JPH0121594Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] This invention relates to a magazine transfer device for an IC tester, in particular a part that transfers an empty magazine to a predetermined position for taking in ICs that have finished testing, and a part that transfers an empty magazine to a predetermined position to take in ICs that have finished testing. This invention relates to an improvement of a transfer device for transferring worn-out magazines to a magazine stocker.

<Background of the invention> An IC tester can be broadly divided into an electrical tester that tests the electrical functions of an IC, and a handler that automatically supplies ICs one by one to the connection parts that connect the IC to the electrical tester. Ru.

This invention is particularly concerned with improving the handler, and its purpose is to propose a magazine transfer device with a structure that is easy to handle and can be made compact.

<Conventional Description> Figures 1 and 2 show an outline of a handler in a conventional IC testing device. In a conventional handler, a substrate 101 supported at an angle is provided,
A movable table 102 is supported on this substrate 101 so as to be able to move laterally. This moving table 102 has a structure that can be removed from the board 101, and when it is removed, a plurality of magazines 103 containing ICs are installed, and when the supply side magazine 103a is installed, the moving table 102
is attached to the board 101.

The lower side of the moving table 102, that is, the supply side magazine 1
A shutter mechanism that holds the lower end of each supply magazine 103a in a closed state is provided at a position facing the lower end of each supply magazine 103a, and this shutter mechanism prevents the ICs stored in the supply magazine 103a from falling.

That is, the magazine 103 is generally constituted by a cylindrical body having a cross-sectional shape as shown in FIG. 3, and this cylindrical body aligns the ICs in a line, and also directs and stores the ICs in the front-to-back relationship. One end of the magazine 103 is closed so that it can be easily handled when ICs are stored therein. Therefore, when mounting on the moving table 102, the supply side magazine 1
03a is the moving table 1 with its closed end facing upward.
Installed on 02. For this reason, mobile platform 1
A shutter mechanism is provided on the lower side of 02, and this shutter mechanism prevents the IC from falling.

On the other hand, a connecting portion 104 is provided below the moving table 102 to connect the IC to electrical testing means (not particularly shown). This connecting portion 104 is provided with a contact drive mechanism, and each time an IC is supplied, the contact drive mechanism is driven to bring the contacts into contact with the terminal pins of the IC, thereby connecting the IC under test to the electrical testing means.

The moving table 102 is intermittently fed by an intermittent drive mechanism by an amount corresponding to the arrangement pitch of the supply side magazine 103a. Due to this intermittent feeding, the lower end of the supply side magazine 103a mounted on the moving table 102 is connected to the connecting portion 104.
is carried to a position facing the guide rail. When the lower end of the supply side magazine 103a is brought to a position facing the guide rail of the connecting portion 104, the shutter opens and the ICs fall from the magazine 103a under their own weight.

An IC escape mechanism is provided on the upstream side of the connection part 104, and an IC escape mechanism is provided on the upstream side of the connection part 104 to prevent the IC from falling from the supply side magazine 103a.
While receiving the ICs, the lowermost ICs are fed one by one to the contact drive mechanism. This feeding operation of the IC escape mechanism is performed every time the electrical testing means completes the test and releases the IC from the connection portion 104. In this way, the ICs are tested one by one.

A sorting means 105 is provided downstream of the connecting portion 104 . This sorting means 105 has a plurality of slits 107 formed in a rail 106 for guiding the IC.
a, 107b, 107c, 107d, nozzles 108a to 108d provided opposite to the slits 107a to 107d, and slits 107a to 107d.
Receiving side magazine 103b placed below 107d
It is composed of

One of the nozzles 107a to 107d is selected based on the judgment result of the IC falling along the rail 106, and injects air toward the tip of the IC, which falls into the magazine according to the type of defective product or defective product. The IC is divided into good products, defective products, and types of defects.
are sorted and stored in the magazine.

The receiving magazine 103b is supported by the apparatus by a mechanism similar to that of the supplying magazine 103a explained in FIG. In other words, when a plurality of empty magazines are installed side by side on the board 109 that is supported so as to be able to move freely relative to the device, and one magazine becomes full by the IC,
The substrate 109 moves one pitch, and the slit 107
Empty magazines are arranged below each of a, 107b, 107c, and 107d.

