JP4415080B2 - Strip-shaped workpiece alignment device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for aligning strip-shaped workpieces for aligning the front and back surfaces and directions of randomly supplied strip-shaped workpieces and supplying them to the next process. The present invention relates to an apparatus for aligning strip-shaped workpieces used for manufacturing parts, for example, for aligning the front and back surfaces and directions of lead frames and the like and supplying them to the next process.

  As shown in FIG. 4A, some of the electronic components, such as transistors and diodes, are leads that are one of strip-shaped workpieces manufactured by resin molding a plurality of electronic components on a strip-shaped thin plate. When the frame is taken out of the molding machine after resin molding, it is in an unaligned state. Therefore, since positioning is required when the electronic component is separated from the lead frame, the front / back / direction (left / right) must be aligned.

Such a lead frame front / back / direction aligning apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 03-259814. After aligning non-aligned lead frames, the front / back and direction are reversed as necessary. FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of a front-facing (front-back reversing) device 40 disclosed in the publication.
The alignment of the non-aligned (random) lead frames disclosed in the above publication is not shown, but is hooked on a claw (crosspiece) provided at right angles to the traveling direction of the winding conveyance belt (belt), and is wound and conveyed. By tilting the belt, it is possible to prevent overlap and convey one by one, detect the front and back and left and right from the shape of the lead frame in the middle of conveyance, and perform the next front and back inversion and left and right inversion from the result .

Hereinafter, front / back inversion and left / right inversion will be described.
In FIG. 7 (a), the front-facing device 40 includes a pair of falling workpiece turning plates 41 and 43, turning plate driving devices 42 and 44 for driving the falling workpiece turning plates 41 and 43, and strip-like falling workpieces. It comprises a stopper portion 46 for receiving a lower edge portion (hereinafter referred to as a strip plate work R), a horizontal support portion 45, a front / rear alignment device 47, and a turning means 48 for turning the front / rear alignment device 47.
A front and back and front / rear detection device for the strip-shaped workpiece R (not shown) is provided above the front-facing device 40, and the strip-shaped workpiece R whose front and back and front / rear are determined by the front / back and front / rear detection device The longitudinal direction is dropped horizontally from above the device 40 and supplied.

  The falling workpiece turning plates 41 and 43 of the front-facing device 40 for reversing the front and back of the strip-like workpiece R are, for example, one falling workpiece turning plate 41 (or 43) depending on the identified front and back of the strip-like workpiece R. In the standby posture P1 (or P3) side, and the other falling workpiece turning plate 43 (or 41) is driven as a pair on the falling workpiece turning posture P4 (or P2) side. The strip plate workpiece R supplied by dropping between the falling workpiece turning plates 41 and 43 from above the pointing device 40 is a falling workpiece turning plate 43 (or P2) in the falling workpiece turning posture P4 (or P2). Or 41), when the surface side is changed to the upper surface and the stopper 46 is brought into contact with the lower edge of the strip plate workpiece R to stop, the dropped workpiece turning posture P4 as shown in FIG. Falling workpiece turning plate 43 (or 41) in (or P2) was driven to standby posture P3 (or P1) side and was in standby posture P1 (or P3) side After the lower work deflection plate 41 (or 43) is driven to drop the work deflection position P2 (or P4) side, so as to stand by is driven in the standby position P1 (or P3) side again.

As a result, the belt-like workpiece R that has come into contact with the stopper portion 46 and stopped obliquely is placed on the horizontal support portion 45 with the front side facing upward.
The horizontal support portion 45 is a rotatable endless belt whose direction can be changed by a driving means (not shown), and the front-rear alignment device 47 is arranged so that the front side of the strip plate work R is the next process side according to the front-rear direction determination. Is swung by the swivel means 48, and then the strip plate work R is carried out to the next process by the horizontal support portion 45.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 03-259814

  However, in the strip-shaped workpiece aligning device, the strip-shaped workpiece R and the placement by the strip-shaped workpiece R being dropped and supplied in the front-back alignment process from the front / back / front / rear direction determination of the strip-shaped workpiece R Although damage to the manufactured electronic component is conceivable and not shown, there is a situation in which the mechanism is complicated as shown in FIG. 1 disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 03-259814.

