JPH05206698A - Method and apparatus for automatic loading of protective jig for printed circuit board - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily and certainly enable the automatic loading of a protection device for preventing the close of post-loading hole to a printed wiring board by reinforcing the printed wiring board and maintaining flatness. CONSTITUTION:A printed wiring board PWB to be loaded is carried into the loading position A and a protection device 1 within a cassette 3 is carried on a lower table 5 of PWB in the loading position A. The one end of the protection device 1 is held with a holding plate of a loading block 7 and a lift 6 is lifted up to the level of PWB. Thereafter, the one end of the protection device 1 is pressed toward PWB for the loading under the condition that PWB is picked up from the upper and lower sides of the PWB with the pickup pieces of the loading and moving blocks 7, 8. The remaining part of the protection device 1 is engaged with PWB with a rolling pressure of the moving roller of the moving block 8. With PWB picked up, the one end of the protection device is engaged and the remaining part of also engaged by gradually extending such part with a roller. Accordingly, a long length protection device may be easily and certainly loaded to a thin PWB.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for automatically mounting protective equipment used in a mounting process for mounting mounting components (surface mounting components and insertion mounting components) on a printed circuit board.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When mounting components (resistors, capacitors, ICs, etc.) are electrically connected to a printed circuit board, a soldering method is generally adopted. This soldering method includes
A flow method in which mounting components are temporarily fixed to the printed circuit board and soldered with pre-heated melted flow solder, cream solder is applied to the printed circuit board by screen printing, etc., then the mounting components are mounted and the entire substrate is heated in a furnace. Then, there are a reflow method of melting the solder, an individual method of soldering with a soldering iron, and the like. These methods are appropriately combined and mounted depending on the mounted parts to be mounted.

On the other hand, a printed circuit board on which a circuit is printed is
Composite materials such as phenol, epoxy, glass, and paper are used properly according to the application. In either case, the flatness is JI due to warpage and bending at the material stage.
It is standardized by S, and each processing maker guarantees the standard even after circuit formation, but this is strictly
This is about the flatness at the central portion of the substrate and at the four corners when the substrate is stationary on the flat plate. That is, the weight of the substrate is vertically placed on the flat plate. However, the actual substrate (circuitized) is always processed with both end surfaces facing each other during various processes.

Then, there are problems such as a step of printing cream solder on a substrate, a step of mounting parts by a robot, a soldering step by dipping,
This is the distortion of the board during the soldering process by reflow, the dip soldering process during double-sided mounting, and the lead cutting process for leaded components. Since the shape of the printed circuit board in all of these processes is horizontal and is not deformed by pressure, heat, or load, the mechanical devices in each process operate, so board distortion is a major problem. Become.

Obstacles in each process when the printed circuit board is warped or bent are as follows. In the process of (2), uneven printing occurs, resulting in missing parts. In the process (1), the robot head floats in the center and is pushed too much, resulting in misalignment of parts.
In the process of, there will be uneven soldering and fog. In the process of 1, the positional deviation occurs due to the temperature unevenness and the obstacle of the self-alignment action of the solder. In the process of, solder unevenness,
In addition to the solder fogging, the surface parts that have been installed once will be displaced due to the inclination of the warp. In the process of
This may lead to uneven lead cutting dimensions and board cutting accidents. Furthermore, although parts having no heat resistance, such as LSI and connectors, are attached afterwards, there is a problem that the holes for attachment are blocked by solder.

As means for solving such a problem,
The applicant has already developed a protector called DIP COVER (trademark), attaches this protector to the end portion of the printed circuit board, reinforces the printed circuit board to maintain the flatness of the circuit board, and forms holes for retrofitting. Covered to prevent blockage due to solder. When such protective equipment is mounted on a printed circuit board, conventionally, it has been manually mounted on the printed circuit board one by one.

