JPH09199844A - Soldering device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a soldering device of which the efficiency of soldering work is improved and has a small size. SOLUTION: A soldering device is provided with a carrying conveyor 11 for carrying board P, a solder tank 13 having a nozzle 24 for making solder jet, a robot 14 for soldering the board P and a control device for controlling this robot 14. After the board P carried by the conveyor 11 is gripped by a gripping mechanism of the robot 14, this board P is moved over the tank 13, then, a specified position of the board P is brought into contact with a jetting solder from the nozzle 24 of the tank 13 to solder the board P and after that, the board P is moved to the conveyor 11 and the gripping of said board p is released.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a soldering apparatus suitable for use in soldering a plate-shaped article to be soldered, such as a circuit board on which electronic components are mounted.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a jet soldering apparatus has been widely used for soldering a product to be soldered such as a printed circuit board. As is well known, a jet soldering apparatus performs soldering by contacting or immersing a printed circuit board on which electronic components are mounted with a jet solder in a solder bath.

In recent years, as electronic components have become more highly integrated and miniaturized, highly integrated components such as ICs and chip components and components having leads such as capacitors have been densely mounted on a printed circuit board. It is mixed. When applying the conventional jet soldering method to solder such a printed circuit board, in order to partially solder a predetermined portion of the printed circuit board, for example, a partial soldering device as shown below is used. ing.

As shown in FIG. 5, one solder tank 1
Nozzles 2, 3, and 4 corresponding to the number, position, and area of portions to be partially soldered are provided.
The configuration is such that solder is jetted from 3 and 4. The transport conveyor 5 is provided with an up-down mechanism (not shown) for raising and lowering the height. In this case, in order to partially solder the printed circuit board P, when the printed circuit board P is transported above the solder tank 1 by the transport conveyor 5, the transport conveyor 5 is lowered by the vertical mechanism, and the lower surface of the printed circuit board P is Is brought into contact with or immersed in the jet solder from the nozzles 2, 3, and 4, so that only a predetermined portion is partially soldered.

[0005]

However, the conventional soldering apparatus as described above has the following problems. First, the area, position, and the like to be soldered may vary depending on the type and shape of the component to be soldered. Then, the nozzles must be prepared according to the area and position to be soldered, which increases the manufacturing cost of the nozzles. In addition, if the size of the opening of the nozzle is different, the jet height or the like will be different. Therefore, in order to solder with good quality, soldering conditions must be set for each nozzle. There is a problem that it takes a lot of time to take out. In addition, when actually performing the soldering operation, the nozzle must be replaced every time the area or position to be soldered changes, which also takes time.

This problem becomes more remarkable when a single solder tank 1 is provided with a plurality of nozzles 2, 3, and 4, as shown in FIG.

[0007] When the parts to be soldered are close to each other, the interval between the nozzles 2, 3, and 4 is narrowed, which may be affected by the jet flow from another adjacent nozzle.

Further, in the conventional soldering apparatus, since not only the solder tank 1 but also a preheater, a fluxer, a dryer, and the like are provided along the conveyor 5 below, the apparatus extends the conveyor 5. It becomes longer in the direction. Then, the line for installing the soldering device becomes long, and the layout in the factory is restricted.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a soldering apparatus capable of improving the efficiency of soldering work and reducing the size of the apparatus.

[0010]

The invention according to claim 1 is
A transport unit that transports a plate-shaped soldered object to be soldered, and a nozzle that has a predetermined size and is installed at a position different from that of the transport unit, and causes the solder to flow upward A solder tank, a robot having a gripping mechanism that is movable within a predetermined range and that holds the soldered product to be soldered, and a control unit that controls the robot, wherein the control unit includes: The soldered product conveyed by the conveyor is gripped by the gripping mechanism of the robot, and the soldered product is moved above the solder bath to move the soldered product at a predetermined position. After the solder is brought into contact with the jet solder from the nozzle of the solder tank, the robot is moved so that the soldered article to be soldered is moved to the transport unit to release the grip of the article to be soldered. It is characterized in that there is a Gosuru configuration.

The invention according to claim 2 is the soldering apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle of the solder bath is
The controller has an opening smaller than an area to be soldered, and when the control unit solders the soldered article in the solder bath, the soldered article is jetted from the nozzle. It is characterized in that it is configured to control so as to perform soldering within a predetermined range by moving it in the horizontal direction while being in contact with.

The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2
In the soldering device described in the above, the control unit controls to incline the soldered product after it has been soldered in the solder bath when the soldered product is lifted from the jet solder in the solder bath. It is characterized by being said.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a soldering device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 1, a partial soldering device (soldering device) 10 comprises a conveyer conveyor (conveying unit) 1.
1, an oxide removing device 12, a solder tank 13, a robot 14, and a control device (not shown) for controlling these components. The transport conveyor 11, the oxide removing device 12, the solder tank 13 Are arranged so as to surround the robot 14.

