JPH08295020A - Position adjustment of top member of ink jet head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To enable the position of a top member to be adjusted precisely by a minimal number of times of adjustment by adjusting the position of the top member as the top member remains pressed against a heater board, then once releasing this pressed state, and again disengaging the top member with the heater board under this pressed state. CONSTITUTION: A holding spring is released from a clamping state after a top member 104 is protruded to the tip of an adjustment rod 42 by a leaf spring 264 (b). Next, this clamping state is restored and the holding spring is returned to a natural state (c). Further, the adjustment rod 42 is moved by an amount of deviation in the position of a first discharge orifice with the top member 104 protrude to the tip of the adjustment rod 42. However, the top member 104 is deformed (e). For this reason, the top member 104 after adjustment of its position is once pressed against the tip of the adjustment rod 42 using the leaf spring 264, so that the holding spring is once released from the clamping state and again is restored to the clamping state (f). The holding spring is returned to a natural state (g) and consequently, the top member 104 is stationary at its adjusted position, if both leaf spring 264 and adjustment rod 42 are separated from the top member 104.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heater board having a plurality of heaters for heating ink and a top plate member having a plurality of ejection holes for ejecting ink heated by the corresponding heaters in a jet shape. The present invention relates to a method for adjusting the position of a top plate member in an inkjet head assembled from the above.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, when ejecting ink to print on paper, a print head that heats the ink to form bubbles and prints by a so-called baffle jet method is advantageous in improving printing accuracy. Therefore, it has been developed and put into practical use.

In an assembling apparatus for assembling such a bubble jet type print head, a heater for heating ink and a bubble-like ink heated and boiled by the heater are ejected toward a sheet. Must be accurately positioned on the order of microns. That is, the heater board on which a large number of heaters are formed and the top plate including the orifice plate on which a large number of discharge holes are formed must be positioned on the order of microns. For example, the printing accuracy is about 360 dpi (dott
s per inch) to achieve high accuracy, about 4.5m
In the range of m, 64 ejection holes must be arranged at equal intervals, and the arrangement pitch at this time is a minute value of about 70 μm.

A conventional method for aligning the top plate with the heater board, which requires such high-precision positioning, will be described. Here, the configuration of the device to which this conventional position adjusting method is applied is substantially the same as the configuration of the device of the embodiment of the present invention described later, and only the control method is different, and therefore the drawings in the embodiments A conventional position adjusting method will be described with reference to FIG.

The conventional position adjusting operation of the top plate is performed by the adjusting rod 42.
Is executed by moving a small amount to the right in FIG. 15 by the stage. This amount of movement is the amount of adjustment (the amount of positional deviation between the top plate and the heater board) x coefficient (coefficient ≤ 1)
Is set as.

The reason why the actual moving amount of the adjusting rod is set smaller than the adjusting amount is as follows.

Since the top plate is made of a resin material,
It is easily deformed, and when both sides of the top plate are clamped and moved for position adjustment, there is a possibility that a position shift occurs when the clamped state is released. for that reason,
In this embodiment, a method of pushing the top plate from one direction so as to prevent the positional displacement due to the deformation of the top plate from being positioned is adopted. Therefore, when the top plate is pushed too far by the adjusting rod and the top plate has passed the target position, it is necessary to return to the initial step and readjust the position of the top plate again.

When the first position adjustment is completed, the adjusted position of the first ejection port is measured based on the image information. If the positional deviation amount of the first ejection port is within the target standard value, the adjustment is stopped.

If the amount of positional deviation is again outside the target standard value, the same position adjustment operation is performed again.
In this way, the adjustment is repeated until the positional deviation amount falls within the target standard value.

[0010]

However, in the conventional example, the top plate which has been adjusted is held by the top presser and the front presser before the adjustment, and the top plate is adjusted in the adjustment direction (rightward in the figure).
Have moved to. Therefore, the tip of the spring of the front presser is pulled by the top plate and is deformed rightward in the figure.

In that state, the top plate is in the adjustment position,
Since there is not enough time for fixing as it is in this step, it is necessary to rotate and move to the next step.

However, it is conceivable that if the adjusting rod is retracted to the left in this adjusting step, the top plate will be pushed back by the spring property of the front presser. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the amount of return of the top plate due to the spring property of the front presser. As a method of considering the return amount, there is a method of feeding the adjusting rod to the right, but there is a problem that the accuracy is not stable. In order to stay within the adjustment standard, the number of adjustments is 3 to 4 on average.
It took a while and it took time.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a top plate member in an ink jet head capable of accurately adjusting the position of the top plate with a small number of adjustments. It is to provide a position adjustment method.

[0014]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, a position adjusting method of a top plate member in an ink jet head according to the present invention is a heater having a plurality of heaters for heating ink. A method for adjusting the position of a top plate member in an inkjet head, which is assembled from a board and a top plate member having a plurality of ejection holes for ejecting ink heated by a corresponding heater in a jet shape, the heater board Place the top plate member on top,
A first step of pressing the top plate member against the heater board by pressing means for pressing the top plate member against the heater board; and maintaining the pressing state of the top plate member against the heater board by the pressing means. Still, the second step of adjusting the position of the top plate member with respect to the heater board by the position adjusting means for adjusting the position of the top plate member, and the pressing state of the pressing means are once released, and then the pressing means is pressed again. A third step of setting the state,
And a fourth step of releasing the engagement of the position adjusting means with the top plate member.

Further, in the position adjusting method of the top plate member in the ink jet head according to the present invention, the position adjusting means is a position adjusting rod for pushing and moving the top plate member in one direction, and the position adjusting rod. Urging means for abutting the top plate member against, and the second step includes a first sub-step of abutting the top plate member against the adjusting rod by the urging means, and the pressing means. 2) Release the pressing condition by pressing once and then press it again.
And a third sub-step of releasing the state in which the top plate member is abutted against the adjusting rod by the urging means.
A fourth sub-step of pushing the top plate member in one direction by the adjusting rod to adjust the position of the top plate member with respect to the heater board, and the biasing means to move the top plate member again to the adjusting rod. And a fifth sub-step of

[0016]

As described above, since the position adjusting method of the top plate member in the ink jet head according to the present invention is configured, the position adjustment is performed while maintaining the state where the top plate member is pressed against the heater board by the pressing means. After the position of the top plate is adjusted by the means, the pressing state of the top plate by the pressing means is temporarily released, and then the pressing state is made again, so that the deformation of the pressing means is released. The position of the top plate can be adjusted accurately with a small number of adjustments without being pushed back.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which a rotary assembling apparatus for carrying out the position adjusting method of the present invention is applied to an ink jet head assembling apparatus will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[Description of Inkjet Cartridge 150 and Head Nozzle 100] First, a schematic structure of an inkjet cartridge 150 having a head nozzle 100 assembled by an inkjet head assembling apparatus 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. To do.

This ink jet cartridge 150
As shown in FIG. 1, it is generally configured by an ink tank 152 and a head nozzle 100. In addition, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the head nozzle 100 has the base plate 1
01 and a heater board 102 which is positioned on the base plate 101 and on which a heater 112 for heating ink is formed.
And a common liquid chamber that is positioned on the heater board 102 and divides each of the plurality of ink flow paths, a common liquid chamber that distributes ink to each ink flow path, and an ink that is supplied to the common liquid chamber. A top plate 104 having a cylindrical ink receiving port 118 and the like, and an ejection port 10 that is integrally attached to the front surface of the top plate 104 and corresponds to each ink flow path.
6 and a plurality of orifice plates 108. [Description of Assembly Device 10] The assembly device 10 for the head nozzle 100, which is a feature of the present invention, that is, the assembly device 10 for assembling the grooved top plate 104 on the heater board 102 in a correctly positioned state will be described below. And the configuration of
The assembling method will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

<Explanation of Overall Structure of Assembly Device 10> FIG.
6 is a plan view showing the overall configuration of the assembling apparatus 10, and FIG.
[FIG. 6] is a perspective view of FIG. 5 as viewed from diagonally above. The overall configuration of the assembling apparatus 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

In FIGS. 5 and 6, a base 12 as a base of the assembling apparatus 10 is placed on a floor surface of a factory or the like, and the base 12 is mounted on a vibration isolation mechanism 12a and a surface plate 12b.
It is configured by mounting. A high-precision rotary index table 14 (hereinafter, simply referred to as an index table) that rotates in a horizontal plane is placed on a substantially central portion of the upper surface of the gantry 12. This index table 14
Is configured by mounting a disc-shaped rotary table having a diameter of 400 mm on a columnar column having a diameter of 250 mm. At the position surrounding the index table 14 on the gantry 12, the circumference is equally divided at 90 degree intervals,
First to fourth work stations 16 to 22 are arranged respectively. In FIG. 5, the work station located on the upper side is the first work station 16, and the second work station 18 is located at a position rotated 90 degrees clockwise from the first work station 16, and
3rd work station 20 and 9
The fourth work stations 22 are located at the positions rotated by 0 degrees. The index table 14 is adapted to be rotationally positioned (indexed) at intervals of 90 degrees corresponding to the positions of the first to fourth work stations 16 to 22, respectively, and the positioning accuracy ( The indexing precision) is set to an extremely high precision of ± 1 ″.

A base plate 1 having a heater board 102 mounted on the outer periphery of the upper surface of the index table 14
4 clamp jigs 24 for clamping 01
Corresponding to the first to fourth work stations 16 to 22, they are arranged at intervals of 90 degrees.

A rotary mechanism 23 for supplying compressed air to an air cylinder or the like arranged on the clamp jig 24 is arranged at the center of the index table 14. In addition, the rotation mechanism 23 includes a clamp jig 24.
At the same time, it also has a function of supplying power to the mechanical member disposed on the index table 14 and the control device 602 disposed on the index table 14 for electrically controlling the operation of the mechanical member.

A communication terminal device 604 for communicating control signals between the control device 78 and the control device 602 arranged on the index table 14 is provided beside each of the four clamp jigs 24. It is arranged. The communication terminal 604 is connected to the control device 602. Then, on the gantry 12, another communication terminal 606 is arranged at a position facing the communication terminal 604, and this communication terminal 606 is connected to the control device 78. When the index table 14 is stopped and positioned (indexed), these communication terminals 604 and 60
6 and 6 face each other, and control signals can be communicated between the control device 602 and the control device 78 via these communication terminals.

Then, in the first work station 16, the work carried from the left to the right in the drawing by the carrying belt 26 arranged adjacent to the first work station 16, specifically, the heater board 102. The base plate 101 to which is attached is placed on the clamp jig 24 from the pallet 27 by the NC auto hand 72 described later. At the same time, the finished product removed from the clamp jig 24 is delivered to the pallet 27 on the conveyor belt 26. A return belt 28 for returning the empty pallet 27 is arranged next to the conveyor belt 26.

