MXPA99005924A - Modu tray system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a stackable tray assembly for holding carriers of insertable / removable plastic components having various widths, the assembly comprising: a first frame having first and second separated ends joined together by first and second spaced sides where the ends and the sides each have an essentially common selected frame height and define a carrier receiving region joined in this manner, wherein each of the ends carries at least one partition fixing member facing the carrier receiving region; and at least one first partition separable fixably in the respective partition fixing elements, wherein the first partition forms, when fixed in this manner, at least two carrier grooves, each having a width corresponding to a width of a respective component carrier to be inserted therein, with the respective carrier held along a first edge by a respective partition and along a second edge separated by one from another partition and one side from the first

Description

'MODULAR TRAY SYSTEM' TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the transportation of components for subsequent assembly. Particularly, the invention relates to the transport and storage of retained components in the stackable trays, the components to be installed on printed circuit boards or other assemblies.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In assembling electronic devices, surface-mounted components such as semiconductor chips or integrated circuits, contact elements and discrete electrical elements such as capacitors and resistors, are installed on printed circuit boards. The components must be supplied to an assembly preparation area in a certain way to facilitate efficient mass production. The use of embossed plastic carrier ribbons to transport components such as semiconductor chips or integrated circuits, contact elements or discrete electrical elements such as capacitors and resistors, is already well recognized. The carrier ribbons facilitate the automatic handling, insertion and connection of the components in printed circuit boards or other substrates. The embossed carrier ribbons are manufactured to meet standardized requirements with respect, for example, to the front characteristics, density, back characteristics and cover tape. Embossed carrier ribbons have variable normal widths. Embossed carrier ribbons are specified, for example, in the EIA-481-2 standard, March 1991, entitled "16 mm and 24 mm Embossed Carrier Taping of Surface Mount Components for Automatic Handling". Other tapes are specified in the EIA-481-3 standard, dated November 1991, entitled "32 mm, 44 mm and 56 mm Embossed Carrier 'Taping of Surface Mount Components for Automatic Handling". The EIA-481-11A standard, dated August 1994, called "8 mm and 12 mm Punched &Embossed Carrier Taping of Surface Mount Components for Automatic Handling" specifies still other tape sizes. U.S. Patent No. 5,259,500 discloses a component feeder assembly for electronic components, including a spool drive means for advancing a roll of carrier tape that retains electronic components. Even though some assembling devices are loaded with a roll of component holding carrier tape and have a mechanism for removing the components from the roll, other assembling devices are loaded with rectangular component retaining trays. Rectangular trays can be stacked in a storage station that presents trays in sequence, to the device for unloading components. US Patent Number 5,226,226 discloses a multi-compartment deposit for retaining individual devices in arrays of rows and columns. The present inventors have recognized the need for a versatile tray system for storage, transportation and assembly preparation within a factory and for shipping quantities of components to their destination outside the factory. The present inventors have recognized a need for a tray system which can accommodate strips of carrier tape of components, particularly strips of carrier tape of components of varying widths and depths. The present inventors have recognized the need for a stackable tray system for shipping component carrier tape strips or component retention trays that is readily adapted to reliably ship a variable number of components. / COMPENDIUM OF THE INVENTION The present invention proposes a modular tray system for transporting carriers of components wherein the tray system is adjustable to retain carriers of components of various widths and depths. The tray system includes multiple tray modules, each of which is capable of transporting a plurality of component carriers, having varying widths and depths. Component carriers can include component trays such as carrier ribbons, held on rails. The component trays include multiple cavities along their length to retain the components. The tray modules can be loaded in a storage type loading device. From the charging apparatus, the components can be removed from the carrier components in the tray modules and installed on a substrate, such as a printed circuit board. Stacked tray modules are able to conveniently and securely ship the carriers of components that retain semiconductor chips or other types of components, inside or outside a factory. The preferred embodiment of the tray module of the present invention includes a rectangular frame member having opposite front and rear end walls connected by parallel spaced apart side walls forming a rectangular configuration. The opposite front and rear end walls include a plurality of retaining members or coupling portions such as slots or bolts. A plurality of rails or partitions couple the front and rear end walls by engaging opposite coupling portions of the front and rear end walls. The coupling portions are positioned to allow an adjustment of the lateral distance between the adjacent rails, to accommodate variable widths of the component trays. The rails may include a double-width tape applied to an upper surface thereof to secure the component trays therein. Although the slots and bolts are described as coupling portions in the end walls, and the end regions and key holes are described as coupling portions in the rails, other mechanisms for releasably holding the component carriers rails or portions in the end walls may be encompassed by the invention. The tray system of the present invention may include a plurality of these tray modules each with respective bottom and top surfaces thereof configured to be snapped together and / or snapped together so that the trays can be stacked efficiently and effectively. Accordingly, each module can include retainers extending from a top surface and shaped slots formed in the bottom surface. The retainers can snap into the configured