[0007]

However, in today's mass production of printed circuit boards, the recent printed circuit boards are becoming thinner day by day, but on the other hand, the number of layers is increasing and the self-weight is increased, and high-density mounting is achieved. There is. In addition, it becomes a divided substrate for rationalization of production, and slits, V-grooves and the like enter vertically and horizontally, which all cause warpage and increase in bending. Although the need to attach the dip cover from such a state is increasing, the conventional manual attachment method is not efficient and cannot keep up with the production, and the work is heavy labor, which causes great fatigue to the worker. If you forget to put on the protective equipment due to a mistake or you can not install it correctly at the specified installation position,
When there is cream solder, there is a problem that it is difficult to attach protective equipment without touching the cream solder.

Although such a problem can be solved by using a machine for automatically mounting the protective equipment on the printed circuit board, it is easy to mount the relatively long protective equipment on the printed circuit board having a relatively thin plate thickness. Instead, for example, if one end of the protector is fitted to the printed circuit board by the cylinder and the other end of the protector is pressed against the printed circuit board by the cylinder to try to fit it, the pressing force at this other end It requires an extremely large force, and cannot be realized in reality due to the strength of the printed circuit board. The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object thereof is to print a protector capable of preventing the printed circuit board from warping, bending, or completely closing a hole for post-installation. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic mounting method and an automatic mounting apparatus that can easily and surely automatically mount a substrate.

[0009]

A mounting method according to the present invention is an automatic mounting method of a protector for automatically mounting a protector on an end portion of a substrate to be mounted. (2) Carrying in the protective equipment stored in the cassette to the position below the mounted substrate at the mounting position, (3) Grasping one end of the carried protective equipment, and mounting Step of raising to the level of the board, (4) Holding the mounting end of the mounted board from above and below and pressing one end of the protector to attach to this part, (5) From the one end of the protector to the other The step of rolling the roller to the end portion and fitting the entire protector to the mounted substrate is performed. A mounting device according to the present invention is an automatic mounting device for a protective device that automatically mounts a protective device on an end portion of a mounted substrate, and supports both end portions of the mounted substrate that are not mounted to a mounting position. A conveyor that carries in and carries out from the mounting position, a cassette that is arranged on the side of this conveyor and that stores a large number of protectors in parallel with the mounting end of the substrate to be mounted, and a protector in this cassette is picked up. Then, at the mounting position, a feeder to be carried in below the substrate to be mounted, a table for receiving protective equipment from the feeder below the substrate to be mounted, and an elevating table that can be moved up and down on the side of the table opposite to the substrate to be mounted. And a mounting block which is installed on the elevating table and which has a sandwiching plate for sandwiching the substrate to be mounted from above and below and a gripping plate which is capable of advancing and retracting to the substrate to be mounted and which can be mounted on the substrate to be mounted by gripping a protector. The rise A protective block movably installed on the table in the longitudinal direction, and a moving plate having a holding plate for clamping the substrate to be mounted from above and below and a roller having a roller capable of rolling the protective device mounted on the substrate to be mounted and rolling. Constitute.

[0010]

With the protector according to the present invention attached to the end portion of the substrate, the substrate is reinforced, the flatness of the substrate is maintained against pressure, heat, and load, and the parts are missing due to the distortion of the substrate. Eliminates misalignment of parts, uneven soldering / fog, lead cut accident, etc. Further, since the holes for retrofitting are covered with the protector, the holes are prevented from being blocked by the solder. At the time of mounting, the protector is carried from the cassette by the feeder to the table below the substrate to be mounted at the mounting position, and is transferred from this table to the mounting block on the lifting table, and one end of the protective device of the mounting block is gripped. It is gripped by the plate and the protective equipment is easily supplied to the mounting position. The lifting table rises, and the one end of the grasped protector is pressed against the substrate to be mounted while the mounting edge of the substrate to be mounted is clamped from above and below by the clamp pieces of the mounting block / moving block that have risen. It is attached. Since it is clamped from the top and bottom by the clamp piece, the deformation of the relatively thin plate to be mounted can be corrected and held horizontally, and this horizontal part can be positioned at the specified mounting horizontal level, and the end of the protective equipment can be smoothed. In addition, it is surely attached to the mounted substrate. Next, when the moving block moves, the roller rolls the protector and the remaining part of the protector is fitted to the substrate to be mounted. Since the protector fitted at one end is gradually fitted to the plate to be mounted by the roller, the protector is fitted without using a large pressing force. Through the above steps, the relatively long protector can be easily and surely attached to the board to be mounted, which is relatively thin.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to an illustrated embodiment. This is an example of mounting protective equipment on both ends of a printed circuit board, and FIGS. 1 and 2 are a schematic plan view and a sectional view taken along line II-II showing the automatic mounting device. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the protector 1 used in the present invention includes a U-shaped base portion 1a that covers an end portion of the printed circuit board PWB, and a printed circuit board integrally formed from one flange portion of the base portion 1a. The reinforcing rib 1b is formed so as to project orthogonally. Further, the protector 1 is formed of spring steel or the like, and the groove width of the base portion 1a is set to be substantially equal to the plate thickness of the printed board so that the base 1a is fitted so as not to easily fall off the printed board.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the automatic mounting apparatus according to the present invention mainly comprises a printed board conveyor 2, a cassette 3 for accommodating a large number of protectors 1, and a protector 1 in the cassette 3. A feeder 4 for supplying to the mounting position, a table 5 for receiving the protector 1 from the feeder 4, an elevating table 6 capable of moving up and down, and a mounting block 7 / moving block 8 for mounting the protector 1 from the table 5 on a printed circuit board. It consists of.

