JPS62177458A - Substrate inspection machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the processing time of a substrate by moving a carrying unit which has two substrate holding mechanism reciprocally in a substrate carrying direction. CONSTITUTION:The carrying unit 800 which has load-side and unload-side chuck parts 802 and 806 as the two substrate holding mechanisms is reciprocated in the substrate carrying direction to supply a substrate to an inspection stage and discharge a substrate from the stage 200 at the same time. Then, while the stage 200 inspects a substrate, a substrate to be inspected next is held on one substrate holding mechanism of the unit 800, so the supply of a substrate to the stage 200 and the discharge of a substrate from the stage 200 are carried out efficiently in a short time. Further, the halt time of inspecting operation for the supply and discharge of substrates can be shortened, so the total substrate processing speed is improved.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Field of Application] This invention is applicable to a board test that performs a continuity test, an insulation test, etc. of a pattern on a printed circuit board or similar board (hereinafter collectively referred to as a board). Regarding the machine.

[Prior Art] Some of these board testing machines automate the feeding and discharging of boards. In such conventional automated board inspection machines, each operation of supplying the board to the inspection stage, inspecting the board on the inspection stage, and discharging the board from the inspection stage is performed independently and sequentially using a shuttle. It is becoming more and more popular. In other words, at the stage of supplying the substrate to the inspection stage, the inspection operation of the inspection stage and the operation of the substrate unloading mechanism are stopped, and while the substrate is being inspected on the inspection stage, the substrate supplying mechanism and the υF unloading mechanism are stopped. is stopped, and when the substrate is transferred from the inspection stage to the υI mountain, both the inspection stage and the substrate supply mechanism stop operating.

[Problem to be solved] In such a board inspection machine, the board inspection on the inspection stage is performed at a very high speed, but it takes a considerable amount of time to feed and discharge the board. Ta.

As a result, even if the substrate inspection speed at the inspection stage is increased, the overall substrate processing time cannot be sufficiently shortened due to the time required for supplying and discharging the substrates.

[Object of the Invention] Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a substrate inspection machine that speeds up overall substrate processing by increasing the efficiency of supplying and discharging substrates.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides a method for supplying substrates to an inspection stage by reciprocating a transfer unit having two substrate holding mechanisms in the substrate transfer direction. and the substrate inspection machine is configured to simultaneously discharge the substrate from the inspection stage and cause one substrate holding mechanism of the transport unit to hold the substrate to be inspected next while the substrate is being inspected on the inspection stage. It is something.

[Operation] In this way, the substrates are fed and discharged at the same time, and during the inspection of the substrate, the next substrate to be inspected is transferred to the transport unit. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently supply the substrate to the inspection stage and discharge the substrate from the inspection stage in a shorter time than before, and also reduce the downtime of the inspection operation associated with supplying and discharging the substrate. As a result, the overall substrate processing time can be reduced.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a simplified overall configuration of a board inspection machine according to the present invention.

This board inspection machine includes a supply elevator 100, an inspection stage 200, a storage elevator 300, 400, a tester unit 500, a pickup/place unit Boo
, 700, transport unit 800, control unit l-900
, and a console unit (not shown).

The supply elevator 100 accommodates a large number of printed circuit boards to be inspected, and gradually raises the group of printed circuit boards as the number of printed circuit boards decreases so that the height of the top printed circuit board remains approximately constant. It is something that makes you

The pick-up/place unit 600 picks up printed circuit boards one by one from the supply elevator 100, carries them to a loading position, and transfers them to the transport unit 800.

The pick-up/place unit 700 picks up the inspected printed circuit board carried by the transport unit 800 to the unloading position, carries it to the 1st slot of the storage elevator 300 or 400, and delivers it to the storage elevator 300 or 400. It is something.

The storage elevators 300 and 400 stack and store inspected boards handed over from the pick-up/place unit 700, and the number of printed circuit boards accommodated is stacked so that the topmost printed circuit board is at a substantially constant height. It acts to gradually lower the printed circuit board group as the number increases. Note that as a result of the inspection, printed circuit boards determined to be non-defective are stored in the storage elevator 300, and printed circuit boards determined to be defective are stored in the storage elevator 400.

The transport unit 800 has a loading side chuck section 802 and an unloading side chuck section 806, and each chuck section has a substrate holding mechanism (including holding claws 804 and 808).
(Details will be described later).

The transport unit 800 is configured to move as a whole, and when the loading side chuck section 802 is at the loading position shown, the unloading side chuck section 806 comes to the center of the inspection stage 200 as shown. Furthermore, when the loading side chuck section 802 moves to the center of the inspection stage 200, the unloading side chuck section 806 moves to the unloading position.

The role of this transport unit 800 is P. Sokua.

The printed circuit board to be inspected, which has been transported to the load position by the pull/place unit 600, is placed in the load-side chuck section 802.
The receiver picks up the printed circuit board, transports it to the center of the inspection stage 200, and passes it to the inspection stage 200. The receiver picks up the inspected printed circuit board from the inspection stage 200 with the unload side chuck section 806, and moves it to the unloading position. Carry it up to
The next step is to pass it to the tube/place unit 700.

