JPH065651Y2 - Magazine buffer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION "Industrial field of application" The present invention relates to a magazine buffer used in an IC test apparatus.

“Prior Art” As the production amount of ICs increases, an IC test apparatus that tests manufactured ICs is required to have a high speed. I
In order to increase the operating speed of the C test device, a plate-shaped IC magazine 1 having a plurality of IC storage grooves 1A has been conventionally used as shown in FIG. This magazine 1 has a plate-like shape as a whole, and has a structure in which the back surface of the IC is slid downward as shown in FIG.

The plate-shaped IC magazine 1 is used by being attached to the main body of the IC test device. In other words, when supplying ICs to the test apparatus main body, each groove 1A of the magazine 1 is loaded with an untested IC in advance, and the ICs are loaded from the magazine 1 into the test apparatus and the ICs
Perform the operation to test. I emptied the IC
The C magazine is sent to a bottom magazine rack provided below the test device.

The bottom magazine rack holds an empty magazine, and this empty magazine is judged as good IC and bad IC
Are sorted in order and stored. Therefore, magazine 1 is an IC
It must be transported from the IC supply side to the IC discharge side inside the test equipment.

Here, the movement path of the IC magazine inside the IC test apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 5, 3 indicates the entire IC test apparatus. The magazine 1 in which an untested IC is loaded inside the IC test device 3
A top magazine rack 4 for storing the above, an IC test section 5, a non-defective product outlet 6 for ejecting non-defective products as a result of the test,
There are provided a defective product outlet 7 for discharging defective products, a good bottom magazine rack 8 for storing a magazine 1 containing a good product, and a defective bottom magazine rack 9 for storing a magazine 1 containing a defective product.

A large number of plate-shaped IC magazines 1 loaded with untested ICs are stacked and stored in the top magazine rack 4, and the stacked magazines 1 are drawn out one by one from the top and sent to the position of the IC test section 5.

At the position of the IC test section 5, an untested IC is loaded into the test section 5 from the IC magazine 1. IC test magazine 1
When is empty, the empty magazine is moved to the left and loaded into the magazine buffer 11.

When an empty magazine 1 is supplied, the magazine buffer 11 conveys the magazine 1 downward. That is, the magazine buffer 11 is provided with a claw 1 on the outer peripheral surface as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.
A belt 11B having 1A is faced to and vertically erected, and at the uppermost position A, the empty magazine 1 has a claw 1
The magazine 1 is placed on top of 1A, and at the lowermost position B, the magazine 1 is transferred to the conveying means 12.

The conveying means 12 performs an operation of supplying the empty magazine 1 to the magazine 1 delivered from the magazine buffer 11 to either the non-defective product outlet 6 or the defective product outlet 7.

That is, one magazine is always attached to the non-defective product discharge port 6 and the defective product discharge port 7, and the magazine receives the ICs discharged from the non-defective product discharge port 6 and the defective product discharge port 7. When the magazines 1 attached to the non-defective product discharge port 6 and the defective product discharge port 7 are full, the conveying means 13 for conveying non-defective products is operated to transfer the full magazines 1 to the non-defective bottom magazine rack 8 and also to eject the defective products. At the exit 7, the transport means 1
4 is a defective bottom magazine rack 9 conveys a full magazine.

The magazine buffer 11 is full of magazines attached to the non-defective product discharge port 6 and the defective product discharge port 7 even if the supply amount of empty magazines and the demand amount of the magazines at the non-defective product discharge port 6 and the defective product discharge port 7 vary. It is provided to always stock a certain number or more of empty magazines so that empty magazines can be immediately supplied to these outlets 6 and 7.

In other words, the magazines 1 stored in the top magazine rack 4 do not necessarily have the same number of ICs stored in every magazine. Therefore, the magazine 1 having a small amount of ICs stored therein is emptied in a short time, but the magazine containing the ICs in a full state takes a long time to be emptied. If there is a difference in the amount of ICs loaded in this way, there will be a difference in the time until the ICs become empty, and empty magazines will not be supplied at regular time intervals.

On the other hand, when the mounted magazines are full at the good product discharge port 6 and the defective product discharge port 7, the magazines must be immediately converted to empty magazines.

For this reason, a magazine buffer 11 is provided, a plurality of magazines are always stored in the magazine buffer 11, and an empty magazine can be supplied immediately when a request for an empty magazine is made at the outlets 6 and 7.

The magazine buffer 11 operates as follows. Belt 1
1B is rotated by one pitch when one magazine is transferred to the conveying means 12, and the next empty magazine is made to stand by at the lower position. The transport means 12 immediately returns the empty magazine to the position of the magazine buffer 11 and receives the next empty magazine as soon as the empty magazine is delivered to the discharge port 6 or 7 as requested.

In this way, each time a request for an empty magazine is generated at the outlets 6 and 7, the transport means 12 is activated to deliver the empty magazine to the requested outlet 6 or 7.

"Problems to be Solved by the Invention" The conventional magazine buffer 11 is composed of a belt 11B having a claw 11A. Therefore, when a request for an empty magazine is issued from the non-defective product outlet 6 or the defective product outlet 7, the conveying means 12 is activated to deliver the empty magazine to the requested outlet. At this time, when the belt 11B is fed by one pitch and the next empty magazine is positioned at the lower end of the magazine buffer 11 and the conveying means 12 returns to the original position, the empty magazine is delivered to the conveying means 12.