The technical problem of the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is as follows:
An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for aligning strip-shaped workpieces that can easily align strip-shaped workpieces with a simple mechanism without causing damage to strip-shaped workpieces such as lead frames.
The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

  In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 1 includes a magazine for supplying a stack of strip-shaped workpieces, and transporting the strip-shaped workpiece of the magazine by suction holding the shaft end of a vertical shaft, A holding and conveying means for turning the strip-shaped workpiece around the vertical axis, a direction determining hole formed in the strip-shaped workpiece, and a plurality of sensor heads for detecting the direction determining hole are provided facing each other, and the strip-shaped Direction discriminating means for discriminating the front and back direction and the left and right direction of the strip-like workpiece by sandwiching the workpiece with the sensor head and detecting the position of the direction discrimination hole, and front and back inversion means for inverting the front and back of the strip-like workpiece It is characterized by comprising. With this configuration, the strip-shaped workpieces are reliably aligned and carried out to the next process without receiving an impact. Moreover, the structure of the apparatus is simplified.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the front and back reversing means includes a gripping guide for gripping the strip-shaped workpiece, and a reversal for holding the gripping guide and rotating the strip-shaped workpiece about its horizontal axis. It is characterized by comprising a frame, an opening / closing means for the gripping guide, and a pressure sending means for pressing and sending the strip-shaped work gripped by the gripping guide.
The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that, in claim 2, the rotating shaft of the reversing frame is a hollow penetrating rotating shaft, and the strip-shaped workpiece is sent through the penetrating rotating shaft. It is what.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the second or third aspect, the opening / closing means of the grip guide is
An elastic member that urges the gripping guide in a closing direction; a T-shaped knob coupled to the gripping guide; and a C-shaped traction bracket that pulls the gripping guide in an opening direction while the T-shaped knob is engaged. It is characterized by comprising.

The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that, in claim 4, the T-shaped knob moves in a direction in which the engagement with the C-shaped traction bracket is released when the reversal frame is turned. .
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the second to fifth aspects, the press-feeding means travels in the horizontal axis direction of the lift and the strip-shaped workpiece, and descends and retreats when the reversing frame turns. The strip-shaped workpiece is raised when the strip-shaped workpiece is sent out, travels in the horizontal axis direction of the strip-shaped workpiece, and the strip-shaped workpiece is sent out.

  According to the present invention, strip-like workpieces (for example, lead frames) are taken out from the magazine while being attracted by the suction head, and after front / back / direction discrimination and direction alignment, the front / back reversing mechanism is used to align the front / back. As a result, it is possible to reliably align and carry out to the next process without receiving an impact in a series of processes, and thus without damaging the electronic parts of the strip-shaped workpiece, and the structure of the apparatus becomes simple.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of an aligning device 1 for strip-like workpieces (hereinafter referred to as workpieces) according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged front view of the holding and conveying mechanism 2 of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4A is an enlarged view of the direction discriminating mechanism 3, FIG. 4A is a diagram showing a positional relationship between a lead frame L which is an example of a workpiece and a sensor, FIG. 4B is an example of front / back direction discrimination by a sensor, FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of 4 parts of the front / back reversing mechanism in FIG. 1. (a) is a plan view, (b) is a partial side view, (c) is a partial front view, FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view along AA in FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a mechanism 4.

In FIG. 1, a strip-shaped workpiece alignment device 1 includes a holding and conveying mechanism 2, a direction determining mechanism 3, a front / back reversing mechanism 4, an unloading means 5, and a magazine 6 that supplies and feeds workpieces L in a stacked manner.
As shown in FIG. 2, the holding and conveying mechanism 2 is provided with a frame 18 vertically on a horizontal base 20 that is horizontally movable on a linear guide 17 by driving means (not shown) directly connected to a horizontal driving shaft 16. A drive motor 15 is disposed on the frame 18.

Guided by a linear guide 19 provided on the back base 18a of the frame 18, the vertical base 10 is provided so as to be vertically movable, and the drive shaft 15a directly connected to the drive motor 15 is provided on the back of the vertical base 10. The vertical base 10 is vertically driven by being screwed into a nut (not shown).
A hollow shaft 12 is rotatably provided on the vertical base 10, and one end of the hollow shaft 12 is connected to a vacuum supply source by a vacuum pipe 13 via a vacuum controller (not shown). The other end of the hollow shaft 12 constitutes a distribution head 12a, a suction head plate 11 is disposed at the lower end of the distribution head 12a, and the suction head plate 11 is provided with a plurality of suction heads 11a.

