inverted 180 ° and guided to the second conveying mechanism. It is characterized by having a shape that bends in a semicircular arc shape. In this case, as described in claim 3, it is convenient when the first and second transport mechanisms are each realized as a rotary table.
[0009]
According to another preferable aspect of the present invention, the first and second cameras are formed by the first transport mechanism of the electronic component placed on the first transport mechanism as described in claim 4. The second transport mechanism of the electronic component provided so as to pick up images of two surfaces respectively facing both sides of the transport path, and the third and fourth cameras mounted on the second transport mechanism The two surfaces facing each side of the conveyance path formed by each are respectively imaged. Then, the guide is moved at a right angle to the transport direction so that the reversing mechanism reverses the lower surface of the electronic component transported via the first transport mechanism by 90 ° and guides it to the second transport mechanism. It is characterized by having a shape having a twist in the direction. In this case, as described in claim 5, it is convenient when the first and second transport mechanisms are each realized as a linear conveyor.
[0010]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an appearance inspection apparatus for an electronic component according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, taking an appearance inspection apparatus for a minute chip-shaped electronic component called [1005] or [0603] as an example. . Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to an appearance inspection apparatus for inspecting a relatively large electronic component having a side of several mm to several cm.
[0011]
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of the appearance inspection apparatus according to the first embodiment, and FIG. 3 shows a planar arrangement configuration thereof. This visual inspection apparatus is arranged with a supply mechanism 10 that roughly aligns the substantially rectangular parallelepiped-shaped electronic components P and sequentially supplies them one by one and the electronic components P supplied from the supply mechanism 10. And a reversing mechanism 30 for reversing the orientation of the electronic component P conveyed through the first conveying mechanism 20, in particular, the lower surface of the electronic component P by 180 °. The second transport mechanism 40 is configured to place and transport the electronic component P whose direction is reversed via the reversing mechanism 30.
[0012]
The supply mechanism 10 includes a mortar-shaped container that accommodates a plurality of electronic components P supplied from the hopper 11, and uses a centrifugal force to align the electronic components P in the container along the peripheral wall thereof. It consists of a ball feeder 12 that feeds out one by one and a linear (linear) feeder 13 that sends out the electronic components P sent out from the ball feeder 12 sequentially toward the first transport mechanism 20.
[0013]
Thus, the first transport mechanism 20 and the second transport mechanism 40 are composed of, for example, turntables 21 and 41 having a diameter of about 200 mm, and are rotated at a constant speed by a drive motor (not shown) to the peripheral portion on the upper surface thereof. The mounted electronic component P is configured to be transported over a substantially half circumference. In particular, the rotary tables 21 and 41 have a predetermined height difference in accordance with the displacement of the conveying height of the electronic component P when the reversing mechanism 30 reverses the direction of the electronic component P as will be described later. Are arranged. Incidentally, the rotary table 21 constituting the first transport mechanism 20 serves to pick up the electronic component P placed and transported on the upper surface thereof for imaging by the first and second cameras 51 and 52, and also the second transport. Similarly, the rotary table 41 constituting the mechanism 40 serves to pick up the electronic component P, which is placed and transported on the upper surface thereof, for imaging by the third and fourth cameras 53 and 54.
[0014]
The first camera 51 is provided so as to take an image of the upper surface (first surface) of the electronic component P placed on the rotary table 21, and the second camera 52 is provided on the rotary table 21 of the electronic component P. Is provided so as to image a surface (second surface) facing the outer peripheral side of the lens. Further, the third camera 53 is provided so as to take an image of the upper surface (third surface) of the electronic component P placed on the rotary table 41, and the fourth camera 54 is provided on the rotary table 41 of the electronic component P. It is provided so as to image a surface (fourth surface) facing the outer peripheral side. In particular, the first and second cameras 51 and 52, and the third and fourth cameras 53 and 54 are arranged at positions separated from each other by a predetermined distance in the circumferential direction of the rotary tables 21 and 41, respectively. It is provided so that each surface of the part P is imaged. With such a camera arrangement, the electronic parts P placed and conveyed on the turntables 21 and 41 are sequentially imaged on the respective surfaces by the first camera 51 to the fourth camera 54. Yes.