The conveyor 2 comprises a pair of conveyor belts 10 spaced apart in the width direction of the apparatus, a printed circuit board guide 11 for covering the ascending belt while leaving the inside thereof, a belt guide 12 for supporting the ascending belt, and the like. , The both ends of which the printed circuit board is not mounted are placed on the ascending belt of the conveyor belt 10, and the end surface thereof is guided by the guide 11 to be transferred.
The printed circuit board is carried into the mounting position A, and after mounting, is carried out from the mounting position A. A pair of conveyor belts 10 and guides 11
Holds one feeder 4 side stationary and movably supports the other side so that printed circuit boards of various sizes can be accommodated. This movement includes a ball screw 13 rotatably supported, a ball nut member 14 meshed with the ball screw 13 and fixed to the conveyor frame,
Adjustment motor 15 for rotating the ball screw 13
By

The pair of conveyor belts 10 are driven by rotating a rotary drive shaft 16 connected to each intermediate sprocket by a conveyor motor 17. Further, the stopper 18 and the detection sensor 19 are provided on the stationary guide 11.
Is set, the printed circuit board is positioned at the mounting position A by the stopper 18, and the detection sensor 19 detects the loading / unloading of the printed circuit board. The stopper 18 is
For example, the printed circuit board is positioned by using a lever that rotates with an air cylinder and lowering the lever that has been raised and retracted to bring it into contact with the end surface of the printed circuit board.

The cassette 3 is installed on the cassette table 20 so as to be orthogonal to the conveyor 2 on the side of the mounting position A. The cassette bases 20 are arranged in a pair so as to correspond to the mounting ends of the printed circuit boards, and a large number of cassettes 3 are provided on the upper surface thereof.
To be able to set. Cassette 3 is a partition plate 2
Put in and take out from the front side of the device in the interval 1. The cassette 3 is a case in which a large number of protective gears 1 are horizontally stacked and stored, and the protective gears 1 are taken out from the upper end opening and the pushing member 22 is inserted from the lower end opening so that the protective gears 1 can be raised one by one. To The push-out member 22 is disposed below the feeder 4 described later, is supported so as to be vertically movable along a pair of vertical guide bars 23, and is vertically moved by a driving device (not shown). Further, the cassette base 20 can be moved in the printed circuit board conveying direction by the guide rod 24, the ball screw 25, and the cassette motor 26, and a large number of cassettes 20 can be sequentially positioned above the push-out member 22 for selective use. ..