Next, at the second work station 18, the heater board 1 clamped on the clamp jig 24 is used.
The position 02 is measured, and the top plate 104 is supplied onto the heater board 102. This second work station 1
In order to measure the position of the heater board 102,
The first view of the heater board 102 seen from above
The ITV camera 30 of is arranged. The first ITV camera 30 is attached to a support column 34 via a stage 32 that moves the first ITV camera 30 up and down in order to focus on the upper surface of the heater board 102.

At the third work station 20, a work for adjusting the position of the top plate 104 supplied at the second work station 18 with respect to the heater board 102 is performed. In order to adjust the position of the top plate 104, the third work station 20 is provided with a second ITV camera 36 for viewing the position of the discharge port 106 formed in the orifice plate 108 of the top plate 104 from the front side. This second ITV camera 36
A position adjusting mechanism 38 that actually adjusts the position of the top plate 104 based on visual information from the device, and a pressing mechanism 39 that abuts the top plate 104 against the position adjusting mechanism 38.
And are arranged. The second ITV camera 36 is mounted on the pedestal 12 via a stage 40 that moves the ITV camera 36 in the horizontal direction in order to focus on the surface of the orifice plate 106 of the top plate 104. The position adjusting mechanism 38 contacts the top plate 104 to push the top plate 104, and the stage 4 for moving the adjustment rod 42 to a desired position.
And 4.

At the fourth work station 22, a work for fixing the top plate 104 positioned at the third work station 20 to the heater board 102 (base plate 101) is performed. In order to fix the top plate 104 to the heater board 102, the fourth work station 22 has a top plate 104.
An automatic hand 46 for mounting a holding spring 120 (details of which will be described later) for fixing the
And a supply mechanism 48 for supplying the presser spring 120. The auto hand 46 has a finger 47 at the tip. Further, the supply mechanism 48 includes a vibrating ball feeder 50, a vibrating linear feeder 52,
It is composed of a one-piece separating mechanism 54. These are arranged on the mount 55. And the auto hand 46
Is the pressing spring 120 separated by the single separating mechanism 54.
Are picked up by the fingers 47, conveyed to the position of the clamp jig 24, and mounted on the top plate 104 and the base plate 101.

Next, at the right side of the gantry 12, the gantry 5
6 is arranged, and the top plate 10 is placed on the pedestal 56.
A tray stocker 60 that accommodates a large number of trays 58 that accommodates 4 is placed. From this tray stocker 60, the tray 58 is supplied to a position on the left side of the tray stocker 60, if necessary. Then, the top plate 104 is moved from the tray 58 by the NC auto hand 70 described later.
It is taken out one by one.

At a position adjacent to the second work station 18 on the pedestal 12, a temporary positioning table 62 for temporarily positioning the top plate 104 is arranged. The top plate 104 is taken out from the tray 58 by the fingers 68 of the NC auto hand 70, and then temporarily placed on the temporary positioning base 62. The top plate 104 placed on the temporary positioning base 62 is mounted on the base 1 via the stage 64 which is movable in a horizontal plane.
The finger 66 arranged on the second position conveys it from the temporary positioning table 62 onto the clamp jig 24 and places it on the heater board 102. At this time, the top plate 104
Are positioned on the temporary positioning base 62 with a high degree of accuracy, and the position of the heater is adjusted according to the position of the heater board 102 by the movement of the stage 64 in the middle of the carrying process with reference to the position thus positioned. . Therefore,
When the top plate 104 is placed on the heater board 102, the top plate 104 is positioned almost accurately with respect to the heater board 102.

Next, the conveyor belt 26 and the return belt 2
8, an NC auto hand 70 having a finger 68 at the tip thereof is arranged at a position facing the gantry 12 with respect to 8. This NC auto hand 70 has a mounting base 7
It is mounted on the pedestal 76 via the 1. And
One of the top plates 104 accommodated in the tray 58 is gripped by the fingers 68 of the NC auto hand 70 and placed on the temporary positioning table 62 described above.

At the position on the left side of the NC auto hand 70, the base plate 101 having the heater board 102 mounted on the clamp jig 24 indexed from the pallet 27 to a position corresponding to the first work station 16. An NC auto hand 72 for supplying the electric power is arranged. N
A finger 73 is provided at the tip of the C-auto hand 72. Then, the NC auto hand 72 simultaneously removes the finished product from the clamp jig 24 and transfers it to the pallet 27. The NC auto hand 72 is mounted on a mount 76 via a mount 74.

A control device 78 for controlling the operation of the entire assembling device 10 and an image taken by the first and second ITV cameras 30 and 36 are provided outside the gantry 12. An image processing device 80 is arranged.

<Structure in the vicinity of the index table> Next, FIG. 7 is a partially enlarged view showing an enlarged portion of the index table in FIG.

In the assembling apparatus 10, the clamp jig 24 is provided in the first working station 16 as described above.
Base plate 10 on which a heater board 102 is attached
1 is clamped, and the top plate 104 is placed on the heater board 102 at the second work station 18. The top holding member 82 and the front pressing member 82 for clamping the top plate 104 on the heater board 102 are placed on the heater board 102. Holding member 8
4 (see FIG. 11) are provided in the clamp jig 24. Then, as will be described later in detail, the upper holding member 82 and the front holding member 84 are arranged outside the index table 14, that is, the first drive mechanism 86 arranged on the gantry 12.
And the second drive mechanism 88, respectively.

The first drive mechanism 86 includes the second work station 18 and the fourth work station 22, and the second drive mechanism 88 includes the second work station 18 and the third work station 88 as shown in the drawing.
It is arranged at a position corresponding to the station 20. The second drive mechanism 88 is also arranged at a position corresponding to the first work station 16.

Next, the structure of the temporary positioning table 62 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 10.

As shown in FIG. 8, the temporary positioning table 62 is attached to the positioning table body 702 and the positioning table body 702, and is used to move the top plate 104 in the y direction.
The directional actuator 62a and the x-direction actuator 62b attached to the positioning base body 702 for moving the top plate 104 in the x-direction are roughly configured.

The upper surface of the positioning table body 702 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, an opening hole 702a is formed, and a tunnel-shaped air passage 705 is formed behind the opening hole 702a. By sucking air from the opening hole 702a by a suction means (not shown) through the air passage 705, the top plate 104 is sucked onto the upper surface of the positioning base body 702.

The y-direction actuator 62a comprises a stage 706 movable in the y-direction, an air cylinder 708 connected to this stage 706, and a biasing spring 710 mounted on the stage 706. The tip portion of the biasing spring 710 is bifurcated, and the tip portion biases the orifice plate 108 of the top plate 104 in the y direction as shown in FIGS.
02, the inner surface of the orifice plate 108 is brought into contact with the y-direction positioning portion 702b formed on the upper surface of the top plate 10.
Position 4.

Also, the x-direction actuator 62b is
And a stage 712 that can move in any direction.
2 is connected to the air cylinder 714 and the stage 712.
It is composed of a biasing spring 716 mounted above. The biasing spring 716 pushes the side surface of the top plate 104 in the x direction, and as shown in FIGS. 8 and 10, the positioning protrusion 104a formed on the lower surface of the top plate 104 is moved to the positioning base 702.
The top plate 104 is positioned in the x direction by abutting on the x direction positioning portion 702c formed on the upper surface of the.

Here, the above-mentioned x-direction actuator 62 is used.
The temporary positioning operation of the top plate 104 by the b and y direction actuators 62a will be described.

When the top plate 104 is taken out from the pallet 58 and placed on the positioning table body 702 by the finger 68 of the NC auto hand 70, first, air is drawn from the opening hole 702a by a suction means (not shown). Then, the top plate 104 is sucked onto the positioning table body 702. next,
The y-direction actuator 62a operates to bring the inner surface of the orifice plate 108 into contact with the y-direction positioning portion 702b. Next, the x-direction actuator 62a operates to bring the positioning protrusion on the lower surface of the top plate 104 into contact with the x-direction positioning portion 702c. Next, the biasing operation of the y-direction actuator 62a is temporarily released while the biasing state of the top plate 104 by the x-direction actuator 62b is maintained. Then, again, the y-direction actuator 62a
To move the top plate 104 to the y-direction positioning portion 702.
abut b.

As described above, the positioning reproducibility of the top plate 104 is improved by releasing the urging in the y direction and then urging it again in the y direction while the top plate 104 is still being urged in the x direction. improves. In this way, the top plate 104 is positioned on the temporary positioning table 62.

After this temporary positioning operation is completed, the top plate 1 is moved by the fingers 66 attached to the stage 64.
04 is attracted, and the top plate 10 is held by the fingers 66.
4 is conveyed from the temporary positioning table 62 onto the heater board 102.

<Description of Clamping Jig> Next, the structure of the clamping jig 24 arranged on the index table 14 will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 to 14. For convenience of explanation, the x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis are defined as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 11, the base plate 202, which is the base of the clamp jig 24, is fixed to the upper surface of the index table 14. A substantially rectangular parallelepiped jig body 204 is fixed to the upper surface of the base plate 202, and the base plate 101 having the heater board 102 attached to the upper surface of the jig body 204 is clamped. On the upper surface of the jig body 204, as shown in FIG. 12 which is a plan view of FIG.
Three positioning pins 206a, 206b, 206c for positioning 1 with respect to the jig body 204 are arranged.

Jig body 204 on base plate 202
Columns 208 and 210 are erected at the left and right positions of the column. Of these two columns, on the upper surface of the column 208, an x-direction clamp lever 212 for urging the base plate 101 in the direction along the x-axis and pressing it against the positioning pins 206a and 206b is rotatable in a horizontal plane. Is attached to. The x-direction clamp lever 212 is driven by an air cylinder 216 attached to a support substrate 215 provided upright on the base plate 202 so as to rotate counterclockwise when viewed from above, and positions the base plate 101. It is pressed against the pins 206a and 206b. The x-direction clamp lever 212 is biased by a spring (not shown) so as to rotate in the clockwise direction, and the air cylinder 2
When 16 is not operating (the piston rod is retracted), its rear surface is the air cylinder 216.
The piston rod is positioned by abutting the tip end of the piston rod.

On the upper surface of the column 210, the base plate 1
01 is biased in the direction along the y-axis, and the positioning pin 206c
A y-direction clamp lever 214 for pressing against is attached rotatably in a horizontal plane. The y-direction clamp lever 214 includes an air cylinder 22 attached to a support substrate 218 provided upright on the base plate 202.
When driven by 0, the base plate 101 is driven to rotate counterclockwise when viewed from above, and presses the base plate 101 against the positioning pin 206c. The y-direction clamp lever 214 is urged by a spring (not shown) to rotate in the clockwise direction, and when the air cylinder 220 is not operating (the piston rod is retracted), The back surface is in contact with the tip end portion of the piston rod of the air cylinder 220 and positioned.