[0015]
The reversing mechanism 30 will now be described. The reversing mechanism 30 has a reversing mechanism main body 32 having a guide hole 31 in which a semicircular arc-shaped passage is formed in the vertical direction, as shown in FIG. The electronic component P placed on the rotary table 21 and transported over a substantially half circumference is separated from the rotary table 21 and received, and the inlet of the guide hole 31 positioned at the upper part of the reversing mechanism main body 32 is received. The first linear feeder 33 for guiding the electronic component P is provided. Further, the reversing mechanism 30 includes a second linear feeder 34 that guides the electronic component P discharged from the exit of the guide hole 31 positioned below the reversing mechanism main body 32 onto the rotary table 41. . Each of the first and second linear feeders 33 and 34 has a function of transporting the electronic component P on the linear feeders 33 and 34 at a predetermined speed when a predetermined vibration is applied thereto. Further, the reversing mechanism main body 32 is also subjected to the same vibration as the linear feeder 34, for example, and guides the electronic component P guided into the guide hole 31 along the wall surface thereof, so that the upper and lower surfaces of the electronic component P are guided. It plays a role to reverse. In other words, the reversing mechanism main body 32 plays a role of reversing the surface on the lower side of the electronic component P by 180 °.
[0016]
The reversing mechanism 30 includes the above-described reversing mechanism main body 32 and the first rotating mechanism 20 by the first and second linear feeders 33 and 34 respectively connected to the inlet and outlet of the guide hole 31 directed in the same direction. The electronic component P placed on the second rotation mechanism 40 (rotary table 41) by reversing the surface on the lower side of the electronic component P conveyed via the (rotary table 21) and the conveying direction thereof. The direction of is reversed. Specifically, a surface (third surface) opposite to the upper surface (first surface) imaged by the first camera 51 is positioned as the upper surface, and the side surface (first image) captured by the second camera 52 The surface (fourth surface) opposite to the second surface) is directed onto the turntable 41 with the turntable 41 facing the outer peripheral side. As a result, the third surface of the electronic component P placed and transported on the rotary table 41 is imaged by the third camera 53, and the fourth surface is imaged by the fourth camera 54. .
[0017]
By the way, the transport control unit 60 supplies the electronic component P from the supply mechanism 10, the transport speed of the electronic component P by the first and second transport mechanisms 20 and 40, and the electronic component P by the reversing mechanism 30. Are controlled respectively. In particular, the transport control unit 60 appropriately adjusts the supply speed of the electronic component P from the supply mechanism 10 and the transport speed of the electronic component P by the first transport mechanism 20, and transports the electronic component P by the reversing mechanism 30. By appropriately adjusting the speed and the transport speed of the electronic parts P by the second transport mechanism 40, for example, the electronic parts P placed and transported on the respective rotary tables 21 and 41 are sequentially arranged in a predetermined array. They are controlled so that they are sequentially arranged at a pitch.
[0018]
In addition, the inspection unit 70 that controls the first to fourth cameras 51, 52, 53, 54 described above is configured mainly with a microprocessor, for example. Then, as described above, the cameras 51, 52, 53, 54 are operated in synchronization with the transport timing, for example, in accordance with the transport position of the electronic component P on the turntables 21, 41 transported at a predetermined arrangement pitch. Thus, the electronic component P at each conveyance position is reliably imaged.
[0019]
Therefore, the inspection unit 70 includes an image processing unit 71 and a selection unit 72. The image processing unit 71 performs image processing on the side images of the electronic components P captured by the cameras 51, 52, 53, and 54, and determines the presence or absence of scratches or chips on each surface of the electronic components P. Take on. In addition, the sorting unit 72 plays a role of performing separation control of the electronic component P based on the determination result by the image processing unit 71.
[0020]
The separation of the electronic parts P will be described. Around the rotary tables 21 and 41, defective products are discharged by being positioned downstream of the imaging positions of the electronic parts P by the cameras 51, 52, 53, and 54, respectively. Chutes 81, 82, 83, and 84, and chutes 85, 86, 87, and 88 for carrying out undecidable items are provided, respectively. Air nozzles 91, 92, and 98 for blowing the electronic component P from the rotary tables 21 and 41 toward the chutes 81, 82, and 88 are opposed to the chutes 81, 82, and 88, respectively. The rotary tables 21 and 41 are provided above the inner peripheral portions of the rotary tables 21 and 41, respectively. Each of these air nozzles 91, 92, to 98 is selectively driven by the sorting unit 72, and particularly when a defect of the electronic component P is detected from the image and from the image, it is convinced that it is a non-defective product. It is driven when cannot be obtained (determination is impossible).