The feeders 4 are arranged in a pair so as to correspond to the mounting ends of the printed circuit boards, and a pair of upper and lower horizontal guide rods 30 and a traveling main body 31 which is guided and supported by the horizontal guide rods 30 and is self-propelled. It is composed of a grip portion 32 attached to the side portion of the traveling body 31 so as to be vertically movable.
The grip portion 32 includes a grip 33 that horizontally opens and closes at its lower portion to grip the protector 1 from both sides, and is located above the cassette 3 into which the pushing member 22 is inserted. The grip portion 32 is lowered to grip the reinforcing rib 1b of the protector 1 at the uppermost end in the cassette 3 with the grip 33.
2 is raised to take out the protective equipment 1 from the cassette 3. The position where the protector 1 is gripped is an end portion on the front side (countermounting position) of the apparatus, and the protector 1 is supported by a cantilever and transferred. In addition, the guide rod 30 extends into the conveyor 2 and the grip 32 is lowered so that the protector 1 can be transferred onto the table 5.

The table 5 is constructed by arranging a large number of pins 40 parallel to the printed board transport direction at intervals in the protector carry-in direction, and further, the protector 1 mounted on the pins 40 is lifted up and down which will be described later. Enable to send to 6 side. for that reason,
The table upper part 41 is moved in the printed board carrying direction with respect to the pin 40 by an air cylinder or the like so that the protector 1 on the pin 40 can be pushed out.

The lift tables 6 are installed on both sides of the mounting position A and can be lifted and lowered by, for example, a pair of air cylinders 45. This lifting stroke allows the mounting block 7 described later to receive the protector 1 on the table 5 and lift it to the level of the printed circuit board. A mounting block 7 and a moving block 8 are mounted on the lift table 6.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the mounting block 7 has clamping pieces 50, 5 for clamping the printed circuit board from above and below.
1. It is provided with gripping pieces 52 and 53 for gripping the protector 1 from above and below. The upper sandwiching piece 50 is attached to the upper surface of the elevating member 54 so as to be horizontally movable, and can be horizontally moved by the first air cylinder 55-1. When the elevating table 6 and the mounting block 7 as a whole are raised, they are retracted and interfere with the printed circuit board. Try not to. Further, the elevating member 54 is vertically movably attached to the vertical portion 7A of the mounting block 7, and the second air cylinder 55-
2 so that the printed circuit board can be clamped. Since the lower sandwiching piece 51 does not interfere with the printed circuit board, the suspending member 56 suspended from the base portion 7B of the mounting block 7 is provided.
Is vertically movably attached to and is moved up and down by the third air cylinder 55-3.

The upper gripping piece 52 is vertically movably attached to the rising piece 53A of the lower gripping piece 53 and is moved up and down by the fourth air cylinder 55-4. Lower grip piece 53
Is horizontally movably mounted on the base portion 7B and is horizontally moved by the fifth air cylinder 55-5.
2 and 53 are moved to the table 5 side for receiving the protective equipment 1. Such a mounting block 7 is
A guide, a screw rod 57, and an adjusting motor 58 (not shown) enable position adjustment in the longitudinal direction of the protector 1 so that the protector 1 can be mounted at various mounting positions.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the moving block 8 has clamping pieces 60 and 6 for clamping the printed circuit board from above and below.
1. A pair of rolling rollers 6 for pressing the base portion 1a of the protector 1.
Equipped with 3. The holding pieces 60, 61 are mounted on the mounting block 7.
The upper clamping member 60 has the same configuration as that of the lifting member 6
The upper surface of No. 4 can be horizontally moved by the first air cylinder 65-1, and the elevating member 64 is the vertical portion 8A of the moving block 8.
It is attached so that it can move up and down, and can be moved up and down by the second air cylinder 65-2. The lower sandwiching piece 61 is vertically movably attached to a hanging member 66 vertically provided on the base portion 8B of the moving block 8 and is moved up and down by a third air cylinder 65-3. The pair of rolling rollers 63 are arranged at intervals in the longitudinal direction of the protector 1, and are mounted so as to be horizontally rotatable on the slider 69 that horizontally moves on the base portion 8B. The slider 69 can be horizontally moved by the fourth air cylinder 65-4.