At the positions on both sides of the jig body 204,
Support portions 222a and 222b are formed. On these supporting portions 222a and 222b, z-direction clamp levers 224a and 224b are respectively attached to the rotary shafts 226a and 226b.
It is mounted so that it can rotate in a vertical plane centering around. The tip ends of piston rods of air cylinders 228a and 228b mounted on the base plate 202 are connected to the rear ends of these z-direction clamp levers 224a and 224b. Therefore, the air cylinders 228a, 2
When the piston rod of 28 b is operated in the retracted direction, the tip ends of the z-direction clamp levers 224 a and 224 b are raised, and the base plate 101 is in an unclamped state with respect to the jig body 204. In addition, the air cylinder 228
When the piston rods a and 228b are operated in the pushing direction, z-direction clamp levers 224a and 224b are operated.
The tip end of the base plate 101 is lowered, and the base plate 101 is pressed and clamped on the jig body 204.

A supporting portion 222c is formed on the rear side of the jig body 204, and the supporting portion 222c has a supporting portion 222c.
A z-direction clamp lever 224c is mounted rotatably in a vertical plane by a rotary shaft 226c. The tip end of the piston rod of the air cylinder 228c mounted on the base plate 202 is connected to the rear end of the z-direction clamp lever 224c. Therefore, when the piston rod of the air cylinder 228c is operated in the retracted direction, the tip end portion of the z-direction clamp lever 224c rises to be in an unclamped state. Further, when the piston rod of the air cylinder 228c is operated in the pushing direction, the tip of the z-direction clamp lever 224c descends, and the base plate 101 is pressed and clamped on the jig body 204.

Next, supporting substrates 230a and 230b are provided in front of the jig body 204 (on the outer peripheral side of the index table).
Are fixed, and these supporting substrates 230a, 230
Between b, the front pressing member 84 is rotatably supported via the rotating shaft 232. This front pressing member 84
Is a top plate 104 mounted on the upper surface of the heater board 102.
Press the orifice plate 108 of
It has a function of clamping the top plate 104 on the heater board 102. The front pressing member 84 is attached to the rotary shaft 2
32, a front pressing member main body 84a supported by 32, and a pressing spring 84b attached to the front pressing member main body 84a.
And a click spring 84c attached to the lower end of the front pressing member main body 84a.

The state shown in FIG. 11 is the front pressing member 84.
7 shows a state in which the top plate 104 has been released from the clamped state, and the triangular bent portion of the lower end of the click spring 84c is in the first groove 234a of the grooved plate 234 mounted on the base plate 202. The posture of the front pressing member 84 is maintained by falling. FIG. 14 is a side view of the state of the front pressing member 84.
Is indicated by a chain double-dashed line.

On the other hand, on the pedestal 12, as described above, the front pressing member 84 is driven to switch between the state in which the top plate 104 is clamped to the heater board 102 and the state in which the clamp is released. A two-drive mechanism 88 is attached. The second drive mechanism 88 is roughly composed of a support substrate 88a fixed on the pedestal 12 and two air cylinders 88b and 88c attached to the support substrate 88a. That is, when the air cylinder 88b arranged on the upper side is operated and the piston rod is pushed out, the front pressing member 84 is pushed by the tip end portion of the piston rod and rotates about the rotary shaft 232 as a fulcrum,
Its upper end is moved in the direction indicated by arrow C. By this operation, the orifice plate 108 of the top plate 104 is
The tip of the pressing spring 84b presses against the heater board 102 and clamps it (state shown by the solid line in FIG. 14). Further, as the front pressing member 84 rotates, the lower end portion of the click spring 84 c is moved to the first groove 2 of the grooved plate 234.
34a, fall into the second groove 234b,
The front pressing member 84 is held while the top plate 104 is clamped.

Further, the air cylinder 88 arranged on the lower side
When c moves and the piston rod is pushed out, the front pressing member 84 is pushed by the tip end portion of the piston rod and rotates about the rotary shaft 232 as a fulcrum, and the upper end portion thereof is indicated by an arrow D. The unclamped state is as shown in FIG.

The second drive mechanism 88 is used for the first work station 16 and the second work station 18 on the gantry 12.
And is located at a position corresponding to the third work station.

Next, an upper pressing mechanism for pressing the top plate 104 against the heater board 102 from above will be described with reference to FIG. 11 and FIG. 14 which is a side sectional view of FIG. To do.

A substantially cylindrical guide tube 236 is fixed to the side of the jig body 204 with its central axis aligned in the vertical direction. A slide shaft 238 is fitted in the guide cylinder 236, and the upper pressing member 82 described above is attached to the upper end of the slide shaft 238. The upper pressing member 82 is an upper pressing member main body 8 fixed to the upper end of the slide shaft 238.
2a and a pressing spring 82b attached to the tip of the upper pressing member main body 82a.

At a portion slightly below the upper end portion of the slide shaft 238, the slide shaft 23 is provided along the horizontal direction.
8, a positioning pin 240 is attached to the guide tube 236, and grooves 236a, 236 which are orthogonal to each other and engage with the positioning pin 240 are provided at the upper end of the guide tube 236.
b is formed. When the positioning pin 240 falls into one of the two grooves 236a and 236b,
The rotation of the upper pressing member 82 in the horizontal plane is restricted.

Here, in the state shown in FIG. 11, the positioning pin 240 has fallen into one groove 236b,
The upper pressing member 82 is in a state in which the top plate 104 is pressed against the heater board 102 from above by the pressing spring 82b at the tip thereof (clamping position). From this state, the slide shaft 238 is once slid upward to allow the positioning pin 240 to escape from the groove 236b, and then the upper pressing member 82 is rotated 90 degrees in the clockwise direction when viewed from above, so that the positioning pin 240 is moved into the groove. By letting it fall into 236a, the upper pressing member 82 is held in the state where the pressing of the top plate 104 is released (retracted position), as shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG.

The mechanism for rotating the upper pressing member 82 between the clamp position and the retracted position will be further described.

At the lower end of the slide shaft 238, a coupling member 242 including a disk-shaped main body 242a and a cross-shaped projection 242b formed so as to project downward from the main body 242a is attached. There is. The coupling member 242 is adapted to be engaged with the cross-shaped recess of the coupling member 252 provided on the first drive mechanism 86 arranged on the gantry 12.

Here, the above configuration will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. In FIG. 14, a guide tube 236
A compression spring 246 is mounted between the lower end of the fixed ring 244 and the fixed ring 244 attached to the slide shaft 238. This compression spring 246 causes the slide shaft 238
Is always urged downward with respect to the guide cylinder 236.
Due to the biasing force of the compression spring 246, the slide shaft 2
The fixing pin 240 attached to
6a, 236b, the upper pressing member 82 is restricted from rotating in the horizontal direction. In addition, the compression spring 24
Since the urging force of No. 6 is set to be larger than the urging force of the pressing spring 82b, when the upper pressing member 82 is located at the clamp position shown in FIG. 11, the positioning pin 240 falls into the groove 236b. The top plate 104 is
It is pressed against the heater board 102 by the biasing force generated by the bending of the pressing spring 82b.

On the other hand, on the pedestal 12, as described above, the first
The drive mechanism 86 is provided, and the first drive mechanism 86 is provided.
Is composed of a main body 248 fixed to the gantry 12 and a rotary air cylinder 250 attached to the main body 248 with its central axis extending in the vertical direction. The rotary air cylinder 250 has a function of moving the piston rod 250a up and down and a function of rotating the piston rod 250a.

As described above, the coupling member 252 having the cross-shaped recess is formed at the tip of the piston rod 250a of the rotary air cylinder 250. Then, as shown in the figure, in the state where the piston rod 250a of the rotary air cylinder 250 is pulled in, the slide shaft 238 moves toward the compression spring 246.
It is in the lowered position due to the urging force of
40 is in a state of falling into one of the grooves 236a and 236b. Then, from this state, when the rotary air cylinder 250 operates and the piston rod 250a is pushed upward, the coupling member 252 passes through the through hole 14c formed in the index table 14 and ascends, and the coupling member 252 and coupling member 242
And are engaged. Then, the piston rod 250a and the slide shaft 238 can be integrally rotated. At the same time, the slide shaft 238 rises against the urging force of the compression spring 246 due to the rise of the piston rod 250a, and the positioning pin 240 moves into the grooves 236a, 23.
When the slide shaft 238 is disengaged from 6b, the slide shaft 238 can rotate. In this state, the piston rod 250a of the rotary air cylinder 250 is rotated 90 degrees, and the piston rod 250 is retracted again, whereby the upper pressing member 82 is moved to the clamp position and the retracted position,
Positioned.

The first drive mechanism 86 is arranged on the pedestal 12 at a position corresponding to the second work station 18 and the fourth work station 22.

As shown in FIG. 12, a communication terminal 604 is arranged on the index table 14 at a position beside the clamp jig 24.
4 is connected to the control device 602 on the index table 14. In addition, on the gantry 12, a communication terminal device 60 connected to a control device 78 arranged outside the gantry 12.
6 are arranged. These communication terminals 604, 606
Are arranged so as to face each other when the index table 14 is stopped and positioned (indexed). These communication terminals 604, 60
Communication between 6 is performed in a non-contact state. As a result, control signals are exchanged between the control device 602 and the control device 78.

<Schematic Description of Top Plate Mounting Operation> In the assembling apparatus 10 configured as described above, the top plate 104 is used.
The attaching operation of the above to the base plate 101 (heater board 102) is generally performed in the following procedure.

First, in the second work station 18, when the top plate 104 is placed on the heater board 102, the first and second drive mechanisms 86 and 88 operate to operate the upper pressing member 82 and the front pressing member. The top plate 104 is clamped on the heater board 102 by 84. After the clamp operation is completed, the top plate 104 is replaced by the heater board 10.
2, the first and second drive mechanisms 86 and 88 are disengaged from the index table 14, and the index table 14 is rotatable. is there.

In this state, the index table 14 is rotated, and the clamp jig 24 on which the top plate 104 and the heater board 102 are placed is moved to a position corresponding to the third work station 20 and positioned. Then, in the third work station 20, the top plate 104 remains pressed against the heater board 102 by the upper pressing member 82 and the front pressing member 84, and the position adjusting mechanism 38 with respect to the heater board 102. The position is finely adjusted by. Upper pressing member 82 and front pressing member 84
Means that the top plate 104 is pressed against the heater board 102 by the spring force.
The position of the top plate 104 can be adjusted by moving it slightly with respect to 02.

At the third work station 20, when the position adjustment of the top plate 104 with respect to the heater board 102 is completed, the index table 14 is rotated and the clamp jig 24 is moved to a position corresponding to the fourth work station 22. . And this fourth work station 2
In No. 2, first, the first drive mechanism 86 operates to retract the upper pressing member 82 from above the top plate 104. next,
The pressing spring 120 is moved by the auto hand 46 to the base plate 1.
01, and the top plate 104 is fixed to the heater board 102. After that, the clamp jig 24 is moved to a position corresponding to the first work station 16. Then, the second drive mechanism 88 operates and the front pressing member 84 moves the top plate 10.
Retract from the position where 4 is clamped.

