JPH11204988A - Bulk feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bulk feeder in which maintenance of tunnel sections at a chip pick-up position, etc., can be performed easily at a low cost. SOLUTION: A groove-like tunnel 20 is formed on the upper surface of a first tunnel section 2, and chips are carried to a pick-up position through the tunnel 20. At the pick-up position, a sub-tunnel section 24 is provided in an exchangeable state, and the chips passed through the tunnel 20 of the first tunnel section 2 are picked up by means of the nozzle of a transfer head, when a shutter 5 above the sub-tunnel section 24 is opened and closed. When the tunnel 26 of the sub-tunnel section 24 is damaged by a broken piece of chips, pick-up errors frequently occur. Therefore, the sub-tunnel section 24 is exchanged by removing a second cover plate 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a bulk feeder for supplying chips to an electronic component mounting apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electronic component mounting apparatus for mounting electronic components (hereinafter, referred to as "chips") on a substrate is provided with a parts feeder for supplying chips. As a parts feeder, a tape feeder, a tube feeder, a tray feeder, a bulk feeder, or the like is used. Of these, the bulk feeder has been increasingly used in recent years because it is advantageous for supplying a large amount of small chips.

[0003] In a bulk feeder, small chips are randomly stored in a case. Then, the chips are discharged one by one from the case into the tunnel, and are transported to a chip pickup position by the transfer head of the electronic component mounting apparatus. The chip conveyed to the pickup position at the tip of the tunnel is vacuum-adsorbed to the nozzle of the transfer head, picked up, and mounted on a substrate.

[0004]

The transfer head picks up the chip by moving the nozzle up and down, but the chip is easily damaged by an impact when the nozzle lands on the upper surface of the chip. The broken chip fragments are scattered in the tunnel and gradually damage the tunnel and adhere to the inner surface of the tunnel. If the tunnel is damaged in this way, and chip fragments adhere to the inner surface of the tunnel, the transfer head frequently causes chip pickup errors.

Conventionally, when chip pick-up errors frequently occur in this way, the entire tunnel is replaced or the bulk feeder itself is discarded and replaced. However, such a conventional method has required too much maintenance cost.

[0006] Further, chips are easily clogged in the tunnel of the tunnel portion. If chips are stuck in the tunnel, it is necessary to open the tunnel and take out the chips or perform maintenance such as cleaning the inside of the tunnel, but the conventional bulk feeder has a complicated tunnel structure and It was difficult to perform maintenance inside the tunnel because it was firmly assembled.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a bulk feeder which can easily perform maintenance of a tunnel portion at a pickup position of a chip at low cost. It is another object of the present invention to provide a bulk feeder capable of easily performing maintenance in a tunnel.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises a base, a horizontal tunnel section provided on the top of the base, and a case provided on the top of the base. A bulk feeder which feeds the chips one by one to a tunnel portion and transports the chips to a tip pickup position at the tip of the tunnel portion, wherein the pickup position of the tip at the tip of the tunnel portion is separated as a sub-tunnel portion. The sub-tunnel part was made exchangeable.

In the above configuration, if the bulk feeder is used for a long time, the sub-tunnel located at the pickup position of the chip is gradually damaged by chip fragments, and
Debris also adheres. Therefore, by appropriately replacing the sub-tunnel portion, it is possible to eliminate the frequent occurrence of chip pickup errors.

[0010] The present invention also provides a base, a horizontal tunnel provided on the top of the base, a cover plate for covering a tunnel formed on the upper surface of the tunnel for transferring chips formed in a groove shape, A case provided on an upper portion of a base, wherein the chips stored in the case are sent out one by one to a tunnel portion, and are conveyed to a chip pick-up position at a tip portion of the tunnel portion. Thus, while forming a plurality of notches in the side edge of the cover plate,
A plurality of screws are screwed onto the upper surface of the tunnel portion, and the notch is fitted to the screw and screwed in, so that the cover plate is detachably attached to the tunnel portion.

According to this configuration, when a trouble such as a clogging of the tunnel in the tunnel occurs, the cover plate can be easily removed to open the tunnel, and the maintenance of the tunnel can be easily performed.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bulk feeder according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a tip of the bulk feeder, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the tip of the bulk feeder, and FIG. It is sectional drawing of the front-end | tip part of FIG.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a long plate-like base;
A rod-shaped first tunnel portion 2 is horizontally mounted on the upper part. A first cover plate 3 and a second cover plate 4 are detachably mounted on the upper surface of the first tunnel portion 2. A shutter 5 is mounted on the upper surface of the tip of the first tunnel 2. The shutter 5 opens and closes the tip pickup position of the tip of the first tunnel portion 2.

A case 6 is provided above a rear portion of the base 1. A large number of chips are randomly input into the case 6. The bottom of the case 6 is connected to the first tunnel 2 via the second tunnel 7. Case 6
The chips inside fall into the second tunnel portion 7 one by one, move to the first tunnel portion 2, and are sent to the pickup position at the tip of the first tunnel portion 2.

A pneumatic unit 8 is provided behind the base 1. The pneumatic unit 8 is connected to the distal end of the first tunnel unit 2 by a pipe (not shown), and sucks a vacuum in a tunnel (described later) of the first tunnel unit 2. With this vacuum suction pressure, the chips are transported in the tunnel to the pickup position. 9 is a rear frame, 10 is a handle mounted on the rear frame 9, 11 is a holder for a chip storage case mounted on the back of the rear frame 9, 12
Is a toggle portion provided at the rear of the base 1. Lever 1
When the swing operation is performed on the hook 3, the hook 14 is
Swings back and forth. The hook 14 is fixing means for fixing the bulk feeder to a table (not shown) on the moving table device.