A drive motor 14 provided on the vertical base 10 is rotatably connected to the hollow shaft 12 via a drive belt 21.
In the direction discriminating mechanism 3 shown in FIG. 3, a pair of sensor heads 8 and 9 each having a recess for clamping the workpiece L from the longitudinal direction are provided so as to be able to advance and retreat by the cylinder 7, respectively. Each pair of a plurality of pairs of projectors 8a, 9a and light receivers 8b, 9b is provided so as to be able to receive the optical axis projected through the recess.

As shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b), the front / back reversing mechanism 4 has a through-rotation shaft in which one end in the longitudinal direction of the reversing frame 22 passes through the bearing base 33 and is rotatably supported by a plurality of bearings 25. The other end of the reversing frame 22 is connected to the rotary cylinder 32 by a connecting shaft 31 as shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (c).
A pair of gripping guides 23 for gripping the workpiece L in the width direction are disposed on the inner surface side of the reversing frame 22, and each gripping guide 23 passes through the reversing frame 22 and has a T-shaped knob 26 and a plurality of gripping guides 23. The ball guide 30 is connected to the reversal frame 22 by a plurality of springs 29 that widen the distance between the reversal frame 22 and the gripping guide 23 in an adjustable manner.

The T-shaped head of each knob 26, which is the opening / closing means of the gripping guide 23, is inserted into the C-shaped groove from the opening of the C-shaped groove of the traction fitting 27 provided in the spool 28a of the cylinder 28 so as to be movable back and forth. Yes.
As shown in FIG. 5 (c), a transfer cylinder 36 serving as a delivery means is disposed in parallel with the longitudinal direction of the reversal frame 22, and a lift cylinder 35 provided so as to be able to move up and down the delivery plate 34 is provided as a transfer cylinder. The linear guides 36 a are provided so as to be able to run in the longitudinal direction of the reversal frame 22. Although not shown in detail, an unloading means 5 (FIG. 1) using, for example, a belt is disposed so as to face the through rotation shaft 24 of FIG.

Next, the operation will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
In FIG. 1, direction discrimination is performed in the process of sucking and holding the workpiece L, which is randomly stacked in the front or back side or the direction, on the workpiece supply magazine 6 by the suction head 11a of the holding and transport mechanism 2 shown in FIG. The front / back / direction is determined by the combination of the optical sensors provided on the sensor heads 8, 9 of the mechanism 3 and the detection of the front / back / direction discrimination holes La and Lb (FIG. 4 (a)) provided on the workpiece L. It is arranged based on.

  That is, in the holding and conveying mechanism 2, the drive shaft 15a is rotated by a drive motor 15 provided for vertical driving, and the vertical base 10 is moved up and down by being screwed into a nut (not shown) of the vertical base 10. Accordingly, the hollow shaft 12, the distribution head 12a, and the suction head plate 11 provided on the vertical base 10 are also raised and lowered simultaneously.

  Further, the horizontal drive shaft 16 is driven by a drive means (not shown) so that the suction head plate 11 moves horizontally between the magazine 6 and the direction discriminating mechanism 3. Then, the plurality of suction heads 11a of the suction head plate 11 that has moved horizontally and reached the magazine position are lowered, the workpieces L randomly stacked on the magazine 6 are sucked and held one by one, and then moved to the direction discriminating mechanism 3. Transport. At this time, the sensor heads 8 and 9 of the direction discriminating mechanism 3 are each pulled back by the cylinder 7 and stand by at the retracted position, and when the workpiece L is positioned at the direction discriminating position, a pair of sensors as shown in FIG. The heads 8 and 9 are respectively sent out by the cylinder 7 and the longitudinal ends of the workpiece L are sandwiched between the recesses of the sensor heads 8 and 9. At this time, the relationship between the workpiece L and the sensor positions provided in the sensor heads 8 and 9 is as shown in the embodiment of FIG. 4 (a). The relationship between the plurality of light projectors 8a and light receivers 8b provided in the sensor head 8 is The positions of the optical axis 8c (hereinafter referred to as sensor positions) are S1 and S2, and the sensor positions of the plurality of projectors 9a and light receivers 9b provided in the sensor head 9 are S3 and S4.