As described above, in the assembling apparatus 10 of the embodiment, the member for actually clamping the top plate 104 is provided on the clamp jig 24 on the index table 14, and the mechanism for driving the member for clamping is provided. It is provided outside the index table 14.

<Description of Third Working Station> FIG. 15 is a plan view partially showing the structure of the third working station 20.

In FIG. 15, at the position on the gantry 12 in front of the clamp jig 24, as described above, the second position for observing the position of the discharge port 106 formed in the orifice plate 108 of the top plate 104 is provided. An objective lens 36a of the ITV camera 36 is arranged. Also, this objective lens 36a
A position adjusting mechanism 38 for positioning the position of the top plate 104 with respect to the heater board 102 is disposed on the gantry 12 on the left side of the. This position adjusting mechanism 38
As described above, the stage 44 is arranged on the gantry 12 and is movable along the x axis, and the adjusting rod 42 attached to the stage 44.

A pressing mechanism 39 for abutting the top plate 104 against the adjusting rod 42 is arranged at a position on the right side of the objective lens 36a. The pressing mechanism 39 includes a y-direction slide table 260 arranged on the gantry 12 and sliding in the y-direction, and an x-direction slide table 262 arranged on the y-direction slide table 260 and sliding in the x-direction. This x direction slide table 2
It is composed of a leaf spring 264 attached to 62. Therefore, the leaf spring 264 is moved by the x-direction slide table 262 and the y-direction slide table 260 in the x direction.
It is movable in the y direction, and when the index table 14 rotates, it is retracted to a position away from the clamp jig 24 as shown in the figure. Then, after the index table 14 is stopped and the clamp jig 24 is positioned at a position corresponding to the third work station 20, the leaf spring 264 is first moved in the y direction (upward direction in the drawing), and the clamp jig 24 is moved. It is moved to a position on the right side of the top plate 104 on the 24. Then, the leaf spring 264 is moved in the x direction (left direction) from there, and pushes the top plate 104 from the right side to the left side in the drawing, and the left end face of the top plate 104 is adjusted to the adjustment rod 4.
Press on the tip of 2.

At this time, the adjusting rod 42 of the position adjusting mechanism 38
When the left end surface of the top plate 104 abuts on its end surface,
The position of the top plate 104 is adjusted so that the position of the top plate 104 is slightly shifted to the left from the desired position. Therefore, the position adjusting mechanism 38 can move the adjusting rod 44 to the right by a small amount to adjust the position of the top plate 104 to a desired position with respect to the heater board 102. In this way, the top plate 1
04 is accurately positioned with respect to the heater board.

<Explanation of Arrangement State of Air Cylinder> Next,
FIG. 16 is a diagram schematically showing an arrangement state of air cylinders in the assembling apparatus 10.

First, the first work station 16 is provided with air cylinders 88b and 88c constituting a second drive mechanism 88 for driving the front pressing member 84.

Similar to the first work station 16, the second work station 18 is provided with the air cylinders 88b and 88c which form the second drive mechanism 88, and the rotary air which forms the first drive mechanism 86. A cylinder 250 is arranged.

At the third work station 20, the x-direction slide table 262 and y constituting the pressing mechanism 39 are arranged.
Air cylinders 262a and 262b for driving the directional slide table 260 are arranged. Also, the second
Air cylinders 88b and 88c that constitute the drive mechanism 88 are arranged, and a stage and an adjustment rod for minutely moving the top plate are arranged.

Further, in the fourth work station 22, the rotary air cylinder 25 constituting the first drive mechanism 86 is provided.
0 is arranged.

<Assembling Finger 4 of Holding Spring 120
7 Structure> Next, the structure of the assembling finger 47 of the pressing spring 120 will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 17 is a side sectional view showing the structure of the assembling finger 47. In FIG. 17, the main body 270 of the finger 47 is formed in a shape extending in the vertical direction, and a through hole is formed on the central axis thereof. The diameter of this through hole is changed in three steps, and a substantially cylindrical pushing member 272 is vertically slidably mounted on the inner peripheral surface of the smallest diameter hole 270a located at the bottom. There is. A flange portion 272a is formed on the upper end portion of the pushing member 272, and the flange portion 272a is formed.
The outer peripheral surface of is fitted into the inner peripheral surface of the hole 270b having the intermediate diameter. A female screw portion is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the largest diameter hole 270c located at the uppermost part of the main body 270, and the stopper member 274 formed with the male screw screwed to the female screw portion is formed. The hole 270c is sealed. A compression spring 276 is arranged between the lower surface of the stopper member 274 and the upper surface of the flange portion 272a of the pushing member 272, and the pushing member 272 is always urged downward. And the pushing member 2
The bottom surface of the flange portion 272a of 72 is a hole 2 having an intermediate diameter.
By pushing the lower surface of 70b, the pushing member 27
2 is prevented from falling off the main body 270.

On the other hand, the pressing member 272 also has a central portion of 3
Through holes with varying diameters are formed in stages. Then, on the inner peripheral surface of the smallest diameter hole 272a located at the bottom of the pushing member 272, a guide rod 27 having a substantially cylindrical shape is formed.
8 is mounted slidably in the vertical direction. A flange portion 278a is formed on the upper end portion of the guide rod 278, and the outer peripheral surface of the flange portion 278a is fitted to the inner peripheral surface of the hole 272b having the intermediate diameter. Then, the largest diameter hole 272c located at the uppermost part of the pushing member 272.
A female screw portion is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the hole 272c by a set screw 280 screwed into the female screw portion.
Are sealed. A compression spring 282 is arranged between the lower surface of the set screw 280 and the upper surface of the flange portion 278a of the guide rod 278, and the guide rod 278 is always urged downward. The lower surface of the flange portion 278a of the guide rod 278 abuts the lower surface of the hole 272b having the intermediate diameter, so that the guide rod 278 does not fall out of the pushing member 272.

The pushing member 272 has tunnel-shaped holes 272d for adsorbing the pressing spring 120 at positions on both sides of the through hole. The upper portion of the hole 272d has a through hole 272 that opens to the outer wall of the pushing member 272.
connected to e. On the other hand, in the main body 270, the through hole 270 surrounds the opening of the through hole 272e.
d is formed. Both ends of this through hole 270d are
As shown in FIG. 18, it is sealed by a sealing member 286. The main body 270 has the through hole 270d and the through hole 27.
0e is connected to a pipe 284 for sucking air from the tip of the hole 272d.

<Mounting Operation of Holding Spring 120> Next, the holding spring 12 is moved by the finger 47 configured as described above.
The operation of mounting 0 on the top plate 104 and the base plate 101 will be described with reference to FIGS. 19 to 23.

Before describing the procedure for mounting the pressing spring 120, the shape of the pressing spring 120 will be described first.

As shown in FIGS. 19 and 20, the pressing spring 120 is connected to the flat portion 120a formed in the central portion, the standing bending portions 120b connected to both sides of the flat portion 120a, and the standing bending portion 120b. , The hook 12 bent downward
0c and the rear portion of the flat surface portion 120a, and the tilt-preventing portion 1 bent in the direction of falling from the flat surface portion 120a.
And 20d. Then, the flat portion 12
A through hole 120e into which the ink receiving port 118 of the top plate 104 is inserted is formed in the central portion of 0a.

Next, the operation of mounting the pressing spring 120 will be described.

The mounting operation of the pressing spring 120 is the fourth.
This is done at the work station 22, and in the state shown in FIG. 19, the top plate 104 has already been accurately positioned with respect to the heater board 102. The upper holding member 82 is retracted from the upper portion of the top plate 104, and the top plate 104 is clamped to the heater board 102 from the front of the top plate 104 only by the front holding member 84.

First, as shown in FIG. 19, air is sucked from the tip of the hole 272d of the pushing member 272 of the finger 47, and the pressing spring 120 is attracted to the tip of the finger 47. At this time, the tip of the guide rod 278 is pressed by the pressing spring 1.
20 and the position of the holding spring 120 in the horizontal plane with respect to the finger 47 is regulated. Also,
As shown in FIG. 20, a protrusion 272f is formed at the tip of the pushing member 272, and the protrusion 272f is formed.
Is in contact with the falling portion 120f formed at the rear end of the pressing spring 120, so that the pressing spring 120 does not rotate in the horizontal plane.

In this way, the finger 47 holds the pressing spring 1
In a state where 20 is sucked, the fingers 47 are lowered from the position shown in FIG. At this time, the tip of the guide rod 278 first comes into contact with the upper end of the ink receiving port 118 of the top plate 104, and the top plate 104 is pressed against the heater board 102 from above and clamped. That is, when the tip of the guide rod 278 is in contact with the upper end of the ink receiving port 118, the top plate 104 is held by the front pressing member 84.
The guide rod 278 clamps the heater board 102.

When the finger 47 is further lowered from this state, as shown in FIG. 21, the guide rod 278 is pushed up against the biasing force of the compression spring 282 and is pushed into the pushing member 272. Along with this, the upper end of the vertical bending portion 120b of the pressing spring 120 is pushed by the pushing member 2
It is pushed by the lower end of 72, and the lower end of the hook 120c enters into the through hole 101a formed in the base plate 101.

When the fingers 47 are further lowered from here, as shown in FIG. 22, the lower end of the pushing member 272 pushes down the standing bent portion 120b of the pressing spring 120, and the pressing spring 120 is locked. The bent portion 120g formed at the lower end of the portion 120c is hooked on the hooking portion 101b formed on the base plate 101, and the pressing spring 120 is
It is fixed to the base plate 101. In this state, as shown in FIG. 23, the falling portion 120h formed at the front end portion of the pressing spring 120 abuts on the upper surface of the top plate 104, and the top plate 104 is pressed from the upper side to the base plate 101 (heater board 102). ) Is pressed against. After this, the fingers 47 are retracted from above the top plate 104, and the pressing spring 1
The mounting operation of 20 is completed. In this way, the pressing spring 120 is attached to the top plate 104 and the base plate 101.

FIG. 24 is a perspective view showing a state in which the pressing spring 120 is attached to the top plate 104 and the base plate 101.

[Description of Operation of Assembly Device 10] Next, the operation of the assembly device 10 will be described below.

<Overall Operation> FIG. 25 is a flowchart showing the overall operation of the assembling apparatus 10. The schematic operation of the entire assembling apparatus 10 will be described with reference to FIG. The steps surrounded by double lines in the figure indicate subroutines, and the detailed contents thereof will be described in detail after explaining the overall operation.