The inspection stage cooperates with the tester unit 800 to perform a continuity test or an insulation test on the printed circuit board. More specifically, this inspection stage 200 positions and picks up the printed circuit board carried to the center by the transport unit 800, and transfers it to the blower board 2.
The test point of the printed circuit board is electrically connected to the tester unit 800 through the probe pins, and the test point of the printed circuit board is electrically connected to the tester unit 800 to perform the test. Once completed, it operates to pass the printed circuit board to transport unit 800.

The inspection stage 200 includes a blower board 220, a sub-lifter 210 for positioning the printed circuit board, a stopper pin 212 provided thereon, and a press elevator 2 for pressing the printed circuit board against the probe pins.
16. Sub-lifter 21 is installed in this place elevator 216.
It is comprised of a slide table 214 for supporting 0 so that it can be moved back and forth. In the figure,
The slide table 214 is pulled out toward the front, but when the printed circuit board is automatically fed and discharged by the transport unit 800, the slide table 214 is pushed in. Only when manually feeding printed circuit boards is the sliding table 214 pulled out as shown.

The tester unit 500 includes an electronic circuit for testing continuity or insulation of a printed circuit board, and also handles data processing for processing and storing test result data.

The control unit 900 controls the operation of the mechanisms of each part of the board inspection machine and the overall operation sequence. For such control, tester unit 500
The control unit 90 receives information such as the inspection path r1 inspection results from the control unit 90.
0, and detection signals from sensors (not shown) provided in each part are also input to the control unit 900 and used for control.

Next, the overall operation of this board inspection machine will be explained.

(Operation step 1) The transport unit 800 is moved to the left side as shown in the figure, the loading side chuck section 802 is positioned at the loading position, and the unloading side chuck section 806 is positioned at the center of the inspection stage 200 (directly above the sub-lifter 210). I come to.

(Operation step 2) The topmost sheet of printed circuit boards stored in stacks in the supply elevator 100 is picked up by the pick-up/place unit 600, carried to the right side to the loading position, and placed in the loading chuck. Section 802
passed to. In parallel with this operation, the inspection stage 200
Inspection of printed circuit boards is being performed. The pick-up/place unit 600, which has passed the printed circuit board to the transport unit 800, returns to the vertical position of the supply elevator 100 to pick up the next board (1 dog position shown).

(Operation Step 3) When the inspection of the printed circuit board under inspection on the inspection stage 200 is completed, the press elevator 218 descends.

After the press elevator 216 completes its descent or during its descent, the sub-lifter 210 is raised, and the inspected printed circuit board is finally stopped at the board transport height. Then, the printed circuit board is transferred to the unload side chuck section 806 of the transport unit 800, and then the sub-lifter 210 is lowered.

(Operation stage 4) The transport unit 800 moves rightward in the figure.

Immediately after the unload side chuck part 806 passes over the sub-lifter 210, the stopper pin 21 of the sub-lifter 210
2 rises above the substrate transport height.

As the transport unit 800 moves, the leading end (right end in the figure) of the printed circuit board held by the chuck part 802 is engaged with the stopper pin 212, thereby positioning it in the transport direction (horizontal direction in the figure). When the chuck part 802 moves to the bottom of the sub-lifter 210, the transport unit 80
0 stops. The unload side chuck part 806 comes to the unload position. The sub-lifter 210 is raised, and a positioning pin (not shown) protruding therefrom is fitted into a positioning hole in the printed circuit board, thereby final positioning of the printed circuit board. After this positioning, the holding claws 804 of the chuck part 802 are opened, and the printed circuit board is placed on the sub-lifter 21.
It is placed on two sides of 0. After this, the sub-lifter 210 and the stopper pin 212 are lowered.

In parallel with this operation, the inspected printed circuit board is passed from the unload side chuck section 806 to the pick-up/place unit 700 that has come to the unload position. This printed circuit board is carried by the pick-up/place unit 700 to the storage elevator 300 if it is a good product, and to the storage elevator 400 if it is a defective product and stored therein.

By sequentially repeating such operation steps 1 to 4,
Tests of printed circuit boards are continuously weighed.

Note that the control unit 900 controls the operation of each part in each of the above-mentioned operation steps, and controls the order of each operation step. A person skilled in the art would be able to easily realize such a control unit 900 using a microcomputer or the like based on the explanation thus far, so a specific example of its configuration will not be presented.

As described above, while the printed circuit board is being inspected on the inspection stage 200, the next printed circuit board to be inspected is loaded onto the transport unit 800. Further, the ejection of the printed circuit board from the inspection stage and the supply of the printed circuit board to the inspection stage are performed simultaneously. In this way, the feeding and discharging of printed circuit boards is carried out efficiently without waste, and the time required for this process is substantially shortened.
The downtime of test operations at the test stage due to the loading and unloading of printed circuit boards is also reduced. As a result, the overall printed circuit board processing speed by the board inspection machine is increased.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing the configuration of the transport unit 800. The substrate holding mechanism of each chuck part 802, 806 is assembled to a movable frame 810.

