JPH0710704B2 - Chain type container for transporting precision parts - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a variety of electronic devices such as IC chips and various odd-shaped parts (for example, connectors, switches, transmitters) or relatively small precision parts for assembling precision machines (hereinafter collectively referred to as "these"). "IC chip") and a chain type container for transporting precision parts suitable for individually retaining and transporting a large number of them.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, most of the main circuit components have tended to be made into chips in order to improve the operational reliability and assembly efficiency of electronic equipment. Therefore, in order to supply IC chips to various intermediate processing lines, final assembly lines, and the like, a relatively large-sized transport container in which recesses for accommodating chips are arranged in a plurality of rows and columns is used. In such a large container, chips are individually transferred to the processing or assembly line by a robot hand or the like arranged in the vicinity of one side edge of the transfer line, but the other side edge of the transfer line is used. The robot hand has to reciprocate over a long distance when taking out the IC chip in a portion close to the container from the container. This increases the waiting time on the processing line side, which is not only a negative factor for efficiency improvement, but also the gripping position must be changed every time, so if you do not grab it, chip damage and confusion of the processing line will occur. There is fear. In order to avoid such an adverse effect, the position control of the robot hand must be performed with high precision, and the control cost also increases.

Therefore, in a part of the industry, the robot hand intermittently moves in the length direction the strip-shaped bodies respectively containing the IC chips into the plurality of individual recesses arranged in a row so that the robot hand can process the transfer line and the side. A method has been proposed in which a short fixed span between a line and the like is reciprocated. Generally, a synthetic resin is injection-molded to have a wall thickness sufficient to protect an IC chip. As shown in FIG. 6, the strip has a round hole (e) through which an ejection tool is to be inserted. The recesses (f) are formed in one row, and the small holes (g) for the sprocket wheel are arranged along the side edges. Although this strip is used in a reeled state, it has become clear that the reeling method causes certain problems. That is, when being unwound by a sprocket mechanism or the like, the strip is stretched to be "substantially flat", but some "winding" (C) as shown by phantom lines in FIG.
That is, it is unavoidable that there will be a residual, and the original "strictly horizontal" posture (D) as shown by the solid line cannot be restored. The curled belt-like body causes a malfunction when the robot hand individually and accurately picks up an IC chip from the belt-like body. As a countermeasure, it is conceivable to make the band as thin as possible so that it does not curl around the band, but in that case the band becomes fragile and damaged during use or handling, and the precision parts to be accommodated Can not be expected to have full protection against. Of course, damage during use makes it impossible to carry out an accurate pick-up work by the robot hand.
Further, there is a problem in the art regarding the above-mentioned transport container (herein referred to as “tray”),
A large space is required for storing, accumulating and handling trays,
It takes labor to replace the trays, it is not always easy to supply the trays in any desired connected state, and baking is necessary depending on the type of IC chip, so the trays must be expensive. And so on.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the present invention has been made in order to eliminate the above-mentioned various drawbacks in the conventional container for transporting precision parts of vertical and horizontal multiple rows type or vertical single row strip type type.
A chain for transporting precision parts, in which a single container of the same shape having a single or a plurality of recesses suitable for individually accommodating C chips or the like is connected to form an infinite strip-shaped body such as a chain generally used in the mechanical industry. The purpose is to provide a mold container. More specifically, container units each having a recess for holding an IC chip in a non-pivotable manner are connected via ear pieces extending outward from two opposing sides of the recesses, and between the ear pieces and the container unit. By making it possible to bend and stretch between adjacent single bodies at the location of the thin-walled bent portion formed in the above, the reel winding operation itself is easier than before, and there is a possibility that curling will appear when it is pulled out from the reel. An object of the present invention is to provide a chain type container for transporting precision parts having no structure. Further, the present invention is intended to provide a transport container which can solve the above-mentioned various problems relating to the "tray" all at once, and in particular, which can be baked in a state where an IC chip or the like is housed, and can be reused for reuse of the tray thereafter. Is.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] To achieve this purpose,
The chain type container for conveying precision parts according to the present invention is a synthetic resin container unit having a single or a plurality of recesses for accommodating an object to be conveyed, and is presented in a band-shaped body,
Engagement portions that engage with and disengage from the transport mechanism are provided at regular intervals along at least one side edge of the belt-shaped body, and the two sides are connected to two sides A and B facing each other. The ear pieces are arranged outwardly and in the opposite direction,
At the boundary between either or both of the ears and the side A or B, a thin-walled bent portion is formed parallel to the side, and adjacent single ears are stacked and joined. Is characterized by.