When the assembling apparatus 10 is started, first,
In the first work station 16, step S12
In (3), the finished product (the top plate 104 mounted on the heater board 102) that has already been assembled is the pallet 27 on the conveyor belt 26 from the clamp jig 24.
Is discharged to. At the same time, the unfinished base plate 101
Is placed on the clamp jig 24 from above the pallet 27.

In parallel with the operation of the first work station 16, in the second work station 18, the position of the heater board 102 is measured by the first ITV camera 30 in step S16. When the measurement operation of the position of the heater board 102 is completed, step S
At 18, the work of placing the top plate 104 on the heater board 102 is performed.

Further, in the third work station 20, the top plate 20 is pressed against the mechanism 3 in step S20.
The work of abutting against the adjusting rod 42 of the position adjusting mechanism 38 is performed by 9. When this abutting work is completed, in step S22, the position of the top board 104 is adjusted with respect to the heater board 102 while the position of the top board 104 is measured by the second ITV camera 36.

Further, in the fourth work station 22, in step S24, the work of mounting the pressing spring 120 on the top plate 104 and the base plate 101 is performed.

These first work station 16 to fourth
The operations of the work stations 22 are performed in parallel,
When the work of each work station is completed, a completion signal indicating that the work is completed is output from each work station. Based on the completion signal output from each of these work stations, the control device 78 determines in step S26 whether or not all the work of the first to fourth work stations 16 to 22 has been completed. In step S26, when all the work of the first to fourth work stations 16 to 22 has been completed, the control device 78 rotates the index table 14 by 90 degrees.

In parallel with the rotation operation of the index table 14, in step S28, the clamping operation of the base plate 101 supplied onto the clamping jig 24 is performed. In step S32, the control device 78 determines whether or not both the rotating operation of the index table 14 and the clamping operation of the base plate 101 have been completed. In step S32, when the above two operations are completed, one cycle of operation is completed, and the clamp jig 2 on which the finished product is placed is placed at the position of the first work station 16.
4 has been determined. Then, returning to the start, each work station repeats the same operation again, so that the finished products are successively discharged to the pallet 27.

<Explanation of Subroutine> Next, each subroutine will be described in detail. It should be noted that in the following description, 4 arranged on the index table 14 is used.
Focusing on one of the four clamping jigs, this clamping jig is
The contents of each subroutine will be described according to the flow of the assembling work while moving to the work station.

{Explanation of Operation of First Working Station} (Delivery of Finished Product and Supply of Unfinished Product) First, before explaining the flowchart showing the operations of discharging the finished product and supplying the unfinished product, discharge of the finished product. Also, a basic operation of supplying an unfinished product will be described.

First, referring to FIG. 5, the heater board 102
The base plate 101 to which is attached is conveyed by the pallet 27 from the left side to the right side of the conveyance belt 26 in the figure, and
2 is positioned at a position corresponding to the first work station 16 above. On the pallet 27, as shown in FIG.
Four positioning portions 32a to 32d for positioning the base plate 101 are provided.
The unfinished base plate 101 (B) on which the No. 4 is mounted has two positioning parts 32a, which are two of the four positioning parts.
It is attached to 32c. Then, on the remaining two positioning portions 32b and 32d, the finished product B '(the base plate 101 to which the top plate 104 has already been attached) removed from the clamp jig 24 is placed, as described later.

This will be described in more detail. In FIG. 26A, which shows a state where the pallet 27 has been transported to the position corresponding to the first work station 16, the reference numeral B is the unfinished base plate 101. Here, as shown in FIG. 27, the finger 73 attached to the tip of the NC auto hand 72 is an unfinished base plate 101.
It is provided with a first finger 73a that sucks (B) and supplies it to the clamp jig 24, and a second finger 73b that sucks the finished product (B ') from the clamp jig 24 and places it on the pallet 27. . Then, the first finger 73a and the second finger 73b are arranged adjacent to each other, and as shown in FIG. 27, when the first finger 73a is at the position corresponding to the positioning portion 32a, the second finger 73a is placed. 73b is at a position corresponding to the positioning portion 32b. That is, the suction operation of the unfinished product B and the discharging operation of the finished product B ′ can be performed by one positioning.

Therefore, in the normal cycle, first, the fingers 73 are positioned on the pallet 27 in a state in which the finished product B ′ completed in the previous processing cycle is adsorbed. The figure showing this state is shown in FIGS. 28 (a) and 26 (a).
From this state, as shown in FIG.
Is lowered, the suction of the finished product B ′ by the second finger 73b is released and the finished product B ′ is placed on the pallet 27, and at the same time, the unfinished product B is sucked by the first finger 73a. After that, as shown in FIGS. 28 (c) and 26 (b), the fingers 73 are raised and moved onto the clamp jig 24. FIG. 29A shows this state, and the finger 73 adsorbs the unfinished product B, that is, the nth work. Next, as shown in FIG. 29 (b), the second finger 73b that does not adsorb the work is positioned on the clamp jig 24, and the completed product B ', that is, the (n-4) th work completed assembling, is placed. After being adsorbed, the finger 73 once rises. Next, as shown in FIG. 29 (c), the second finger 73a sucking the n-th workpiece is moved to the clamp jig 2.
4 and the finger 73 descends again, n
The second workpiece is placed on the clamp jig 24. Then, the fingers 73 move onto the pallet 27 as shown in FIGS. On the pallet 27, the (n-4) th work removed from the clamp jig 24 is placed on the pallet 27 by the same procedure as described above, and the (n + 1) th work which is an unfinished product is Adsorbed and moved to the next cycle. At this time, two finished products B are placed on the pallet 27 as shown in FIGS. 30 (f) and 26 (c). In this way, the work exchange on the pallet 27 is completed by the two exchange operations, and the pallet 27 is sent to the next process.

Here, two work pieces are placed on the pallet 27, but two work pieces are taken in relation to the processing machine in the next process, and this is only for this embodiment. In that case, there is no problem in taking one. In addition, the pallet 27
The simultaneous holding operation of the unfinished product B and the finished product B'is performed in order to shorten the takt time.
If there is a margin in the tact time, one finger may be used for the holding work.

By the above-mentioned operation, the finished product B'is placed on the pallet 27 and the unfinished product B is supplied from the pallet 27.

Based on such a premise, the operation of discharging the finished product and supplying the unfinished product in the first work station 16 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, when one cycle of the assembling operation is completed, the index table 14 is rotated clockwise by 90 degrees in FIG. 5, and the clamp jig 24 is moved from the fourth work station 22 to the first work station 16. Positioned. At this time, the upper pressing member 84 that clamps the top plate 104 from above is used for the fourth work station 2
In 2 it has already been set to the retracted position. This operation will be described later at the same time as the operation of the fourth work station 22.

Next, in step S102, the gantry 1
When the air cylinder 88c of the second drive mechanism 88 arranged corresponding to the first work station 16 is operated to push the piston rod, the piston rod is pushed and the front pressing member is moved to the front pressing member shown in FIG. Is rotated in the direction of arrow D. As a result, the pressing spring 84b retracts from the orifice plate 108 of the top plate 104, and the top plate 104 is in an unclamped state. NC at this time
The auto hand 72 sucks the unfinished base plate 101 (unfinished product shown by B in FIG. 26) from the pallet 27 by the first finger 73a and waits above the clamp jig 24.

Next, in step S104, NC
The auto hand 72 descends, and this NC auto hand 7
The 2nd 2nd finger 73b starts adsorption | suction of the finished product on the clamp jig 24 (one with the top plate 104 mounted on the base plate 101). At the same time as the start of this suction operation,
Air cylinders 216 and 2 arranged on the clamp jig 24
The piston rods 20, 228a, 228b, 228c (see FIG. 8) are retracted to release the clamped state of the base plate 101. Therefore, the finished product is removed from the clamp jig 24 by the second finger 73b of the NC auto hand 72.

Next, in step S106, the fingers 73 (first finger 73a and second finger 73b) of the NC auto hand 72 are once raised, and then the first finger 73a sucking the unfinished base plate 101 is clamped. The tool 24 is positioned directly above the tool 24. Then, the fingers 73 descend again, and when the unfinished base plate 101 contacts the clamp jig 24, the suction of the unfinished base plate 101 is released. By this operation, the unfinished base plate 101 is placed on the clamp jig 24.

When the placing operation of the incomplete base plate 101 is completed, the finger 73 is moved to NC in step S108.
It is moved up to the position of the pallet 27 by the operation of the auto hand 72, and the finished product is placed on the pallet 27.
After that, the NC auto hand 72 outputs a completion signal informing that the work in the first work station 16 is completed, and returns to the start.

(Positioning of Base Plate 101) Next, the positioning operation of the incomplete base plate 101 to the clamp jig 24 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in step S120, as shown in FIG.
1, the air cylinder 216 shown in FIG. 12 operates to push the piston rod forward. This causes the x-direction clamp lever 212 to rotate counterclockwise,
The base plate 101 is pressed against the positioning pins 206a and 206b to perform positioning in the x direction.

Next, in step S122, the air cylinder 220 is operated and the y-direction clamp lever 214 is operated.
Rotate counterclockwise. As a result, the base plate 101 is pushed by the y-direction clamp lever 214 and the positioning pin 206c, and the y-direction positioning is performed.

Next, in step S124, the piston rod of the air cylinder 216 is retracted to move x.
The clamped state by the direction clamp lever 212 is once released.

Next, in step S126, the piston rod of the air cylinder 216 is pushed out and the base plate 101 is pressed again against the positioning pins 206a and 206b by the x-direction clamp lever 212. The positioning operation of the base plate 101 with respect to the clamp jig 24 is performed by the operations of these steps S120 to S126. In this way, after the y-direction is clamped, the x-direction clamp is released, and the x-direction clamp operation is performed again to reproduce the positioning accuracy when the base plate 101 is positioned on the clamp jig 24. The property is improved.

When the positioning in the x direction and the y direction is completed by the above operation, the air cylinders 228a, 228b, 228c are operated in step S128,
The z-direction clamp levers 224a, 224b, 224c rotate around the rotation shafts 226a, 226b, 226c, respectively, and the base plate 101 is clamped in the z-direction.

As described above, the clamp jig 2 for the base plate 101
The positioning operation to 4 is completed.

In the timing chart shown in FIG. 33, the x-direction clamp lever 212 and the y-direction clamp lever 21 from step S120 to step S128 are shown.
4, z-direction clamp levers 224a, 224b, 224
It shows a concrete example of each operation timing of c. First, the x-direction clamp lever 212 is clamped, and 0.8 seconds after that, the y-direction clamp lever 214 is clamped. Then, 0.1 seconds after the y-direction clamp lever 214 is clamped,
The x-direction clamp lever 212 is unclamped,
0.5 seconds later, the x-direction clamp lever 212 is clamped again. When the x-direction clamp lever 212 is clamped again, one second after that, the z-direction clamp levers 224a, 224b, and 224c are clamped, and the base plate 101 is fixed to the clamp jig 24.

