JP4818767B2 - Appearance inspection device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an appearance inspection apparatus that automatically inspects an inspection object such as a printed circuit board.

  In general, pads, resists, silk, and the like formed on a printed circuit board are inspected by an appearance inspection apparatus. As such an appearance inspection apparatus, various apparatuses are currently proposed, and for example, there is an apparatus described in Patent Document 1 below.

For example, as shown in FIG. 13, the apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a stacking unit 201 that stacks a predetermined number of printed circuit boards 9 to be inspected on the upstream side 101 of the inspection unit 206, and prints inspected by the inspection unit 206. A collection unit 208 that collects the substrate 9 is provided on the downstream side 102 of the inspection unit 206. In this apparatus, the mounting mechanism 231 lifts the printed circuit board 9 from the stacking unit 201 and places the printed circuit board 9 on the inspection conveyor 203. The printed circuit board 9 is moved on the inspection conveyor 203 and printed by the inspection unit 206. The formation state of the surface of 9 is inspected. Then, the printed circuit board 9 determined to be acceptable by the inspection by the inspection unit 206 is collected by the collection unit 208 by the collection mechanism 232.
JP 2003-165614 A

  By the way, when inspecting an inspection object using such an appearance inspection apparatus, the stacking unit is provided on the upstream side, and the collection unit is provided on the downstream side, so that there is a problem that the entire apparatus becomes long. . In addition, since it is necessary to provide a placement mechanism and a recovery mechanism for each of the stacking unit and the recovered material, the cost increases.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an appearance inspection apparatus capable of reducing the entire apparatus and reducing the cost in order to solve the above problems.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a stage moving mechanism for moving a stage on which an inspection object is placed, and a stacking unit that is provided on the side of the stage and accumulates the inspection object placed on the stage. An inspection unit that inspects the inspection object by moving the stage on which the inspection object is placed in the longitudinal direction, and an inspection object that is provided on the side opposite to the moving direction of the stage with respect to the stacking unit A collection unit for collecting an object, a first suction member for picking up an inspection object accumulated in the accumulation unit, a second adsorption member for picking up an inspection object placed on the stage, and the first A holding member that integrally holds the one suction member and the second suction member, and the holding member is moved in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the stage, and the stacking unit is configured using the first suction member. As well as pick up al inspection object is obtained by the inspection object placed on the stage as a moving mechanism for recovering the recovery section to pick up.

  Then, the first suction member and the second suction member are held by the holding member so as to be at different positions with respect to the moving direction of the stage.

  With this configuration, the stacking unit and the collection unit are provided on the sides of the moving direction of the stage, so that the entire apparatus can be shortened, and the placement operation and the collection operation can be performed simultaneously by a single pickup mechanism. Since this can be performed, the cost of the appearance inspection apparatus can be reduced.

The present invention provides a stage moving mechanism that moves a stage on which an inspection object is placed, a stacking unit that is provided on a side of the stage and accumulates the inspection object placed on the stage, and an inspection object. An inspection unit that inspects an inspection object by moving the placed stage in the longitudinal direction, and a recovery unit that is provided on the opposite side of the moving direction of the stage with respect to the stacking unit and collects the inspected inspection object. A first suction member that picks up the inspection object collected in the stacking unit, a second suction member that picks up the inspection object placed on the stage, the first suction member, and the second suction member A holding member that integrally holds the suction member, and the holding member is moved in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the stage, and the inspection object is picked up from the stacking portion using the first suction member. And a moving mechanism that picks up the inspection object placed on the stage and collects it in the collection unit, so that the entire appearance inspection apparatus can be shortened and the cost can be reduced. Be able to

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  The outline | summary of the external appearance inspection apparatus 100 in this Embodiment is demonstrated. This appearance inspection apparatus 100 inspects the formation state of array patterns, pads, resists, silk, and the like formed on the printed circuit board 9, and as shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of printed circuit boards 9 to be inspected are displayed. An accumulating unit 1 for accumulating, a pick-up mechanism 2 for picking up the printed circuit boards 9 from the stage 4 at the same time as taking out the accumulated printed circuit boards 9 one by one from above, a stage moving mechanism 5 for reciprocating the stage 4, The inspection unit 6 that inspects the appearance of the printed circuit board 9, the front / back reversing mechanism 7 that inverts the printed circuit board 9, and the collection unit 8 that stores the printed circuit board 9 based on the inspection result of the appearance. Hereinafter, the configuration of the appearance inspection apparatus 100 will be described in detail.