<Conventional disadvantages> As described above, the conventional IC tester magazine transfer device attaches the magazines 103a and 103b side by side to the substrates 102 and 109, and
09 is moved by the arrangement pitch of the magazines 103a and 103b, which has the disadvantage that the entire device becomes large.

That is, for example, when all the magazines attached to the board 109 in the receiving side magazine 103b become full, all operations of the IC tester are stopped and the board 1
02 and 109 from the device, remove the empty magazine from the board 102, and replace it with
Attach the magazine containing the IC. Also, the magazine that is fully loaded with ICs is removed from the board 109, and an empty magazine is installed in its place.

While replacing this magazine, the IC
This results in wasted time because the tests cannot be executed. Therefore, in order to lengthen the test time, it is conceivable to increase the number of magazines mounted on the boards 102 and 109.

If a large number of magazines are attached to the substrates 102, 109, the substrates 102, 109 will become large in size, and since the substrates 102, 109 move laterally, the installation floor area of the IC test apparatus will increase. Particularly in IC manufacturing factories, large buildings are required to operate a large number of IC test equipment, which is uneconomical.

<Purpose of the invention> The first purpose of this invention is to provide a receiving side magazine transfer device that can reduce the installation floor area of an IC test device.

A second object of this invention is to provide a receiving magazine transfer device that allows magazines to be replaced without stopping the test operation.

<Summary of the invention> In this invention, an empty magazine stocker is provided that stores a large number of stacked empty magazines, and the empty magazines are taken out one by one from this empty magazine stocker, facing the ejection port of the IC that has completed the test. When the magazine is full, the full magazine is moved to the side. At this time, the full magazines are supported on a support part that can support a plurality of magazines side by side. When a predetermined number of magazines are lined up on this support part, the plurality of magazines in the lined up state are lifted upward. In this way, each time a predetermined number of magazines are lined up on the support part, the magazines are lifted upward, and the magazines filled with ICs are stacked from the bottom to the top.

Therefore, according to this invention, whether the number of magazines stored in the empty magazine stocker or the full magazine stocker is large or small, the floor area of the stocker can be kept small. Therefore, the IC test device can be made smaller.

Furthermore, when the empty magazine stocker becomes empty, by replenishing the empty magazine stocker with an empty magazine, the receiving side magazines can be sequentially replenished without stopping the test operation of the IC. Therefore, the IC can be tested continuously.

<Example of the invention> An example of the invention is shown in Figure 4 and below. Fourth
The figure shows the structure of an empty magazine stocker. The reference numeral 400 shown in FIG. 4 indicates the entire empty magazine stocker. The empty magazine stocker 400 includes a pair of side plates 402 that are planted facing each other on a base plate 401, a groove 403 formed in the side plates 402, and a groove 40.
A first support means 405 supports the whole of the empty magazines 404 which are held in a stacked state with both ends inserted into the first support means 405. and a second support means 406 that supports the second empty magazine 404a. In this example, as shown in FIG. 5, empty magazines 404 are stacked in two rows.

The empty magazine 4 is moved from the empty magazine stocker 400 by the first supporting means 405 and the second supporting means 406.
This constitutes a means for taking out 04 one by one. In other words, in this example, the first support means 405 is constituted by a pair of arms 405a and 405b, as shown in FIG. Arm 405a, 405
b are interlocked with each other and rotated in the direction of arrow 407, thereby allowing the stack of empty magazines 404 to fall downward. Here, it is assumed that the empty magazines 404 stacked in two rows can be dropped separately from one row and the other row by rotating the arms 405a and 405b.

