JPH06211311A - Magazine rack supply device of circuit board inspection machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To feed one piece each of magazine racks to a lift without dividing an input conveyor in two. CONSTITUTION:A first rack sensor 35 is provided on a lift 31, a second rack sensor 36 is provided at an input side end part of an input conveyor 13 and a third rack sensor 37 is provided at a delivery side end part of the input conveyor 13. At the time when the first rack sensor 35 detects a state of no magazine rack, the input conveyor 13 and a conveyor belt pair 32 are normally rotated by a magazine rack detection signal of the second rack sensor 36, and a magazine rack 12 on the input conveyor 13 is fed to the lift 31. At the time when the third rack sensor 37 detects existence of a magazine rack in the state where the magazine rack 12 is fed to the lift 31 by way of driving the input conveyor 13, this third rack sensor 37 rotates only the input conveyor 13 in reverse until the state changes to the one of no magazine rack.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magazine rack feeder for a circuit board inspection machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A disconnection or short circuit of printed wiring on a circuit board,
2. Description of the Related Art In order to perform various inspections such as the type and performance of components mounted on a circuit board, there is an inspection machine that inspects a probe by contacting it with a measurement site. In order to efficiently inspect circuit boards using this inspection machine, the circuit board inspection machine is connected to a magazine rack supply device, a magazine rack sorting device, and a magazine rack ejection device to automatically supply circuit boards. An in-line system for inspecting is developed.

As shown in FIG. 4, the magazine rack supply device includes an elevating / feeding device 1, a loading conveyor 3 for feeding the magazine rack 2 into the device 1, and a magazine rack 2a emptied by the elevating / feeding device 1. It is composed of a discharge conveyor 4 for discharging. The magazine rack 2 has a box shape, and holds a large number of circuit boards 5 horizontally by a board guide shelf 6.

The elevating and delivering device 1 raises the magazine rack 2 accommodating the circuit boards 5 step by step by the elevating table 1a to position each circuit board 5 on the delivery guide 7 of the inspection machine 6, and by the pusher mechanism 7a. The corresponding circuit board 5 is pushed out to the inspection machine 6 side. After this extrusion, the magazine rack 2 is elevated by one shelf by the elevation of the elevating table 1a, the next circuit board 5 is positioned by the delivery guide 7, and is similarly delivered to the inspection machine 6 side. Hereinafter, these operations are repeated, and the circuit board 5 becomes the inspection machine 6
Will be sent out to the side.

The loading conveyor 3 comprises a pair of first and second conveyor belts 3a and 3b divided at a ratio of 2: 1. A motor 8 is attached to the pair of conveyor belts 3a and 3b.
a and 8b are connected. Then, based on the rack presence / absence detection signals of the first, second and third rack sensors 9a, 9b, 9c of the loading conveyor 3, two motors 8a, 8b are provided.
The magazine racks 2 are individually fed into the elevating / feeding device 1 by individually driving.

Specifically, when the magazine rack 2 is placed on the loading side of the loading conveyor 3, the first rack sensor 9a is turned on, the first conveyor belt pair 3a is rotated, and then the third rack sensor 9a is rotated. The rack sensor 9c is turned on, and the second
The pair of conveyor belts 3b is rotated, and rack conveyance is started. In this state, when there is no magazine rack 2 in the lifting / lowering device 1, the transport is continued as it is, and the magazine rack 2 is fed to the lifting / lowering table 1a of the lifting / lowering device 1.

When another magazine rack is present in the elevating / feeding device 1, the rotation of each conveyor belt pair 3a, 3b is stopped when the second rack sensor 9b is turned on. 2 The state is stopped on the pair of conveyor belts 3b. In addition, the next magazine rack 2
When placed on the pair of conveyor belts 3a, the first rack sensor 9b is turned on, and only the pair of first conveyor belts 3a rotates to feed this magazine rack 2 to the side of the second conveyor belt 3b. Then, when the third rack sensor 9c is turned on,
Since the first conveyor belt pair 3a is stopped, the magazine rack 2 is stopped on the downstream side of the first conveyor belt pair 3a. As a result, the upstream half of the first rack sensor 3a becomes empty, and the next magazine rack 2 can be placed on it. Therefore, a maximum of three magazine racks 2 can be placed on the loading conveyor 3.