  First, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the stacking unit 1 stacks and stores printed circuit boards 9 to be inspected. The stacking unit 1 includes a box-shaped stacker 10 that stores the printed circuit boards 9, and the stacker 10. A slide mechanism 11 that slides toward the worker side of the entrance, a base member 10d for placing the printed circuit board 9 in the stacker 10, and a lifter 12 that lifts and lowers the base member 10d independently from the bottom plate 10a of the stacker 10. It has.

  The stacker 10 is configured to be surrounded by a bottom plate 10a, a single side wall 10b, and a back wall 10c, and a base member 10d is detachably mounted on the top of the bottom plate 10a. When performing the placement operation, the entire stacker 10 is pulled out via the slide mechanism 11, and the printed circuit board 9 is placed on the base member 10d from the opened portion. The bottom plate 10a and the back wall 10c are provided with a slit 100c for passing a fork 12b of a lifter 12 described later, and the fork 12b can be moved up and down through the slit 100c.

  The slide mechanism 11 for pulling out the stacker 10 includes a slide rail 11b for sliding the entire stacker 10 forward, and two fork-like mounting members 11a attached via the slide rail 11b. Is done. On the mounting member 11a, the bottom plate 10a of the stacker 10 is attached, so that the entire stacker 10 can be pulled forward together with the mounting member 11a.

  On the other hand, the lifter 12 for moving the fork 12b up and down includes a base member 10d on which the printed circuit board 9 is placed, and moves the fork 12b up and down via the worm shaft mechanism 12a. The fork 12b is provided so as to protrude into the stacker 10 through a slit 100c provided in the back wall 10c of the stacker 10 and a slit 100c provided in the bottom plate 10a. The operation of the fork 12b will be described. First, the fork 12b is positioned below the bottom plate 10a of the stacker 10 in the initial state. In this state, since the bottom plate 10a of the stacker 10 is placed on the placement member 11a constituting the slide mechanism 11, the entire stacker 10 can be pulled forward via the slide rail 11b. When the fork 12b is moved upward from this state, as the fork 12b rises, the fork 12b enters the stacker 10 through the slit 100c of the bottom plate 10a as shown in FIG. The member 10d and the printed circuit board 9 are lifted. As a result, the base member 10d is lifted off from the bottom plate 10a. In addition, in FIG. 2, the front view of the stacking part 1 is shown, and in FIG. 3, the side view is shown. The base member 10d is lifted until the printed circuit board 9 integrated on the uppermost part shields the optical sensor 10e on the stacker 10, and thus the pickup circuit 9 is always placed on the uppermost part of the stacker 10. The mechanism 2 can be taken out.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the pickup mechanism 2 for taking out the printed board 9 has a first suction member 20 that sucks the printed board 9 in the stacker 10 and moves it to the first stage 40, and the front and back are inspected. A second adsorbing member 21 that adsorbs the printed board 9 and moves it from the second stage 41 to the collection unit 8 is provided. The first suction member 20 and the second suction member 21 are held by an L-shaped holding member 22.

  The first suction member 20 and the second suction member 21 are configured to apply a large suction force only to a portion where the printed board 9 is in contact. The details of the suction mechanism will be described below. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a shielding member 25 that moves in a space between the inner suction port 23 on the side to which the suction pump is connected (the upper side in the drawing) and the objective suction port 24 is provided. . The shielding member 25 has a through hole 25a in the center in the vertical direction, and allows the movement in the vertical direction by passing the guide pin 26a through the through hole 25a. The guide pin 26 a is provided on a gap forming member 26 for forming a gap inside the objective side suction port 24, and the objective side suction port 24 is brought into contact with the gap forming member 26 by bringing the shielding member 25 into contact therewith. And a gap is formed. The gap forming member 26 is provided across the central portion of the circular opening of the objective suction port 24. Then, the guide pin 26 a is passed through the through hole 25 a of the shielding member 25, and the shielding member 25 is urged toward the objective side suction port 24 by the spring 27.

