JPH0198300A - Electronic parts chip lining device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To immediately relieve a bridge phenomenon and guide electronic parts chips to an inlet of a lining passage by providing pairs of wall faces in order that reciprocating movement of operation members can relatively and antiparallelly be performed in the direction of the inlet of the lining passage. CONSTITUTION:An operation member 20 driven by compressed air intermittently introduced from a blown passage 14 has an agitating wall 21 projecting in the orthogonal direction to the moving direction, a first agitating wall 121 extending along a wall face 30 and a second agitating wall 221 extending along a wall face 31 are prepared and a lining passage 8 is reciprocated and moved in the same direction as the direction extending at the part of an inlet 9. Therefore, the first agitating wall 121 is relatively and antiparallelly moved by reciprocating movement between a small chamber 7 facing the first agitating wall 121 and the wall face, a bridge phenomenon produced at electron parts chips 4a are immediately relieved, further the second agitating wall 221 also influences agitating action to electronic parts chips 4a and the like, and the production of the bridge phenomenon in the neighborhood of the inlet 9 of the lining passage 8 is prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] This invention is a method for arranging a plurality of electronic component chips (including passive components, active components, and other electrical components) in a predetermined direction. The present invention relates to an electronic component chip alignment device for aligning electronic component chips, and particularly relates to an improvement for facilitating the movement of a plurality of electronic component chips within such an electronic component chip alignment device.

[Related technology] The applicant has previously filed patent application No. 61-257926.
No. 62-96925, etc., proposed an electronic component chip storage cassette for use in supplying a plurality of electronic component chips to a device for supplying electronic component chips.

The above-mentioned electronic component chip storage cassette basically includes a plurality of electronic component chips and a storage space for storing these electronic component chips inside, and also has an ejection port in the storage space for discharging the electronic component chips. The device includes a case and an openable lid that closes the discharge port, which are formed in communication with each other. Such electronic component chip storage cassettes are not only used as-is as a packaging form when electronic component manufacturers ship electronic component chips, but also used as-is by electronic component chip consumers. It can be applied to a mounting machine to supply a plurality of electronic component chips to a chip mounting process.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a state in which a chip mounting process is being performed using the electronic component chip storage cassette 1 (shown by imaginary lines).

Cassette 1 remains in hopper 2 of the chip mount machine.
will be installed on the More specifically, if the cassette 1 is fixed to the hopper 2 with the discharge port of the cassette 1 facing the opening 3 of the hopper 2, and the lid of the cassette 1 is opened,
The plurality of electronic component chips 4 stored in the storage space of the cassette 1 are supplied into the hopper 2 from the discharge port.

The hopper 2 is usually in an inclined state, and the inclination angle 5 is selected to be about 45 degrees, for example.

The electronic component chips 4 supplied into the hopper 2 are first
It flows into the large room 6, then into the small room 7, and finally reaches the alignment passageway 8. As shown in the figure, the alignment path 8 has a function of guiding the plurality of electronic component chips 4 so that they move in an aligned state in a predetermined direction. To achieve this function, the cross-sectional dimensions of the alignment channels 8 are selected in relation to the cross-sectional dimensions of each electronic component chip 4.

The small room 7 communicates with the alignment passage 8, is located on the entrance 9 side of the alignment passage 8, and defines a space 10 having a larger cross section than the alignment passage 8. Further, the large room 6 defines a space 11 that communicates with the space 10 of the small room 7, and the cross section of this space 11 is the space 1 of the small room 7.
It is chosen to be larger than the cross section of 0.

FIG. 5 shows an enlarged perspective view of the structure from the small room 6 to the vicinity of the entrance 9 of the alignment passageway 8. As can be seen from FIGS. 5 and 4, one wall surface 12 that defines the entrance 9 of the alignment passageway 8 extends flush with one wall surface 13 that defines the space 10 of the small room 7. And the wall surface 13 is
It extends to the large room 6 forming the bottom of the groove.