As a result, at the uppermost position A of the magazine buffer 11, the belt 11B is left with the empty magazine still not supplied.
Will be sent for one to several pitches. That is, since the belt 11B rotates while the magazine cannot be placed on the claw 11A, an empty portion is generated in the magazine array.

If there is a vacant part, there will be a drawback that the storage efficiency will be worse, and if it is worse, there will be only one magazine at each of the lower end and the upper end, and in this condition there is a possibility that the magazine cannot be received. .

The object of the present invention is to provide a magazine buffer in which no empty portion is generated in the magazine array.

"Means for solving the problem" In this invention, a reversible motor capable of reversing the belt driving motor is used, and the structure of the magazine array can be moved upward by the reversible motor.
A magazine detector that is provided at the top and bottom of the magazine transport path that is transported by the claws of the belt, the top is empty and the second is a magazine detector that detects the status with a magazine, and the magazine in the magazine buffer. And a controller for driving the reversible motor in reverse until the magazine detector detects that the uppermost stage is empty and the second stage detects that a magazine is present.

According to the structure of the present invention, the belt is driven by the reversible motor, and when a request for receiving the magazine is issued to the magazine buffer, the drive motor has the magazine detector, the uppermost stage of the magazine carrier is empty, and the second stage has the magazine. When the magazine detector detects that the uppermost stage is empty and the second stage detects that there is a magazine, the controller stops in that state and receives an empty magazine at the uppermost stage.

When receiving the empty magazine, the drive motor is driven forward so that the lower end of the magazine array is located at the bottom of the transport path.
The empty magazine is ejected from the lowermost position.

Thus, according to this invention, the belt is reversibly driven to add an empty magazine to the upper end of the magazine array, and the empty magazine is ejected from the lower end of the magazine array. Can respond quickly to.

In addition, the storage efficiency of the magazine is high because there is no empty space in the magazine array. Therefore, many magazines can be stored in a limited volume.

"Embodiment" FIGS. 1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 100 indicates a belt. In this example, as shown in FIG. 2, four belts are arranged in four directions, and the magazine 1 is configured to be supported at four points. However, belt 10
It is also possible to configure 0 with two belts facing each other by using a wide belt.

A protrusion 101 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the belt 100. The protrusion 101 can be formed by welding a protrusion made of the same material as the belt 100.

The two belts 100 on one side are connected by a common shaft 102 and rotate integrally. The two shafts 102 are belts 103
And are reciprocally driven by the motor 104. In this example, the belt 103 is a double-toothed belt having protrusions on both sides.

The magazine detector 105, facing the positions of the uppermost stage A, the second stage B, and the lowermost stage C of the conveyance path of the magazine 1,
106 and 107 are provided. These magazine detectors 105
An optical detector can be used for ˜107.
The detection outputs of the magazine detectors 105 to 107 are given to the controller 108, and the controller 108 causes the motor 10 to operate.
4 is driven in the forward and reverse directions.

That is, the magazine detector 10 is always arranged such that the bottom end of the array of the magazines 1 is always located at the bottom C of the magazine transport path.
7 is waiting with a magazine.

When a request for ejecting the magazine 1 is issued in this state, the magazine 1 can be immediately ejected from the lowermost stage.

On the other hand, when a request for receiving the magazine 1 is issued on the upper side, the motor 104 is driven in reverse. When the motor 104 is driven in the reverse direction, the arrangement of the magazine 1 moves upward, and when the upper end reaches the second stage B, the driving of the motor 104 is stopped and the magazine 1 is supplied to the position of the uppermost stage A. .

When the magazine 1 is supplied to the uppermost stage A, the controller 108 drives the motor 104 in the normal direction to move the array of magazines 1 downward, and when the lower end of the magazine 1 array reaches the lowermost stage C, the motor 104 stops. And wait at that position.

The standby position is not limited to the position of the lowermost stage C. For example, when the magazine 1 is configured to be pulled out at an intermediate position, the magazine detector 107 may be moved to that position.

[Advantage of Device] As described above, according to the device of the present invention, a new empty magazine 1 is received at the upper end of the array of magazines 1 and the magazine at the lower end is ejected. The amount of driving of the belt 100 is small even when the belt 100 is discharged. Therefore, the time between the operation of receiving the empty magazine and the operation of ejecting the magazine 1 can be shortened, and the magazine receiving request and the ejecting request can be quickly responded.

In addition, since the empty space does not occur in the array of the magazine 1, the storage efficiency is high. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a problem that the occupancy rate of the vacant portion becomes too large and the reception request cannot be satisfied.

In the above description, the belt 10 is used as a means for conveying the magazine 1.
Although 0 was used, this belt can be replaced with a chain.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof, FIG. 3 is a perspective view for explaining the structure of the entire IC magazine, and FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the IC magazine. A front view, FIG. 5 is a rear view showing an embodiment of an IC test apparatus, FIG. 6 is a front view for explaining the structure of a conventional magazine buffer, and FIG. 7 is a side view thereof. 100: belt, 101: claw, 102: shaft, 103: belt, 104: motor, 105-107: magazine detector, 108: controller.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A. At least a pair of belts that are vertically installed in parallel with each other and have a plurality of claws protruding from the outer peripheral surface; A magazine detector for detecting the presence or absence of the IC magazine, which is provided on the uppermost stage and the lower stage of the conveying path of the IC magazine which is carried on the claws of the belt, and C. A reversible motor that reversibly drives the pair of belts; D. A magazine buffer comprising: a controller for driving the reversible motor in reverse until a magazine reception request is issued to the transport path until the uppermost stage of the transport path is empty and the lower stage has a magazine.