JPH11222310A - Chain lubricating cleaning device of reflow furnace - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically clean a chain and supply lubricating oil without stopping equipment by cleaning the chain of a base board carrying conveyor by passing it through into a chain cleaning liquid filled in a vessel, and feeding the lubricating oil to the traveling chain. SOLUTION: A chain 8 sticking a flux component contained in cream solder, passes through into a chain cleaning liquid in a vessel 10 by being introduced to a cleaning sprocket 19a. In that case, a great part of the flux component stuck to the chain 8 flows out in an organic solvent by being dissolvend by the organic solvent to clean the chain 8. However, when a sticking material is cleaned by this cleaning means 51, lubricating oil of the chain 8 is also simultaneously removed. Then, the lubricating oil 17 is fed to the chain 8 by sticking to the chain 8 by the viscosity by directly contacting with the chain 8 by thrusting out of the nozzle tip by the dead weight and surface tension in an oiling means 52.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for cleaning and refueling a chain used for a substrate transfer conveyor of a reflow furnace.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, soldering of printed circuit boards has been generalized by a reflow soldering method using cream solder. In the case of equipment using a reflow furnace, a metal chain is used to transport printed circuit boards because the inside of the furnace reaches a high temperature, and the drive of the chain is generally performed by transmitting power to the chain via a sprocket. It is a target. Therefore, it is necessary to supply heat-resistant lubricating oil in order to make the driving smooth. At this time, in order to lubricate the entire chain with the lubricating oil uniformly, it is necessary to continuously supply a constant amount of oil while the chain is driven for one or more rounds for a long time while driving the chain, and this operation has conventionally been performed manually. .

[0003] In addition, by using equipment for a long period of time, a flux component (rosin, activator, etc.) using an organic solvent contained in a solder paste used for soldering as a solvent is vaporized, and the entirety of the chain or the inside of the furnace is removed. Cleaning and maintenance must be performed regularly to adhere and accumulate on the surface. Particularly, regarding the chain of the conveyor, the printed circuit board is in direct contact with the chain, and since the chain is a power transmission mechanism, maintenance for maintaining normal operation is indispensable. In the conventional cleaning of chains, all chains are manually removed from the equipment, and immersed in a container filled with an organic solvent for a long time to remove deposits (especially flux components mainly composed of organic solvents), and then use a brush etc. They were scrubbing.
At this time, the lubricating oil is also removed at the same time,
After attaching the washed chain to the equipment, lubricating oil must be supplied for smooth driving. Also in this case, as described above, in order to uniformly lubricate the entire chain, it is necessary for the operator to manually perform constant lubrication while the chain is driven for one or more turns while driving the chain.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional method, when cleaning the chain, it is necessary to remove the entire chain from the equipment. Cleaning must be done manually during production suspension. Furthermore,
Since the chain itself is set in the rail of the furnace, it is difficult to remove and attach the chain, and the operation itself requires skill and a long time. Therefore, it must be performed during the idle time of the equipment based on the production plan, and in the case of continuous operation all day, the work must be performed on a holiday. When lubricating oil is supplied, in the case of equipment with a chain length of 8 m and a conveyor speed of 0.8 m / min, the time required for the chain to make one revolution is about 10 minutes. Unless the fixed amount of oil is continuously supplied while moving, uniform application cannot be performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to automatically clean a chain and supply lubricating oil to the chain without stopping the equipment and keeping the heating state during production. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device which can be performed by using the above method.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a cleaning means for cleaning a chain of a substrate transport conveyor by passing a chain cleaning liquid filled in a container, An oil supply means for supplying lubricating oil to the chain is provided.

According to the present invention, during operation without stopping the equipment, the chain can be automatically washed and refueled without any manual operation by utilizing the operation of the chain itself. for that reason,
Unlike the conventional example, there is no need to remove the chain from the equipment, and the labor and time required for manual maintenance can be saved.

As the cleaning means, it is preferable to use a cleaning solution containing a solvent for dissolving the flux as a chain cleaning solution, and a cleaning device provided with a scraper for scraping off the flux dissolved by the solvent.

It is preferable to use an oil supply means having a nozzle for supplying lubricating oil to the chain in a non-contact manner.

[0010]

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

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a reflow furnace according to this embodiment. Reference numeral 1 denotes a furnace body in which a heater for heating is mounted. Reference numerals 2 and 3 use a reflow heater to re-melt the cream solder applied to the printed circuit board. The preheaters 4 and 5 preheat the printed circuit board. Reference numeral 6 denotes a printed circuit board on which cream solder is applied and electronic components are mounted.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a driving sprocket which is connected to a motor (not shown). Reference numeral 8 denotes a chain for transporting the printed circuit board, which is driven by the driving sprocket 7 and circulates in the reflow furnace in the direction of the arrow. Reference numeral 19 denotes a driven sprocket, and the chain 8 is suspended by the driven sprocket 19 and the driving sprocket 7. The printed circuit board 6 is directly put on the chain 8, and is conveyed in the furnace in the direction of the arrow. Reference numeral 51 denotes a cleaning unit, and 52 denotes an oil supply unit. The oil supply means 52 is arranged at a position immediately after the chain 8 has passed the cleaning means 51, and is installed so as to supply oil before the chain 8 comes into contact with the driving sprocket 7 arranged near the substrate carrying-in port. .