Further, a blowing passage 14 is provided near the entrance 9 of the alignment passage 8 to intermittently introduce compressed air from the outside. The compressed air introduced through the blowing passage 14 blows away the electronic component chips 4 near the entrance 9 of the alignment passage 8 and exerts a stirring action on the electronic component chips 4. That is, when considering the flow of the electronic component chips 4 in the hopper 2, for example, when reaching the entrance 9 of the alignment passage 8 from the space 10 of the small room 7, the cross-sectional area of the path through which the electronic component chips 4 pass suddenly increases. It can be seen that this decreases. Therefore, the electronic component chips 4 tend to block the entrance 9 of the alignment path 8, which may impede the smooth flow of the electronic component chips 4. To prevent this, for example, the electronic component chips 4 are intermittently Compressed air is introduced.

In this way, the plurality of electronic component chips 4 given from the cassette 1 pass through the large chamber 6 and the small chamber 7, reach the alignment passage 8, and when entering the entrance 9 of the alignment passage 8,
They are aligned in a predetermined direction, guided by the alignment passage 8, and discharged from the outlet 15 of the alignment passage 8. Since the electronic component chips 4 discharged from the outlet 15 are aligned in a predetermined direction, the chip mounting process can proceed efficiently by handling the electronic component chips 4 without disturbing this alignment. can.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Figure 5 is shown with the wall in front removed. That is, in FIG.
A wall surface (not shown) is actually located along the wall surface indicated by "," and the small room 7, the alignment passage 8, and the large room 6 are closed off by this wall surface. Therefore, the space 10 of the small room 7 has the width direction dimension indicated by the reference number "17".

In FIG. 5, three electronic component chips 4 are shown side by side. Coincidentally, the sum of the widthwise dimensions of these electronic component chips 4 coincides with the widthwise dimension 17 of the space 10, so that the electronic component chips 4 are in a state of being pushed against each other between the walls defining the widthwise dimension 17, and their movement is prevented. It is in a state of obstruction. If such a so-called "bridging phenomenon" occurs - times, even if compressed air is introduced from the blowing passage 14, it will not be easy to break the series of electronic component chips 4 causing this bridging phenomenon. .

Note that the above-mentioned "bridging phenomenon" is not limited to the mode shown in FIG. 5, but may occur in various modes depending on the relationship between the width direction dimension 17 and the dimension of the electronic component chip 4. That is, it is likely to occur when a combination of the lengthwise dimension, widthwise dimension, and thicknesswise dimension of the plurality of electronic component chips 4 coincidentally coincides with the widthwise dimension 17. Moreover, such a "bridging phenomenon" does not necessarily occur only in relation to the width direction dimension 17 of the space 10, but also in relation to the height direction dimension 18.
Or it may also occur in relation to 19.

However, the above-mentioned "bridging phenomenon" does not occur very frequently, and usually occurs only on the order of ppm. When it becomes impossible or difficult to supply the electronic component chips 4, it is desired that the probability of the "bridging phenomenon" occurring is substantially zero in order to increase the operating rate and reliability of the chip mounting machine and the like.

Therefore, the present invention aims to solve the problem of "bridge phenomenon" in an electronic component chip alignment device represented by the above-mentioned hopper.
The aim is to make improvements that will make it possible to completely or almost eliminate the occurrence of - [Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides an alignment path that guides a plurality of electronic component chips so that they move in an aligned state facing a predetermined direction, and that communicates with the alignment path. and defining a space having a larger cross section than the alignment path on the entrance side of the alignment path, and a room for storing a plurality of electronic component chips. In order to solve the above-mentioned technical problem, it is characterized by having the following configuration.

That is, a movable operating member is disposed within the space, and the operating member reciprocates in the same direction as the direction in which the alignment passage extends in the entrance portion.

[Function] According to the present invention, the reciprocating movement of the operating member provides a pair of wall surfaces in a room communicating with the alignment passage that relatively moves in antiparallel in the direction toward the entrance of the alignment passage. .

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the reciprocating movement of the operating member provides a pair of wall surfaces that relatively move in antiparallel in the room communicating with the alignment passage. Even if a "bridge phenomenon" occurs, Naotsuta can cancel it. In addition, the moving direction of the operating member is
Since it is in the same direction as the direction in which it extends at the entrance portion of the alignment path, such movement of the operating member can also serve the function of guiding the electronic component chips to the entrance of the alignment path.