Magazine rack 2 in the elevating / feeding device 1
When all the circuit boards 5 have been sent out from, the lift table 1a rises, the empty magazine rack 2a becomes the same height as the discharge conveyor 4, and the empty magazine rack 2 is sent to the discharge conveyor 4. Next, the elevating table 1a descends and is set at the insertion position of the magazine rack 2. After that, the first and second conveyor belt pairs 3a and 3b rotate, and the magazine rack 2 on the second conveyor belt pair 3b moves up and down.
When the second rack sensor 9b is turned on by the next magazine rack 2, each conveyance belt pair 3a,
3b is stopped. Thereafter, the magazine racks 2 on the loading conveyor 3 are fed one by one into the elevating table 1a by repeating the above.

[0009]

As described above, in the conventional loading conveyor 3, the magazine racks 2 are lifted and lowered one by one by individually driving the two divided conveyor belt pairs 3a and 3b. The table 1a is automatically fed. However, two conveyor belt pairs 3a, 3b
Since two motors 8a and 8b for individually driving the motors are required, there are problems that the number of parts is increased, the device configuration is complicated, and the manufacturing cost is increased.

The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned problems, and a magazine rack can be automatically loaded into an elevating / feeding device without dividing the loading conveyor into two parts and driving them with two motors. An object of the present invention is to provide a magazine rack supply device for such a circuit board inspection machine.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 1 raises and lowers a magazine rack accommodating circuit boards and sends out the circuit boards one by one from the magazine rack to a circuit board inspection machine, and this apparatus. In a magazine rack supply device of a circuit board inspection machine equipped with a loading conveyor for feeding a magazine rack containing circuit boards, a first sensor for detecting the presence / absence of a magazine rack and provided in the elevating / feeding device, and the loading device. A second sensor provided at the end of the conveyor on the loading side to detect the presence or absence of a magazine rack; and a third sensor provided at the end of the loading conveyor on the delivery side to detect the presence of a magazine rack;
When the first sensor detects a state without a magazine rack, the magazine conveyor detection signal of the second sensor rotates the loading conveyor forwardly, or the magazine rack insertion permission signal from the elevating and feeding device rotates the loading conveyor forwardly. , A controller that inserts the magazine rack on the loading conveyor into the elevating / feeding device, and when the third sensor detects the presence of the magazine rack in this state, reversely rotates the loading conveyor until the third sensor does not have the magazine rack. There is a structural feature in having.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the magazine rack supply device for a circuit board inspection machine according to the first aspect, a rack loading auxiliary rail is provided on the magazine rack loading side of the loading conveyor. There are features.

[0013]

Therefore, if the magazine rack is placed on the loading side end of the loading conveyor while the first sensor in the elevating and feeding device detects the absence of the magazine rack, it is placed at the loading side end. The second sensor also detects. The magazine rack detection signal from the second sensor causes the loading conveyor to rotate in the normal direction, and the magazine rack on the loading conveyor is fed into the elevating and feeding device. With this magazine rack fed in, the third end of the feeding conveyor end
When the sensor detects the presence of the magazine rack, the loading conveyor is rotated in the reverse direction until the third sensor is in the state without the magazine rack. Therefore, even if the next rack is continuously fed into the elevating and ejecting device following the magazine rack fed into the elevating and ejecting device and a part of the rack enters the elevating and ejecting device, The racks can be completely pulled back onto the loading conveyor to separate them.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an essential part of an embodiment of the present invention. A magazine rack supply device 10 of a circuit board inspection machine comprises an elevating / feeding device 11 and a magazine rack 12 ( 1) and a discharge conveyor 14 for discharging the magazine rack 12a emptied by the elevating / feeding device 11.

Input conveyor 13 and discharge conveyor 14
Are horizontally arranged so as to have two stages in the vertical direction, and are connected to the elevating / feeding device 11.

The loading conveyor 13 is composed of a pair of conveyor belts 16 consisting of a pair of endless belts, and rack guides 17 are provided on both sides thereof. As shown in FIG. 1, the conveyor belt pair 16 is rotationally driven by a motor 19. The rotation of the motor 19 is controlled by the controller 20 via the driver 19a.

A rack loading auxiliary rail 23 is provided on the magazine rack loading side of the loading conveyor 13. The rack loading auxiliary rail 23 is composed of a free roller conveyor. After the magazine rack 12 is placed on the auxiliary rail 23, the magazine rack 12 is pushed out to the loading conveyor 13 side so that it can be easily loaded on the loading conveyor 13. Can be set.