The transport conveyor 11 is provided with transport rails 15A, 15A, 15B and 15B, which are arranged parallel to each other along one horizontal direction, on the supply side and the discharge side. These transport rails 15A, 15A, 15B, 15
The substrate B is to be transported while supporting both ends of a substrate (a product to be soldered) P to be soldered.

As shown in FIG. 1, the oxide removing device 12 comprises a so-called fluxer or the like, and oxidizes the soldering portion of the substrate P to be soldered by using various chemicals or other oxide removing means. It removes things. Further, a laser can be used as the oxide removing means.

As shown in FIG. 3, the solder bath 13 is
A so-called jet-flow type heater 23 for melting solder therein, a heater control device (not shown) for controlling the operation of the heater 23, and a nozzle 24 for jetting the solder melted by the heater 23 are provided. It is provided with a configuration. The nozzle 24 has an opening area of a predetermined size smaller than the area of the portion to be soldered, for example, and is formed in the center of the solder bath 13, for example.

The robot 14 is a so-called vertical multi-axis type robot, which is provided on a base 26 and has an arm portion 28 having a plurality of joint portions and capable of turning, swinging, and bending, and the arm portion 28. It is composed of an attachment 29 provided on the tip end portion and capable of swinging in a vertical plane, and a gripping mechanism 30 attached to the attachment 29. The gripping mechanism 30 has a substantially U-shape, and the substrate P can be gripped and released by opening and closing the chuck portions 30a on both sides thereof in a direction to separate and approach each other.

Then, the robot 14 as described above is designed to perform a predetermined operation based on input coordinates that have been taught in advance.

Next, a method of controlling the partial soldering apparatus 10 having such a structure and a method of soldering the board P using the same will be described. The operations described below are all automatically controlled based on a program previously input to a control device (not shown).

First, the board P to be soldered is supplied onto the transport rails 15A, 15A with the electronic components mounted at predetermined positions in the previous step.

The transfer rails 15A and 15A support both ends of the supplied substrate P, and they are transferred at a predetermined speed and stopped by a stopper mechanism (not shown) when reaching a predetermined position.

After that, the robot 14 solders the substrate P as follows. For this, first, the arm unit 28 of the robot 14 is turned, rocked, bent, or the like, and the gripping mechanism 30 is moved to the supply-side transport rails 15A, 15A.
It is positioned vertically above the upper substrate P.

Subsequently, the arm portion 28 is actuated to lower the chuck portions 30a, 30a of the gripping mechanism 30 with the chuck portions 30a, 30a facing downward, and position the chuck portions 30a, 30a on both sides of the substrate P. Then, the gripping mechanism 30 is closed and the substrate P is gripped by the chuck units 30a, 30a.

Then, the arm portion 28 is actuated so that the grasped substrate P is swung to a position vertically above the oxide removing apparatus 12. Then, the arm portion 28 is operated to lower the gripped substrate P, and the solder removing portion (lower surface) is subjected to an oxide removing process by the oxide removing device 12.

After the oxide removal processing of the substrate P is completed, the arm portion 28 is operated to raise and rotate the gripping mechanism 30 to position the substrate P vertically above the solder bath 13. At this time, the portion of the substrate P to be soldered is positioned vertically above the nozzle 24.

Then, as shown in FIG.
8, the substrate P is lowered, and a predetermined position of the soldering surface (lower surface) is brought into contact with or immersed in the jet solder from the nozzle 24 formed at the center of the solder tank 13 to partially solder. I do. At this time, the nozzle 24
Is set to an opening area smaller than the area of the position where the substrate P is to be soldered, so that the soldering surface of the substrate P is kept in contact with or immersed in the jet solder from the nozzle 24, and the arm 28 Is operated to move the substrate P in a horizontal plane, thereby performing partial soldering of a predetermined area.

After the soldering of the substrate P is completed, the arm portion 2
8 is operated to pull up the substrate P from the jet solder from the nozzle 24. At this time, in order to improve the sharpness of the solder on the lower surface of the substrate P, as shown in FIG.
The substrate P is tilted by turning the attachment 29 at a predetermined angle in the vertical plane while raising the pressure.

When there are a plurality of places to be soldered on one substrate P, after the soldering at one place is completed as described above, the arm portion 28 is operated to move the substrate P, and The position to be soldered to is located vertically above the nozzle 24. Thereafter, soldering of a predetermined area is performed in the same manner as described above.

After the soldering of the board P is completed in this way, the gripping mechanism 30 that holds the board P by actuating the arm 28 is moved to the delivery side transport rails 15B, 15B.
It is located vertically above the center of B. Then, the gripping mechanism 30 is lowered by the arm unit 28 to transfer the substrate P to the transport rail 1.
Place on 5B and 15B. Subsequently, the chuck portions 30a of the gripping mechanism 30 are opened to release the substrate P.

