JPH0385467A - Apparatus for inspecting small sized part - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an efficient and compact inspection system by providing a non-inspected part feed passage due to a feed jig equipped with a positioning and stop mechanism and two or more rows of inspected part discharge passages and performing the placement, start, classification and reception of a part to be inspected. CONSTITUTION:A feed jig 4 circulates through a supply feed passage 8 having a reciprocating passage formed thereto and stop positions S0-S3 are provided to the formed passage and positioning and stop mechanisms are respectively arranged. The jig 4 stands by at the position S0 and separates at a proper time to start and a hand ring 8c places a non-inspected part on the jig 4 from a stocker 8d at the position S1 and a processing robot 8e connects a lead wire at the position S2 and a hand ring 10 transfers the same to a tester 1. Subse quently, an apparatus 11 transfers a classified inspected part to the jig 4 stand ing by on a discharge feed passage 9 having a plurality of rollers 9a arranged thereto according to classification and the lead wire is cut at stop position S5 by a processing robot 9a and the inspected part is classified to be received in a stocker 9c at a position S6 by a hand ring 9b. By this constitution, an efficient and compact inspection system can be provided.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an inspection system for small parts, and more specifically, to an assembly consisting of a small part such as a magnetic head and its test accessories, which is necessary for testing. The invention relates to an automatic inspection system that performs various processing and inspections.

[Prior Art] Recently, in order to efficiently inspect a large number of parts, a handling mechanism that loads/unloads parts into a transport mechanism and a robot that processes parts for inspection have been combined. Automated inspection systems are used.

A part of the inspection method for a magnetic head will be explained as an example with reference to FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b). In Figure (a), a magnetic head 1b is attached to the tip of a support bar 1a in a magnetic head section 1, and two lead wires 1c are drawn out. Auxiliary wiring board 2 called paddle for inspection
is used, and the assembly 3 is constructed by fitting the protrusion 2a of the auxiliary wiring board 2 into the positioning hole 1d of the support bar 13.

In the inspection, the uninspected assembly 3 is taken out from the stocker, positioned and placed on the conveyance jig 4 by the projections 2c, and conveyed by the roller conveyance mechanism 5, as shown in Figure (b). . The transport jig 4 is stopped at an appropriate position midway to connect the lead wire IC and the connection terminal 2b, and then further advanced, stopped, and tested by a testing device (not shown). Based on the test results, the quality of the magnetic heads la is classified into ranks, the connections between the respective lead wires 1c and the connection terminals 2b are cut, and the magnetic heads la are stored in corresponding stockers.

In the above, loading/unloading of the assembly 3 with respect to the transport jig 4 and the testing device, or connection or cutting of the lead wire IC (hereinafter referred to as processing),
Each of these is automatically performed by a handling mechanism or a robot, but for this purpose, it is necessary to provide a stopping mechanism at an appropriate location of the roller transport mechanism to position and stop the transport jig 4. As described above, the inventor of the present invention has filed a patent application for a mechanism for positioning and stably stopping a transport jig at a predetermined position.

Figures 3(a) and <b) explain the outline of the mechanism related to the above patent application.
There is a protrusion 2d of the auxiliary wiring board 2 on the surface of the metal block 4a.
A stop roller 4c is provided on the front surface, and a through groove 4d and a positioning hole 4e are provided on the bottom surface. On the other hand, at the lower part of the roller conveyance mechanism 5, a stopper 6 for the stop roller 4c, a positioning mechanism 7 having a positioning pin 7a for the positioning hole 4e and a support pin 7b for the conveyance jig 4 are provided. Figure (b) shows a case where a plurality of conveyance jigs 4 are conveyed continuously, and the roller conveyance mechanism 5 is equipped with a plurality of conveyance jigs 4 (Cr-C5...). and
Transfer jig C3, C4°C5... to stop position SO
is waiting. Conveying jigs Cl and C2 located in front of these
are stopped at stop positions S2 and St, respectively, and the assembly 3 is processed or handled. When these steps are completed, each stopper 6 is released and the transport jig 4 moves forward. Next, the conveyance jig C3 waiting at the stop position So is separated individually and advances to the stop position 81 and stops, and the conveyance jig C2 is stopped at the stop position S2.