As shown in FIG. 2, the discharge conveyor 14 is also
Like the loading conveyor 13, it is composed of a pair of conveyor belts 25, and rack guides 26 are provided on both sides thereof. As shown in FIG. 1, the conveyor belt pair 25 is rotationally driven by a motor 27. And the motor 27
Is controlled by the controller 20 via a driver.

The magazine rack 12 is formed in a box shape and has a board guide shelf 16 for horizontally holding a large number of circuit boards 15.

The up-and-down feeding device 11 includes a shift mechanism 30.
It is equipped with an elevating table 31 that is moved up and down. Lifting table 31
A pair of conveyor belts 32 are arranged in the rack feeding direction of the feeding conveyor 13 and are rotated by a motor (not shown). When the motor rotates in the normal direction, the conveyor belt pair 32 draws the magazine rack 12 into the lift table 31. When the motor rotates in the reverse direction, the magazine rack 12 is ejected from the lift table 31.

A first rack sensor 35 for detecting the magazine rack 12 is provided in the lift table 31. Further, a second rack sensor 36 is provided at the input side end of the input conveyor 13, and a third rack sensor 37 is provided at the output side end thereof. Each of these rack sensors 35 to
The rack detection signal of 37 is sent to the controller 20.

The controller 20 comprises a well-known microcomputer, and each rack sensor 35-37.
The respective units are sequence-controlled on the basis of the detection signal of 1, and the magazine rack 12 is automatically inserted into and ejected from the elevating / feeding device 11.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the magazine rack 12 supply process in the controller 20. When the operator places the magazine rack 12 on the loading side of the loading conveyor 13, the second rack sensor 36 detects the magazine rack 12 and turns on. This rack presence detection signal is sent to the controller 20. In the initial state, the controller 20 detects whether or not the magazine rack 12 is on the lift table 31 by the first rack sensor 35 of the lift table 31. When the elevator rack 31 has the magazine rack 12, the controller 20 does not rotate the loading conveyor 13 because the circuit boards 15 are sequentially taken out from the magazine rack 12 on the elevator rack 31. .

When the removal of each circuit board 15 from the elevating table 31 is completed, the pair of conveyor belts 32 of the elevating table 31 is reversed to send the empty magazine rack 12a to the discharge conveyor 14 side. At this time, since the discharge conveyor 14 also rotates in synchronization, the magazine rack 12a is completely discharged from the elevating table 31. After that, the elevating table 31 descends and enters a standby state for inserting a new magazine rack 12.

In this state, the controller 20 rotates the feeding conveyor 13 and the pair of conveyor belts 32 of the lifting table 31 to feed the magazine rack 12 on the loading conveyor 13 to the lifting table 31. By this feeding, the first rack sensor 33 is turned on and the presence of a rack is detected, so that the rotation of the loading conveyor 13 and the conveyor belt pair 32 is stopped.
Further, when the first rack sensor 33 does not turn on even after the lapse of a predetermined time, it is determined that the magazine rack 12 does not exist on the input conveyor 13, and the rotation of the input conveyor 13 and the conveyor belt pair 32 of the elevator is stopped. After that, it returns to the initial start.

The third rack sensor 37 is provided immediately after the magazine rack 12 is fed into the lift table 31.
When the magazine rack 12 is detected and turned on, only the loading conveyor 13 reversely rotates based on the rack presence signal. Then, when the third rack sensor 37 is turned off, the reverse rotation of the loading conveyor 13 is stopped. This allows
When two magazine racks 12 are placed on the loading conveyor 13, only the second magazine rack 12 is pulled back from the lift table 31, and the magazine rack 12 is stopped in the middle of the lift table 31. Can be avoided.

After that, the elevating table 31 is raised and each circuit board 15 is sent out to the guide rail 41 on the inspection machine 40 side by the pusher mechanism 42. When all the circuit boards 15 have been sent out to the inspection machine 40 side, the lifting platform 31 causes the discharge conveyor 2
The magazine rack 12 is lifted up to the same height as 5, and then the magazine rack 12 is discharged. After this discharging process, the lift table 31 is lowered to the insertion standby position of the magazine rack 12. After that, the loading conveyor 13 and the conveyor belt pair 32 of the elevating table 31 are driven, and the loading process of the magazine rack 12, the feeding of the circuit board 15, and the discharging process of the magazine rack 12 are repeated.