Then, the transfer conveyor 11 is operated to discharge the substrate P at a predetermined speed. In this way, the soldering operation of one substrate P, that is, the operation of one cycle is completed.

Then, the soldering operation of the next substrate P is continuously performed, and the substrate P to be soldered next is on the supply side while the first substrate P is soldered by the robot 14. It stands by on the transport rails 15A and 15A. Thereafter, the second substrate P
Soldering.

In the partial soldering apparatus 10 described above, the transfer conveyor 11 for transferring the substrate P, and the transfer conveyor 1
1, a solder tank 13 having a nozzle 24 for jetting solder, a robot 14 for soldering the substrate P, and a control device (not shown) for controlling the robot 14 are provided. Configuration. Then, the conveyor 14 is held by the gripping mechanism 30 of the robot 14.
After the substrate P conveyed in step 1 is gripped, the substrate P is moved above the solder tank 13, and then a predetermined position of the substrate P is brought into contact with the solder jet from the nozzle 24 of the solder tank 13. The robot is controlled by the control device so that the substrate P is moved to the conveyor 11 and the gripping of the substrate P is released after the soldering. In this way, the substrate P is
Even if the soldering position, the area, etc. are different, the operation of the robot 14 is changed (only by teaching) by moving the robot on the nozzle 24 and soldering.
Can respond to this. Therefore, unlike the related art, there is no need to prepare a nozzle in accordance with the soldering area and position, so that the manufacturing cost of the nozzle can be reduced, the trouble of setting the conditions can be reduced, and the trouble of replacing the nozzle can be further reduced. be able to. Thereby, the efficiency of the soldering operation of the substrate P can be greatly improved. In addition, even when there are a plurality of soldering locations on one substrate P, one nozzle 24 can cope with such a situation. Therefore, as in the conventional case, there is a plurality of nozzles in one solder bath. It is not affected by jets from other adjacent nozzles.

The nozzle 24 of the solder bath 13 has an opening smaller than the area to be soldered, and when the substrate P is soldered, the substrate P contacts the jet solder from the nozzle 24. It is configured to carry out soldering within a predetermined range by moving it in the horizontal direction in this state. In this way, by performing soldering with the nozzle 24 having a small opening, it is possible to cope with soldering of various areas from small to large with a single nozzle 24. The above effects can be further remarkably enhanced. In addition, if the nozzle 24 is small, the amount of the jet flow of the solder is naturally small, and the generation of solder oxide can be suppressed. Therefore,
Conventionally, in order to suppress the oxidation of solder, the entire soldering device or only the solder tank was enclosed in a nitrogen atmosphere.However, since the enclosed portion was small, the size of the cover etc. could be reduced.
Simplification can be achieved.

Further, when the substrate P after being soldered in the solder bath 13 is lifted from the jet solder, the robot 14 tilts the substrate P. This makes it possible to improve the sharpness of the solder on the soldering surface of the substrate P, thereby preventing the solder from bridging with other soldering locations and improving the quality. Since this operation can also be handled by the robot 14, there is no need to employ any special structure for the transport conveyor 11 or the like, and the above-described effects can be obtained at low cost.

In addition, in the operating range of the robot 13, an oxide removing device 12 for removing the oxide on the soldered portion of the substrate P to be soldered is provided. This allows
The substrate P can be moved to the oxide removing device 12 by the robot 14 to perform an oxide removing process on the substrate P to be soldered.

Furthermore, the conveyor 11, the oxide removing device 12, and the solder bath 13 are separately installed. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the size of the partial soldering device 10 while suppressing the length in one direction, and as a result, it is possible to shorten the line length and increase the layout flexibility in the factory. Become.

In the above embodiment, in order to solder the substrate P in a predetermined range, the substrate P is attached to the nozzle 2
4 is moved in the horizontal direction while being in contact with the jet solder, but when the area to be soldered is small, the substrate P is simply moved up and down in the vertical direction to contact the jet solder. You may make it attach. Further, in order to improve productivity, the nozzles 24 may be prepared in a plurality of sizes, and may be appropriately replaced. The same applies to the position of the nozzle. Further, the operation of the partial soldering device 10 is not limited to the above example, and it goes without saying that the operations overlap each other to the extent that they do not interfere with each other, for example, in order to shorten the cycle time.

In addition, the structure of each part of the partial soldering apparatus 10 is not limited to the above example, and for example, the oxide removing method of the oxide removing apparatus 12 is not limited at all. In addition, not only the oxide removing device 12 but also other devices such as a preheater and a dryer may be installed within the operating range of the robot 14. Note that these oxide removing device 12, preheater,
The dryer and the like are provided on the transfer rails 15 and 15 of the transfer conveyor 11.
It may be configured to be installed below.