When both the recess and the outer peripheral portion surrounding the recess are rectangular (square or rectangular),
One side A of two opposing sides A and B of a single container
It is desirable that the one side B of the other adjacent container alone keeps a close contact with each other regardless of whether they are bent or stretched. However, the number, depth, plan view shape and size of the concave portions formed in the substantially central portion of each container unit,
All of the above should be determined according to the shape and size of the object to be conveyed, that is, the IC chip or the like. As an example, one recess is provided for each single unit, and the size thereof is, for example, about 15 mm square and 3 mm deep, and the outer size of the single unit excluding the ear pieces is about 24 mm × 20 mm.

The shape of the recess in plan view is not limited to a rectangular shape, but may be an oval shape or a complicated polygonal shape. Also in that case, the ear pieces are continuously provided in opposite directions from the two opposite sides of the container unit having the recess. The specific shape of the thin-walled bent portion between the ear piece and the container alone is a thin groove as an example, but a perforation may be formed at the bottom of the groove. The thin-walled bent portion has such a strength that there is no risk of breakage when the band-shaped body is handled normally.

Generally, the transport mechanism is one in which small projections or small holes for feeding the frame are formed at regular intervals. Therefore, the small holes or small projections that engage with or disengage from this, for example, circular small holes, form only one row along one side edge of the strip, or one row each along both side edges, for a total of Two rows may be formed. In one example of the arrangement of the small holes, circular small holes are bored at regular intervals in the intermediate portion distant from the facing sides A and B, and the small holes are provided at the locations where the facing sides intersect the side edges. A cutout having a shape obtained by dividing the hole into two is provided. As a result, when both sides A and B are in close contact with each other, both notches become a notch having a width equal to the diameter of one small hole, and the pitch of the small holes is deviated at the joint between the adjacent containers forming the strip. There is no such thing. However, no cutout is provided in the portion “overcoming” the facing sides A and B, and the distance between the facing side A or B and the closest small hole is set to 2 mm.
The pitch irregularity at the joint between the individual containers can also be eliminated by setting the distance between the small holes to 1/2. This frame feed small hole does not necessarily have to be a hole, and may be a notch recessed from the side edge portion or a projection directed downward, upward or outward from the side edge portion. Any material can be used as long as it can engage with the feed projection or the small hole of the transport mechanism.

It is desirable to provide a vertical hole at the center of the bottom of the recess for passing an ejecting tool that projects the IC chip from the recess at the destination. If the vertical hole has a diameter sufficiently larger than the small hole for feeding, etc., it is possible to extrude the tip with a thick tool, and the contact with the tip becomes softer than that with a thin tool, which is convenient. Is.

Further, when there are "ear" -shaped outer protrusions on the outer periphery of the chip, a pair of "finger" -shaped protrusions for sandwiching and holding each of these protrusions should be provided upright from the bottom surface. Is desirable. If the bottom plate portion between the finger-like projections is punched out, this portion can be used similarly to the vertical hole for eject.

[0011]

Since the chain type container of the present invention has the above-described structure, it is possible to manufacture a large number of containers of the same shape, for example, by injection molding using synthetic resin as a material. Then, the operation in which the former ear piece is overlapped and joined to the latter ear piece while the side A of one single body is abutted against the side B of another single body may be repeated a necessary number of times. The means for joining the ear pieces can be appropriately selected from, for example, spot welding fusion, caulking, and stapler stitching. As the "crimping", a button-shaped small protrusion is formed on one ear piece and a circular hole is formed on the corresponding portion of the other ear piece, and the former is forcedly fitted into the latter, or , Each ear piece is provided with a circular hole only, and separate button-like pieces (preferably those having a head and legs) are forcibly fitted into the upper and lower circular holes whose positions are aligned by overlapping the ear pieces. Method
Can be taken.