Therefore, the plurality of electronic component chips can be smoothly moved within the electronic component chip alignment apparatus, and the electronic component chips can be smoothly supplied through the alignment path. Therefore, when the electronic component chip alignment apparatus according to the present invention is applied to, for example, a chip mount machine, the chip mount process can be performed with high operating efficiency and high reliability.

Furthermore, all that is required to obtain the effects of the present invention is to movably arrange the operating member within the space. Therefore, carrying out this invention does not result in a significant increase in cost.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1, FIG. 2A, and FIG. 2B are diagrams for explaining an embodiment of the present invention. Here, FIG. 1 is a diagram corresponding to the above-mentioned FIG. 4, and corresponding parts are given the same reference numerals and redundant explanations will be omitted. Furthermore, FIGS. 2A and 2B show the space 10 of the small room 7 in FIG.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the vicinity, and FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B show different operating states.

A movable operating member 20 is arranged within a space 10 formed in the small room 7. The operating member 20 is arranged to reciprocate in the same direction as the alignment passageway 8 extends in the inlet 9 section, ie in the direction of arrows 22 and 23 shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, respectively.

More specifically, a guide step 24 is provided so as to protrude from the side wall of the small room 7, and a guide hole 25 is provided in the operating member 20 to receive the guide step 24 in a state that allows its reciprocating movement. provided. The operating member 20 is capable of reciprocating in the directions of arrows 22 and 23 while sliding between the wall surface defining the guide hole 25 and the guide step 24 .

In this embodiment, the actuating member 20 includes arrows 22 and 2.
A stirring wall 21 is formed that protrudes in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement indicated by 3.

The stirring wall 21 includes a first stirring wall 121 that is one wall surface of the small room 7 and extends along a wall surface 30 that extends in the movement direction of the operating member 20, and a first stirring wall 121 that is one wall surface of the small room 7 that extends along the moving direction of the operating member 20. A wall surface 31 extending in a direction intersecting the moving direction of 20.
and a second stirring wall 221 extending along.

Further, in the embodiment, the movement in one direction during the reciprocating movement of the operating member 20 is biased by a spring means, and the movement in the other direction is similarly configured to occur against the elasticity of the spring means. More specifically, a spring means 26 made of, for example, a coiled compression spring is disposed between one wall defining the guide hole 25 and the guide step 24 . Therefore, according to this arrangement of the spring means 26, the unidirectional movement of the operating member 20 caused by the biasing of the spring means 26 is as shown by the arrow 22 in FIG. 2A. This corresponds to movement in the direction approaching 9.

The above-mentioned reciprocating movement of the operating member 20 in the directions of arrows 22 and 23 is driven in this embodiment by the pressure exerted by compressed air introduced, for example, intermittently from the blowing passage 14.

In order to inject such compressed air to the surface 27 of the operating member 20 facing the inlet 9 side, an injection passage 28 is provided in communication with the blowing passage 14 . Therefore, at the time when compressed air is not introduced from the outside through the blowing passage 14,
As shown in FIG. 2A, under the action of the spring means 26, the actuating member 20 is at the end of its movement in the direction of the arrow 22, but when compressed air is introduced through the blowing passage 14, A portion of the compressed air passes through the injection passage 28, and the pressure exerted by this compressed air causes the operating member 20 to move in the direction of the arrow 23 against the elasticity of the spring means 26, as shown in FIG. 2B. Move to.

In this manner, when compressed air is introduced from the blowing passage 14 intermittently, for example, the operating member 20 vibrates or reciprocates in the directions of arrows 22 and 23 in synchronization with the timing of the introduction.

As described above, when the operating member 20 reciprocates, the operating member 20 provides a wall surface that moves in antiparallel relative to the wall surface of the small room 7, and in particular, the stirring wall 21 A stirring action is exerted on the electronic component chip 4 within the space 10. In Figure 2A, “4a
The electronic component chip shown in "Bridging phenomenon" occurs laterally.
When the operating member 20 reciprocates in the directions of arrows 22 and 23, the first agitation wall 121 moves toward the small chamber 7 facing it.
"Bridging phenomenon" occurs in the electronic component chip 4a due to relative anti-parallel movement between the wall surface of the electronic component chip 4a.
be canceled immediately. Further, the second stirring wall 221 also exerts a stirring action on the electronic component chips 48 and the like, thereby preventing the occurrence of a "bridging phenomenon" of the electronic component chips near the entrance 9 of the alignment path 8.

