KR101604044B1 - Tray Feeder Having a Structure of Multi-Stackers - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a tray feeder having a multi-stack structure, and more specifically, to a tray feeder having a multi-stack structure which has two or more stacks having tray and supplies continuously parts. The tray feeder having a multi-stack structure comprises: an elevator module (11) which vertically moves a pallet (P); a tray moving unit (15) which moves the pallet (P) from the elevator module (11) to a part supplying location or from the part supplying location to the elevator module; a stack module (12) which has two or more tray-stacks, wherein a tray (T) loaded in the each tray-stack has a structure movable to the pallet (P); and a dump module (13) which discharges an empty tray run out of parts from the pallet (P). When the pallet (P) having an empty tray is moved to the elevator module (11), the empty tray is moved to the dump module (13), and from one tray-stack among the two or more tray-stacks, a tray having parts is moved to the pallet (P) and is provided to the part supplying location by means of the tray moving unit (15).

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a tray feeder having a multi-stack structure,

The present invention relates to a multi-stacked tray feeder, and more particularly, to a multi-stacked tray feeder in which at least two stacked trays are disposed so that the component feed can be continuously performed.

In electronic component surface mount technology, which is a technique for attaching a mounting component to an electronic circuit on the surface of a printed circuit board, the mounting component can be supplied by a tray. The tray in which the mounting element or the electronic component is disposed can be moved to the component pickup position by the pallet and each electronic component in the pickup position can be arranged on the printed circuit board by the pickup apparatus. A number of identical or different parts can be supplied by automated processes and the parts placed in the trays are limited. Therefore, if parts placed in one tray are exhausted or other parts are to be supplied in the course of supplying parts to one tray, the trays transferred to the pickup position must be replaced. Replacement of the tray may interrupt the supply of parts, so it is necessary to reduce the replacement time of the tray. It is also advantageous for the tray feeder to have a structure in which other types of parts can be automatically fed without operator intervention in the process of supplying the parts.

Patent Publication No. 10-2012-0070094 discloses a main body having a magazine such that a pallet for loading and transporting a tray on which a plurality of parts are accommodated is placed, and parts on the pallet for picking up the parts A guide rail which is connected to one side of the main body so as to be transported to a pick-up position and which provides a transport path of the pallet; and a pallet, which transports the pallet loaded on the magazine to a component pickup position of the mount, A pallet transfer unit for transferring the pallet into the magazine, and a support unit for supporting a lower portion of the transfer path of the pallet, wherein the support unit includes: a first bracket fixed to a lower portion of the transfer path of the pallet; A second bracket connected to the connecting portion and fixed to the mounter, And it discloses a tray feeder comprising.

Patent Publication No. 10-2014-0082872 discloses a magazine in which a plurality of pallets are accommodated; An elevator module for moving the magazine up and down; An input module for supplying a pallet to the magazine; And a conveying module for conveying the pallets conveyed from the magazine, wherein two opening / closing devices are provided at opposed positions of the loading doors formed in the loading module, and the loading doors are opened and closed at positions opposed to each other .

The trays having the corresponding parts to be supplied with different kinds of parts in the process of supplying the specific parts in the case of the tray supplying apparatus disclosed in the prior art or known in the art have to be supplied separately by hand. Specifically, in the prior art

The tray for supplying the parts is manually provided to the pallet, which causes the operator who supplies the parts to wait at all times.

The present invention has been made to solve the problems of the prior art and has the following purpose.

Prior Art 1: Patent Publication No. 10-2012-0070094 (disclosed on Jun. 29, 2012, Samsung Techwin Co., Ltd.) Tray feeder Prior Art 2: Patent Publication No. 10-2012-0151598 (published on Jul. 03, 2013, STS Co., Ltd.)

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of loading trays having the same or different parts in a plurality of stacks so that when a part of the tray is exhausted from a part feeding position, And to allow the tray from the stack to be loaded on the pallet and to be moved to the component feeding position.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the tray feeder of the multi-stack structure includes an elevator module for moving the pallet up and down; A tray transfer unit for moving the pallet from the elevator module to the component supply position or vice versa; A stack module in which at least two tray stacks are arranged, and a tray loaded in each tray stack is movable to a pallet; And a dump module for discharging empty trays having exhausted parts from the pallet, wherein when the pallet with empty trays is moved to the elevator module, the empty trays are conveyed to a dump module, and one of the at least two tray stacks The tray having the parts from the tray stack of the tray is moved to the pallet and supplied to the parts feeding position by the conveying unit.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the tray stack includes an alignment plate, a discharge unit for discharging one tray from the tray loaded on the alignment plate, and a conveyor unit for transferring the tray from the discharge unit.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the elevator module 11 further comprises a tray magazine, a restriction plate disposed above the tray magazine, and an impact mitigating part disposed on the restriction plate.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the dump module 13 includes a lift unit for lifting the loaded tray.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the discharge unit includes a support plate for supporting the tray and a cross link for guiding the up and down movement of the support plate.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the tray is loaded on a jig unit, and a backup plate moving up and down according to the movement of the tray is disposed in the jig unit.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the dump module includes a conveyor unit for moving the tray, and a lift plate is disposed on the conveyor unit.