The specific operation when using the container according to the present invention is no different from that of the conventional band-shaped container. However, since the connection structure between the single containers facilitates the bending and extension between the adjacent single products, not only the reel winding work and the reel drawing work are easy, but also the conventional winding curl occurs. There is no fear. It is also possible to supply the chain type container into the baking apparatus for the chips while accommodating the IC chips and adjusting the chain length to any chain length if necessary.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The chain type container for conveying precision parts according to the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 is an injection molded product of polystyrene resin. This chain type container is an IC as an example of an object to be transported.
A large number of recesses (11) for individually accommodating chips (small integrated circuits formed on a substrate) are provided in a row to form a band-like body as shown in FIG. The small hole (14), which is the engaging part that engages, has one side edge over the entire length.
The holes are provided at regular intervals along (12). The other side edge (1
No engagement part is provided in 3).

However, the characteristic feature of the chain type container of this embodiment is that, as shown in FIG. 2, each of the above-mentioned recesses (11) is individually formed in the central portion of the container unit (10). It is in. That is, the peripheral flange-like portion (15) having a width of 2 to 4 mm
The whole area surrounded by the concave portion is recessed downward in the figure to form a concave portion (11). Ear pieces (51) and (51) are continuously arranged in opposite directions from the flange-shaped portions (15) of the two sides A and B of the container (10) facing each other. And these ear pieces (51)
A thin bent portion (52) is provided in the form of a narrow groove between the and the flange portion (15).

The ear pieces (51), (51) of the adjacent single bodies (10), (10) are overlapped with each other almost at the entire width, and spotted at two places slightly inside the side edges (12), (13). Welded (53) and permanently joined together. In this way, the adjacent container units (10), (10) are connected to each other at the location of the bent portion (52) so that they can be relatively bent and extended to form a band-shaped body.

The notch indicated by reference numeral (19) in FIG. 2 has a similar shape of the complementary shape of the adjacent simple substance (10) at the corner portion where the side A or B and the edge (12) intersect as described above. Abutting the notch, forming a notch with a width equal to the diameter of the stoma (14),
It functions as one of the small holes. That is, since the notch is formed at the joint, a hole corresponding to the small hole (14) is formed between the adjacent containers alone.

The chain type container described above is used as shown in FIGS. In the case of this example, the IC chip (40), which is an example of an object to be conveyed, has a square shape, and a plurality of input / output pins (41) are projected from all four sides thereof. Figure 2
The chip (40) is housed in the recess (11) as indicated by the arrow Y in FIG. 1, and the bent tip of the pin (41) is formed in the recess sidewall (16),
It is applied to the inner surface of (17). After that, a protective film (not shown) is laid over and adhered to the flange-shaped part (15) on the four sides, which protects the contained object from dust etc. while handling the band-shaped chain type container. Along with the recess
This is to prevent accidental dropout from (11). In this state, the chain type container accommodating a large number of chips is wound around the reel (not shown) in an annular shape as shown by reference symbol R while being refracted as shown in FIG. This reel is supplied to required places near the manufacturing line or the processing line. At this point, the band-shaped body refracted between the single containers is denoted by reference sign S sequentially included in the same plane from the tip side.
It is pulled out as shown by an arrow T so as to take an extension posture as shown by. At the predetermined position after extension, the tip is the bottom of the recess
(30) While being pushed out of the recess (11) by an ejector tool inserted through the central circular hole (32), it is transferred to a required processing station or the like by an appropriate robot hand or the like. That is, in a so-called “mounting machine” in which a device such as an IC chip is sealed with a cover tape (protective film) as described above, the device is wound on a reel, and the device is mounted on a circuit board, They are ejected one by one with ejector pins.

In the container of the second embodiment shown in FIG. 4, two round button-shaped small projections (54) are provided on one ear piece (51) of each container single body, and the other ear piece (51) is provided. Are small holes (55), (5
This is the configuration with 5). Then, the ear pieces are superposed in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and the small projections (54) are forcefully fitted into the small holes (55) to join the two so that they cannot be separated from each other. This is the same as in the first embodiment. However, since the ear piece (51) in this example is connected to the bottom portion of the single container (10), the bottom portions do not collide with each other when wound in an annular shape with the bottom portion being the inner side, and therefore the winding There is an advantage that the rearmost inner diameter can be reduced.