The numerical values of the operating times of the clamp levers described here are merely examples, and it is only necessary that the order of the operations of the clamping levers is not different, and the operating times are limited to the above numerical values. Not something.

{Explanation of the operation during movement from the first work station to the second work station} Next, the rotation operation of the index table 14 is performed. Here, as described above, the above-mentioned air operation is performed. Cylinder 216,22
The compressed air is supplied to the 0, 228a, 228b, and 228c via the rotating mechanism 23 arranged in the center of the index table 14. Therefore, even during rotation of the index table 14, the air cylinders 216, 220,
Compressed air is supplied to 228a, 228b, 228c,
It is possible to operate these. Therefore, in order to reduce the takt time, the above positioning operation is started when the index table 14 is stopped,
This is continuously performed even while the index table 14 is rotating. Therefore, when the base plate 101 is placed on the clamp jig 24 and the fingers 73 are retracted from the clamp jig 24, the index table 1 can be immediately moved.
4 becomes rotatable. However, since the index table cannot rotate until the operations of the other second to fourth work stations 18 to 22 are all completed, when the finger 73 retracts from the clamp jig 24 in the first work station 16. At the same time, the index table 14 does not start rotating.

{Description of Operation of Second Working Station} Next, the assembly operation of the second working station 18 will be described. As described above, the base plate 101 is positioned with respect to the clamp jig 24 while moving from the first work station 16 to the second work station 18, and the clamp jig 24 corresponds to the second work station 18. When stopped at the position, the base plate 101 is clamped while being positioned with respect to the clamp jig 24. (Measurement of Position of Heater Board) The operation of measuring the position of the heater board 102 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in step S130, the jig number of the clamp jig 24 currently positioned at the position of the second work station 18 is checked.

Since the height information of the clamp jig corresponding to each jig number is already stored in the storage section in the control device 78, in step S132, this clamp jig 2 is stored.
The reference position data of each clamp jig based on the height information of 4 is called from the storage unit.

In step S134, based on the reference position data, the stage 32 is moved vertically so that the first ITV camera 30 is located at the reference position with respect to the clamp jig 24.

In step S136, the first ITV camera 30 positioned at the reference position photographs the heater board 102 mounted on the base plate 101, and an autofocus unit (not shown) images the ITV camera 30. The focus position is detected based on the signal.

At step S138, the control device 78
The stage 32 is moved based on the detection signal from the autofocus unit, and the ITV camera 36 is focused on the heater 112 on the surface of the heater board 102. At this time, the amount of vertical movement of the stage 32 is measured and stored in the storage unit as height information of the surface of the heater board 102.

Next, in step S140, the first ITV
With the camera 30 in focus on the surface of the heater board 102, the first ITV camera 30 is used again.
The surface of the heater board 102 is photographed.

In step S142, the image information taken by the first ITV camera 30 is transferred to the image processing device 80.
To transmit.

Here, the image processing apparatus 80 is composed of various signal converters, calculates the position of the center of gravity of the captured image, performs edge detection, etc., and measures the position of a specific object in the captured image. Is configured to do. And
In this embodiment, the image processing apparatus 80 includes the xy of the heater 112 formed on the surface of the heater board 102.
It is designed to measure the directional position.

An identification mark is formed on the heater board 102 at a position corresponding to a specific heater 112.
Thereby, the position of the specific heater 112 can be measured. In this embodiment, this specific heater is set to the first front side heater (the leftmost heater when viewed from the direction of the arrow) in FIG. 3, and this heater is hereinafter referred to as the first heater. The reference numeral 112a is attached. The positioning accuracy of the index table 14, the shape accuracy of the clamp jig 24, the shape accuracy of the base plate 101, and the heater board 102 for the base plate 101.
The sticking accuracy of the first heater 112a and the first heater 112a
So that the positional deviation in the xy direction from the ITV camera 30 is less than 1/10 of the field of view of the first ITV camera 30,
Since it is set with high accuracy, the identification mark is the first IT
It does not deviate from the field of view of the V camera 30.

In step S144, the image processing device 80
Thus, the position of the first heater 112a in the xy direction is measured.

In step S146, step S144 is executed.
The data of the position in the xy direction measured in step 3 is stored in the storage unit.

Then, in step S148, a supply OK signal indicating that the top plate 104 may be supplied to the control device 78 is output, and the position measuring operation of the heater board 102 is completed.

(Description of Supplying Operation of Top Plate 104) Top Plate 10
4 is a tray 58 in which positioning portions are two-dimensionally formed.
(See FIG. 5), and the trays 58 are sequentially fed out one by one from the tray stocker 60 to a predetermined position.

The supply operation of the top plate 104 will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG.

In step S150, the top plate 104 is sucked from the tray 58 by the finger 68 attached to the tip of the NC auto hand 70, and the temporary positioning table 62 is attached.
Supplied on. The top plate 104 is movable on the temporary positioning table 62 by the actuators 62a and 62b and then movable in the xyz directions.
It is adsorbed by the finger 66 attached to the tip of the. Then, it is supplied onto the heater board 102 on the clamp jig 24 positioned at the position corresponding to the second work station 18. At this time, the stage 64 uses the heater board 102 measured in step S144.
The position is minutely corrected in accordance with the position data (position data of the first heater 112a) and is mounted on the heater board 102.

In steps S152 and S154, the stage 64 is retracted from the index table 14, and a supply end signal is output to inform that the supply of the top plate 104 is completed.

In step S156, the stage 64 moves to the temporary positioning position.

Next, in step S158, the air cylinder 88b is operated to rotate the front pressing member 84 in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 11, and the pressing spring 84b is used to rotate the top plate 104.
The orifice plate 108 is pressed against the heater board 102.

In step S160, the rotary air cylinder 250 is operated to raise the piston rod 250a, rotate 90 degrees, and then lower it again. By this operation, the coupling member 252 attached to the tip of the piston rod 250a meshes with the coupling 242 of the upper holding mechanism, the upper holding member 82 is rotated and moved from the retracted position to the clamp position, and then the upper holding member is pressed. The pressing spring 82b of the member 82 serves as the ink receiving port 11 of the top plate.
It comes to hold down just above 8.

The top plate 104 is clamped on the heater board 102 by the pressing action of the pressing springs 82b and 84b (the state shown in FIG. 14).

Then, in step S162, the work end signal is output, and the operation of the second work station 18 is ended.

{Explanation of the operation during movement from the second work station to the third work station} In the second work station 18, the operation of measuring the position of the heater board 102 and the operation of the top plate 104 on the heater board 102 are performed. When the clamping operation is completed, the index table 14 rotates and the clamping jig 24 moves the third working station 20.
Will be moved to.

Further, while the index table 14 is rotating, the first work station 18 measures the first measured value.
Position y1 of heater 112a and first heater 11 in design
2nd ITV by the difference (y1-y0) from the position y0 of 2a
The camera 36 is moved by the stage 40. Similarly, the stage 40 is moved based on the position data (z-direction position data) in the height direction of the heater board 102 measured at the second work station 18, and the height position of the second ITV camera 36 is moved. Adjust (z position).

{Explanation of the operation of the third work station} In the third work station 20, the operation of pressing the top plate 104 against the adjustment rod 42 (the operation of the top plate being moved to one side)
Then, the operation of adjusting the position of the top plate 104 by this adjusting rod is performed.

(Collecting operation of the top plate, and opening and pressing of the front presser) Concerning the operation of the top plate 104 to the one side, FIG.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

The operation of step S170 has already been completed while the index table 14 is rotating.

In step S172, the pressing mechanism 39
The leaf spring 264 is moved to a position on the right side of the top plate 104 by the y-direction slide table 260.

Next, in step S174, the leaf spring 264 is
Is moved in the x-direction by the x-direction slide table 262 and pushes the top plate 104 to move the top plate 104 into the adjusting rod 4.
Abut the tip of 2.

In step S175, the air cylinder 8 is
8c is operated to rotate the front pressing member 84 in the direction of arrow D in FIG. 11 to temporarily release the pressing of the orifice plate 108 by the pressing spring 84b. Then, the air cylinder 88b is operated to move the front pressing member 84 to the position shown in FIG.
Is rotated in the direction of arrow C, and the orifice plate 108 is pressed against the heater board 102 again by the front pressing spring 84b.

Next, in step S176, the leaf spring 26
4 is retracted from the front position of the clamp jig 24 by the operation of the x-direction slide table 262 and the y-direction slide table 260.

With the above, the biasing operation of the top plate 104 is completed.

(Description of Position Adjustment Operation of Top Plate 104) Next, the position adjustment operation of the top plate 104 will be further described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. 36 and FIG.

The position adjusting operation of the second ITV camera 36 in steps S180 and S182 has already been executed during the rotation operation of the index table 14, and the retreating operation of the leaf spring 264 in step S184 requires the top plate 10.
This is executed together with the end of the biasing operation of No. 4.

In step S186, the second ITV camera 36 photographs the orifice plate 108 of the top plate 104.

At this time, the position of the second ITV camera 36 in the y direction has already been adjusted in correspondence with the position of the heater board 102 in step S182, but the adjusted position is the second work station 18 It is calculated based on the position information of the first heater 112a measured in. Therefore, the position at which the second ITV camera 36 is positioned is the actual orifice plate 10
It is slightly different from the position where the surface of 8 is in focus.
Therefore, the focus of the second ITV camera 36 is not exactly on the surface of the orifice plate 108, but this has no practical effect for the following two reasons.

The first reason is that the second ITV camera 3
The objective lens 36a of No. 6 has a depth of focus of about several microns (about 5 μm in this embodiment), and it is not necessary to focus to an accuracy of 1 μm. Also,
The second reason is that in this embodiment, as will be described later,
Although the position of the discharge port 106 is detected by obtaining the center of gravity of the hole of the discharge port 106, the calculation of the position of the center of gravity of the hole is performed even if the subject is in a slightly defocused state. It is known from the experimental results that the accuracy of the results does not decrease.

Next, in step S188, the second IT
The image information captured by the V camera 36 is transmitted to the image processing device 80.

In step S190, the image processing device 80
Thus, the measurement operation of the position of the discharge port 106 of the top plate 104 is performed.

Here, in this step, the first heater 1
The position of the specific ejection port 106 corresponding to 12a is measured, and a method of detecting the specific ejection port 106 will be described. In this embodiment, since the first heater 112a is the heater located at the end on the heater board 102, the specific discharge port 106 here is also located at the end of the top plate 104. First discharge port 1
06a.

First, the position of the second ITV camera 36 is
The center position (design value) of the first heater 112 is the second I
It is set so as to come to the center of the field of view of the TV camera 36. Therefore, the second ITV camera 36 uses the first heater 1
The ejection port 106 located near the center position of 12 is imaged.

