JPH065614Y2 - Component transport mechanism for automatic chip component visual inspection machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial field of application) The present invention relates to an optical appearance inspection apparatus for inspecting the appearance of chip-shaped parts such as core parts such as chip capacitors and coils and other LC composite parts. The component transfer mechanism in.

(Prior Art) In this type of electronic component, if there is an external defect such as length or thickness, dimensional error of each part of the component, other chipping, cracking, etc., this will affect the characteristics and cause inconvenience in mounting the component. In addition to the characteristic value inspection, it is necessary to perform an inspection by appearance during the manufacturing process or in the final process.

Conventionally, a visual inspection of a chip component is a visual inspection using a naked eye or a magnifying lens, and a component is optically irradiated and image processing is not performed to automatically select good or defective.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) Conventional visual appearance inspection has many sensory elements, it is difficult to quantify the inspection standard, and variations in quality after inspection easily occur due to individual differences. Also, in a mass production line where chip parts are continuously fed along the line and the required processing is performed in each step in the process, and in the mass production line, parts are checked one by one with a magnifying lens etc. during transportation. It is difficult to inspect, and it is necessary to remove the conveyed parts from the temporary line and collect them in a certain quantity in one place for visual appearance inspection.
Particularly in the case of mass-produced products such as chip capacitors and LC composite parts, a large number of inspection personnel are required, resulting in high cost.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the inventors of the present invention intermittently send a chip component in a fixed direction, capture an optical image of the chip component with a television camera by oblique illumination and transmitted illumination on the way, and display the video signal as an image. A method and apparatus for processing and automatically inspecting the appearance of parts have been proposed. This method eliminates the need for visual inspection personnel, eliminates variations in determination levels, and improves productivity by high-speed image processing. The present invention provides a chip component transfer mechanism used in this automatic visual inspection apparatus.

(Means for Solving the Problems) A chip component transfer mechanism according to the present invention allows a chip component to travel along a transfer path, and in the course of this travel, a chip in a diagonal light / transmissive illumination device and a television camera provided on the transfer path. In an automatic visual inspection machine for inspecting the appearance of parts, a transparent conveying path extending from a component input end to a component discharging end, and a transparent concave component passage groove formed along the conveying path and having a sharp edge. A plurality of component-conveying air jet nozzles opening inside the concave component passage groove, and a plurality of component-conveying air jet nozzles provided in the vicinity of an upper portion of the convey path and separated from each other in the component convey direction and perpendicular to the convey path. An edge of the concave component passage groove having a pair of component separation pins that move in and out of the concave component passage groove, and a component separation air jet nozzle that is opened in the transport path between the pair of component separation pins. The precision is at least less than the resolution of the television camera.

(Example) Next, this invention is demonstrated about an Example with reference to drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of an embodiment of a chip component appearance inspection machine having a component transfer mechanism of the present invention, and FIG.
It is an enlarged front view of the chip component conveyance path seen from the arrow F direction of the figure. In this embodiment, on the upper front surface of the inspection machine body 10, a chip conveying path 4 is formed which is inclined at about 45 ° with respect to the horizontal plane, and a chip feeder 5 is provided at the upper end of the conveying path. A chip separation mechanism section 6, a front surface side inspection section 7a, a back surface side inspection section 7b, a counting mechanism section 8 and a sorting mechanism section 9 are provided on the transport path 4.