Further, the structure and type of the robot 14 are not limited to those described above. For example, the number of axes may be increased, or a horizontal multi-axis type such as a scalar type may be adopted. Good.

[0041]

As described above, according to the soldering apparatus of the first aspect, the carrying section for carrying the article to be soldered and the carrying section are installed at different positions and have a predetermined size. A solder tank for jetting solder upward from a nozzle having an opening, a robot having a gripping mechanism that is movable within a predetermined range and grips the soldered article to be soldered, and the robot. A control unit for controlling, wherein the control unit grips the soldered article conveyed by the conveying section by the grasping mechanism, moves the soldered article above the solder bath, and determines its position. After contacting with the jet solder from the nozzle of the solder bath for soldering, the soldered article to be soldered is moved to the conveying section to release the grip of the article to be soldered.
Thus, even when the soldering area, the number, the position, etc. are different, this can be dealt with only by changing the operation of the robot holding the article to be soldered (only by teaching). Therefore, unlike the conventional case, it is not necessary to prepare the nozzle according to the soldering area and the position, the manufacturing cost of the nozzle can be reduced, the labor for setting the condition can be omitted, and the labor for replacing the nozzle can be further reduced. It can be omitted. Also, even if there are multiple soldering points on one piece of soldered product, one nozzle can be used. The problem of being affected by the jet flow from another adjacent nozzle does not occur. Furthermore, since the transport unit and the solder tank are separately installed, it is possible to suppress the length of the soldering device from increasing in one direction. It is possible to shorten the length and increase the degree of freedom in layout.

According to the soldering device of the second aspect,
The nozzle of the solder bath is configured to have an opening smaller than the area to be soldered, and when soldering the soldered product, the soldered product is in contact with the jet solder from the nozzle. The robot is controlled by the control unit so as to perform soldering within a predetermined range by moving the robot horizontally. In this way, by moving the substrate on the nozzle by the robot and soldering with a nozzle with a small opening, it is possible to support soldering of various areas from small to large with a small number of nozzles. As a result, this nozzle can be made highly versatile, and the above effects can be made even more prominent. In addition, if the nozzle is small, the amount of the jet flow of the solder is naturally small, and the generation of the oxide of the solder can be suppressed. Therefore, the entire soldering apparatus or only the solder bath is surrounded by a nitrogen atmosphere in order to suppress the oxidation of the solder, but since the surrounding area is small, the cover and the like can be downsized and simplified. .

According to the soldering device of the third aspect,
The controller is configured to control the robot so that the soldered article after being soldered in the solder tank is inclined when it is lifted from the jet solder. This makes it possible to improve the sharpness of the solder on the soldering surface of the article to be soldered, and to prevent the solder from bridging with another soldering location and improve the quality. Since this operation can also be handled by the robot, there is no need to employ any special structure in the transfer section or the like, and the above-described effects can be obtained at low cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an example of a partial soldering device to which a soldering device according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the soldering device.

FIG. 3 is an elevational view showing a robot and a solder tank constituting the soldering device.

FIG. 4 is an elevation view showing a state where the soldered article is tilted after soldering by the robot.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a conventional soldering device, and is a vertical sectional view showing a part of the soldering device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Partial soldering apparatus (soldering apparatus) 11 Conveyor (transport part) 13 Solder tank 14 Robot 30 Grasping mechanism P Substrate (Solder)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A solder transporting device for transporting a plate-shaped soldered product to be soldered, and a solder which is installed at a position different from that of the transporting device and has an opening of a predetermined size, which is used to lift the solder upward. And a robot having a gripping mechanism that is movable in a predetermined range and has a gripping mechanism that grips the soldered object to be soldered, and a controller that controls the robot. In the control unit, the soldered product conveyed by the transfer unit is gripped by the gripping mechanism of the robot, and the soldered product is moved above the solder bath to remove the soldered product. After the predetermined position is brought into contact with the jet solder from the nozzle of the solder bath to be soldered, the soldered article to be soldered is moved to the transfer unit to release the grip of the article to be soldered, Soldering apparatus characterized in that it is configured to control the serial robot. 2. The soldering apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle of the solder bath has an opening that is smaller than an area to be soldered, and the control unit causes the soldered article to be soldered. When the soldering is performed in the solder bath, the soldered article is controlled to be moved in the horizontal direction in a state of being in contact with the jet solder from the nozzle so as to perform soldering within a predetermined range. The soldering device characterized in that 3. The soldering apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control unit solders the article to be soldered in the solder bath, and then the article to be soldered is jetted from the solder bath in the solder bath. A soldering device characterized in that it is controlled so as to be inclined when it is raised.