The tray feeder of the multi-stack structure according to the present invention provides a tray with parts from one stack of multi-stacks to the pallet so that the pallet with the parts can be moved to the parts feeding position. Thereby automatically feeding the parts from the known tray feeder to the pallet manually. The tray feeder according to the present invention automatically discards the empty tray when the part is exhausted from the pallet and causes the tray having the same part from one stack to be loaded into the pallet to be moved to the component feeding position, . As a result, the number of workloads can be minimized by replacing the manual replacement of the tray. Further, the tray feeder according to the present invention may be configured such that the trays loaded in a plurality of stacks are supplied to the pick-up position in a predetermined order or by a specific component supply request, do.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are an internal structural view and an external structural view, respectively, of an embodiment of a tray feeder of a multi-stack structure according to the present invention.
Figure 2a illustrates an embodiment of a stack structure that may be applied to a tray feeder in accordance with the present invention.
Figure 2b illustrates an embodiment of a tray stack applied to the stack structure of Figure 2a.
FIG. 3 illustrates an elevator module according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.
FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment in which trays are moved between different modules in a tray feeder according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 shows an embodiment in which a tray is fed and discharged from a tray feeder according to the present invention.
6 shows an embodiment of a structure for separating different trays from a tray feeder to a tray stack according to the present invention.
FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of a structure for allowing trays to be moved to different units in a tray feeder according to the present invention.
FIG. 8 shows an embodiment of a conveyor structure applied to a tray feeder according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In the following description, components having the same reference numerals in different drawings have similar functions, so that they will not be described repeatedly unless necessary for an understanding of the invention, and the known components will be briefly described or omitted. However, It should not be understood as being excluded from the embodiment of Fig.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are an internal structural view and an external structural view, respectively, of an embodiment of a tray feeder of a multi-stack structure according to the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, the tray feeder 10 of the multi-stack structure according to the present invention includes an elevator module 11 for moving the pallet P up and down; A tray transfer unit 15 for transferring the pallet P from the elevator module 11 to the component supply position or vice versa; A stack module (12) having a structure in which at least two tray stacks are arranged, and a tray (T) loaded on each tray stack is movable to a pallet (P); And a dump module (13) for discharging empty trays from which the parts have been exhausted from the pallet (P). When the pallet (P) having empty trays is moved to the elevator module (11) Is delivered to the dump module 13 and a tray T having parts from one of the tray stacks of the at least two tray stacks is moved to the pallet P and is provided to the component feeding position by the conveying unit 15 .

The tray feeder 10 according to the present invention can be applied to any apparatus for feeding a tray containing a plurality of electronic components, and the tray T can be accommodated in a pallet or a jig unit or can be conveyed alone. The tray (T), pallet or jig unit (P) may have any structure known in the art and the invention is not limited by the structure of the tray (T), pallet or jig unit (P).

The tray T can be loaded on the pallet P and a plurality of pallets P can be moved up and down by the elevator module 11. [ The plurality of pallets P can be moved up and down along the guide member 111 while being loaded on the magazine. The pallets P accommodated in the magazine can be transferred to the tray transfer unit 15 in a predetermined order.

The pallet P having the tray T conveyed to the tray conveying unit 15 can be conveyed to the pickup position of the part by the conveyor unit. Each electronic component disposed in the tray T at the pick-up position can be picked up and transported to a predetermined position and disposed on the circuit board. When all of the electronic components disposed in the tray T are exhausted, the pallet P having the empty tray can be moved to the elevator module 11 again by the conveyor unit. And the elevator module 11 can be moved downward to the position of the dump module 13. [ The empty tray T is moved from the pallet P to the dump module 13 at the position of the dump module 13 and the elevator module 11 is moved to the tray stack on which the tray T having the parts to be fed is loaded . The tray T on which the electronic parts are loaded can be loaded on the pallet P from the tray stack and the elevator module 11 can be moved to the position of the transfer unit 15 again. And the pallet P loaded with the tray T having the parts can be moved to the component feeding position.