slots. In addition, by stacking an additional tray module in the first tray module, the tray module will be retained therein and protected by the over tray module. The upper tray module and / or the lower tray can be covered by a protective cover plate. In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the component carrier can be molded into rigid, injection-molded component carrier tray parts having integral rails that are spaced apart and adapted to engage the coupling portion of the front end walls and back of the box member. The upper surface of the component carrying tray parts can be covered with a film to protect the components transported in this way. In addition, the multiple tray modules can be stacked and the respective rails or component carrier tray parts can be positioned to vary the total depth of the modules, so as to accommodate component trays or carrier portions of components having greater depths than they could be accumulated by a single tray module. Numerous other advantages and features of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description of the invention and the embodiments thereof., from the claims and the accompanying drawings wherein the details of the invention are fully and completely disclosed as part of this specification.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a detailed perspective view of a single tray module of a tray system of the present invention; Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the tray module of Figure 1; Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of a plurality of tray modules in a stacked configuration; Figure 4 is a sectional view of the tray system shown in Figure 3, with a cover plate; Figure 5 is a detailed perspective view of a tray module of the alternative mode; Figure 6 is a top plan view of the tray module of Figure 5, with the rails removed for reasons of clarity; Figure 7 is an elevation view of the tray module shown in Figure 6; Figure 8 is an enlarged sectional view taken generally along line 8-8 of Figure 7; Figure 9 is a top plan view of a rail shown in Figure 5; Figure 10 is a partial elevation view of the rail of Figure 9, seen on line 10-10; Figure 11 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the rail shown in Figure 9; Figure 12 is a sectional view of the rail that is generally taken along the line 12-12 of Figure 11; Figure 13 is a plan view of the module of Figure 5; and Figure 14 is an elevation view of a plurality of alternative mode modules placed in a stack.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITIES Although this invention is susceptible to a modality in many different ways, the specific embodiments thereof are shown in the drawings and will be described in detail herein with the understanding that the present disclosure should be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments illustrated. Figure 1 illustrates a tray module 10 having a frame 11 formed in rectangular configuration having front and rear walls 12, 14 and side walls 16, 18. The end walls 12, 14 include a plurality of coupling portions such as the slots 20. The rails 22 can be made to jump within the slots 20. The slots are spaced apart from each other at preselected distances such that the selectable slots correspond to the width of a component carrier such as a tray of components in the form of a carrier tape 24. The carrier tape 24 is held, at least in part, by one or more of the plurality of rails 22. The carrier tape 24 may have a length corresponding to a portion of, or the entire length of the frame 11. The tape 24 The carrier can be cut from a spool of thermoformed carrier tape. Alternatively, carrier strips of rigid molded components can be used. A given tray module 10 can carry various widths and / or configurations of carrier tapes 24. It should be understood that the tray module 10 could convey several identical carrier ribbons, such as the identical carrier ribbons 24. Alternatively, the tray module 10 could carry several different carrier ribbons having different widths, different depths, and / or different forms of component retention cavities. One of the carrier tapes 24a is illustrated in Figure 1 as being supported by a rail 22 and the side wall 18 of the board 11. The other respective carrier tape 24b is held by two rails 22a, 22b. As illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, the tray modules 10 may include positioning pins 30, making them more effective for direct use in manufacturing. The pins 30 are positioned longitudinally on the upper surface of the rails 22 and the side walls 16, 18. A sufficient number of pins is required to adjust and retain the position of the component trays, such as the 24 carrier ribbons in the module. The pins 30 are separated to coincide with the machine holes 36 already present in the component carrying belts. The components loaded on the carrier belts 24a, 24b could be more accurately extracted automatically by the assembly machinery, such as a pick-up and positioning robot as a result of placing the tray module and the carrier ribbons in precise position in the machinery . Further, as illustrated in Figures 2 and 4, the rails 22 and the side walls 16, 18 include pin receiving plugs 40 that are spaced apart to match the pins 30 of an underlying module. The plugs 40 are provided to eliminate interference between the pins 30 and the lower surface 23 of the rails, or a lower surface 17 of the side walls 16, 18 during stacking. Therefore, the squares 11 of the adjacent modules can be stacked in relation to the flush, as shown in Figure 4. The plugs 40 can have a loose fit above the pins 30 to serve the non-interference function or can have a tight fit to serve as an additional function of releasably holding the adjacent frames 11 together. As illustrated in Figures 3 and 4, the module of tray is intended to be a component of the stackable tray system. A given tray module 10 can be loaded with a combination of rails and strips of carrier tape, pre-loaded with components. Another tray module 10 can be stacked therein with a different combination of rails and strips of preloaded carrier ribbons. Alternatively, one or more frames 11 can be stacked to form a single, deeper tray module 10 'having a plurality of rails 22 which are positioned in the corresponding slots 20. The rails 20 can be installed only in the upper frame 11 or in each frame 11 which constitutes the stack forming the deepest tray module 10 '. In this case, the thermoformed carrier ribbons having deeper cavities can be supported by the separate rails and can extend within the depth that is provided by the multiple stacked frames 11. Advantageously, each tray module box 11 has a nominal depth of 6.35 millimeters.

