JPH02169407A - Method for conveying article - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To ensure the discharge of the whole quantity in the conveyance of small articles such as electric elements, etc., by mixing articles in a small quantity with dummies slightly larger than these, pushing and conveying the articles by the dummies by means of a vibration feeder, and returning the dummies to the storing floor face of the feeder from the outlet end of the feeder. CONSTITUTION:In the case of a small quantity of articles, chips W are mixed with dummies D slightly larger than these and stored on the storing floor face 20 of a vibration feeder device 1, and the feeder device 1 is started. Thereby, the chips W and the dummies D are conveyed in the mixed condition on a conveying passage face. The dummies D which are larger in height are brought into contact with a guide portion 4 at the conveying passage face outlet 22a and prevented from advancing, allowing only the chips W to enter the straight advancing conveying passage 70 of a straight line feeder device 5. The dummies D are returned to the storing floor face 20 by means of a guide portion 4 and circulated. By this structure, the chips W can be carried out up to the last one piece even in the case of a small quantity.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an article conveyance method using a feeder device having a vibration conveyance function. This method of transporting items includes chips, bumps, etc. mounted on a mounting board installed in electronic equipment.
It can be used to transport small items such as electrical devices.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in the field of article conveyance, for example, when conveying chips, bumps, electric elements, etc. mounted on mounting boards installed in electronic equipment to subsequent processes, feeders with a conveyance function using vibration have been used. 2. Description of the Related Art Methods of transporting articles using devices are known.

This feeder device includes a housing having a storage floor surface on which a large number of articles, such as chips, are placed and stored, a WI feeding path surface connected to the storage floor surface, and a vibration means for vibrating the housing. .

Therefore, in order to convey the chips to the subsequent process, the chips are inserted into the housing, and with a large number of chips placed and stored on the storage floor surface of the housing, the vibrating means is driven. As a result, the chips on the storage floor surface are transferred to the conveyance path surface, and furthermore, the chips on the conveyance path surface are carried out from the exit of the conveyance path surface by driving the vibrating means, thereby supplying the chips to the subsequent process. .

- In the above-mentioned transport method using the feeder device, the chips can be carried out from the exit of the transport path in an aligned state, which is convenient in the subsequent process.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] By the way, in the m-adic method using the feeder device described above,
If a large number of chips are stored on the storage floor surface, there will be no problem in transporting the chips, but if the number of chips to be transported is small, the vibrations by the vibrating means of the feeder device alone will not be enough to transport the chips. It will no longer be possible to carry it out from the exit on the road surface.

In order to solve this problem, in addition to the number of chips used in the subsequent process, an extra number of chips can be mixed and stored on the storage floor of the feeder device, and the vibrating means can be driven in this state. good. However, in this case, excess chips that are not needed in the subsequent process are also carried out from the exit of the conveying path surface, which is not preferable in terms of accurate loft control. For example, if you are producing small quantities of other products, you can produce 20 chips in - days.
If you manufacture individual chips and want to perform post-processing on only the 20111J chip on the same day, but it would be wasteful to perform post-processing on other chips,
The above method of mixing extra chips in addition to the number of chips to be used in the subsequent process cannot be adopted.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to carry out every last item from the exit of the conveyance path without mixing the excess items even when the number of items is small. Therefore, the article conveyance method according to the present invention has a storage floor surface on which a large number of articles are placed and stored, and a storage floor surface that is connected to the storage floor surface. A feeder device is equipped with a housing having a conveyance path surface on which articles are loaded and conveyed to the outlet, and a vibration means that vibrates the housing and uses vibration energy to send the articles from the storage floor surface to the outlet of the conveyance path surface. is provided with a guide portion that abuts and guides a dummy product having a height higher than the height of the product and returns it from the conveyance path surface to the storage floor surface;
It is characterized in that dummy products are used in combination with the products. The dummy item is thicker than the item to be transported. The dummy product may be made of the same material as the workpiece or a different material.