When the first support means 405 operates, the second support means 406 supports the second empty magazine 404a from the bottom of the stacked empty magazines 404.
The second support means 406 can be constituted by an air plunger, for example. A movable rod of the air plunger passes through the side plate 402 from the outside to the inside and projects into the groove 403, and the second empty magazine 404a from the bottom is supported from both sides by the protrusion of the movable rod. Due to this support, the upper empty magazines including the second empty magazine 404a from the bottom are supported in that position without falling. As a result, only the lowest empty magazine can be dropped downward. In this way, empty magazine stocker 40
Empty magazines 404 are taken out one by one from 0, and the taken out empty magazines 404 are transferred to a position facing an IC outlet 408 of an IC tester (not particularly shown).

The mechanism that performs this transfer is called the first transfer mechanism. This transfer mechanism 409 is, for example, an air plunger 409.
a and a magazine holder 409b attached to the movable rod of the air plunger 409a. The air plunger 409a is connected to the board 40
The movable rod is attached to the back side of the board 401 and penetrates from the back side of the board 401 to the front side. A U-shaped receiver 409b shown in FIG. 6 is attached to the tip of the movable rod. The first support means 405 holds one empty magazine.
When dropping the main magazine, the first transfer mechanism 409 rises, receives the magazine in the recessed part of the receiver 409b, and descends to attach the empty magazine to the holders 411 and 412.

The ends of the magazines attached to the holders 411 and 412 face the IC ejection port 408, and
The IC ejected from 8 is stored in the magazine. still
As shown in FIG. 6, the IC discharge port 408 has a shape having a plurality of slits 413, and the plurality of slits 413 allow ICs of different widths to be discharged. Furthermore, this example shows a case in which ICs are passed in two rows as a set, and one IC in each row is tested one by one. Therefore, it is assumed that ICs from each row are ejected to the holders attached to the holders 411 and 412. Further, it is assumed that the magazines held in holders 411 and 412 shown in FIG. 6 store only either non-defective products or defective products. It is assumed that the sorting between good products and defective products exists on the upstream side of the discharge port 408. The mechanism for sorting out good and defective products will not be particularly explained here.

An IC passage detector 414 configured by, for example, optical means is provided at the IC ejection port 408, and this IC passage detector 414 counts how many ICs have been inserted into the magazine. When a predetermined value is reached, it is determined that the magazine is full. Therefore, the IC passage detector 414 constitutes IC fullness detection means.

When the magazine becomes full, the first transfer mechanism 409 is activated to lift the magazine on the side that is full. When the magazine rises to a predetermined position, the second transfer mechanism 415 is activated. Second transfer mechanism 415
can be constituted by a pair of levers 415a and 415b that rotate along a plane parallel to the substrate 401. The tips of the levers 415a, 415b pass under the magazine lifted by the first transfer mechanism and protrude to the opposite side of the magazine. A rotatably supported pawl 416 is attached to each tip of the levers 415a, 415b. This nail 416
always protrudes in the state shown in the figure due to the biasing force of the spring, and when passing under the magazine, the inclined surface abuts against the magazine and the pawl 416 is pushed downward. When the tips of the levers 415a and 415b protrude to the opposite side of the magazine, the first transfer mechanism 409 descends. When the first transfer mechanism 409 is lowered, the magazine is placed on the levers 415a and 415b. Note that the two magazines supported by the holders 411 and 412 are almost never full at the same time, and only one magazine is always full. Even if two magazines become full at the same time, one of the two sets of first transfer means 409 can be configured to operate preferentially.

In this state, the levers 415a and 415b begin to rotate counterclockwise. Lever 415a, 415b
When the magazine begins to rotate counterclockwise, the pawl 416 engages with the magazine and pulls the magazine toward the left in the illustrated example. A support portion 417 is provided on the left half of the substrate 401.
is provided, and the magazine placed on the levers 415a, 415b and pulled is attached to the support section 417.
It is supported by climbing on top of it. The width W of the support portion 417 is selected to be, for example, a dimension equivalent to three magazines, and each time the magazines are carried one by one, the magazine that is carried first is pushed out to the left one after another and fed sequentially. Ru. When the three magazines are aligned on the support portion 417, for example, the optical detector 419 detects this and activates the third transfer mechanism 421.