In the above, each transport jig is positioned by the positioning mechanism 7 and stopped stably. Further, individual separation of each conveyance jig during standby is performed by lifting the stopper 6 relative to the through groove 4d.

In the above-mentioned positioning and stopping mechanism, both the stopping mechanism and the positioning mechanism are provided at the bottom of the roller conveyance mechanism.
It has very good space efficiency in the lateral direction and is suitable for arranging a large number of roller conveyance mechanisms 5 in parallel.

[Problem to be Solved] Now, since the above-described positioning and stopping mechanism for the transport jig is effective for the automatic inspection system for small parts such as magnetic heads, it is possible to configure a system to which this is applied. can. However, when configuring this:
The problem is configuring an efficient roller transport mechanism and simplifying the handling mechanism. In other words, normally the conveyance jig is conveyed by one line of conveyance path, but in this case, multiple lines of conveyance path are provided on the discharge side in order to classify the assemblies according to the test results and store them in the stocker. is efficient. Furthermore, it is difficult to handle the assembly while it is placed on a transport jig with respect to the test apparatus because the transport jig is heavier than the assembly due to the structure of the test apparatus and handling mechanism. Therefore, each conveyance path on the supply side and the discharge side is equipped with a conveyance jig,
If the method is to transfer only the assembly between test devices, it can be carried out using a small handling mechanism.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a system that uses the above positioning and stopping mechanism, satisfies the above conditions, and efficiently inspects small parts.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention is an inspection system for an assembly consisting of a small part to be inspected and an accessory part for inspection. A transport jig that positions and places the assembly, a supply transport path that transports the transport jig for uninspected assemblies and supplies it to the test equipment, and inspected parts that are classified into multiple ranks based on the test results of the test equipment. It is equipped with a plurality of rows of discharge conveyance paths corresponding to conveyance jigs for the assembly. A positioning stop mechanism is provided at a plurality of appropriate stop positions on each of the supply conveyance path and discharge conveyance path, and untested or inspected assemblies can be loaded/unloaded from the conveyance jig or testing device stopped at the stop positions. The robot is equipped with a handling mechanism for processing the assembly, and a processing robot for processing the uninspected or inspected assembly at the same stop position.

[Function] In the small parts inspection system with the above configuration,
A supply conveyance path and a plurality of rows of discharge conveyance paths are configured separately, and a conveyance jig is mounted on each.

Each conveyance path is constituted by a roller conveyance mechanism using the positioning stop mechanism according to the above-mentioned patent application to improve lateral space efficiency, and each conveyance path is provided at a plurality of appropriate stop positions. The transport jig is stably stopped by the positioning and stopping mechanism, and the assembly is loaded/unloaded by the handling mechanism with respect to the transported jig. Further, the loaded assembly is connected to or cut from the lead wires by the processing robot. Further, uninspected assemblies are loaded into the testing device by a handling mechanism and tested, and the inspected assemblies are classified into ranks according to quality and transferred to a transport jig in a corresponding discharge transport path.

Note that detailed explanations of the processing robot and testing equipment will be omitted.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 shows a configuration in which a small component inspection system according to the present invention is applied to inspection of a magnetic head assembly. The supply conveyance path 8 includes a roller conveyance mechanism 8a,
8b forms a reciprocating path and the transport jig 4 circulates. Stop positions so, s, , s2, and S3 are set at appropriate intervals on the outward path, and the positioning stop mechanism according to the above-mentioned patent application is arranged at each stop position. Stop position S
3(b), a plurality of conveyance jigs 4 are successively on standby, separated individually and started at the appropriate time.