Here, based on the position data of the first heater 112a measured at the second work station 18, the image processing apparatus 80 positions the ejection port 106 at the position closest to the first heater 112a on the screen. To measure. Then, it is detected whether or not the ejection port 106 is present at a position one pitch to the left of the ejection port 106 located closest to the first heater 112a.

If the discharge port 106 does not exist at the position on the left side by one pitch, it is determined that the discharge port 106 closest to the first heater 112a is the endmost discharge port, that is, the first discharge port 106a. To do. Then, the previously measured position data is set as the position data of the first ejection port 106a.

The discharge port 106 is located at the position on the left side by one pitch.
If there is, it is detected whether or not the ejection port 106 is present at the position on the left side by one pitch. If the ejection port 106 does not exist at this position, it is determined that the ejection port 106 detected last is the ejection port at the end, that is, the first ejection port 106a.

If the ejection port 106 exists in the entire field of view of the second ITV camera 36, an error will occur. However, in actuality, as described above, before measuring the position of the discharge port 106, the top plate 104 is set so that the position of the first discharge port 106a is within one pitch with respect to the position of the first heater 112a. Since they are justified, there is almost no possibility of an error.

As described above, the second ITV camera 36
In order for the position of the first ejection port 106a and the position of the first ejection port 106a to coincide with each other to the extent that an error does not occur, the dimensional accuracy of the first ejection port 106a with respect to the outer shape of the top plate 104 is determined by
It is necessary to set the pitch of the heater board 102 to 1/3 or less of the pitch and the mounting accuracy of the heater board 102 to the base plate 101 to be 1/3 or less of the pitch.

As described above, the position of the specific ejection port, that is, the first ejection port 106a can be detected.

Next, in step S192, step S
Position data of the first ejection port 106a detected in 190,
The positional data of the first heater 112a measured at the second work station 18 are compared with each other to calculate the positional deviation amount.

In step S194, it is determined whether or not the positional deviation amount is within the target standard value. If the amount of positional deviation is within the target standard value, the process proceeds to step S206, and if the amount of positional deviation is outside the target standard value, step S1.
Proceeding to 96, the position adjustment operation of the top plate 104 is performed.

In step S206, since the position adjusting operation of the top plate 104 is completed, the adjusting rod 42 is retracted from the top plate 104, and in step S208, the third work station 2 is moved.
A signal indicating that the work of 0 is completed is output, and the process ends.

On the other hand, the top board 10 in step S196.
The position adjusting operation of No. 4 is executed by moving the adjusting rod 42 to the right in FIG. 15 by the stage 44. The amount of movement of the adjusting rod 42 at this time is determined by step S
The first heater 112a and the first discharge port 1 obtained in 192
The position shift amount of 06 is matched. Like this, the top plate 104
When the position adjustment operation of is performed, the process returns to step S172, and the operations of steps S172 to S194 are repeated.

Here, the meaning of the operation of once releasing the pressing of the orifice plate 108 and pressing it again in step S175 will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in step S174, the leaf spring 264 is
Is moved in the x direction, the top plate 104 abuts against the tip of the adjustment rod 42. At this time, the pressing spring 84b of the front pressing member 84 is moved to the top plate 104 as shown in FIG.
Will be deformed as it moves. If the pressing of the leaf spring 264 in the x direction is released in order to adjust the position of the top plate 104 in this state, the top plate 104 may be pushed back by the force of the pressing spring 84b to return to the original position and be displaced. is there. That is, even if the top plate 104 is intended to abut against the tip of the adjustment rod 42, a minute gap is created between the adjustment rod 42 and the top plate 104. Even if the adjustment rod 42 is accurately moved by the adjustment amount of the top plate in the state where the gap is formed,
The amount of movement of the top plate 104 does not match the amount of movement of the adjustment rod 42,
The position of the top plate 104 will not be accurately adjusted.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the leaf spring 2
After the top plate 104 is abutted against the tip of the adjusting rod 42 by 64, the clamped state of the pressing spring 84b is once released,
By setting the clamp state again, the pressing spring 84b is returned to the natural state as shown in FIG. 37 (c). As a result, even if the pressing of the leaf spring 264 is released as shown in FIG. 37 (d), the top plate 104 remains in the state of being accurately abutted against the tip of the adjusting rod 42, and the top plate 104 of The reproducibility of the butting process is improved.

As described above, with the top plate 104 accurately abutting the tip of the adjustment rod 42, the adjustment rod 42 is replaced with the first heater 112a obtained in step S192 as shown in FIG. 37 (e). The position of the top plate 104 is adjusted by moving the first ejection port 106 by the amount of positional deviation. Also in this position adjustment stage, the pressing spring 84b is deformed as shown in FIG. Then, if the adjusting rod 42 is separated from the top plate 104 in this state, the top plate 104 may be pushed back by the force of the pressing spring 84b to return to the original position and may be displaced from the correct position. .

Therefore, in this embodiment, after the position of the top plate 104 is adjusted in step S196, the process returns to step S172 again, and as shown in FIG. 37 (f), the position of the top plate 104 is once adjusted by the leaf spring 264. Is pressed against the tip of the adjusting rod 42. Then, in this state, the pressing spring 84
The clamped state of b is once released, and then the clamped state is resumed. By this operation, the pressing spring 84b is moved to the position shown in FIG.
It returns to the natural state as shown in 7 (g). In this state, even if the leaf spring 264 and the adjusting rod 42 are separated from the top plate 104, the top plate 104 does not move from the adjusted position. Therefore, in step S176, FIG.
First, separate the leaf spring 264 from the top plate 104 as shown in
Then, in step S206, the adjustment rod 42 is retracted from the top plate 104 as shown in FIG.

As described above, in the step of pressing the top plate 104 against the adjustment rod 42 and the step of adjusting the position of the top plate 104, the pressing spring 84b is temporarily released from the clamp, and the operation is performed again. Top plate 104
The position adjustment accuracy of will be dramatically improved.

When the position of the top plate 104 is adjusted, the top plate 104 holds the pressing springs 82b and 84b.
It is held down by. That is, the top plate 104 has a friction force between the springs and the top plate 104, which is generated by the urging force of the pressing springs 82b and 84b, or the top plate 1
It is held by the frictional force between 04 and the heater board 102. Therefore, it is possible to move these members to the next fourth work station 22 while maintaining the positional relationship between the heater board 102 and the top plate 104 without performing temporary fixing using an ultraviolet curable adhesive or the like. it can.

{Explanation of the operation of the fourth work station} When the position adjusting operation of the top plate 104 in the third work station 20 is completed, the index table 14 rotates and the top plate 104 is clamped by the pressing springs 82b and 84b. In this state, the clamp jig 24 is positioned on the fourth work station 22. Then, at the fourth work station 22, a pressing spring 120 for fixing the top plate 104 to the base plate 101 is attached to the base plate 101.

The mounting operation of the pressing spring 120 is shown in the flow chart of FIG. 38, and FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in step S210, the gantry 1
The first drive mechanism 86 disposed on the upper side 2 is operated to retract the upper pressing member 82 to the retracted position shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. As a result, since there is no member that becomes an obstacle above the top plate 104, the pressing spring 120 is
It is possible to mount the base plate 101 from above the top plate 104.

Next, in step S212, the assembling finger 47 attracts the pressing spring 120 taken out by the separating mechanism 54, and the pressing spring 120 is moved to the base by the operation shown in FIGS. Board 10
Attach to 1.

Upon completion of this mounting work, step S2
At 14, the assembling fingers 47 are retracted from above the clamp jig.

Then, in step S216, a completion signal notifying that the work of the fourth work station 22 is completed is output, and the process returns to the start.

Thus, one cycle of assembling operation from the first work station 16 to the fourth work station 22 is completed.

In the above description, the operation from the first work station 16 to the fourth work station 22 has been described in order, but when the assembling apparatus 10 is actually operating, the first work station 16 to the fourth work station 22 are operated. Each work station up to four work stations 22 is working at the same time, and the takt time of this assembling apparatus 10 is the first
The same tact time of the work station that takes the longest time up to the fourth work station.

As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, the front pressing member is released / contacted while the top plate is abutted, and the operation of avoiding the deformation of the pressing spring of the front pressing member is performed. Therefore, the adjustment accuracy is improved. Moreover, the adjustment is completed once when the conventional adjustment was performed three to four times.

[Other Embodiments] In the above-described embodiment, the index table is stopped at four positions every 90 degrees, and the assembling work is carried out at the four work stations arranged corresponding to these stop positions. I explained an example,
Assembly work was added after the 4th work station 5
A split or six split assembly device is also conceivable.

Therefore, in this other embodiment, the base plate 1
The drive part of the clamp lever for clamping 01 is arranged outside the index table, the base plate 101 is set aside at the first work station, the base plate 101 is positioned at the second work station, and the third work is performed. Position measurement of heater board at station and top board 104
Of the top plate 104 at the fourth work station.
A five-part splitting assembly device will be described in which the position measurement and position adjustment are performed and the pressing spring 120 is assembled at the fifth work station.

Regarding the configuration of another embodiment, FIG. 39 and FIG.
0, with reference to FIG. 41.

FIG. 39 is a plan view schematically showing the structure of an assembling apparatus 500 of another embodiment. An index table 514 is arranged on the upper surface of the gantry 512, and five clamp jigs 516 are arranged on the upper surface of the index table 514. The work station located on the upper side in the drawing is the first work station 518, and the second work station 520 to the fifth work station 520 are arranged on the gantry 512 in the clockwise order from the first work station 518. A station 526 is located.

Then, in the third work station 522, a first ITV camera 530 for measuring the position of the heater board 102 is arranged in a state of being attached to the support column 532 via a stage (not shown). There is. Further, the stage 536 to which the finger 534 for supplying the top plate 104 is attached is arranged at a position corresponding to the third work station 522 together with the stock portion 538. These detailed configurations are the same as in the above-described embodiment.

At the fourth work station 524, the top plate 1
Second ITV camera 550 for measuring 04 position
A position adjusting mechanism 552 is arranged, and a vibrating ball feeder 554 for supplying the pressing spring 120 and an assembling auto hand 556 are arranged at the fifth work station 526.

Next, FIG. 40 is a plan view showing the structure of the clamp jig 516.

On the upper surface of the jig body 560, clamp levers 562 and 564 formed in a substantially L shape are respectively provided on the shaft 56.
It is mounted rotatably in the horizontal plane around 6,568. Extension springs 570 and 572 are attached to one ends of the clamp levers 562 and 564, respectively. The tension springs 570 and 572 have one ends fixed to the fixing portions 574 and 576, respectively. Therefore, the clamp levers 562 and 564 are biased in the counterclockwise direction by the tension springs 570 and 572, and the other ends of the clamp levers 562 and 564 come into contact with the base plate 101, so that the base plate 101 is released. 1
01 is pressed against the positioning pins 577a, 577b, 577c.