The conveyance path 4 of the present embodiment extends from the upper end of the inspection machine body 10 to the lowermost sorting mechanism section 9, and the passing portion of the inspected component is formed of a transparent or translucent member such as tempered glass.
At the center thereof, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a concave groove 11 extending along the carrying direction is formed. This groove 11
Is configured to have a sharp edge 11a at least in the visual field of the television camera of the front and back side inspection section. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, a flat metal base 2 extending over the entire length of the transport path is provided at a site within the field of view of the camera.
7 is provided with a circular hole, a circular glass 28 is fitted and fixed in the circular hole, and a pair of spaced side glasses 29 having a sharp edge is installed on the upper side thereof to form the concave groove 11
Are formed. The groove 11 is closed by a transparent lid plate 12. It should be noted that, except for the TV camera and the oblique light / transmissive illumination section (inspection section), the constituent members of the concave groove 11, that is, the side plate and the lid plate do not need to be formed of a transparent member such as the side glass described above, so that static electricity can be prevented. A metal plate may be used in consideration of the above. The inspected component 1 such as a chip condenser supplied from the chip feeder 5 flows along the concave groove 11 of the conveying path 4 and is a flow of air (air jet) ejected from an air jet nozzle for conveying a component opened in the concave groove. Is transported by. The carrying operation by this air jet will be described below.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VV of FIG. 4, that is, a vertical cross-sectional view of the conveying path concave groove portion at the opening position of the component conveying air jet nozzle. The upper surface of the groove 11 is covered with a cover plate 12 made of a transparent or semi-transparent material such as tempered glass, but the cover plate 12 in which the air jet is introduced has a surface angle of 15 ° or less with respect to the bottom surface of the groove. As a concrete example, about 8
An air jet nozzle 13 for conveying parts having an angle of ° is formed, and an air jet 15 is ejected from the air jet nozzle into the groove 11. Due to this air jet, a component suction action occurs in the concave groove 11 on the upstream side (indicated by symbol U) of the opening position of the air jet nozzle 13, and on the downstream side (indicated by symbol D) of the nozzle opening. The action of pushing out parts occurs. Therefore, the component 1 in the groove 11 is conveyed by the suction action on the upstream side of the nozzle position,
When it passes the nozzle position, it is pushed by the air jet and conveyed. The air jet nozzle may be provided on the bottom surface side of the concave groove 11 instead of being provided on the cover plate 12.

The separation mechanism unit 6 provided at a suitable distance S in the transport direction following the component supply unit from the chip feeder 5 is connected to the transport path 4 as shown in FIGS. 6 (a) to 6 (c). Separation pins 14 and 16 having a pair of cushions that vertically move up and down and enter and leave the groove 11 are provided.
The parts that have continuously slid in 1 are separated one by one at a predetermined interval and sent to the inspection parts 7a, 7b of the next stage. The air jet nozzle 1 for component separation is provided in the concave groove 11 of the conveyance path 4 at an intermediate position between the pair of separation pins 14 and 16.
7 is opened perpendicularly to the bottom surface of the concave groove, and component separation air is blown out at a predetermined timing linked with the separation pin. First, at the stage of FIG. 6 (a), the chip feeder-side separation pin 14 rises and the inspection unit-side separation pin 16 descends, so that the chip component 1 above the separation pin 16 (chip feeder side) does not have a gap. It is stored in the transport path 4. Next, the feeder-side separation pin 14 descends and presses the chip component 1 with its tip, thereby fixing the component 1 at the position of the separation pin 14 (FIG. 6 (b)). Next, as shown in FIG. 6 (c), the inspection part side separation pin 16 rises, and at the same time, air is blown out from the component separation air jet nozzle 17, so that one of the tips held by the separation pin 16 is stopped. Parts slide down,
The parts are separated. After that, the separation pin 16 descends again and the separation pin 14 rises to return to the state of FIG. 6 (a),
By repeating this cycle, the chip parts are
Each piece is sent to the inspection section at the subsequent stage. As can be seen from the above, the distance T between the separating pins 14 and 16 is set to be equal to or more than the length of one component to be applied and equal to or less than the length of two components. The component-separating air jet nozzle 17 prevents contact between the concave groove 11 of the component transport path 4 and the adjacent component (due to static electricity or the like) to prevent traveling, resulting in missing of component supply teeth. Is. The air jet nozzle 13 for the purpose of carrying the parts described in FIG. 5 has the air jet nozzle 13 for moving and stopping the parts, specifically, between the separating mechanism part 6 and the back surface side inspection part 7b, on the front surface side and An auxiliary air jet nozzle 19 provided at an intermediate position between the back surface side inspection units 7a and 7b and an intermediate position between the front surface side inspection unit 7a and the counting mechanism unit 8 is similarly provided above the separation mechanism unit 6 above the separation mechanism unit 6. It is provided in the section (see FIG. 2).