  At this time, each sensor positional relationship and the direction discrimination holes La and Lb of the workpiece L are, for example, the dimensions of the direction discrimination hole La from the end of the workpiece L in the correct direction (front) are a × g and b × g, When the dimensions of the direction determination hole Lb are c × f and d × f, the sensor position S1 is c × e, the sensor position S2 is c × f, the sensor position S3 is b × g, and the sensor position S4 is b × h. It is set to be. Also, when the dimensional relationships are a <b <c = d and e = f <g = h, the front / back / direction discrimination of the workpiece L by the sensor heads 8 and 9 is as shown in FIG.

When the front / back / direction discrimination is completed, the sensor heads 8 and 9 are pulled back by the cylinder 7 and the workpiece L is released from the clamping state. As a result of the direction discrimination, when the direction is reversed, the direction reversing drive motor 14 shown in FIG. 2 is started, and the hollow shaft 12, the distribution head 12a and the suction head plate 11 are rotated by 180 ° via the drive belt 21. In addition, the direction of the work L sucked and held by the suction head 11a is aligned.
When the directions are aligned, the vertical base 10 is lowered by the vertical drive motor 15, and the work L sucked and held by the suction head 11a is conveyed to the front / back reversing mechanism 4 shown in FIG.

5A and 6, the gripping guide 23 is separated from the reversal frame 22 by the elastic force of the spring 29 in a steady state, and the distance between the pair of gripping guides 23 is narrowed so that the workpiece L can be gripped. It is set to be.
When the workpiece L is held by the suction head 11a and conveyed to the front / back reversing mechanism 4, the traction fitting 27 is retracted by the cylinder 28, and the T-shaped knob 26 inserted into the opening of the C-shaped groove of the traction fitting 27 is The gripping guide 23 that is pulled and connected to the knob 26 is pulled toward the reversal frame 22 against the elastic force of the spring 29, and the pair of gripping guides 23 is opened so that the workpiece L can be loaded. Yes.

  When the workpiece L attracted by the suction head 11a is lowered and conveyed to the level of the gripping guide 23, the spool 28a of the cylinder 28 protrudes to return the traction bracket 27 to the steady state and grips by the elastic force of the spring 29. The guide 23 is separated from the reversal frame 22 to grip the workpiece L.

  When the workpiece L is gripped by the gripping guide 23, the suction head 11a releases the suction, separates from the workpiece L and rises, and enters a posture to transport the next workpiece L of the magazine 6. In the front / back discrimination, if it is determined that the back side, the feed plate 34 is lowered to the retracted position by the elevating cylinder 35 shown in FIG. 5 (c), and the reverse frame 22 is connected by the connecting shaft 31 shown in FIG. 5 (a). The lead frame L is rotated by 180 ° by being driven by the rotary cylinder 32 so that the front and back of the lead frame L are aligned. At this time, the T-shaped knob 26 inserted from the opening of the C-shaped groove of the traction bracket 27 is in a free state in the traction bracket 27, and the traction bracket 27 accompanying the turning of the reversing frame 22 No interference occurs.

  When the front and back sides of the workpiece L are aligned, the delivery plate 34 located at the retracted position shown in FIG. 5C is raised by the elevating cylinder 35 to return to the position where the workpiece L is pressed, and the linear guide 36a of the transfer cylinder 36 is returned. The elevating cylinder and the delivery plate 34 are guided between the two grip guides 23, and the lead frame L gripped by the grip guide 23 is guided by the guide surface 23a of the grip guide 23 so that the through rotary shaft 24 It is delivered from the through hole.

The workpiece L sent out from the through rotary shaft 24 is transferred and conveyed to, for example, a carry-out means 5 such as a belt conveyor disposed opposite to the through rotary shaft 24, and is carried out to the next process. ing.
When the transfer of the workpiece L to the unloading means 5 is completed, the delivery plate 34 descends and returns to the retracted position, and the lifting cylinder 35 and the delivery plate 34 are retracted by the transfer cylinder 36 and returned to the original position. The reversing frame 22 turns 180 ° and returns to a steady state.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the front (back) and right / left directions are discriminated while the work (lead frame) L is sucked from the magazine 6 one by one by the suction head 11a. Since the left and right directions are aligned and the front and back reversing mechanism 4 is aligned in the front and back directions, the workpiece L is reliably aligned without being damaged by a device having a simple structure.

