JPH08184361A - Pitch converting mechanism on same drive shaft - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a mechanism to convert a pitch between handling parts on the same axis as that of a drive shaft system during movement or the stop of a plurality of handling parts by using a ball screw. CONSTITUTION: The reference handling parts A3 of a plurality of handling parts are fixed on a ball screw 1, being a drive shaft, by a slider 8. Other handling part B4 is divided only into a linear guide 2 for coupling and a handling part 4 is coupled by a cylinder 5 and a shaft 6 for regulation, being a drive system for converting a pitch arranged at the reference handling part A3 fixed on a drive shaft. By driving the cylinder 5 for covering a pitch by an amount equivalent to a pitch conversion stroke length set by the shaft 6 for regulation on a basis of the reference handling part A3, the handling part B4 is moved and the pitch of a pickup and brace part 7 is converted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mechanism for converting a pitch between handling parts on the same axis as a drive shaft while moving or stopping a plurality of handling parts by using ball screws or timing belts.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a characteristic test apparatus for electronic parts, a handler, which is a mechanism for loading and unloading a device to be tested to a predetermined position, has a mechanism for loading or unloading a device provided in a handling section. Therefore, it becomes necessary to convert the mutual intervals, that is, the pitches, of a plurality of pickup & place parts. This is because, as shown in FIG. 4, the tray that stores the device under test almost always has a different storage interval, that is, a storage pitch, from the one called a dedicated test tray used in the characteristic test apparatus. is there. Therefore, it is necessary to convert the pitches between a plurality of pickup & place parts when picking up (carrying out) and placing (carrying in). The plurality of handling units, that is, the pickup & place units are configured to improve the efficiency of the handling unit.

In the prior art in which the pitch of the handler portion of the handler is converted, as shown in FIG.
When moving the handling part, it is performed by driving the ball screw 1 and the timing belt which constitute the handler mechanism. In the case of a handler having a plurality of handling parts at two or more places, on the slider 8 connected to the linear guide A2 on the same axis as the drive shaft, a pitch conversion unit is provided separately from the drive unit for movement. The cylinder 5 and the linear guide B9 are provided as a drive unit. For this reason, by providing another drive unit section, the cost of members increases, and the number of steps in assembly increases, resulting in an increase in cost as a whole. In addition, the plurality of handling sections include the ball screw 1 or the timing belt and the linear unit. Since the slider must be connected to the guide A2 by one slider 8 and a drive unit must be further provided, the weight increases as a whole and the moment of inertia increases, so that the conveying speed cannot be increased. Had the problem.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The problem to be solved by the present invention is, for example, between the handling parts on the same axis as the drive shaft while moving or stopping the plurality of handling parts by using a ball screw or a timing belt. In the mechanism for converting the pitch of, the cost of the member and the assembly is reduced by simplifying the structure, and the cost is reduced. By reducing the weight of the mechanism that has to be driven, the handling part is reduced. It is to obtain a mechanism that can speed up by minimizing the time required for movement and stop as well as pitch conversion of.

[0005]

In order to solve the problems of the present invention, (a) a reference handling part A is slidably fixed on a ball screw which is a drive shaft, and another handling part B is provided.
Is connected only to the linear guide, and (b) and the handling part B is connected by a cylinder and an adjustment shaft which are a drive system for pitch conversion provided in the reference handling part A fixed on the drive shaft, (C) Standard handling section A
By driving the pitch conversion cylinder by the pitch conversion stroke length set by the adjustment shaft on the basis of (4), (d) the handling section B is moved to perform pitch conversion of the pickup & place section. Got the configuration.

[0006]

It is an object of the present invention to obtain a mechanism which can change the distance (pitch) between the handling parts at a low cost and at a high speed. Recently, in order to improve the conversion efficiency, a plurality of pickup & place units provided in the handling unit have also been configured. However, in most cases, for example, in the case of the IC device, the storage pitches of the custom tray of the customer and the test tray unique to the handler of the IC test apparatus do not match. Therefore, pitch conversion is required at the time of loading and unloading by the operation of the handling unit. In other words, the pitch when picked up by the pick-up & place section when carrying out from the cast tomato tray must be carried in according to the pitch of the test tray to be placed. After the test is completed, the reverse pitch conversion operation is required. Needless to say, it is unnecessary if the handling part is only one.