In the third transfer mechanism 421, a lever 421a attached to the side of the board 401 is rotated.
The rod 421b attached to 1a is lifted upward. As the rod 421b is lifted upward, the three magazines supported on the support portion 417 are placed on the rod 421b and lifted upward.

The magazine lifted upward is pushed into a full magazine stocker 701 shown in FIG. The full magazine stocker 701 has a groove 703 formed on the side plate 702 and a claw 7 provided at the bottom of the groove 703.
04. Figure 7 shows a side plate 7 that engages one end of three magazines.
Although only 02 is shown, side plates 702 are provided facing both ends of the magazine. A locking tool 704 is provided in the groove 703 . This locking tool 704 has a downwardly inclined surface 704a, and its lower end is connected to the side plate 704.
The upper end side is always pushed out by a spring.

Therefore, the magazine is pushed upward by the third transfer means 421, and when both ends of the magazine hook onto the inclined surface 704a of the claw 704, the claw 704 is pushed and retracted into the side plate 702. When the third transfer mechanism 421 rises to the highest position, the magazine reaches above the upper end of the claw 704. When both ends of the magazine reach above the upper end of the claw 704, the upper end of the claw 704 is inserted into the groove 70.
Projects within 3. As a result, even if the third transfer mechanism 421 descends, the magazine is supported by the claws 704 and held in that position.

When the magazines are sequentially lifted by the third transfer mechanism 421, the next magazine is inserted under the magazine supported by the claw 704, and the full magazines are stacked one after another. When the magazines are stacked up to the upper end of the full magazine stocker 701, the status is displayed, for example, with a lamp or a buzzer, and an alarm is issued.

<Effects of the invention> As described above, according to this invention, empty magazines and full magazines are stacked and stored in the empty magazine stocker and the full magazine stocker, which are constituted by the side plates 402 and 702. Therefore, even if the number of magazines is large, the floor space of the stocker will not increase. Furthermore, if the width W of the support portion 417 is selected to be an integral multiple of the magazine, a large number of full magazines can be accommodated with a small floor area, so that the entire device can be made compact.

In addition, it is necessary to interrupt the test operation when there are no more magazines in the empty magazine stocker or when there are too many magazines in the full magazine stocker 701. Since it is only necessary to remove the test operation, the test operation can be performed continuously without interrupting the test operation.

The magazines carried to the support part 417 are sequentially moved to the left by pushing out, and when the magazine carried first reaches the leftmost end, the third transfer mechanism is operated. When a magazine is transferred between the transfer mechanism 415 and the third transfer mechanism 421, it is not necessary to position and supply the magazine to the third transfer mechanism 421.
Therefore, since the positioning mechanism is omitted in this respect, the structure is simplified.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a side view to explain the outline of a conventional IC test device, Figure 2 is a perspective view to explain the installation state of the IC supply side magazine, and Figure 3 is
FIG. 4 is a perspective view for explaining the structure of a magazine that stores ICs, FIG. 4 is a plan view seen from above, FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the second and third transfer mechanisms used in the magazine transfer device of this invention, and FIG. 7 is a plan view used in the magazine transfer device of this invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a full magazine stocker. 400... Empty magazine stocker, 409... First transfer mechanism, 414... Full detection means, 415... Second transfer mechanism, 417... Support section, 419... Magazine number detection means, 701... Full magazine stocker.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] A. An empty magazine stocker that stacks and supports bar-shaped empty magazines, and B. A position where the lowest end of the empty magazines stacked on this empty magazine stocker faces the IC ejection port. ICs are sequentially supplied to an empty magazine installed in a position facing the C IC ejection port, and the ICs are sequentially transferred to the magazine.
a full detection means for detecting that the IC is full; a second transfer mechanism that transfers the magazines in the direction; E a support section that supports a plurality of magazines transferred by the second transfer mechanism in parallel; F detects that a predetermined number of magazines are arranged in the support section. a number-of-magazines detection means to detect the number of magazines; A magazine transfer device for an IC tester, comprising a third transfer mechanism for pushing up, and a full magazine stocker for sequentially stacking and holding magazines containing H ICs.