[0021]
Therefore, if the electronic component P subjected to the appearance inspection by the first to fourth cameras 51, 52, 53, 54 is a defective product according to the determination result, the chute 81, 82, 83, 84 is used. In addition, if it is impossible to determine, it is dropped from the rotary tables 21 and 41 at any time by being dropped onto the chutes 85, 86, 87 and 88, respectively. In other words, the electronic component P subjected to the visual inspection by the cameras 51, 52, 53, and 54 is left on the rotary tables 21 and 41 only when it is determined to be a non-defective product, and is downstream in the transport direction. It will be used for visual inspection by the next camera. The electronic component P determined as a non-defective product in all the visual inspections by the cameras 51, 52, 53, 54 is discharged from the second rotary table 41 on the downstream side of the chute 88 via the guide 15. It is dropped into 16 and discharged.
[0022]
Thus, according to the appearance inspection apparatus configured as described above, the rotary tables 21 and 41 that form the first and second transport mechanisms 20 and 40 are arranged for the minute electronic components P that are difficult to be sucked by a vacuum chuck or the like. Since the orientation of the electronic component P is reversed via the reversing mechanism 30 when the plate is placed on the top and transported, and further transferred from the rotary table 21 to the rotary table 41, different surfaces of the electronic component P are different from each other as described above. The first to fourth cameras 51, 52, 53, and 54 can be directed, respectively. Accordingly, it is possible to efficiently inspect the appearance of four different surfaces (first surface to fourth surface) of the electronic component P.
[0023]
In addition, the electronic component P is simply placed on the rotary tables 21 and 41 and transported, and there is no need to change the posture of the electronic component P by gripping it. Since no control is required, the control is very simple. Furthermore, since the electronic component P is placed on the rotary tables 21 and 41 and transported, it is only necessary to control the imaging timing of the cameras 51, 52, 53, and 54 in accordance with the transport position. Can be processed in parallel in a pipeline manner, and each surface of each electronic component P can be visually inspected. For example, about 1000 to 1500 electronic components P per minute can be sufficiently inspected. Etc. are produced.
[0024]
In particular, the reversing mechanism 30 has a simple configuration in which the electronic component P is guided into the semicircular arc-shaped guide hole 31 and the posture thereof is reversed in the vertical direction. Therefore, the guide hole 31 is adapted to the size of the electronic component P. In this case, the posture can be reliably reversed by 180 ° with almost no disturbance in the conveying posture, and at the same time, the conveying direction can be reversed. As a result, different surfaces of the electronic component P can be easily directed in a predetermined camera direction, and there is an effect that there is no possibility of preventing the electronic component P from being continuously conveyed.
[0025]
In the above-described embodiment, the first and second transport mechanisms 20 and 40 are realized by using the rotary tables 21 and 41. However, the linear conveyors 22 and 42 can also be realized as shown in FIG. . In this case, since the cameras can be arranged on both sides of the linear conveyors 22 and 42, the two side surfaces orthogonal to the transport direction of the electronic component P placed and transported on the linear conveyors 22 and 42 are inspected. In this way, the first to fourth cameras 51, 52, 53, 54 may be arranged. In this case, the reversing mechanism 30 is realized with the guide hole 34 having a twisted shape so that the electronic component P is reversed by 90 ° in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction as shown in FIG. You can do that. If the electronic component P is reversed 90 ° in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction using such a reversing mechanism 30, the surface of the electronic component P positioned up and down on the linear conveyor 22 is positioned on both sides. To be guided onto the second linear conveyor 42. Therefore, the appearance inspection of the electronic component P can be efficiently performed as in the previous embodiment.
[0026]
In addition, this invention is not limited to each embodiment mentioned above. For example, the first and second transport mechanisms 20 and 40 can be configured by combining a rotary table and a linear conveyor. Moreover, what surface of the electronic component P placed and transported by the first and second transport mechanisms 20 and 40 is to be imaged from the camera may be determined according to the specification, and according to the imaging surface. The reversing mechanism 30 may determine whether the electronic component P is reversed 180 ° or 90 °.