  The operation of this suction mechanism will be described with reference to FIG. 6. First, when the suction pump is operated in a state where the printed circuit board 9 is not present in the objective suction port 24, the shielding member 25 is moved by the suction force from the suction pump. The inner suction port 23 is sucked to the inner suction port 23 side, and the inner suction port 23 is shielded. With this, just by sucking outside air from the slight gap 28 formed between the through hole 25a of the shielding member 25 and the guide pin 26a, Almost no suction force works. Next, when the printed circuit board 9 comes into contact with the objective suction port 24, the objective side suction port 24 is shielded, and air in the space is gradually sucked to reduce the pressure. When the pressure in the space decreases to some extent, this time, the shielding member 25 is pushed toward the objective suction port 24 by the biasing force of the spring 27, and at this time, the shielding member 25 comes into contact with the gap forming member 26 to increase the pressure. A suction channel having a width is formed. As a result, the printed circuit board 9 is sucked with a large suction force. That is, this suction mechanism applies a large suction force only to a portion where the printed circuit board 9 is in contact, and hardly applies a suction force to a portion where the printed circuit board 9 is not in contact. As a result, a strong suction force is applied only to the contacting portion of the printed circuit board 9 without increasing the output of the suction pump.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the holding member 22 is formed by an L-shaped member that integrally holds the first suction member 20 and the second suction member 21, and further, by a base holding member 22a. Vertical movement is allowed. The base holding member 22a moves only in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the stage 4 via a moving mechanism 30 constituted by a shaft and a motor, and the holding member 22 is moved to the stacking unit 1 and the collecting unit at a predetermined position. The printed circuit board 9 is moved up and down on 8. When the holding member 22 is moved up and down, the holding member 22 is slidably held via a plurality of pins 22b on a base plate 22a provided above the holding member 22, and the entire holding member 22 is sucked up by an air pump. As a result, the holding member 22 is moved up and down. At this time, since the first suction member 20 and the second suction member 21 move up and down integrally, the suction operation from the stacking unit 1 and the suction operation from the stage 4 are performed simultaneously.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the stage 4 includes a first stage 40 for placing the printed circuit board 9 from the stacking unit 1 and a second stage 41 for holding the printed circuit board 9 reversed by the front / back reversing mechanism 7. ing. The first stage 40 and the second stage 41 are rotatably connected via a hinge 42. Inside the first stage 40 and the second stage 41, a suction mechanism used in the above-described pickup mechanism 2 is provided, and a large suction is provided only to the opening 43 on which the printed circuit board 9 is placed. Force is applied. The operation of the stage 4 will be described. Below the second stage 41, there is provided a connecting portion 45 connected to the shaft 51 as shown in FIG. 11, and the shaft 51 is rotated by the motor 52. To reciprocate. Then, after moving the stage 40 to one end side of the stage rail 50, the first stage 40 is folded using the front / back reversing mechanism 7, and the printed circuit board 9 is transferred onto the second stage 41.

  The front / back reversing mechanism 7 will be described in detail. The front / back reversing mechanism 7 includes a driving device 72 that folds the first stage 40 with an arm 71 as shown in FIGS. The driving device 72 rotates the arm 71 in the forward direction and the reverse direction with a motor or the like, and folds the first stage 40 onto the second stage 41. At the time of folding, first, the printed circuit board 9 is sucked through the suction mechanism of the first stage 40, and the suction mechanism of the second stage 41 is operated by folding. Then, the suction of the first stage 40 is released and returned to the original position, whereby the printed circuit board 9 is turned upside down. The rotation operation by the front / back reversing mechanism 7 is performed by detection of the downstream optical sensor 54 that detects that the stage 4 has reached the end of the stage rail 50.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the inspection unit 6 inspects the formation state of the printed circuit board 9 placed on the stage 4, and irradiates the printed circuit board 9 with light. Inspection is performed by receiving light with a CCD camera. The inspection unit 6 starts irradiation when the first stage 40 comes below the irradiation unit in the outward path of the stage 4, and when the second stage 41 comes below the irradiation unit in the return path. Start irradiation. This reduces the amount of received light and shortens the image processing time.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the collection unit 8 includes a non-defective product collection unit 81 that collects the printed circuit board 9 and a defective product collection unit 82. Like the stacking unit 1, the non-defective product collecting unit 81 and the defective product collecting unit 82 store the printed circuit boards 9 in a stacked state. The box-shaped stacker 87 for storing the printed circuit boards 9 and the stacker 87 Is provided with a slide mechanism 86 that slides the outlet to the operator side, a base member 83 for placing the printed circuit board 9 in the stacker 87, and a lifter 85 that moves the base member 83 up and down. The base member 83 is lowered via the lifter 85 by rotating the shaft mechanism 84. In addition, the entire stacker 83 can be pulled out through the slide mechanism 86 in a state where the base member 83 is placed on the bottom plate 88 of the stacker 87. Further, the non-defective product collection unit 81 and the defective product collection unit 82 are provided with an optical sensor 87 at the top, and the base member 83 is sequentially lowered until the optical sensor 87 is in a light-transmitting state. That is, the printed circuit board 9 is always positioned at the top of the non-defective product collection unit 81 or the defective product collection unit 82 so that the printed circuit board 9 is not dropped during collection. In the collection unit 8, the non-defective product collection unit 81 is provided beside the initial position of the second stage 41, and the defective product collection unit 82 is further provided in the back thereof. When recovering the printed circuit board 9 placed on the second stage 41, as shown in FIG. 7, when the stage 4 is detected by the upstream optical sensor 53 provided on the start end side of the stage rail 50, The pickup mechanism 2 is driven to collect the printed circuit board 9.