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the cleaning means 51. 8
Is a chain for transporting substrates. Reference numeral 9 denotes a chain cleaning liquid made of an organic solvent (for example, isopropyl alcohol).

Reference numeral 10 denotes a container for storing the chain cleaning liquid 9, which is arranged below the cleaning sprocket 19 a also serving as a driven sprocket 19, at a position where the chain 8 is immersed in the chain cleaning liquid 9. Reference numeral 11 denotes a brush (scrubber) for scraping off the deposits attached to the chain 8, and is particularly for scraping off the flux dissolved in the organic solvent. Reference numeral 12 denotes a tank for adjusting the water level of the chain cleaning liquid 9 for keeping a volatile organic solvent at a constant water level in the container 10.

The cleaning operation by the cleaning means 51 will be described below. The chain 8 to which the flux component or the like contained in the cream solder has adhered is used as a cleaning sprocket 19a.
And pass through the chain washing liquid 9 in the container 10. At that time, most of the flux components adhering to the chain 8 are dissolved by the organic solvent and flow into the organic solvent, and the chain 8 is washed. In addition, the flux component having a strong adhesive force and remaining in the chain 8 in a dissolved state is
Immediately after passing through the organic solvent inside, it is rubbed off by the brush 11. At this time, since the chain 8 itself is moved by the cleaning sprocket 19a, a driving source for the scraping operation is not required, and the brush 11 only needs to be fixed. The organic solvent newly attached to the chain 8 due to the washing is volatile and immediately evaporates due to the high temperature of the reflow furnace.

However, when the deposits are washed by the washing means 51, the lubricating oil of the chain 8 is also removed at the same time. Therefore, the lubrication of the chain 8 may be poor, and if left unattended, the operation of the reflow furnace itself may be affected. Therefore, in a process immediately after the cleaning is performed, the lubricating oil 17 must be supplied to the chain 8 before the chain 8 reaches the driving sprocket 7. The lubricating oil supply means 52 will be described below.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the fueling means 52. 8
Reference numeral denotes a chain for transporting a printed circuit board, and reference numeral 14 denotes a tank for storing a lubricating oil 17. Reference numeral 15 denotes a cock for adjusting the amount of lubricating oil 17 supplied to an appropriate amount. Reference numeral 16 denotes a nozzle for supplying lubricating oil 17 to the chain 8. Reference numeral 17 denotes a lubricating oil to be applied to the chain 8. Since the lubricating oil 17 reaches the tip of the nozzle 16 by capillary action, the inner diameter of the nozzle 16 is adapted to the viscosity of the lubricating oil 17. When the chain 8 contacts the tip of the nozzle 16, the nozzle 16
The distance between the nozzle 16 and the chain is set smaller than the length of the oil droplets of the lubricating oil 17 that is formed at the lower end of the nozzle 16 by the balance between gravity and surface tension. Preferably, no discontinuity in the oil level occurs between the first and second surfaces.

The refueling operation by the refueling means 52 will be described below. The lubrication oil 17 is supplied to the running chain 8 by
First, the upper tank 14 is filled with the lubricating oil 17, and the nozzle 16 is filled with the lubricating oil 17 by adjustment by opening and closing the cock 15. In the nozzle 16, the lubricating oil 17 reaches the tip of the nozzle 16 by capillary action. The lubricating oil 17 protrudes from the nozzle tip by its own weight and surface tension and comes into direct contact with the chain 8 and adheres to the chain 8 by its viscosity, and the chain 8 is supplied with oil.

[0019]

According to the present invention, during the operation of the reflow furnace, the cleaning of the chain of the substrate transfer conveyor and the supply of the lubricating oil can be automatically performed without stopping the production. Therefore, stable operation of the chain can be maintained at all times, and maintenance such as stopping the equipment as in the conventional example is unnecessary.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a reflow furnace according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a cleaning unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the fueling means according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Furnace body 6 Printed circuit board 8 Chain 9 Chain cleaning liquid 10 Container 11 Brush (scrubber) 16 Nozzle 17 Lubricating oil 51 Cleaning means 52 Oil supply means

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning device for cleaning a chain of a substrate transport conveyor by passing a chain cleaning liquid filled in a container, and an oil supply device for supplying lubricating oil to the running chain. Characteristic chain lubrication and cleaning equipment for reflow furnaces. 2. The chain lubrication and cleaning apparatus for a reflow furnace according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning means includes a solvent for dissolving a flux as a chain cleaning liquid, and includes a scraper for scraping off the flux dissolved by the solvent. . 3. The chain lubrication and cleaning apparatus for a reflow furnace according to claim 1, wherein the oil supply means includes a nozzle for supplying lubricating oil to the chain in a non-contact manner.