Furthermore, if the electronic component chip indicated by the imaginary line in FIG. By reciprocating in the direction, the operating member 2
Since the wall surface 32 of the electronic component chip 4b will move in anti-parallel relation to the opposing wall surface of the small room 7, for example, the wall surface 13, it is necessary to immediately cancel the "bridge phenomenon" occurring in the electronic component chip 4b. Can be done.

In the illustrated embodiment, the second stirring wall 221 extends over a relatively wide range within the small room 7, so that its action can be exerted over a relatively wide range within the small room 7. .

In the embodiments described above with reference to FIGS. 1, 2A, and 2B, the operating member 20 is moved using the spring means 26 and the pressure of compressed air introduced through the blowing passage 14. Since a reciprocating configuration is adopted, the structure is simple, failures are less likely to occur, and the operation is highly reliable. However, the drive means for operating the operating member 20 may be separately added externally, and in this case, depending on the type of such drive means, the spring means 26 may not be necessary.

Further, the compressed air introduced from the blowing passage 14 was used as a means for driving the operating member 20 in the above-mentioned embodiment, but it goes without saying that this compressed air is The original function of blowing away electronic component chips 4 that tend to block the entrance 9 of the passage 8 is retained. Note that instead of providing two functions to the compressed air introduced through the blowing passage 14 as in the embodiment, for example, the injection passage 25 may be supplied with compressed air through another route. You may also do so.

3A, 3B and 3C each show a modified example of the operating member in a perspective view from below. These operating members are characterized by the shape of their stirring walls,
Each of them is formed with a guide surface that guides the electronic component chip closer to the entrance of the alignment path in accordance with the movement of the operating member.

The stirring wall 21a of the operating member 20a shown in FIG. 3A has a guiding surface 29 having a relatively laterally inclined surface.
a is formed. The direction of the slope of the guide surface 29a is given in consideration of the fact that the position of the entrance 9 of the alignment passage 8 is biased to one side with respect to the width direction of the space 10, as shown in FIG. 5 described above. It is something that Therefore, when the operating member 20a moves, the guide surface 29a biases the electronic component chip 4 within the space 10 toward the side where the entrance 9 of the alignment path 8 is located.

The guide surface 29b formed on the stirring wall 21b of the operating member 20b shown in FIG. 3B is similar to the guide surface 29b shown in FIG. 3A, except that it is formed with a curved surface. Further, the action of this guide surface 29b is also similar to that of the guide surface 29b in FIG. 3A.
Same as a.

A guide surface 29c formed on the stirring wall 21C of the operating member 20c shown in FIG. 3C is constituted by a sloped surface. The slope of this guide surface 29c is relatively directed downward. For example, when the entrance 9 is located so as to face the lower end of the space 10 as shown in FIG. It acts to guide you in the direction of getting closer.

Although various examples of shapes have been shown regarding the stirring wall of the operating member,
Regarding the shape of this stirring wall, various other modifications can be considered, such as combining the shape shown in FIG. 3A and the shape shown in FIG. 3C.

FIG. 3D also shows a variant of the operating member in a perspective view from below. The operating member 20d shown here is also characterized by the shape of its stirring wall 21d. That is,
To explain in comparison with the stirring wall 21 in the operating member 20 shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the second stirring wall 221
A third agitation wall 321 is further provided that extends in parallel with and at a predetermined interval. According to this example,
The presence of the third stirring wall 321 can be expected to further enhance the stirring effect on electronic component chips.

Although the invention has been described above in connection with the illustrated embodiments, further modifications are possible within the scope of the invention.

For example, in the illustrated embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the alignment channel 8 extends in an inclined manner with its entrance 9 positioned upwardly, and the electronic component chips 4 in the alignment channel 8 are exposed to natural gravity. Although the alignment channel 8 is oriented to extend, for example, in a horizontal direction, the electronic component chip 4 can be pulled out of the outlet 15 by, for example, vacuum suction or the like. good.

Further, in the illustrated embodiment, the case where the electronic component chip alignment device according to the present invention is applied to the hopper 2 shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 4 has been described. The chip storage cassette 1 itself may be provided with an alignment passage, and a configuration characteristic of the present invention may be adopted in relation to a room communicating with the alignment passage.