  Next, an operation example in the case of inspecting the front and back of the printed circuit board 9 using the appearance inspection measure 100 configured as described above will be described.

  First, when inspecting a plurality of printed circuit boards 9 to be inspected, these printed circuit boards 9 are stored in the stacker 10 of the stacking unit 1. In this storage, only the stacker 10 is pulled out, and the printed circuit boards 9 are stacked together on the base member 10d of the pulled-out stacker 10. Then, the stacker 10 is accommodated in the appearance inspection apparatus 100, and a door (not shown) is closed, and then the switch is turned on.

  Then, the fork 12b is lifted upward by the lifter 12, and the fork 12b is lifted from the bottom plate 10a through the slit 100c of the bottom plate 10a.

  When the printed circuit board 9 shields the optical sensor 10e by lifting the base member 10d, the drive of the lifter 12 is stopped. Next, the moving mechanism 30 is moved to a predetermined position, the holding member 22 is lowered, and the printed circuit board existing at the top of the stacker 10 is lifted by the first suction member 20. Then, the printed circuit board 9 is placed on the first stage 40 from the stacking unit 1 by the moving mechanism 30.

  When the printed board 9 is placed on the first stage 40, the printed board 9 is sucked by operating the suction mechanism of the first stage 40 this time. Next, the stage 4 on which the printed board 9 is placed is moved by the stage moving mechanism 5, and the printed board 9 is passed directly under the inspection unit 6. Therefore, the wiring pattern, pad, silk, resist, etc. on the surface of the printed board 9 are optically inspected.

  Then, the stage 4 is further moved to the downstream side 102, and the stage 4 is stopped by moving the stage 4 until the downstream side optical sensor 54 is shielded from light.

  Then, the front / back reversing mechanism 7 is driven to fold the first stage 40 to the second stage 41 side, and at the same time, the suction operation of the second stage 41 is started. The operation is stopped and the printed circuit board 9 is sucked. Then, the first stage 40 is returned to the original position by the front / back reversing mechanism 7 again.

  After the printed board 9 is turned upside down, the stage 4 is moved to the upstream side 101 and the printed board 9 is passed just below the inspection unit 6. There, the wiring pattern, pad, silk, resist, etc. on the back surface of the printed circuit board 9 are inspected.

  When the back surface of the printed circuit board 9 is inspected by the inspection unit 6 and the upstream optical sensor 53 on the upstream side 101 is shielded from light, the driving of the stage moving mechanism 5 is stopped. At this time, the first stage 40 is positioned directly beside the stacking unit 1, and the second stage 41 is positioned beside the non-defective product collecting unit 81. Then, in this state, the pickup mechanism 2 is driven, the holding member 22 is lowered, and the printed circuit board 9 inspected on the front and back, which is sucked by the second stage 41, is lifted by the second sucking member 21 and integrated. The printed circuit board 9 existing at the top of the part 1 is lifted by the first suction member 20. Then, these printed circuit boards 9 are moved in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the stage 4 and collected in the collecting unit 8, and at the same time, the next printed circuit board 9 is placed on the first stage 40.

  At this time, the operation differs depending on whether the printed circuit board 9 inspected on the front and back sides is a good product or a defective product. When the printed circuit board 9 is a good product, the holding member 22 is moved in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction by the moving mechanism 30, and the printed circuit board 9 sucked by the first suction member 20 is placed on the first stage 40. The operation and the operation of placing the printed circuit board 9 adsorbed by the second adsorbing member 21 on the non-defective product collecting unit 81 are simultaneously performed. On the other hand, when the printed circuit board 9 is a defective product, the printed circuit board 9 sucked by the first suction member 20 is placed on the first stage 40 and then the second suction member 21 is moved to the defective product collection unit 82. Move. Thereafter, the printed circuit board 9 is sequentially inspected and collected in the collecting unit 8 by performing the same processing.