The slide shafts 578 and 580 have hemispherical abutting portions 578a and 580a at one end, and the mounting members 582a, 582b, 584a and 58.
It is attached to the jig main body 560 so as to be slidable along the y-axis direction via 4b. Further, these slide shafts 578 and 580 are attached to the tension spring 57.
A spring (not shown), which is weaker than 0,572, urges the spring toward the upper side in the drawing, so that the abutting portion 578 at the tip end portion is pressed.
a and 580a are always held in contact with the clamp levers 562 and 564, respectively. An air cylinder 58 is provided at a position outside the index table 514 of the first and second work stations 518 and 520.
6, 588 are arranged, and these air cylinders 5
By operating 86 and 588, the clamp lever 5
62 and 564 are rotated clockwise, and the base plate 10
The clamped state of 1 is released.

Further, as shown in FIG. 41 which is a side sectional view of the clamp jig 516, the clamp lever 590a having a hemispherical projection at the tip end is provided on the upper surface of the jig body 560.
590b is rotatably supported in the vertical plane by shafts 592a and 592b. The clamp levers 590a and 590b are respectively provided with a torsion spring 594.
a and 594b, the base plate 101 is moved to the jig body 560.
It is urged to push it upwards. Rods 596a and 596b having a stepped portion in the center are inserted into through holes formed in the jig body 560 and the index table 514.

Air cylinders 598 and 600 are arranged below the index table 14 at positions corresponding to the first and second work stations 518 and 520, respectively.
By operating these air cylinders 598 and 600, the clamp levers 590a and 590b are respectively pushed up, and the clamped state of the base plate 101 is released.
Although not shown here, the clamp lever 590c
A similar mechanism is arranged for.

In this embodiment, since the base plate 101 is clamped and released by the air cylinder arranged outside the index table 514, the compressed air is guided to the air cylinder on the index table 514. There is no need to arrange piping, etc. Further, since it is not necessary to arrange an air cylinder for each clamp jig 24 on the index table 514, the number of air cylinders can be reduced and the cost of the assembling apparatus can be reduced. However, on the other hand, the index table 51
Since the base plate 101 cannot be positioned during the rotation of 4, the tact time becomes long when the base plate 101 is positioned with respect to the clamp jig 24 only by the first work station 518. .

Therefore, in this embodiment, at the first work station 518, the air cylinders 586, 58 are used.
8,598,600 is operated quickly, the base plate 101
Only the temporary positioning of the second work station 5
20 again, air cylinders 586, 588, 598, 6
00 is slowly moved to precisely position the base plate 101.

By doing so, it is possible to prevent the takt time of only one work station from being lengthened and prolong the takt time of the entire assembling apparatus 500.

It should be noted that, also in the other embodiment, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the communication terminal device 5 having the same structure as that of the first embodiment.
95 and 597 are arranged, and the control device 602 arranged on the index table 514 and the control device 78 arranged outside the index table 514 communicate with each other.

The present invention can be applied to the modified or modified embodiment described above without departing from the spirit of the invention.

[0210]

As described above, according to the present invention,
While maintaining the state where the top plate member is pressed against the heater board by the pressing means, the position of the top plate is adjusted by the position adjusting means, and then the pressing state of the top plate by the pressing means is once released, and the pressing state is restored. Since the deformation of the pressing means is released, the top plate is not pushed back after the position adjustment, and the position of the top plate can be adjusted accurately with a small number of adjustments.

[0211]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic structure of an inkjet cartridge.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a structure of a head nozzle portion.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a structure of a head nozzle portion.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a structure of a heater board.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of an inkjet head assembling apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the apparatus for assembling the inkjet head shown in FIG. 5, as viewed from diagonally above.

7 is a partially enlarged view showing an enlarged portion of the index table in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing the structure of a temporary positioning table.

9 is an enlarged view of the central portion of the temporary positioning table in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a side sectional view of a temporary positioning table.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing the structure of a clamp jig.

FIG. 12 is a plan view of FIG. 11 seen from above.

FIG. 13 is a front view of the clamp jig viewed from the outer peripheral side of the index table.

FIG. 14 is a side sectional view of FIG. 11 viewed from the direction of arrow E.

FIG. 15 is a plan view partially showing the configuration of a third work station.

FIG. 16 is a diagram schematically showing an arrangement state of air cylinders in the assembling apparatus of one embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of an assembling finger.

FIG. 18 is a side view of the assembling finger.

FIG. 19 is a diagram for explaining a mounting operation of the pressing spring.

FIG. 20 is a diagram for explaining a mounting operation of the pressing spring.

FIG. 21 is a view for explaining the attaching operation of the pressing spring.

FIG. 22 is a diagram for explaining a mounting operation of the pressing spring.

FIG. 23 is a diagram for explaining a mounting operation of the pressing spring.

FIG. 24 is a perspective view showing a state in which a pressing spring is attached to a base plate.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart showing the overall operation of the assembling apparatus of one embodiment.

FIG. 26 is a diagram for explaining an operation of loading an unfinished product from a pallet and an operation of discharging a finished product from the pallet.

FIG. 27 is a side view showing a structure of a hand for placing a finished product on a pallet and taking out an unfinished product.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing an operation of placing a finished product on a pallet and taking out an unfinished product.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing an operation of placing an unfinished product on a clamp jig and taking out the completed product.

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing an operation of placing an unfinished product on a clamp jig and taking out the completed product.

FIG. 31 is a flowchart for explaining an unfinished product supply operation and a completed product discharge operation in the first work station.

FIG. 32 is a flowchart illustrating a positioning operation of the base plate.

FIG. 33 is a timing chart showing a clamp operation of the base plate.

FIG. 34 is a flowchart illustrating a heater board position measuring operation.

FIG. 35 is a flowchart illustrating a top plate supply operation.

FIG. 36 is a flowchart illustrating a position adjusting operation of the top plate.

FIG. 37 is a diagram for explaining the position adjusting operation of the top plate.

FIG. 38 is a flowchart illustrating a mounting operation of the pressing spring.

FIG. 39 is a plan view showing the structure of an inkjet head assembling apparatus of another embodiment.

FIG. 40 is a plan view showing the structure of a clamp jig used in an inkjet head assembling apparatus of another embodiment.

41 is a front view of the jig shown in FIG. 40 as seen from the front side.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Assembly Device 12 Frame 14 Index Table 16 First Working Station 18 Second Working Station 20 Third Working Station 22 Fourth Working Station 23 Rotation Mechanism 24 Clamp Jig 26 Conveyor Belt 27 Pallet 28 Return Belt 30 First ITV Camera 32 Stage 34 Strut 36 Second ITV camera 38 Position adjustment mechanism 39 Pressing mechanism 40 Stage 42 Adjusting rod 44 Stage 46 Auto hand 47 Assembly finger 48 Supply mechanism 50 Vibratory ball feeder 52 Vibratory linear feeder 54 1 separation mechanism 56 Stand 58 Tray 60 Tray stocker 62 Temporary positioning base 64 Stage 66 Finger 68 Finger 70 NC auto hand 72 NC auto hand 74 Mounting base 76 Frame 78 Control unit 80 Image Processing Device 82 Upper Pressing Member 84 Front Pressing Member 86 First Driving Mechanism 88 Second Driving Mechanism 100 Head Nozzle 101 Base Plate 102 Heater Board 104 Top Plate 106 Discharge Port 108 Orifice Plate 112 Heater 118 Ink Receiving Port 120 Pressing Spring 150 Inkjet Cartridge 152 Ink tank 202 Base plate 204 Jig body 206a, 206b, 206c Positioning pin 208 Strut 210 Strut 212 x-direction clamp lever 214 y-direction clamp lever 215 Support substrate 216 Air cylinder 218 Support substrate 220 Air cylinder 222 Support members 224a, 224b, 224c z-direction clamp lever 226a, 226b, 226c rotating shaft 228a, 228b, 228c air cylinder 230 a, 230b Support substrate 232 Rotating shaft 234 Grooved plate 234a First groove 234b Second groove 236 Guide cylinder 236a, 236b Groove 238 Slide shaft 240 Positioning pin 242 Coupling member 244 Fixing ring 246 Compression spring 248 Main body 250 Rotary air cylinder 252 Coupling member 260 y-direction slide table 262 x-direction slide table 264 leaf spring 270 main body 272 pushing member 274 stopper member 276 compression spring 278 guide rod 280 set screw 282 compression spring 284 pipe 286 sealing member 290 calibration component 500 assembly device 512 Frame 514 Index table 516 Clamping jig 518 1st work station 520 2nd work station 522 3rd work station 524 4th work station 526 5th work station 530 1st ITV camera 532 Strut 534 Finger 536 Stage 538 Stock section 550 2nd ITV camera 552 Position adjustment mechanism 554 Vibration type ball feeder 556 Assembly auto hand 560 Jig body 562 564 Clamp lever 566,568 Shaft 570,572 Extension spring 574,576 Fixed part 577a, 577b, 577c Positioning pin 578,580 Slide shaft 582a, 582b Attachment member 584a, 584b Attachment member 586,588 Air cylinder 590a, 590a Clamp lever 59 , 592b Shafts 594a, 594b Torsion springs 596a, 596b Rods 598,600 Air cylinders 702 Positioning bases Body 705 air passageway 706, 712 stages 708,714 air cylinder 710,716 biasing spring 718 y stage 720 x stage 722 z stage

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An inkjet printer assembled from a heater board having a plurality of heaters for heating ink and a top plate member having a plurality of ejection holes through which ink heated by the corresponding heaters is ejected in a jet shape. A method of adjusting the position of a top plate member in a head, comprising placing the top plate member on the heater board, and pressing the top plate member by a pressing means for pressing the top plate member to the heater board. A first step of pressing the top plate member against the board by a position adjusting means for adjusting the position of the top plate member while maintaining the pressing state of the top plate member to the heater board by the pressing means; A second step of adjusting the position with respect to the heater board, and a third step of temporarily releasing the pressing state of the pressing means and returning to the pressing state. A method of adjusting the position of a top plate member in an inkjet head, comprising: a step; and a fourth step of releasing the engagement of the position adjusting means with the top plate member. 2. The position adjusting means comprises a position adjusting rod for pushing and moving the top plate member in one direction, and a biasing means for abutting the top plate member against the position adjusting rod, In the second step, a first sub-step of abutting the top plate member against the adjusting rod by the urging means and a second sub-step of temporarily releasing the pressing state by the pressing means and setting the pressing state again A third step of releasing the state in which the top plate member is abutted against the adjusting rod by the urging means;
And a fourth sub-step of pressing the top plate member in one direction by the adjusting rod to adjust the position of the top plate member with respect to the heater board, and the biasing means for the top plate member. The method of adjusting the position of the top plate member in the inkjet head according to claim 1, further comprising: a fifth sub-step of abutting against the adjusting rod again.