A tray T with parts can be placed in the stack module 12. The stack module 12 may be formed of a plurality of tray stacks, and a plurality of trays T may be disposed in each tray stack. For example, the tray stack may be 2 to 5, and 3 to 10 trays (T) may be stacked on each tray stack. The trays T accommodated in the different tray stacks can have the same or different kinds of parts and the trays T accommodated in the respective tray stacks are moved to the pallet P of the elevator module 11 in a predetermined order And can be transferred to the tray transfer unit 15. The tray stacks disposed in the stack module 12 can be arranged along the moving direction of the elevator and can be arranged in the vertical direction. The trays T arranged in the tray stack arranged in the vertical direction can be discharged in any order by the movement of the elevator and transferred to the tray transfer unit 15. [

An empty tray, from which all of the electronic components have been picked up at the pick-up position, can be loaded on the pallet P, moved to the elevator module 11 and loaded on the dump module 13. [ The empty tray can be moved to the dump module 13 by the elevator module 11 while the electronic component is picked up depending on the operating structure. The empty tray loaded in the dump module 13 may then be discharged to the exterior and filled with electronic components and placed in the stack module 12. [

The tray feeder 10 according to the present invention is configured such that the tray T disposed on the tray stack is stacked on the pallet P in accordance with the upward and downward movement of the elevator module 11 and is delivered to the tray transfer unit 15 So that no manual replacement of the tray is required. Further, by allowing the tray T having parts to be disposed in advance in the tray stack 12, the operator can perform the tray replacement process without waiting. For example, a tray T having spare electronic components can be placed in one tray stack, and if a spare electronic component is required at the pickup position, the tray with the spare electronic component can be automatically transferred to the pickup position . Also, since a plurality of trays T are disposed in the stack module 12, the period of replacement of the trays T becomes long, thereby preventing a decrease in productivity due to the frequent replacement of the trays T. Further, the elevator module 11, the stack module 12, and the dump module 13 are disposed in one housing, and space efficiency is improved by arranging the tray stack according to the moving direction of the elevator.

The tray feeder 10 according to the present invention may have various spatial structures, and the present invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 2A illustrates an embodiment of a stack structure that may be applied to a tray feeder according to the present invention, and FIG. 2B illustrates an embodiment of a tray stack applied to the stack structure of FIG. 2A.

Referring to FIG. 2A, the stack module 12 may consist of vertically arranged four tray stacks S1 to S4, and seven stacking trays T and two upper tray stacks S1 and S2, respectively, One waiting tray T1 may be accommodated and five placement trays T and one waiting tray T1 may be accommodated in the two lower tray stacks S3 and S4. An elevator module 11 having a structure in which an elevator is movable along a guide member 111, a stack module 12 in which tray stacks S1 to S4 are arranged vertically, and a dump module (13) can be housed in a box-shaped housing (H) in a parallel form. The control panel CP can be disposed outside the housing H and the operation indicator L can be disposed at an appropriate position.

Each of the tray stacks S1 to S4 may consist of a tray frame TF and a discharge unit 20 and a standby tray T1 may be disposed in the discharge unit 20 to be moved to the elevator module.

2B, the tray stack includes a plate-shaped receiving plate 21 disposed at each corner of a box-shaped tray frame TF, a stopper 22 disposed on one side of the tray frame TF, A pair of sliding guides 23 disposed in the discharge unit 20, a drive unit 24 such as a motor for driving a conveyor disposed in the slide guide 23, and an atmospheric plate 25 supporting the jig unit. have. And a separation unit 27 for separating one tray from the plurality of trays stacked on the tray stack and transferring the tray to the elevator module can be disposed in front of the discharge unit 20. [ The standby plate 25 may have a structure capable of moving up and down. When the lowest tray is separated from the remaining tray by the forward and backward movement of the separation unit 27, the standby plate 25 is moved downward, Can be placed in the discharge unit (20). And when the elevator module is placed in the discharge unit 20, the waiting tray can be moved from the discharge unit 20 to the elevator module.

FIG. 3 illustrates an elevator module according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.

3, the elevator module 11 includes a base plate 331 extending in the vertical direction, a pair of guide rails 332 disposed along the longitudinal direction of the base plate 331, A moving bracket 335 which is coupled to the guide member 111 and moves up and down along the guide member 111 and a driving motor such as a servomotor which moves the moving bracket 335, (34). The elevator 31 is coupled to the moving bracket 335 and can be moved up and down to eject the magazine M in which each jig unit P is accommodated and each jig unit P from the magazine M A plurality of jig guide rails 311 arranged to face each other on the side surface of the magazine M in order to accommodate the jig guide rails 311 and 311, a magnet gear 312 provided on the side surface of each jig guide rail 311, And a shock absorbing pin 314 disposed to protrude from the ceiling plate 313. The jig unit P can be ejected from the magazine M along the guide rail 311 or accommodated in the magazine M by the operation of the magnet gear 312 in engagement with the conveyor. When the shock absorbing pin 314 is detected in the up and down movement of the elevator 31, the upward movement of the elevator can be stopped.