In addition, in the illustrated embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1 or FIG.
Although the example has been shown in which the large room 6 is connected to the small room 7, it may be configured such that one room directly communicates with the entrance of the alignment passage.

Further, in the illustrated embodiment, the electronic component chip 4 is intended to have a rectangular parallelepiped shape, but the electronic component chip may have any shape, for example, a disk shape, a cylindrical shape, etc. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a hopper 2 which is an embodiment of an electronic component chip alignment apparatus according to the present invention. 2A and 2B are enlarged sectional views showing the configuration near the space 10 in FIG. 1, and FIGS. 2A and 2B each show different operating states. Figure 3A, Figure 3B
3C and 3D are perspective views from below showing modified examples of the operating member, respectively. FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the hopper 2 as an example of the electronic component chip alignment apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view showing the main part of the hopper 2 shown in FIG. 4, and is for explaining the problem to be solved by the present invention. In the figure, 2 is a hopper (electronic component chip alignment device)
, 4.4a, 4b are electronic component chips, 7 is a small room (room), 8 is an alignment passage, 9 is an entrance, 10 is a space, 12 is a wall defining the entrance 9, 13 is a wall defining the space 10. Wall surface, 14 is a blowing passage, 20.20a, 20b, 20c, 2
0d is an operating member, 21.21a, 21b, 21c, 21
d is a stirring wall, 24 is a guide step, 25 is a guide hole, 26 is a spring means, 27 is a surface facing the inlet 9 side, 28 is an injection passage, 2
9a, 29b, 29c are information surfaces, 30.31 is small room 7
32 is a wall surface of the operating member 20, 121 is a first stirring wall, 221 is a second stirring wall, and 321 is a third stirring wall. Figure 1 Figure 4

Claims (13)

[Claims] (1) An alignment path that guides a plurality of electronic component chips so that they move in an aligned state in a predetermined direction, and an alignment path that communicates with the alignment path and that is connected to the entrance side of the alignment path from the alignment path. In an electronic component chip aligning device that defines a space having a large cross section and includes a room for accommodating a plurality of electronic component chips, a movable operating member is disposed in the space, and a movable operating member is disposed in the space, and An electronic component chip alignment device, characterized in that the member reciprocates in the same direction as the direction in which the alignment path extends in the inlet portion. (2) The electronic component chip alignment device according to claim 1, wherein one wall surface defining the entrance of the alignment path extends flush with one wall surface defining the space. (3) The electronic component chip alignment device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the operating member is provided with an agitation wall that protrudes in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the operating member. (4) The electronic component chip alignment according to claim 3, wherein the stirring wall includes a first stirring wall extending along a wall surface of the room that extends in the movement direction of the operating member. Device. (5) The stirring wall includes a second stirring wall extending along a wall surface of the room that extends in a direction intersecting the moving direction of the operating member. The electronic component chip alignment device according to item 4. (6) The electronic component chip alignment device according to claim 5, wherein the stirring wall includes a third stirring wall extending parallel to the second stirring wall at a predetermined interval. (7) The movement in one direction in the reciprocating movement of the operating member is urged by a spring means, and the movement in the other direction also occurs against the elasticity of the spring means. The electronic component chip alignment device according to any one of Item 6. (8) The electronic component chip alignment apparatus according to claim 7, wherein a blowing passage for introducing compressed air from the outside is provided near the entrance of the alignment passage. (9) The unidirectional movement of the operating member caused by the spring means corresponds to the movement of the operating member in the direction approaching the entrance, and occurs against the elasticity of the spring means. 9. The electronic component chip alignment apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said movement in the other direction is caused by pressure applied by said compressed air. (10) The electronic component chip according to claim 9, wherein an injection passage for injecting the compressed air to the surface facing the inlet side of the operating member is provided in communication with the blowing passage. Alignment device. (11) The stirring wall is formed with a guide surface that guides the electronic component chip closer to the entrance in accordance with the movement of the operating member. The electronic component chip alignment device described in . (12) The electronic component chip alignment device according to claim 11, wherein the guide surface is formed by a sloped surface or a curved surface. (13) The electronic component chip alignment device according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the alignment path extends in an inclined state such that the entrance is located upward.