[Operation] In the article conveyance method according to the present invention, the dummy article is also conveyed on the conveyance path surface, so the article is conveyed on the conveyance path surface while being pushed by the dummy article, and the article is carried out from the exit of the conveyance path surface. The dummy product comes into contact with the guide section, is guided by the guide section to the storage floor surface, is returned to the storage floor surface, and is therefore not carried out from the exit of the conveyance path surface.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example in which the article conveyance method according to the present invention is applied to the conveyance of chips will be described.

The feeder device 1 used in this embodiment is a so-called pole feeder, and includes a housing 2 and a vibration means 3. Here, the housing 2 includes a metal storage floor 20 on which a large number of chips W are placed and stored;
The storage floor surface 20 has a metal "0 feed path surface 22" which is connected to the upper end side and whose outer peripheral side is partitioned by the outer wall 21 of the housing 2.The storage floor surface 20 has a conical sloped floor surface. 20
a, and a horizontal floor surface 20b continuous to the descending side of the conical inclined floor surface 20a. The vibration means 3 vibrates the housing 2 to slightly vibrate the storage floor surface 20 and the conveyance path surface 22, and uses the vibration energy to cause the chips W on the storage floor surface 20 to ride up from the storage floor surface 20 onto the conveyance path surface 22 and to convey them. It is sent to the exit 22a of the road surface 22.

In this embodiment, a linear feeder placement 5 is provided adjacent to the outlet 22a side of the feeder device 1. The linear feeder device 5 is what is called a linear feeder mechanism, and includes a linear housing 6 and a linear vibration means 7. Here, the rectilinear housing 6 has a rectilinear conveyance path surface 70 made of metal, on which a large number of chips W are placed, and the chips W are aligned in a line and conveyed. The vibration means 7 for straight movement is
The straight moving housing 6 is vibrated to slightly vibrate the straight moving conveyance path surface 70, and the vibration energy sends the chips W to the output lower part 08 of the straight moving conveyance path surface 70.

In the boundary area between the feeder device 1 and the linear feeder device 5,
That is, the guide portion 4 is disposed above the conveyance path surface 22 on the exit 22 a side of the conveyance path surface 22 of the feeder device 1 . The guide portion 4 comes into contact with a dummy product having a height higher than the height of the chip W. Guide part 4
The chips W of normal size are placed at the exit 22a of the conveyance path surface 22.
Although the dummy products are to be carried out from the storage floor 20 without being advanced any further than the height of the chips W of normal size,
This functions to return the chips W from the conveyance path surface 22 of the feeder device 1 to the storage floor surface 20.

Now, the chip W (width 7 mm) is made of metal and has a square shape.
1 length 7 mm, thickness Q, 5 mm) to the subsequent process, as in the past, only the chips W are transferred to the storage floor 20 of the feeder 1 without mixing dummy products with the chips W. The vibration means 3 of the feeder 1 and the linear vibrators Pj and 7 of the linear feeder 5 are directly driven.

On the other hand, when the number of chips W is small, for example, the number of chips W
If there are 1 to 200 pieces, use a dummy piece D (thickness 1.5 mm) that is slightly thicker than the -depth W and taller than the chip W, and place a predetermined number of dummy pieces in small quantities. The mixed chips W are stored in the storage floor 20 of the feeder 1. In this state, the vibration means 3 of the feeder device [1 was driven to vibrate the housing 2 of the feeder device 1 to slightly vibrate the storage floor surface 20 and the conveyance path surface 22, thereby mixing the chips W and the dummy products. In this state, it is placed on the conveyance road surface 22. Then, the mixed chips W and dummy items are placed on the conveyance path surface 22 and conveyed in a line on the conveyance path surface 22 toward the exit 22a side. At this time, the chip W is pushed from behind by a dummy product that is more visible than the chip W, and moves forward on the conveyance path surface 22. Once conveyed in this manner and conveyed to the exit 22a side, the chips W and dummy items face the guide section 4.

Here, in the case of the chip W, since its height dimension is a predetermined value, the chip W passes through the outlet 22a without coming into contact with the guide part 4, and is placed on the straight conveyance path surface 7o of the straight feeder device 5. can be transferred to.