After the first magazine rack 12 is placed on the loading conveyor 13 and sent out to the elevating table 31, the next magazine rack 12 can be loaded on the loading conveyor 12. At this time, when the magazine rack 12 is provided on the elevating table 31 or when the elevating table 31 is raised and each circuit board 15 is sent to the inspection machine 40 side,
The loading conveyor 13 does not rotate, and the next magazine rack 12 is not sent to the elevating / feeding device 11.

The feeding of the second magazine rack 12 into the elevating table 31 is carried out when the elevating table 31 is lowered and set at the insertion standby position of the magazine rack 12, and It becomes irrelevant to the rack presence signal of the rack sensor 36. That is, the loading conveyor 13 and the conveyor belt pair 32 of the elevator are driven by the rack presence signal of the second rack sensor 36.
3 only when the magazine rack 12 is not placed on the initial state in the initial state.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, the first rack sensor is provided in the elevating / feeding device, the second rack sensor is provided at the loading side end portion of the loading conveyor, and the feeding side end portion of the loading conveyor. A third rack sensor is provided at the controller, and when the controller detects the absence of the magazine rack by the controller, the magazine rack detection signal from the second sensor causes the loading conveyor to rotate forward to rotate the magazine rack on the loading conveyor. Since the magazine is inserted into the elevating / feeding device, when the magazine rack is placed on the end of the loading conveyor on the loading side, the loading conveyor is driven and the magazine rack can be automatically fed into the lifting / feeding device.
In addition, by rotating the loading conveyor in the forward direction in response to the magazine rack insertion permission signal from the lifting / lowering device, the loading conveyor is driven in the same manner and the magazine rack can be automatically fed into the lifting / lowering device.

Further, when the third sensor detects the presence of the magazine rack in a state where the loading conveyor is driven to feed the magazine rack into the elevating and lowering device, the loading conveyor is moved until the third sensor indicates that the magazine rack is not present. Since it is set to rotate in the reverse direction, the magazine rack fed into the elevating and ejecting device is followed by the next magazine rack that is continuously fed into the elevating and ejecting device, and part of it enters the elevating and ejecting device. Even in the case of, the magazine rack can be completely pulled back onto the loading conveyor. Therefore, without providing a mechanical stopper on the loading conveyor or separately driving the loading conveyor in two parts, one loading conveyor can be used to ensure that one magazine rack is loaded in the elevator feeding device. Can be sent. As a result, the structure can be simplified, the number of parts can be reduced, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a magazine rack supply device of a circuit board inspection machine embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a main part of the magazine rack supply device.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a magazine rack 12 supply process.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a magazine rack supply device of a conventional circuit board inspection machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Magazine Rack Supply Device 11 Elevating / Sending Device 12 Magazine Rack 13 Loading Conveyor 14 Ejecting Conveyor 15 Circuit Board 16 Conveyor Belt Pair 19 Motor 20 Controller 23 Auxiliary Rail 31 Elevating Platform 32 Conveyor Belt Pair 35 First Rack Sensor 36 Second Rack Sensor 37 Third rack sensor

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An elevating and delivering device for elevating and lowering a magazine rack containing circuit boards to send out one circuit board from the magazine rack to a circuit board inspection machine, and a loading conveyor for sending the magazine rack containing circuit boards to this apparatus. In a magazine rack supply device for a circuit board inspecting machine including: a first sensor provided in the elevating and delivering device for detecting the presence or absence of the magazine rack; and a magazine rack provided at an end of the loading conveyor on the loading side. A second sensor for detecting the presence / absence of a magazine rack, a third sensor for detecting the presence / absence of a magazine rack, which is provided at an end of the feeding conveyor on the delivery side, and a second sensor when the first sensor detects a state without a magazine rack. Of the magazine rack detection signal causes the loading conveyor to rotate normally, or the magazine rack is inserted from the lifting / feeding device. When the third conveyor detects the presence of the magazine rack in this state by rotating the loading conveyor in the forward direction by the permission signal and inserting the magazine rack on the loading conveyor into the ascending / descending feeding device, the third sensor turns off the magazine rack. A magazine rack supply device for a circuit board inspection machine, comprising: a controller that reversely rotates a loading conveyor to a state. 2. The magazine rack supply device for a circuit board inspection machine according to claim 1, wherein a rack loading auxiliary rail is provided on the magazine rack loading side of the loading conveyor.