The tray T loaded on the stack module can be moved to the magazine M and the elevator 31 can be moved up and down to place the stacked tray T in front of the tray transport unit . The jig unit P is ejected to the magazine M by the operation of the conveying unit and is moved along the tray conveying unit Up position. Each electronic component disposed in the tray T at the pick-up position can be picked up, and the empty tray T can be conveyed to the elevator module 11 again.

An elevator module having various structures can be applied to the tray feeder according to the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment in which trays are moved between different modules in a tray feeder according to the present invention.

4, when the component tray TS housed in the stack module 12 is positioned in the discharge unit of the stack module 12 in accordance with the upward and downward movement of the elevator module 11, it can be moved to the elevator module 11 have. A plurality of component trays TS can be accommodated in the elevator module 11 and empty trays TE can be transferred to the elevator module 11 after completion of component supply from the tray transport unit.

The empty tray TE can be moved downward as the elevator module moves and can be moved to the dump module 13 along the dump conveyor 45 installed between the elevator module 11 and the dump module 13 . When the tray previously received by the lift unit 41 provided in the dump module 13 is lifted, the empty tray TE conveyed by the dump conveyor 45 can be inserted below the tray previously accommodated. As described above, the empty tray TE can be accommodated in the dump module 13 in turn, and the empty tray TE can be taken out to the outside when a sufficient empty tray is accommodated. The lift unit 41 may be made of at least one up-and-down moving pin operated by a driving motor, but is not limited thereto.

A description will be given below of a process in which the tray is transferred from the elevator module 11 to the tray transfer unit.

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment in which a tray is fed and discharged from a tray feeder according to the present invention.

5, the electronic part can be transferred to the circuit board by the pick-up unit 50 at the pick-up position of the tray transfer unit 15, and when all the parts are transferred, the pallet P is returned to the elevator module 11 Lt; / RTI > When the pallet P having the empty tray is transferred to the elevator module 11, the pallet P on which the tray having the electronic parts accommodated in the elevator module 11 is moved to the pickup position by the tray transfer unit 15 . And the elevator module 11 is moved downward to move the empty tray to the dump module. The tray loaded pallet P having the electronic parts according to the structure of the tray transfer unit 15 is moved to the tray transfer unit 15 in advance and is kept in the standby state and the pallet P having the empty tray is moved to a separate path The elevator module 11 can be moved to the elevator.

The tray transfer unit 15 having various structures can be applied to the tray feeder according to the present invention and the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown.

An embodiment of each apparatus that can be applied to the tray feeder according to the present invention will be described below.

6 shows an embodiment of a structure for separating different trays from a tray feeder to a tray stack according to the present invention.

Referring to Fig. 6, the atmospheric plate 25 disposed in the discharge unit may have an auxiliary plate 611 that allows the tray to be stably moved. The auxiliary plate 611 may have a shape extending in a direction perpendicular to the atmospheric plate 25 and the atmospheric plate 25 and the auxiliary plate 611 may extend in directions perpendicular to each other. A cross link 62 may be disposed below the atmospheric plate 25. The cross link 62 refers to a height adjusting device which is made to be able to move up and down about two intersecting points 621 with respect to each other. The cross link 62 can be moved up and down about the intersection point and the up and down movement of the cross link 62 can be made by the position control motor. One tray can be separated from the other tray by the up and down movement of the cross link, and the separated tray can be put into a standby state in the discharge unit. The tray can then be moved from the discharge unit to the elevator module.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of a structure for allowing trays to be moved to different units in a tray feeder according to the present invention.

7, the jig unit includes a jig frame 71, a pair of jig guides 72a and 72b disposed inside the jig frame 71, a guide plate 73 And a backup plate 74 disposed in the interior of the jig frame 71. The backup plate 42 is connected to one end of a pair of inclined links 76a and 76b whose inclination angle is adjusted and one inclined link 76b can be connected to the inclination adjusting connector 77. [ The inclination adjusting motor 77 can be rotated by the operation of the inclination adjusting motor 78 so that the inclination of the inclined links 76a and 76b can be adjusted so that the inclination links 76a and 76b have one end The height of the connected backup plate 42 can be adjusted. The operation of the inclination adjusting motor 78 can be interlocked with the clamp PC.