The moving block 8 can be reciprocated in the longitudinal direction of the protector 1 by a guide, a screw rod 67, and a moving motor 68 (not shown). In addition,
A sandwiching piece 51 under the mounting block 7 and the moving block 8,
When the width of the mounting end portion of the printed circuit board is narrow and 61 cannot sufficiently secure a portion to be sandwiched with a width slightly larger than the insertion depth of the protective equipment, 61 is provided with spring property and is pressed by the protective equipment to be mounted. It is bent to the side opposite to the block so that it can be retracted (see the lower sandwiching piece shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIGS. 4 and 5).
That is, the sandwiching pieces 51, 61 are positioned at the portion where the protector 1 is mounted, and the sandwiching of the sandwiching piece is held even during the end mounting of the protector, and the sandwiching is released before the end of the mounting of the protector to protect it. The horizontal holding of the printed circuit board by the sandwiching piece is maintained at the time of mounting the tool so that the mounting is smoothly and surely performed. Needless to say, when the sandwiching portion can be sufficiently secured, the sandwiching portion can be separated from the mounting portion and the sandwiching can be released after the end portion mounting is completed. The base 75 to which the lifting table 6 is attached is a guide and a screw rod 70 (not shown).
The position of the printed circuit board can be adjusted by the adjusting motor 71 in the printed circuit board conveying direction so that various sizes of the printed circuit board can be accommodated. Further, the feeder 4 and the pushing member 22 can be moved together with the bases 75 of the respective elevators 6.

In the configuration as described above, the control device 80
Is a sequencer including a CPU, a memory, an interface, etc., and operates as follows based on the incorporated sequence control program. (1) The grip part 32 of the feeder 4 descends and the grip 3
3 grips the end portion of the protector 1 stored in the cassette 3 on the front side of the apparatus, and the grip portion 32 rises. (2) When the traveling main body 31 moves to the mounting position A side along the guide rod 30 and the protector 1 reaches the table 5, the grip portion 32 is lowered and the grip 33 is released.
The protector 1 is transferred onto the table 5. (3) The grip portion 32 rises and the traveling body 31 moves and returns to the original position. At the same time, the printed circuit board is carried in by the conveyor 2 and stopped at the mounting position A by the stopper 18.

(4) The gripping pieces 52, 53 of the mounting block 7 on the elevating table 6 in the lowered state (the upper gripping piece 52 is in the raised state) advance to the table 5 side by the fifth air cylinder 55-5. (5) The table upper part 41 of the table 5 moves to the mounting block 7 side, and the protector 1 on the pin 40 is transferred onto the lower gripping piece 53. (6) The upper grip piece 52 is lowered by the fourth air cylinder 55-4, and the protector 1 is gripped from above and below by the grip pieces 52 and 53. (7) The grip pieces 52, 53 retract into the mounting block 7.

(8) The lift table 6 is raised by the air cylinder 45. (9) Clamping piece 5 on top of the mounting block 7 and the moving block 8
0.60 advances to the printed circuit board side by the first air cylinders 55 and 65-1. (10) The upper and lower clamp pieces 50, 51, 60, 61 are operated by the second and third air cylinders 55, 65-2, 3 to clamp the inside of the mounting end of the printed circuit board. As a result, the printed circuit board is horizontally corrected and held, and this horizontal portion is positioned at a predetermined mounting horizontal level. (11) The gripping pieces 52 and 53 advance toward the printed circuit board side by the fifth air cylinder 55-5, and the end of the protector 1 is fitted to the mounting end of the printed circuit board. At the same time, the sandwiching piece 5
The pinching of 0 and 51 is released. (12) The roller 63 advances toward the printed circuit board side by the fourth air cylinder 65-4 with some delay from the fitting operation, and is pressed against the protector 1. At the same time, the sandwiching of the sandwiching pieces 60, 61 is released.

(13) The moving block 8 is the screw rod 6
7 and the moving motor 68 move to the opposite cassette side.
As a result, the roller 63 rolls the protector 1 and the protector 1
The remaining part of the is squeezed and is fitted onto the printed circuit board. Here, since the protector 1 having one end fitted by the above step is gradually fitted to the printed board by the roller 63, the protector 1 can be fitted without using a large pressing force. (14) When the moving block 8 stops at the end portion on the side opposite to the cassette, the upper gripping piece 52 of the mounting block 7 rises, and then the gripping pieces 52 and 53 and the roller 63 retract into the blocks 7 and 8. (15) The lift table 6 moves down. (16) The moving block 8 moves back to the original position. At the same time, the feeder 4 carries in and conveys the protective equipment 1 by the feeder 4.
The printed circuit board is carried in and out by. By sequentially repeating the above steps, the protective equipment is continuously and automatically attached to the printed circuit board.