1 is a front view of a lead frame alignment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a front view which shows the lead frame holding | maintenance conveyance mechanism of FIG. It is a front view which shows the direction discrimination mechanism of FIG. In one embodiment of direction determination, (a) shows an example of a lead frame and sensor position, and (b) shows an example of a detection result and direction determination. 1A and 1B show a front / back reversing mechanism of FIG. 1, in which FIG. 1A is a plan view, FIG. 1B is a partial side view, and FIG. It is AA sectional drawing of FIG. (a) And (b) is one Example and explanatory drawing of the front-and-back / left-right inversion apparatus of a prior art.

Explanation of symbols

1 Strip-shaped workpiece alignment device
2 Holding and transport mechanism
3-direction discriminating mechanism
4 Reverse mechanism
5 Unloading means
6 Magazine
7 cylinders
8 Sensor head
8a Floodlight
8b Receiver
8c optical axis
9 Sensor head
9a Floodlight
9b Receiver
9c optical axis
10 Vertical base
11 Suction head plate
11a Suction head
12 hollow shaft
12a dispensing head
13 Vacuum piping
14 Drive motor
15 Drive motor
15a Drive shaft
16 Horizontal drive shaft
17 Linear guide (horizontal)
18 frames
18a rear base
19 Linear guide (vertical)
20 Horizontal base
21 Drive belt
22 Inverted frame
23 Grip guide
23a Guide surface
24 Through shaft
25 Bearing
26 Knobs
27 Towing bracket
28 cylinders
28a spool
29 Spring
30 Ball guide
31 Connecting shaft
32 Rotary cylinder
33 Bearing base
34 Delivery plate
35 Lifting cylinder
36 Transfer cylinder
36a linear guide
40 Front-facing device
41 Falling work direction plate
42 Direction plate driving device
43 Falling work direction plate
44 Turning plate drive
45 Horizontal support
46 Stopper
47 Front-rear alignment device
48 Turning means
L Work
La direction detection hole
Lb direction discrimination hole
P1 Standby posture
P2 Falling workpiece turning posture
P3 Standby posture
P4 Falling workpiece turning posture
S1 Sensor position
S2 Sensor position
S3 Sensor position
S4 Sensor position

Claims (6)

A magazine that supplies a stack of strip-shaped workpieces;
Holding and transporting the strip-shaped workpiece of the magazine by sucking and holding it on the shaft end of a vertical shaft, and rotating and transporting the strip-shaped workpiece around the vertical axis;
A direction discrimination hole formed in the strip-shaped workpiece;
A plurality of sensor heads for detecting the direction discrimination holes are provided facing each other, and the strip-like workpiece is sandwiched between the sensor heads to detect the position of the direction discrimination hole, whereby the front and back directions and the left-right direction of the strip-like workpiece are detected. Direction discriminating means for discriminating
Front and back reversing means for reversing the front and back of the strip-shaped workpiece;
An apparatus for aligning strip-shaped workpieces. The front and back reversing means is
A grip guide for gripping the strip-shaped workpiece;
An inversion frame that holds the grip guide and rotates the strip-shaped work around its horizontal axis;
Means for opening and closing the grip guide;
Press sending means for pressing and sending the strip-shaped workpiece gripped by the grip guide;
The strip-shaped work alignment apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:   3. The strip-shaped workpiece alignment according to claim 2, wherein the rotation axis of the reversal frame is a hollow through rotation shaft, and the strip-shaped workpiece is sent through the through rotation shaft. apparatus. The grip guide opening and closing means includes
An elastic member that biases the gripping guide in a closing direction;
A T-shaped knob connected to the gripping guide;
With the T-shaped knob engaged, a C-shaped traction bracket that pulls in the direction to open the grip guide,
The strip-shaped work alignment apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:   The strip-shaped workpiece alignment device according to claim 4, wherein the T-shaped knob moves in a direction in which the engagement with the C-shaped traction bracket is released when the reversal frame is turned. The pressing and feeding means travels in the horizontal axis direction of the strip-like workpiece, moves up and down when the reversing frame turns, and rises when the strip-like workpiece is fed, and rises when the strip-like workpiece is fed. The strip-shaped workpiece alignment apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the strip-shaped workpiece is traveled in a direction and sent out.

Images