[0027]
Further, when it is necessary to inspect six surfaces of the electronic component P, for example, a linear feeder is provided to take out the electronic component P from the rotary table 41 and convey it, and the electronic component is placed on the linear feeder orthogonal to the linear feeder. There is also a technique in which the surface of the electronic component that has been positioned as the front end portion and the rear end portion is positioned as a side surface with respect to the transport direction and the surfaces are inspected. In addition, after visual inspection of three different surfaces of the electronic component P placed on the first transport mechanism 20, the posture is reversed and further visual inspection of three different surfaces is performed on the second transport mechanism 40. It goes without saying that it may be done. Furthermore, after inspecting the external appearances of the four different surfaces of the electronic component P on the first transport mechanism 20, the external appearances of the two surfaces remaining on the second transport mechanism 40 whose posture is reversed are inspected. Is also possible. In this case, the surface of the electronic component P imaged by each camera in the first and second transport mechanisms 20 and 40 and the reverse direction of the electronic component P may be set appropriately in advance. Further, as described above, the present invention can be similarly applied to the case of visual inspection of a relatively large electronic component having a side of about several centimeters. In addition, the present invention can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the scope of the invention.
[0028]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the electronic component is placed on and transported on the first and second transport mechanisms, and the posture of the electronic component is reversed via the reversing mechanism. Since the appearance is inspected for each surface of the electronic component on each of the transport mechanisms after the replacement, the inspection efficiency can be improved, and the control itself can be greatly simplified. Furthermore, it is possible to carry out appearance inspection while conveying a plurality of electronic components at high speed, and to achieve a great practical effect such as greatly simplifying the configuration of the entire apparatus.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a shape of an electronic component.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an appearance inspection apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the arrangement of an electronic component transport system and a camera in the appearance inspection apparatus shown in FIG. 1;
4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a reversing mechanism in the appearance inspection apparatus shown in FIG. 1. FIG.
FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the arrangement of an electronic component transport system and a camera in an appearance inspection apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a reversing mechanism in the appearance inspection apparatus shown in FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
P Electronic component 10 Supply mechanism 20 First transport mechanism 21 Rotary table 22 Linear conveyor 30 Reversing mechanism 32 Guide hole (for 180 ° reversal)
34 Guide hole (for 90 ° inversion)
40 Second transport mechanism 41 Rotary table 42 Linear conveyor 51, 52, 53, 54 Camera 70 Inspection unit 71 Image processing unit 72 Selection unit

Claims (5)

A supply mechanism for aligning a plurality of electronic components having a rectangular parallelepiped shape or a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape and sequentially supplying one by one;
The electronic component supplied from the supply mechanism is placed and transported, and the first and second surfaces different from each other in the direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the electronic component are subjected to imaging by the first and second cameras. A first transport mechanism;
The electronic component includes a guide for guiding the electronic component conveyed through the first conveyance mechanism, conveys the electronic component along the guide, and reverses the electronic component in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction. A reversing mechanism for reversing the lower surface by 90 ° or 180 °,
Through this reversing mechanism, the electronic component whose direction is reversed is placed and conveyed, and the third surface and the fourth surface are different from the first surface and the second surface in the direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the electronic component, respectively. A second transport mechanism for subjecting the surface to imaging by the third and fourth cameras;
An appearance inspection apparatus comprising: an image processing unit that determines the quality of an appearance from images of first to fourth surfaces of the electronic components captured by the cameras. The first and second cameras respectively capture an upper surface of an electronic component placed on the first transport mechanism and a surface facing one side of a transport path formed by the first transport mechanism, The third and fourth cameras respectively capture images of the upper surface of the electronic component placed on the second transport mechanism and the surface facing one side of the transport path formed by the second transport mechanism. And
2. The reversing mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the lower surface of the electronic component conveyed via the first conveying mechanism is inverted 180 ° and guided to the second conveying mechanism. Appearance inspection device. The appearance inspection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein each of the first and second transport mechanisms includes a rotary table. The first and second cameras respectively capture images of two surfaces of the electronic component placed on the first transport mechanism facing the both sides of the transport path formed by the first transport mechanism, and The third and fourth cameras respectively capture two surfaces of the electronic components placed on the second transport mechanism that face the both sides of the transport path formed by the second transport mechanism,
2. The appearance according to claim 1, wherein the reversing mechanism reverses a surface on the lower side of the electronic component conveyed through the first conveying mechanism by 90 ° and guides it to the second conveying mechanism. Inspection device. The appearance inspection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein each of the first and second transport mechanisms includes a linear conveyor.

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