On the other hand, when the dummy item whose height is higher than the chip W is conveyed to the exit 22a side of the conveyance path surface 22, the dummy item comes into contact with the guide portion 4. Then, the dummy items are sorted by the guide section 4 and guided along the guide section 4 to the storage floor surface 2o.
As a result, the dummy item [] falls to exit 22.
Not removed from a. Note that the dummy items that have fallen onto the storage floor 2o are reused.

By the way, as mentioned above, the chips W are placed in the feeder M1.
From the outlet 22a of the conveyance path surface 22, the straight feeder device f15
Although it can be transferred to the straight conveyance road surface 7o,
Here, the straight feeder! ! The linear vibration means 7 of the iH5 is driven, the linear housing 6 of the linear feeder 5 is vibrated, and the linear conveyance path 70 is slightly vibrating, so the transferred chips W are separated from each other through a small gap. The chips W are conveyed in a line on the straight conveyance path surface 70 in close proximity or in contact with each other, and then the chips W are carried out one by one from the output lower 0a of the straight forward conveyance path surface 70 and supplied to the subsequent process. Then, in a post-process, a fili layer of solder is applied to the surface of the unloaded chip W by a plating process or the like.

When the chip W is carried out from the outlet 22a, the feeder M'1r
The number of chips W in 11 becomes smaller. Therefore, as the unloading progresses, the proportion of chips W in the feeder 1 decreases,
The proportion of dummy items increases, and in the final stage, almost only the dummy items are transported on the transport path surface 22 and returned to the storage floor surface 20 one after another by the guide section 4. When the final workpiece W has been unloaded from the feeder 1" 22a, the feeder 1
can be stopped.

As explained above, in this embodiment, the chip W and the chip W
Since the chip W is mixed with a dummy product whose height is higher than that of the chip W and is stored on the storage floor 20 of the feeder 1, the chips W can be pushed forward by the dummy product. Therefore, even if the number of chips W is small, the last chip W can be transported to the exit 22a side of the transport path surface 22 without any problem.

[Other Embodiments] The guide portion 4 may have an adjustment mechanism that changes the height position. Further, it is also possible to arrange a plurality of guide portions 4 having a structure that is easy to attach and detach and having different heights. In this case, the adjustment mechanism of the guide section 4 can be adjusted depending on the height of the article, and the guide section 4 can also be replaced.

In a special case, the feeder device 1 etc. is provided with a detection means for detecting that the dummy crystal has come into contact with the guide part 4, and the output signal of the detection means is inputted to count the number of detections by the detection means. A configuration in which the control unit deems that the workpiece W in the feeder device 1 has finished being carried out from the outlet 22a and stops the feeder device 1 when the count number of the counting device within a predetermined time exceeds a set value. It is also possible to do this.

[Effect of the Invention J] According to the present invention, even when the number of articles such as chips W is small, the last article can be conveyed to the conveyance path surface [J side without any hindrance, and in terms of loft management, It is possible to provide an article conveyance method that is extremely useful in terms of production management.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the main parts, and FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of the main parts. In the figure, 1 is a feeder device, 2 is a housing, 20 is a storage floor surface, 22 is a conveyance path surface, 22a is an outlet, 3 is a vibration means,
4 indicates a guide portion. 1 existing RF applicant Aichi Steel Co., Ltd. agent
Patent attorney Hiroshi Okawa

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A housing having a storage floor surface on which a large number of articles are placed and stored, a conveyance path surface connected to the storage floor surface and on which the articles are placed and conveyed to the outlet, and a housing that vibrates and generates vibration energy. A dummy article having a height higher than the height of the article is placed on the exit side of the conveyance path surface using a feeder device including a vibrating means for feeding the article from the storage floor surface to the outlet of the conveyance path surface. A method for conveying an article, comprising: providing a guide portion that abuts and guides the article back from the conveyance path surface to the storage floor surface; and using a dummy article mixed with the article.