  As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, the stacking unit 1 and the collection unit 8 are provided on the side in the moving direction of the stage 4, and the loading operation from the stacking unit 1 to the stage 4 and the stage 4 to the collection unit 8 are performed. Since the recovery operations are simultaneously performed, the appearance inspection apparatus 100 can be reduced in size.

  In addition, since the stacking unit 1 and the recovery unit 8 are provided at positions where the moving direction of the stage 4 is sandwiched, and the mounting mechanism 31 and the recovery mechanism 32 are configured using the single pickup mechanism 2, the cost of the appearance inspection apparatus 100 is increased. Can be reduced.

  In addition, it can implement in a various aspect, without being limited to the said embodiment.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the printed circuit board 9 is inspected has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can be applied to other inspection objects for inspecting the surface formation state such as a liquid crystal panel. .

  In the above embodiment, the stage moving mechanism 5 includes the stage rail 50, the shaft 51, and the motor 52. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a moving mechanism such as a conveyor can also be used.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the mounting mechanism 31 and the recovery mechanism 32 are configured by the single pickup mechanism 2 using L-shaped members. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various shapes such as a T-shape can be used. can do. Further, each of the mounting mechanism and the recovery mechanism may be constituted by a single member.

  In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the stacking unit 1 and the collection unit 8 are installed at oblique positions facing each other with the stage 4 interposed therebetween. The stacking unit 1 and the collecting unit 8 may be provided. In this way, the accumulation and collection operations can be performed on the same side, and the accumulation and collection operations can be performed efficiently.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the inspection is performed on the forward path and the return path. However, when the inspection on the forward path is NG, it may be recovered by moving at high speed without performing the inspection on the return path. .

  In the above embodiment, the first stage 40 is configured to be folded on the second stage 41 by rotating the first stage 40. On the contrary, the second stage 41 is configured to be rotatable. Then, the printed circuit board 9 may be sucked and placed on the first stage 40. The front / back reversing mechanism 7 is not limited to such a foldable configuration, and any configuration may be used.

  Furthermore, although the case where the front and back of the printed circuit board 9 are inspected has been described in the above embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and the same configuration can be applied to a case where only one surface is inspected.

The perspective view of the external appearance inspection apparatus in one embodiment of this invention Front view of stacking unit in same form The figure which shows the operation state of the stacking part in the same form The figure which shows the external appearance of the pickup mechanism in the same form The figure which shows the principle of the adsorption mechanism in the same form The figure which shows the operation example of the adsorption | suction mechanism in the form The top view which shows the positional relationship of each element of the external appearance inspection apparatus in the form Perspective view of stage in the same form Side view of the inspection unit in the same form The figure which shows the illuminating device of the test | inspection part in the same form The figure which shows the operation state of the external appearance inspection apparatus in the form The top view which shows the positional relationship of each element of the external appearance inspection apparatus in the form Schematic diagram showing conventional visual inspection equipment

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Accumulation part 2 ... Pick-up mechanism 4 ... Stage 5 ... Stage moving mechanism 6 ... Inspection part 7 ... Front / back inversion mechanism 8 ... Collection | recovery part 9 ... Printed circuit board 11 ... Slide mechanism 11a ... Placement member 20 ... First suction member 21 ... Second suction member 30 ... Movement mechanism 31 ... Placement mechanism 32 ... Recovery mechanism 40 ... first stage 41 ... second stage 42 ... hinge 43 ... opening 45 ... connecting part 50 ... stage rail 51 ... shaft 52 ... motor 71 ..Arms 72 ... Reverse drive mechanism 81 ... Good product collection unit 82 ... Defective product collection unit

Claims (2)

A stage moving mechanism for moving the stage on which the inspection object is placed;
An accumulating unit that is provided on the side of the stage and accumulates inspection objects placed on the stage;
An inspection unit for inspecting the inspection object by moving the stage on which the inspection object is placed in the longitudinal direction;
A collection unit that is provided on the opposite side of the moving direction of the stage with respect to the stacking unit and collects the inspected inspection object,
A first suction member that picks up the inspection object accumulated in the accumulation unit;
A second suction member for picking up an inspection object placed on the stage;
A holding member that integrally holds the first suction member and the second suction member;
The holding member is moved in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the stage, and the inspection object is picked up from the stacking unit using the first suction member, and the inspection object placed on the stage is picked up And a moving mechanism to be collected by the collecting unit,
An appearance inspection apparatus comprising: The appearance inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the holding member is configured to provide the first suction member and the second suction member at different positions with respect to the moving direction of the stage.

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