The front surface side inspection unit 7a and the back surface side inspection unit 7b are provided with an oblique light / transmissive illumination device and a TV camera device, which are a combination of oblique light illumination and transmissive illumination, across the conveyance path 4. The visual inspection of is done. As shown in FIG. 3, each inspection unit has a shutter 20 and a shutter confirmation center 18 (FIG. 2) for temporarily stopping the chip components 1 sliding one by one from the separating mechanism unit to the optical center position. Is provided. The shutter 20 is made of tempered glass, a mirror-finished stainless plate, or the like. In the case of a stainless plate, the irradiation light is totally reflected by its mirror surface, which appears white in the image, and does not affect the chip appearance determination. Further, the above-mentioned concave groove 11
The edge 11a has an edge accuracy of at least less than the resolution (for example, about 2/100 mm) of the TV camera device in the portion within the field of view of the TV camera described with reference to FIGS. The edges of the groove are not shown in the image.

After the optical inspection of the front and back surfaces of the chip component, for example, a component counting mechanism 8 including a photoelectric detector and a movable stopper pin, and a sorting mechanism 9 at the lowermost stage classify the product into non-defective products, defective products, and uninspectable products (RI). In the sorting mechanism section 9, the conveyance path 4 is divided into three passages, that is, a non-defective product discharge passage 22 in the center, an RI discharge passage 23 on both sides thereof, and a defective product discharge passage 24, and a pair of gate plates 25 and 26 for switching these passages are provided. It is rotatably installed. A signal from the image processing unit cooperates with the counting mechanism unit 8 to switch the three passages by turning the solenoid on and off. In FIG. 2, when the gate plates 25 and 26 are in the solid line position, the non-defective product discharge path 22 is open, and when the gate 25 falls to the broken line position, only the RI discharge path 23 is open and the transport path. Communicate with 4. When the defective product discharge path 24 is open, the gate plate 26
Falls toward the RI discharge path 23, and the other discharge paths 22 and 23 are closed.

(Effect of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, chip components such as a chip condenser are slid by an air jet along a transparent conveying path having a concave groove, and each one passes through an optical inspection section. By using the discrimination signal of the image processing unit, the sorting mechanism automatically sorts good and bad.
Fast and accurate automatic appearance selection. Adhesion of parts to the transfer path due to friction of the parts and generation of static electricity is prevented by using air jet transfer, and the parts to be inspected can be smoothly introduced and transferred. When the transport path is inclined as in the embodiment, the component's own weight sliding can be used as an auxiliary in addition to the air jet transport, and the maintainability and operation stability are improved. The entire mechanism is also extremely simple, there are few malfunctions, and various effects such as the problems of inefficiency and inspection level variation caused by conventional visual inspection can be solved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial side view of an automatic visual inspection / sorting machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged front view of a chip part conveying path as seen from the direction of arrow F in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a front view of the shutter mechanism in the inspection section of the transport path according to the present invention, FIG.
FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line VV in FIG. Longitudinal section,
6 (a) to 6 (c) are side sectional views showing the component separating mechanism in the order of operation of the separating pins. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Chip parts, 4 ... Conveyance path, 5 ... Chip feeder, 6 ... Component separation mechanism part, 7a, 7b ... Inspection part, 8 ... Counting mechanism part, 9 ... Sorting mechanism part, 10 ... Inspection machine main body, 11 ... Recessed Groove, 11a ... Edge, 12 ... Lid plate, 20 ... Shutter, 29 ... Side glass, 28 ... Circular glass.

Claims (2)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An automatic appearance inspection machine for inspecting the appearance of a chip component with a oblique-light / transmissive illumination device and a television camera provided on the transportation route while the chip component is traveling along the transportation route. A conveyance path extending from an end to a part discharge end, a concave component passage groove formed along the conveyance passage, and a plurality of component-conveying air jet nozzles opened inside the groove of the concave component passage groove Between a pair of component separating pins that are provided in the vicinity of the upper part of the conveying path and are inserted into and out of the concave component passing groove perpendicular to the conveying path, and between the pair of component separating pins. An air jet nozzle for separating parts, which is opened in the conveyance path, and the concave part passage groove is formed of a transparent member and has a sharp edge at least at a position corresponding to the television camera. And parts conveying mechanism of the chip component automatic visual inspection machine, characterized in that the sub-resolution precision of the television camera at least the edge accuracy. 2. The distance between the pair of component separation pins is set to be equal to or greater than one length and equal to or less than two lengths of a chip component that is an object to be conveyed, and the separation pins alternately operate. 2. A component transfer mechanism for an automatic chip component appearance inspection machine as set forth in claim 1, wherein a plurality of continuous chip components are separated and delivered one by one.