A guide roller 811 is rotatably attached to the movable frame 810, and two rails 8 extend in the substrate transport direction.
12 is sandwiched from above and below by guide rollers 811 and can be moved in the substrate transport direction.

813 is a rodless cylinder for moving the transport unit 800 as a whole in the substrate transport direction, and both ends thereof are fixed by fixing members 814 and 815.

A joint portion 816, which is a movable portion of the rodless cylinder 813, is coupled to a horizontal beam 817 of the movable frame 810 via a unit joint 818.

To explain the substrate holding mechanism of the load-side chuck section 802, the holding claws 804 have three movable plates 820, 8
It is fixed to 21. The movable plates 820 and 821 are guided by guide shafts 823 and 824 fixed to the movable frame 810 and the horizontal beams 817 and 822, and are moved back and forth (-L in the figure).
movably supported. 825 is a rotary actuator for opening and closing the holding claw 804, and a pinion 826 is fixed to its rotation shaft. Two upper and lower round racks 826 and 827 are engaged with this pinion 826. One end of the lower round rack 828 is the movable plate 82
One end of the round rack 827 on the second side is fixed to the movable plate 821.

Therefore, when the row reactuator 825 is rotated in one direction, the holding claws 804 move inward all at once, and are in a state of holding the printed circuit board (dashed line 829 or 830). When the row reactuator 825 is rotated in the opposite direction, the holding claws 804 move outward all at once, and are brought into a non-holding state.

Here, the distance between adjacent holding claws 804 on the right side is narrower than the length of the smallest printed circuit board (830), and the distance between the holding claws 804 at both ends is smaller than the length of the largest printed circuit board (829).
) is shorter than the length of

Therefore, from the largest printed circuit board to the smallest printed circuit board can be stably held by a small number of pairs of holding claws 804.

The substrate holding mechanism of the unload side chuck section 806 is also similar, and three holding claws 808 are attached to the movable plates 838 and 838, respectively.
37, and move this movable plate 836°837 to the guide shaft 8.
38, 839 and is supported so as to be movable back and forth, and the holding claw 808 is supported by a rotary actuator 840 via a pinion 841 and two upper and lower round racks 842, 843.
are moved in and out all at once. Holding claw 8
The same applies to the interval 08.

Here, the tips of the holding claws 804 and 808 have a generally V-shaped cross section that opens inward as shown in FIG. 3, and the printed circuit board is held as shown by a chain line 850.

More. 1-1 Although one embodiment has been described, the present invention is not limited thereto (various modifications may be made to the structure of each part mechanism, operation control, etc. without departing from the gist of the present invention). It is.

Further, the present invention can be similarly applied to a board inspection machine that likes to inspect the shape of a pattern on a printed circuit board.

Furthermore, this invention can inspect board materials other than printed circuit boards.
It can also be applied to machines that perform things such as drilling holes.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained below, the present invention can supply the substrate to the inspection stage and perform the inspection by reciprocating the transfer unit that holds two substrate holding mechanisms in the substrate transfer direction. At the same time, the substrate is discharged from the stage, and one substrate holding mechanism of the transport unit is used to hold the next substrate to be inspected while the substrate is being inspected on the inspection stage. Feeding and ejecting substrates from the inspection stage can be performed more efficiently in a shorter time than before, and downtime in inspection operations associated with substrate feeding and ejection can also be reduced, resulting in faster overall substrate processing. This makes it possible to realize a board inspection machine with improved speed.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a simplified overall configuration of an embodiment of a board inspection machine according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a transport unit of the board inspection machine, and FIG. 3 is a transport unit. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the cross-sectional shape of the tip of the holding claw. 100--Supply elevator, 200--Inspection stage, 300,400--Storage elevator, 500--
- Tester unit, 600... Load side pickup/place unit, 700... Unload side pickup/place unit, 800... Transport unit, 802... Load side chuck section, 806... Unload side Chuck part, 813... Rotless cylinder, 825.840... Rotary actuator, 8
27,828,842,843...Round rack, 900
···Controller unit.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) By reciprocating a transfer unit having two substrate holding mechanisms in the substrate transfer direction, the substrates are simultaneously supplied to the inspection stage and the substrates are discharged from the inspection stage. A substrate inspection machine characterized by causing one of the substrate holding mechanisms of the transport unit to hold a substrate to be inspected next during the inspection. (2) an operation step in which the first and second substrate holding mechanisms of the transport unit are moved to the substrate loading position and the inspection stage, respectively, and a substrate is inspected on the inspection stage and a new substrate to be inspected is transferred to the inspection stage; an operation step in which the inspected substrate is transferred from the inspection stage to the second substrate holding mechanism; and an operation step in which the inspected substrate is transferred from the inspection stage to the second substrate holding mechanism; 2. The substrate inspection machine according to claim 1, wherein the operation step of moving the inspection stage and the substrate to the substrate unloading position and releasing the held substrate is repeated in sequence.