The printed board on which the protector 1 is mounted is conveyed to the next step, where chip parts are attached and processed, and when the purpose of the protector is completed, the protector is removed from the printed board. Recovered and used repeatedly.
By mounting protective equipment, the printed circuit board is reinforced, and flatness is maintained against pressure, heat, and load, so parts are missing due to print unevenness in the cream solder printing process, part displacement in the robot mounting process,
It is possible to eliminate solder unevenness / fog in the dipping soldering process, component misalignment in the reflow soldering process, component misalignment in the dip soldering process when double-sided mounting, uneven cutting dimensions in the lead cutting process, and board cutting accidents. Further, the cover of the protector can prevent the holes for retrofitting from being blocked, and a high quality printed circuit board can be obtained. In the above, the example in which the protective equipment is attached to both ends of the printed circuit board has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and when the protective equipment is attached to one side,
It goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to a case where a part or a plurality of parts are attached. Further, the shape of the protector is not limited to that shown in the figure, and various shapes can be used, and the material can also be synthetic resin.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, the protector is carried into the table below the substrate to be mounted by the feeder, transferred from this table to the mounting block gripping piece, and the lifting block of the mounting block / moving block is clamped. With the mounting edge of the mounted substrate clamped from above and below, one end of the protector is pressed and mounted on the mounted substrate, and then the moving block moves to protect the roller by rolling it onto the protector. Since the rest of the tool is attached to the mounted substrate,
A relatively long protector can be easily and surely attached to a substrate to be mounted having a thin plate thickness. As a result, a high-quality printed circuit board without defects can be mass-produced accurately and efficiently without manpower.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing an automatic mounting device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing the mounting / moving block of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a mounting block.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a moving block.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a printed circuit board equipped with a protector according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an end view showing a protector according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 PWB Printed circuit board 1 Protective equipment 2 Conveyor conveyor 3 Cassette 4 Feeder 5 Table 6 Elevating table 7 Mounting block 8 Moving block

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method of automatically mounting a protector for automatically mounting a protector on an end of a substrate to be mounted, comprising: (1) a step of loading the substrate to be mounted to a mounting position; and (2) a cassette. A step of loading the stored protective equipment below the mounted substrate at the mounting position; (3) a step of gripping one end of the loaded protective equipment and raising it to the level of the mounted substrate; Step of sandwiching the mounting end of the mounting board from above and below and pressing one end of the protector to attach to this part, (5) Roll the roller from the one end to the other end of the protector to protect the entire protector A method for automatically mounting a protector on a printed circuit board, comprising: 2. An automatic mounting device for a protector for automatically mounting a protector on an end portion of a substrate to be mounted, wherein both ends of the substrate to be mounted are not supported and are carried into a mounting position. A transfer conveyor that is carried out from the mounting position, a cassette that is arranged on the side of this transfer conveyor and that stores a large number of protectors parallel to the mounting end of the substrate to be mounted, and a protector in this cassette is picked up and mounted. At a position below the substrate to be mounted, a table that receives protective equipment from the feeder below the substrate to be mounted, a lift table that is installed so as to be movable up and down on the side of the table opposite to the substrate to be mounted, And a mounting block which is installed on the elevating table and has a sandwiching plate for sandwiching the substrate to be mounted from above and below, and a gripping plate which is capable of advancing and retreating to the substrate to be mounted and capable of grasping a protector and mounting to the substrate to be mounted. upon The protective device is provided so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction, and includes a sandwiching plate that clamps the substrate to be mounted from above and below, and a moving block having a roller that can advance and retreat the substrate to be mounted and that can roll the protective device that is mounted on the substrate. An apparatus for automatically mounting protective equipment on a printed circuit board, which is characterized by: