JPS6229888B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for applying conductive coatings to the ends of miniature capacitors, resistors, or similar miniature electronic or electrical parts.

When coating such small parts, it is desirable to do the following.

(a) Processing parts chemically in terms of time and cost. That is, processing parts in units of hundreds for each operation.

(b) The occurrence of defective products should be as low as possible, and defects should be detected immediately.

(c) Utilize equipment that is relatively economical, has low maintenance costs, is easy to operate, and has a long service life.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for coating the edges of small electrical parts which satisfies the above requirements, and a major advantage of the present invention is time saving.

Next, illustrated embodiments of the present invention will be described.

The present invention allows certain operations to be applied to the ends of parts, particularly small electrically conductive parts 16, with coatings 34,3.
6 are applied one after another. Coating 3 on one end in Figure 9
4 is shown, and FIG. 14 shows a part with a further coating 36.

Part 16 is, for example, a chip capacitor or a resistor. The size is, for example, 1/16 inch by 1/16 inch in cross-sectional area and 3/32 to 5/32 inch in length, but may be larger or smaller than these. The construction of such small capacitors or resistors will be understood by those skilled in the art. For example, a capacitor has a significant number of conductive layers separated by non-conductive layers. The conductive layers, when stacked one after the other, form contacts at both ends of part 16. In many cases, such small parts 16 need to be provided with a conductive coating on both ends thereof, and the present invention relates to such operations.

The figure shows a series of operations, and FIG. 1 shows, from top to bottom, an operation plate 10, a storage plate 12,
A supply slot 14 is shown. FIG. 2 schematically shows the accommodation portion of the accommodation plate 12 of FIG. 1 with vibration, suction and spring mechanisms added. FIG. 3 shows the operating plate 10 and the housing plate 12 with the parts 16 pressed onto the housing plate 12. As shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 shows (a) transferring the part 16 from the storage plate 12 to the operating plate 10, (b) transferring the part 16 from one side of the operating plate 10 to the other side, and moving the part 16 onto the operating plate 10. The punch mechanism 18 used for taking out the paper is shown.

FIG. 5 shows the sequence of operating steps involving the punch mechanism 18. The upper half figure shows the punches 24 arranged in parallel, and the lower half figure shows the operation plate 1.
0, a storage plate 12, a take-out plate 20, and a punch base 22 are shown. Figure 6 is the 5th
The figure is similar to the figure, but the punch 24 of the punch mechanism 18 constituting the pusher is in the process of transferring the part 16 from the storage plate to the operating plate 10.
The ends of the parts 16 protrude from the top surface of the plate 10.

The method of operating the part 16 includes elastically holding the part 16 in the passage 26 of the operating plate 10, and FIG. 7 shows the part 16 in a resiliently held state. Part 16 is typically square (cross-sectional), so passageway 26 is circular and its diameter is typically smaller than the largest cross-sectional dimension of part 16. The walls of the passageway 26 are provided with an elastic coating to accommodate and retain the parts 16.

In FIG. 8, the end of the part 16 is attached to the operating plate 1.
The apparatus for processing this operating plate 10 is shown in a state protruding from the zero position. This device is part 16
Conveyor mechanism 2 used to apply a coating to the edges of and heat cure the coating.
8, a coating mechanism 30, and a heating mechanism 32, and FIG. 9 shows a state in which a coating 34 is applied to one end of the part 16.

FIG. 10 is similar to FIG. 6, but shows the operating plate 10 returned to the punch mechanism 18 and attached upside down after the coating 34 has been applied. The other end of the part 16 is made to protrude beyond the surface of the operating plate 10 by the punch 24, so that the other end can be coated. 1st
FIG. 1 shows the operating plate 10 turned over from the state shown in FIG. 10 with the other end of the part 16 protruding and ready to be passed through the coating device shown in FIG. 8.

FIG. 12 shows the punch mechanism 18 in the process of transferring the part 16 from the operating plate 10 to the extraction plate 20. FIG. 13 shows the parts 16 being ejected from the take-out plate 20 and scattered. FIG. 14 shows the part 16 with a coating 34 on one end and a coating 36 on the other end.

In the class of small electronic components that require conductive coatings on the edges, approximately 95% of the products produced by parts manufacturers are 0.050" to 0.200" long (approximately 3/64" to 3/64"). approximately 3/16 inch). Parts in this range can be processed with the apparatus described herein, although parts with somewhat larger dimensions have also been manufactured. Plate 10 is 0.350 inch (3/8 inch is 0.375 inch)
It is. The length of each passage is at least 150% of the maximum length of the part handled here. The reason for manufacturing the plate 10 with at least this thickness is as follows.
(a) It should be of sufficient strength, including the web 44, and (b) it should be able to fit most lengths of the part 16. When the part 16 is moved into a first position exposing one end of the part 16 for coating and a second position exposing the other end of the part 16 for coating, and when removed, the plate 10 is continuously gripped by the resilient walls in the passageway 26 of. The elastic coating on the walls of the passageway 26 extends from one side of the plate 10 to the other side.

The foregoing has described the basic operation and apparatus of the present invention, and the present invention will now be described in more detail.

The basic component of the coating device of the present invention is the operating plate 10. This operation plate 10
has a passageway 26 for accommodating a large number of parts whose walls are coated with an elastic material. The operating plate 10 is made of metal and is provided with grooves 40 for edges 42 over most of both sides.
In this groove 40, a metal web 44 with a number of holes 46 is left in the center. A resilient plastic material 48 is used to fill the grooves 40 and holes 46 except for the passages 26. The plastic material 48 provides a resilient wall of the passageway 26 to receive and retain the part 16, as specifically shown in FIG. The plastic material 48 may be selected from a variety of applicable plastics or rubbers, including flexible silicone rubber. The selection of materials, methods, configurations, etc. to be applied to form the operating plate 10 will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Plastic material 48 is described as "elastic plastic," which term is defined to include materials suitable for use such as plastic or natural or synthetic rubber. The purpose of groove 40 is to better hold plastic material 48 in place (rather than simply covering hole 46).

The part 16 is usually square in cross-section, and even if it were circular, the action of the walls of the passage 26 in retaining the part 16 is such that the diameter of the passage 26 is smaller than the maximum lateral dimension of the part 16. It can be made similar to

The basic method for manipulating the part 16 within the passageway 26 is to (a) insert the part 16 into the passageway 26, and (b) insert the part 16 so that one end of the part 16 is connected to the manipulation plate 10.
(6th step) until it protrudes from the surface of the
(c) moving the part 16 until its other end protrudes from the surface of the operating plate 10 (see FIGS. 10 and 11);
It is made up of. These projecting ends of the part 16 are coated by the apparatus shown in FIG. 8 after the steps (b) and (c) above.

Next, the part 16 is inserted into the passage 2 of the operating plate 10.
The process of inserting into step 6 will now be described. Parts 16 are inserted into receiving plate 12 by using part receiving plate 12, supply frame 14, and vibration and suction devices, this action being accomplished in a manner conventionally used in the prior art.

The supply frame 14 has a cavity 52 for receiving the loose parts 16. Opening surface 54 of void space 52
is covered by a storage plate 12 and an operation plate 10, and these storage plates 12 and operation plates 10 have their respective alignment openings 5.
It is positioned by the alignment pins 56 of the supply frame 14 that protrude from the edges 8 and 60. Part 16 is accommodated in the cavity in the manner shown in FIG. after that,
The device is turned over as shown in FIG. The housing plate 12 connects the vibration and suction device 62 to the base 63 on the lower surface of the operation plate 10 and at the same time attaches an appropriate spring 64 to the base 63.
It is a common practice in the art to accommodate parts in a plate such as the one described above, and the emphasis here is on applying suction from the lower end of the passageway 26 to vibrate the device while at the same time drawing air into the hole 50 of the plate 12. Part 16 of
This is to assist in the filling of the liquid. Generally, this is done as follows. That is, hole 50 is part 16
, but not so large that they can be mounted in either direction, and their longitudinal axes are perpendicular so that they lie with their ends facing forward with respect to the passageway 26. . Upper end 66 of hole 50
has a saucer shape so that the part 16 can be easily received. Since the only required orientation of the part 16 is with the end facing forward, the cross-section of the hole 50 may be circular or square. If the hole 50 has a circular cross-section, filling the hole 50 with the part 16 will be somewhat faster. For example, one size of accommodation plate 12 has 2145 holes 5.
0 is 100% filled with part 16, but it takes 8 to 10
It only takes seconds. For larger sizes, 4233
There are 50 holes.

The punch mechanism 18 is in the form of a press, and includes an upright alignment pin 7 inserted into an alignment opening 72 of the take-out plate 20, an alignment opening 60 of the operation plate 10, and an alignment opening 58 of the storage plate 12.
A base 22 with 0 is provided to hold the plates in proper alignment.

The upper part of the punch mechanism 18 is an upper plate 74.
and a rack 76 erected on this plate 74.
And the pinion 78 that meshes with this rack 76,
A handle 80 is fixed and rotatably attached to the shaft 82 of the pinion 78, and when the handle 80 is manually rotated to rotate the pinion 78, the upper plate 74 moves up and down. The bearing of the shaft 82 is connected to an arm 84 erected on the base 22.
Supported by

The rows of pin-shaped punches 24 are fitted into the holes 50 of the storage plate 12 , the passages 26 of the operating plate 10 , and the plurality of holes 86 of the extraction plate 20 , so that they are properly positioned relative to the upper plate 74 . Can be installed with. When the handle 80 is moved, the part 16 is inserted into the hole 50 of the receiving plate 12.
from the position to the passage 26 of the operating plate 10. A passage 2 of this part 16 in which the upper end of the part 16 remains above the upper surface of the operation plate 10
A first state within 6 is shown successively in FIGS. 5 and 6, in which the part 16 is ready for coating. The stopper 90 rotatably attached to the auxiliary plate 92 is part 1.
When the end portion of 6 is pushed into the state shown in FIG.

The next state of the part 16 in the passage 26 is shown in FIG. 10, with the other end of the part 16 being located below the lower surface of the operating plate 10,
Coating is possible. Auxiliary plate 9
When the end of the part 16 reaches the state shown in FIG.
It has become possible to stop the By performing the type of operation shown in FIG. 10 twice, it can be replaced by the type of operation shown in FIGS. 6 and 10.
That is, after performing the operation shown in FIG. 10, by turning over the operation plate 10 and performing the same operation, both ends of the part 16 can be placed in a position where coating is possible.

The liner type can be replaced by stoppers 90,94. This liner is attached to the auxiliary plate 9
2 and the upper plate 74.

The auxiliary plate 92 is connected to the hole 10 in the upper plate 74.
The upper plate 74 is supported by a rod 100 slidably attached to the upper plate 92 and fixed to the auxiliary plate 92. This rod 10
The head end 104 of the 0 serves as a stop to limit the downward movement of the auxiliary plate 92 relative to the upper plate 74 to a desired position over the lower end of the punch 24 as shown in FIG. The auxiliary plate 92 has a hole 106 into which the punch 24 fits. rod 10
A compression spring 108 is interposed between the upper plate 74 of the zero and the auxiliary plate 92, and normally the auxiliary plate 92 is pressed toward the lower position covering the punch 24 as shown in FIG. There is.
The purpose of the auxiliary plate 92 is to (a) operate the operating plate 1;
(b) when the punch mechanism 18 is opened; (b) when the punch mechanism 18 is opened;
The elastic wall of the passage 26 of the operation plate 10 is the punch 2
4 tends to be lifted together with the upper plate 74, so the operation plate 10 has to be peeled off from the row punches 24.

After completing the steps shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the operating plate 10 is removed from the punch mechanism 18, and then a coating 34 is applied to one end thereof. After completing the process shown in FIG. 10, a coating 36 is applied to the other protruding end of the part 16, as shown in FIG. The apparatus schematically shown in FIG.
It represents.

The operation plate 10 is schematically shown placed on a movable table 109 that can be fixed in position by having upright pins 110 installed in the alignment holes 60 of the operation plate 10. The conveyance mechanism 28 (including the screw mechanism) may not actually be common to the coating device 30 and the heating furnace 32. That is, the method may be such that the end portion of the part 16 is first coated, and then the operation plate 10 is placed on a conveyor of a heating furnace.

As mentioned above, the coating mechanism 30 is of the general type having a metal roll 120 through which the part is typically coated.
A doctor blade (not shown) is provided to control the amount of coating agent applied to the end portion of the roller 6, and a reserve device 122 is provided to supply coating agent to the roll/doctor blade mechanism.

Conductive hardened coating 3 on the ends of part 16
Although the coating and curing mechanism when applying No. 4,36 will not be further discussed, the types of coatings include conventional materials, e.g.
There is a composite of finely ground silver based on a resin that can be heated and hardened in a furnace.

By allowing the parts 16 to be processed by the apparatus shown in FIG. 8, time can be saved with high efficiency. To illustrate the extent of said time savings by using the apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, holes 50 in receiving plate 12
It takes about 8 to 10 seconds to insert about 2,000 parts 16 into the machine. The part 16 is removed by the device shown in FIG.
The process of the operation of FIGS. 5 and 6, which is ready for coating, takes, for example, about 5 seconds. Also, the part 16 is punched by the punch mechanism 18.
The time required for the movement (see FIG. 10) is approximately 5 seconds or less. Coating one end of part 16 takes approximately 10 seconds. It takes about two and a half minutes to cure the coating in the oven. After coating and curing, a complete inspection of any uncoated parts of the part 16 can be done simply by visually inspecting the operating plate 10; is rare.

As shown in FIG. 12, the part 16 is removed from the passage 26 of the operating plate 10 and
The time required for extrusion to step 6 is 10 seconds. 1st
FIG. 3 shows the discharge from the take-out plate 20.

As previously mentioned, plate 10 supports small electronic components 16 in a number of passageways 26 extending from one side of its body to the other. Each passageway has resilient walls, each wall having dimensions that are smaller than the corresponding dimensions of each part 16, and resiliently grips the part 16 as it is forced into the passageway 26.

The passageway 26 is shown in FIG. 7 as being circular in cross-section, but as shown in FIGS. Other cross-sectional shapes may be used as long as they have dimensions smaller than 16 dimensions. 1st
5 is similar to FIG. 7, but together with FIG. 16 shows a rectangular cross-section hole 46, a rectangular cross-section passage 26, and a rectangular cross-section part 16, the dimension Y of the passage (depending on the tolerance of part 16). somewhat smaller than the minimum cross-sectional dimension X of part 16, so that each part 1
6 is gripped across its short axis by passageway 26.

FIG. 17 is similar to FIGS. 15 and 16 except that the minimum dimension across the minor axis of the passageway 26 is defined by the distance between bosses or teeth 140 that project beyond the regular sidewalls 142 of the passageway 26. Figure 3 shows a passageway of rectangular cross section similar to that shown.

Part 16 is gripped by one or more pairs of teeth 140 extending from opposite sides of passageway 26. Two pairs of bosses are shown in the drawing. A pair of bosses can also be used. The toothed or notched structure is to reduce the provision of resilient material in the walls of the passageway that must be displaced in order to force the part into the gripping passageway. This is because the difference in the width of the part is large compared to the minimum and maximum tolerances of the part, so the sides of the passage have a large amount of elastic wall material to grip the minimum width part and the width of the part is large. This is a particularly advantageous construction when the device has to be displaced. Obviously, the amount of wall material to be displaced is small for toothed walls. 15th, 16th, 17th
The illustrated rectangular structure may also be greater than the cross-sectional length of part 16, which provides room for rotation of part 16 within passageway 26 if desired. The width of the passageway may be somewhat narrower than that shown in FIGS. 15-17, and the width shown is for illustrative purposes only.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of a device for storing and arranging small electrical parts, Figure 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the assembly of the device in Figure 1, Figure 3 is a partial view of Figure 2, and Figure 4 is a punch A perspective view showing the mechanism, FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view of FIG. 4, FIG. 6 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 5 showing the operating state of the punch mechanism, and FIG. A partial plan view showing the installed state of the
Fig. 8 is a schematic front view showing the coating and curing device; Fig. 9 is a perspective view showing a state in which a conductive coating is applied to one end of a small electrical part;
Figure 0 is a sectional view similar to Figure 5 showing another operating state of the punch mechanism, Figure 11 is a sectional view of a part of Figure 10 with the operation plate turned over, and Figure 12 is a sectional view of the punch mechanism. FIG. 13 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 5 showing yet another operating state of the mechanism; FIG.
Fig. 14 is a perspective view showing a small electrical part coated on both sides, Fig. 15 is a view similar to Fig. 7 showing rectangular parts and passages, and Fig. 16 is a perspective view showing a small electrical part coated on both sides.
The figure is a partial sectional view, and FIG. 17 is a partial plan view. 10: Operation plate, 12: Accommodation plate, 1
6: Parts, 18: Punch mechanism, 20: Take-out plate, 22: Punch base, 24: Punch, 2
6: Passage, 34, 36: Coating, 40:
groove, 42: edge, 46: hole, 48: elastic plastic material, 774: plate, 76: rack, 7
8: Pinion, 80: Handle, 92: Auxiliary plate, 140: Boss.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A method of coating the ends of a large number of small electronic parts such as capacitors and resistors, the length of which is longer than the length of the part to which the coating is applied.
forming a plurality of parallel passageways, and moving the part through the passageway while successively gripping sides of the part until a first end of the part is exposed from a first end of the passageway; accommodating the part in the passageway by pushing it in; applying a coating to the exposed first end of the part; and applying a coating to the exposed first end of the part; pushing the part through the passageway until the end of the part is exposed from a second end of the passageway; and applying a coating to the exposed second end of the part. Coating method. 2. Prior to storing the parts in the passage,
arranging said parts in banks juxtaposed to each other and each aligned with one of said passages, using pushers fixed together to move as one bank and juxtaposed in rows to move said parts into said banks; 2. A method as claimed in claim 1, in which the tube is pushed into the passageway. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the pusher is inserted into the passageway to push the part and then the passageway is pulled away from the pusher. 4. Stopping the line-shaped pushers at a first position to place the part with the first end exposed, and placing the part with the second end exposed. stopping the row of pushers at a second position; not stopping the row of pushers at the first and second positions when pushing the part to take out the part;
A method according to claim 1. 5. The part is formed in a rectangular cross-sectional shape, the passageway is formed in a circular cross-sectional shape, and the sides of the part are gripped by gripping opposite corners of the rectangular shape. The method described in item 1 of the scope. 6 forming the part and the passage in a rectangular shape, giving the part a cross-sectional width, forming elastic walls in the passage, and gripping the long side of the part so that the sides of the part are 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises: 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the long sides of the cross-section of the rectangular passageway are formed by at least one pair of opposing bosses extending inwardly to define a minimum cross-sectional width of the passageway. . 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the passageway has a length of at least 150% of the length of the part. 9 said plurality of parallel passages are formed in a body and extend from surface to surface of said body, said passages having at least one cross-sectional dimension thereof shorter than a corresponding dimension of said part; Before storage, the parts are arranged in banks juxtaposed to each other and each aligned with one of the passageways, the sides of the parts projecting from or between the ends of either of the passageways. 2. A method as claimed in claim 1, in which the parts are gripped at all positions in the passageway and the parts are pushed together into banks outside the passageway to remove them.