A handling mechanism 80 is provided at the stop position St, and untested magnetic head assemblies (see FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b)) are taken out from the stocker 8d and loaded onto the transport jig 4. A processing robot 8e is provided at the stop position S2, and a lead wire of the assembly is connected thereto. Also, the stop position S3
is equipped with a handling mechanism lO, and the assembly with the lead wires connected as described above is transferred from the transport jig 4 to the test apparatus l!
Transfer to.

Furthermore, the roller conveyance mechanism 9
8 in parallel (A), (B), ((1), (D
) is provided. Here, (A), (
B), (C), and (D) correspond to the above classification,
In this case, there are four classifications, but it goes without saying that the roller conveyance mechanism 93 is set according to the number of classifications.

A stop mechanism is provided with an appropriate position on the discharge conveyance path 9 as the upper stop position. A transport jig 4 loaded with inspected assemblies waits at the stop position S4. Stop position ft
A processing robot 9a for cutting the lead wires of the assemblies is provided at Ss, and a handling mechanism 9b for sorting and storing the assemblies in the stocker 9C is provided at the stop position S8. Note that the conveyance jig 4 is discharged to the stocker 9d at the end of the discharge conveyance path 9, and is manually conveyed to the start end.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, in the small parts inspection system according to the present invention, a supply conveyance path for the testing device and a plurality of discharge conveyance paths corresponding to the classification of test results are provided separately, By mounting a transport jig on each, a large-sized handling mechanism for the transport jig is not required.

Each conveyance path is composed of a roller conveyance mechanism that uses a positioning and stopping mechanism for a conveyance jig that has been separately patented. Due to its good lateral space efficiency, multiple conveyance paths are close to each other and are compactly configured. There is. The transport jig is positioned relative to the transport mechanism and stably stopped by the positioning and stopping mechanism, and necessary handling and processing are performed. Although not shown in the drawings, both the handling mechanism and the processing robot are compactly constructed to be small enough to fit the parts.

In the above embodiment, the inspection target was a magnetic head assembly, but it can be applied to any small component.
The effect of providing an efficient and compact inspection system that automatically loads parts onto a transport jig at an appropriate position on the transport path, performs the necessary processing, ranks them based on test results, and stores them in a stocker is very effective. be.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a small parts inspection system according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) are external views of an assembly consisting of a magnetic head and an auxiliary wiring board, and inspection of the assembly. Explanatory diagram of the method, Figure 3 (a) and (
b) is a structural diagram and an operation explanatory diagram showing an outline of the "positioning and stopping mechanism for a transport jig" according to the patent application. l...Magnetic head portion % la...Support bar 1
b...Magnetic head, 1c...Lead wire, 1d
...Positioning hole, 2...Auxiliary wiring board, 2a, 2
c... Protrusion, 2b... Connection terminal, 3... Assembly, 4... Transfer jig, 4a... Metal block, 4 b + 4 e... Positioning hole, 4C.
...Stop roller, 4d...Through groove, 5...Roller conveyance mechanism, 6...Stopper, 7...Positioning mechanism, 7a...Positioning pin, 7b...Support bin, 8... - Supply conveyance path, 8a, 8b, 9a...
Roller conveyance mechanism, 8et9b, 10... Handling mechanism, 8e, 9a... Processing robot, 8d, 9c + 9d''・Stocker, II・
...Test equipment.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A transport jig for positioning and placing an assembly consisting of a small part to be inspected and an accessory part for inspection, and a supply transport path for transporting the transport jig for the untested assembly and supplying it to the test equipment. , a plurality of rows of discharge conveyance paths corresponding to conveyance jigs for inspected assemblies classified into a plurality of ranks based on the test results of the test device, and an appropriate plurality of rows of each of the supply conveyance path and the discharge conveyance path. a handling mechanism for loading/unloading untested or inspected assemblies to/from the transport jig or the testing device stopped at the stopping position; Or, an inspection system for small parts, characterized by being equipped with a processing robot that processes the inspected assembly.