The backup plate 74 can be lowered in a state where the tray T is introduced into the jig unit. When the tray T is completely positioned inside the jig unit and the transfer unit is coupled to the clamp for movement of the jig unit, the tilt adjustment motor 78 is operated to adjust the tilt of the tilt links 76a and 76b, The plate can be lifted, and the guide plate 73 can be lifted and the tray T can be completely fixed to the inside of the jig unit. The jig unit may then be moved to a pick-up position, for example, by a transport unit coupled to the clamp PC. By the operation of the backup plate 74, the tray T can be introduced into and discharged from the jig unit in a state in which the tray T is kept parallel.

FIG. 8 shows an embodiment of a conveyor structure applied to a tray feeder according to the present invention.

8, the dump conveyor includes a dump frame 81, a guide rail 82 disposed in the dump frame 81, lift plates 83 and 83a disposed on the bottom surface of the dump frame 81, 84b for driving the guide rails 83, 83a and the guide rails 82, respectively. The dump driving units 84a and 84b can be operated by an appropriate driving unit 85. [ The lift plates 83, 83a can be made in various shapes and can be made to have a sufficient area corresponding to the size of the tray, preferably to prevent interference during operation.

An object of the present invention is to provide a tray feeder of a multi-stack structure capable of improving productivity by allowing trays loaded in at least two stacks having different kinds of parts to be supplied in a predetermined order to a tray transport unit will be.

Various dump conveyor structures can be applied to the tray feeder according to the present invention and the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown.

The tray feeder of the multi-stack structure according to the present invention provides a tray with parts from one stack of multi-stacks to the pallet so that the pallet with the parts can be moved to the parts feeding position. Thereby automatically feeding the parts from the known tray feeder to the pallet manually. The tray feeder according to the present invention automatically discards the empty tray when the part is exhausted from the pallet and causes the tray having the same part from one stack to be loaded into the pallet to be moved to the component feeding position, . As a result, the number of workloads can be minimized by replacing the manual replacement of the tray. Further, the tray feeder according to the present invention may be configured such that the trays loaded in a plurality of stacks are supplied to the pick-up position in a predetermined order or by a specific component supply request, do.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . The invention is not limited by these variations and modifications, but is limited only by the claims appended hereto.

10: tray feeder 11: elevator module
12: stack module 13: dump module
15: transfer unit 20: discharge unit
21: receiving plate 22: stopper
23: Sliding guide 24: Drive unit
25: atmospheric plate 27: separation unit
31: Elevator 41: Lift unit
42: backup plate 45: dump conveyor
50: pick-up unit 62: cross link
71: jig frame 72a, 72b: jig guide
73: guide plate 76a, 76b: inclined link
77: inclination adjusting connector 78: inclination adjusting motor
81: Dump frame 82: Guide rail
83, 83a: lift plate
111: guide member 311: jig guide rail
312: magnet gear 313: ceiling plate
331: base plate 332: guide rail
335: moving bracket 611: auxiliary plate

Claims (7)

An elevator module 11 for vertically moving the magazine M accommodating a plurality of jig units P;
A tray transfer unit 15 for moving the tray T loaded on the jig unit P or the jig unit P from the elevator module 11 to the component supply position or vice versa;
A stack module (12) having a structure in which at least two tray stacks in which a plurality of trays (T) are stacked, and a tray (T) loaded on each tray stack is movable to a jig unit (P); And
And a dump module (13) for discharging an empty tray from which the parts have been exhausted at the component supply position,
The jig unit P having the empty tray is moved to the elevator module 11 and then the empty tray is transferred to the dump module 13 by the movement of the elevator module 11; A tray having parts from one of the at least two tray stacks is transferred to the jig unit P and accommodated in the magazine M and the tray having the parts is transported by the up and down movement of the elevator module 11 Is supplied to the component supply position by the unit (15); The tray stack includes an atmospheric plate 25 supporting the jig unit P while being movable up and down and a separating unit 27 separating the tray at the bottom of the tray stack from the remaining tray by back and forth movement Features multi-stack tray feeder. delete The elevator module (11) according to claim 1, wherein the elevator module (11) comprises: a magazine (M) accommodating a plurality of jig units (P); A plurality of jig guide rails 311 disposed to face each other on the side surface of the magazine M; A magnet gear 312 mounted on a side surface of each jig guide rail 311; A ceiling plate 313 disposed above the magazine M; And a shock absorbing pin (314) disposed so as to protrude from the ceiling plate (313). The dump conveyor according to claim 1, wherein a dump conveyor (45) is disposed between the dump module (13) and the elevator module (11), and when the tray previously received by the lift unit (41) And a tray is inserted under the tray previously accommodated.



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