In both the first and second embodiments,
The thickness of the flange part (15) is about 0.4 mm, but the bottom (3
The thickness of (0) and walls (16) and (17) is set to about 0.7 mm so as not to be deformed during handling, and the protection effect against the contained object is ensured. This makes it possible, if necessary, to repeatedly use a container of this type, which has conventionally been normally disposable. As described above, in the recycling use of the chain type container of the present invention, it is of course possible to arbitrarily increase or decrease the number of single bodies constituting the band-shaped chain.

In both of the embodiments, the upper ends of the four walls (16) and (17) defining the recessed portion (11), that is, the transition region to the flange-shaped portion (15) is tapered outward. As described in 18), this is to facilitate the operation of putting in and out the contained object. That is, the taper shape is set so that it is easy to insert in the device taping process.

In the third embodiment shown in FIG. 5, a circular small hole (55) is formed in each ear piece (51) of each container unit, and the ear pieces are aligned with each other when they are superposed. The small hole (5
A round button type locking piece (56) is resiliently and forcefully fitted to 5) and (55), but the other points are the same as in the first embodiment. In addition, in the second and third embodiments, there is an advantage that the number of containers alone can be easily increased / decreased per strip-shaped body after being used once by releasing the forced fitting connection.

Although the embodiments considered to be typical of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the structures of these embodiments, and has the above-mentioned constitutional requirements and achieves the above-mentioned object. However, as long as it has the following effects, it can be appropriately modified and implemented. For example, when the bottom of the narrow groove-shaped bent portion is relatively thick, perforations may be formed by engraving along the groove bottom. Further, an adhesive can be used to join the polymerized ear pieces together, and the high-frequency welding may be linear instead of spot-shaped.

[0023]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a large number of containers can be flexed and extended freely after being connected to each other, but there is no fear of accidental disassembly. A container in which a chain-shaped strip is formed by itself is provided, and since each single body has a sufficient wall thickness, each strip can be swirled around a reel or the like or can be stretched flat. There is no undesired deformation in the single body, and there is no possibility that the conventional bending tendency remains in the stretched posture. Therefore, the container according to the present invention is extremely suitable as a carrying container for IC chips and the like, which requires careful handling and requires precise positioning at the carrying destination. In short, it is possible to connect a large number of rigid single containers each having a pocket so that they can be wound on a reel, and to extend them without curling, while supplying the accommodated device to a mounting machine that requires precision. In particular,
The connection between the single containers has an advantage that the operation for manufacturing can be easily performed because any of the above-mentioned joining means can be provided in a state where the ear pieces are overlapped with each other.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a reduced scale front view showing a use state of a chain type container according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view showing a single container as one frame in the chain type container together with an object to be contained.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a connection structure between the single containers of the container.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a connecting structure between single containers according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a connecting structure between single containers in a third embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a conventional band-shaped container.

[Explanation of symbols]

 (10) Single container (11) Recess (12) One side edge (13) Other side edge (14) Small hole as an engaging part (40) IC chip (51) as an example of an object to be opposed Ear pieces extending from sides A and B (52) Bent part

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A container made of synthetic resin, which has a single or a plurality of recesses (11) for accommodating an object to be conveyed, is arranged in a row to present a band-shaped body, Along with at least one side edge (12) or (13) of the strip, engaging portions (14) for engaging and disengaging the transport mechanism are provided at regular intervals over the entire length of the strip, and the individual units (10) face each other. Ear pieces (51) are connected to the two sides A and B in a direction connecting the two sides outwardly and in opposite directions, and either one or both of the ear pieces (51) and the side A or B are connected. A thin-walled bent portion (52) is formed in parallel with the side at the boundary with the ear piece (51), (5) of the adjacent single body (10), (10).
1) A chain type container for carrying precision parts, characterized in that they are stacked and joined together.