Next, the structure of the tip of the bulk feeder will be described with reference to FIGS. On the upper surface of the first tunnel portion 2, an elongated tunnel 20 for transporting chips is formed in a groove shape. A first cover plate 3 and a second cover plate 4 that cover the tunnel 20 are mounted on the upper surface of the first tunnel portion 2, and the tunnel 20 is sealed.

A notch 21 is formed at a side end of the first cover plate 3.
Are formed at a plurality of locations. A screw 22 is screwed on the upper surface of the first tunnel portion 2. Therefore, when the notch 21 is fitted into the screw 22 and the screw 22 is screwed in, the first cover plate 3 is fixed to the upper surface of the first tunnel 2. When the screw 22 is loosened, the first cover plate 3
Can be removed from the tunnel section 2. Such a notch 2
The first cover plate 3 is easily attached to and detached from the first tunnel portion 2 according to the fixing means by the screw 1 and the screw 22.
Maintenance such as clogging of chips inside and cleaning of dust can be easily performed. The second cover plate 4 is also detachably mounted on the upper surface of the first tunnel section 2 by the same fixing means as the first cover plate 3.

In FIG. 3, the tip of the first tunnel portion 2 is partially cut away, and a small sub-tunnel portion 24 is mounted on the cut portion 23 in a replaceable manner. Reference numeral 25 denotes a lateral positioning rib of the sub-tunnel 24 protruding from both sides of the cutout 23. On the upper surface of the sub-tunnel portion 24, a sub-tunnel 26 linearly continuous with the tunnel 20 is formed in a thin groove shape.

In FIG. 4, the upper surface on the left side of the sub-tunnel portion 24 disposed in the cut-out portion 23 is suppressed by the second cover plate 4. The upper surface on the right side of the sub tunnel portion 24 is covered with the shutter 5. When the upper end of the lever 15 (FIG. 1) is pressed by the pressing means of the electronic component mounting apparatus, the shutter 5 slides in the front-rear direction (arrow a), and the sub-tunnel 24
Momentarily open the upper surface of the. In this state, the nozzle 31 (FIG. 2) of the transfer head 30 of the electronic component mounting apparatus picks up the chip transported to the tunnel 26 of the sub-tunnel 24 by vacuum suction. As described above, the sub-tunnel unit 24 is disposed at the pickup position of the chip. 27 is a tube communicating with the tunnel 26,
It is connected to a pneumatic unit 8.

This bulk feeder has the above configuration, and the operation will be described next. The chips in the case 6 fall into the second tunnel 7 and move to the first tunnel 2. The tunnel 20 is vacuum-suctioned by the vacuum suction pressure of the pneumatic unit 8, and the chips are conveyed to the pickup position in a line in the tunnel 20 by the vacuum suction force. At the pickup position, the chip sent to the tunnel 26 of the sub-tunnel 24 is instantaneously exposed by opening and closing the shutter 5, and is vacuum-adsorbed and picked up by the nozzle 31 of the transfer head 30 and mounted on the substrate. You.

When the nozzle 31 picks up a chip, the chip is easily damaged by an impact applied to the chip. The broken chip fragments easily damage the inner surface of the tunnel 26 and adhere to the inner surface. If the tunnel 26 is damaged as described above, chip pickup mistakes will frequently occur. Therefore, the sub-tunnel unit 24 is replaced as needed. This exchange is performed by loosening the screw 22 and removing the second cover plate 4.
Can be easily removed from the first tunnel section 2.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, the chip inner surface of the sub-tunnel portion is damaged by chip fragments, or the chip fragments adhere to the inner surface of the tunnel, thereby preventing chip pickup errors. If this occurs, it is possible to prevent a chip pickup error from occurring by replacing the sub-tunnel portion. Further, when a trouble such as a chip clogging in the tunnel occurs, the cover plate can be easily removed from the tunnel portion to easily perform maintenance of the tunnel portion.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bulk feeder according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a distal end portion of the bulk feeder according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a distal end portion of the bulk feeder according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a distal end portion of the bulk feeder according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Base 2 First tunnel part 3 First cover plate 4 Second cover plate 5 Shutter 6 Case 20, 26 Tunnel 21 Notch part 22 Screw 24 Sub tunnel part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A base, a horizontal tunnel provided on an upper part of the base, and a case provided on an upper part of the base,
A bulk feeder configured to send out chips stored in a case one by one to a tunnel portion and to transport the chips to a tip pickup position at a tip portion of the tunnel portion,
A bulk feeder characterized in that a pickup position of a chip at a tip portion of a tunnel portion is separately formed as a sub-tunnel portion, and the sub-tunnel portion is freely replaceable. 2. A base, a horizontal tunnel provided on an upper portion of the base, a cover plate for covering a tunnel formed in a groove-shaped upper surface of the tunnel for transferring chips, and a base plate of the base. A case provided at an upper portion, wherein the bulk feeder is configured to send out chips stored in the case one by one to a tunnel portion and to convey the chips to a tip pickup position at a tip portion of the tunnel portion, wherein A plurality of cutouts are formed at the side edges of the cover plate, and a plurality of screws are screwed onto the upper surface of the tunnel portion. A bulk feeder characterized by being detachably mounted on the feeder.