In the prior art, all the units for driving a plurality of handling parts are mounted on one slider to which a reference handling part is attached, so that the weight as a whole is heavy. Since the moment of inertia became large and the speed could not be increased, the components were expensive, the wiring of the control system was complicated, and the assembly cost was high. In the present invention, the plurality of handling parts are divided and attached to the ball screw or the linear guide A by the respective sliders, and the parts used are replaced with the cylinder and the adjusting shaft to achieve simplification and weight reduction, thereby achieving pitch conversion. This is a high speed and low cost product.

[0008]

1 is a front view showing the concept of a handling section according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view showing a detailed portion of FIG. Further, FIG. 3 is a front view showing a concept of a handling unit according to a conventional technique. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the difference in storage pitch between the cast tomato tray and the test tray. Further, FIG. 5 shows the reference handling unit A.
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a portion where the handling portion B is connected by a cylinder. (1) In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, one of the two handling parts provided in the handler is mounted as a reference handling part A3 by the slider 8 on the ball screw 1 and the linear guide A2 which are drive shafts. Also another 1
The two handling parts B4 are attached to the linear guide A2 only by a separate independent slider 8. The reference handling unit A3 and the handling unit B4 are connected by a cylinder 5 which is a drive unit for pitch conversion and an adjustment shaft 6 which adjusts the pitch conversion amount to a predetermined value. FIG. 2 shows a detailed view of FIG.

(2) Both FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show (A) a state in which the pitch is widened and (B) a state in which the pitch is narrowed. Further, FIG. 2 details the situation in which the state of (A) changes to the state of (B). Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the connecting portion of the cylinder 5 that connects the reference handling portion A3 and the handling portion B4 is performed in a floating state. This allows the adjustment shaft 6 and the position sensor to accurately and smoothly adjust to a predetermined conversion pitch within the range of the effective driving stroke of the cylinder 5.

(3) In the present invention, the plurality of handling parts provided as described above are provided independently by the respective sliders 8. With the configuration of the present invention, the handling portion does not need a heavy one such as the linear guide B9 according to the related art, and the weight of the adjustment shaft 6 can be reduced, and the number of parts can be reduced and simplified. It was realized. For that reason, since the moment of inertia during driving is reduced, the time during which blurring is stopped is shortened, and as a result, the loading / unloading speed of the pickup & place section 7 can be increased.

(4) When there are three or more handling parts, the handling part B4 has the same structure.
Cylinders 5 having different effective driving stroke lengths on the side of the reference handling part A3 or cylinders 5 whose strokes can be changed to double or quadruple.
By providing the adjusting shaft 6 and the adjusting shaft 6, it is possible to configure the present invention without impairing the advantages of the present invention.

[0012]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects. (1) By adopting the mechanism of the configuration according to the present invention, it is possible to omit a high-priced drive system such as the linear guide B for the drive system for pitch conversion. Could be realized. (2) Further, since the heavy linear guide B is omitted as the mechanism of the present invention, the unit which must be moved by using the drive system source is reduced in weight as a whole, the moment of inertia is reduced, and the unit is moved and stopped. Since the time until blurring sometimes occurs has been shortened, the speed at the time of loading and unloading by the pickup & place section could be significantly increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the concept of a handling unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a detailed portion of FIG. 1 showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing the concept of a handling unit according to a conventional technique.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a difference in storage pitch between the tomato tray and the test tray.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a portion where a reference handling part A and a handling part are connected by a cylinder.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Ball screw 2 Linear guide A 3 Reference handling part A 4 Handling part B 5 Cylinder 6 Adjustment shaft 7 Pick-up & place part 8 Slider 9 Linear guide B

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A reference handling part A (3) connected to a ball screw (1) which is a drive shaft and a linear guide A (2) by a slider (8), and a reference handling part A (2), and further a reference handling. A handling section B (4) connected to a section A (3) by a pitch conversion cylinder (5) and an adjustment shaft (6) for setting a pitch conversion amount, a reference handling section A (3) and a handling section B.
While (4) is moving or stopped on the drive shaft, the handling section B (4) moves between the cylinder (5) and the adjustment shaft (6) with reference to the reference handling section A (3), and pitch conversion is performed. A pitch conversion mechanism on the same drive axis, comprising: a pickup & place section (7) for