Instead of the flexible thermoformed carrier tapes such as the carrier tapes 24b held on the rails 22a, 22b shown in Figure 1, the component carrier can be formed as an elongated rigid injection molded component carrier element or a portion of the component carrier. the tray also having integrated rails, which can be adjusted to jump within the slots 20. These elements can be provided in varying widths. The widths correspond to the separate slots 20. The widths for the component carrying belts 24a, 24b vary from 8 to 56 millimeters. It should be understood that when loaded, the carrier tapes can be covered with a sealable cover layer, adhesively fixed to protect the pre-loaded components and to retain the components on the carrier tape strip until they are removed during assembly. Alternatively or in addition, the carrier tapes retained in the tray module 10 can be covered by a common cover layer. The cover layers are not shown for reasons of clarity. Figure 5 illustrates a module 100 of the alternative embodiment including a rectangular box 111 formed by a front wall 112, a rear wall 114 and two side walls 116, 118 forming a rectangle. The front wall 112 and the rear wall 114 each include a flange surface recessed at 119, 120 respectively, each contiguous with an interior surface 121, 122, respectively. Extending perpendicularly from the inner surfaces 121, 122, there are a plurality of coupling portions such as the rail bolts 124. Extending also above each of the respective flange surfaces 119, 120 and inwardly from the inner surfaces 121, 122, there are the machine positioning tabs 125, 126 having surfaces for the precise positioning of the tray module 100 (or the group of stacked modules) in a preparation area for a robot of an automatic acquisition and positioning assembly, or any other preparation area requiring precise positioning of the module 100. The handling tabs 127 extend outward from each end wall 112, 114. The rails 128 are positioned to fit between the front wall 112 and the rear wall 114. Each rail includes a coupling piece 130 at each end thereof engaging a coupling portion such as a rail bolt 124 in each of the front wall 112 and the rear wall 114. The rails essentially comprise the length of the frame 111. The rails 128 can be adjusted in position along the length of the front wall 112 and the rear wall 114 by engaging different pairs of opposite pins 124 in the front and rear walls 112, 114, respectively. The frame also includes a plurality of hook-shaped retainers 134, placed separately along the side walls 116, 118. Beneath each retainer 134, there is a retainer engagement groove 140 that receives a hook-shaped retainer 134 of an identical underlying module 100 for releasably fastening or engaging two modules 100 in a stacked manner. The nesting slot 141 is positioned adjacent each coupling slot 140. The nesting slot 141 is flat and each is dimensioned to loosely receive a hook-shaped retainer 134. The rails 128 also include bidirectional hook rails 144 spaced along a length of the rails 128. The bi-directional hook rails 144 can function to retain two trays of adjacent components, such as the two carrier ribbons 24, in each module tray. Two rows of positioning pins 30 are positioned longitudinally between the bidirectional hook rails 144 and function to place the component trays such as the carrier ribbons 24, precisely in the module. Figure 6 illustrates the variable widths that can be achieved with the illustrated placement of the rail bolts 124. According to the preferred embodiment, the indicated spacing of the bolts is as follows: a = 17 millimeters b = 23 millimeters c = 29 millimeters d = 34 millimeters e = 46 millimeters f = 51 millimeters g = 85 millimeters This separation will advantageously accommodate the laying of rails to retain, for example, three ribbons of 34 millimeters side by side, two ribbons of 46 millimeters side by side or two ribbons of 58 millimeters side by side. Figure 8 illustrates the shape of the hook-shaped retainers 134. The retainers 134 include a beveled guide surface 152 formed in a horizontal leg 154. The horizontal leg 154 extends inward from a vertical leg 156. Beneath the retainer 134 the retainer coupling slot 140 is placed. The slots 140 have an essentially hook-shaped opening that engages with the retainers 134 when received therein. The guide surface 152 causes the retainers to flex outwardly from the contact force from the undersurface of an underlying module 100 as the modules are pressed together until the horizontal leg 154 is received within the horizontal portion 158 of the slot 140. The modules in this way can be sharpened and fixed or latched together. Figures 9 to 12 illustrate rail 128 in greater detail. Rail 128 is essentially "U" shaped (inverted) in cross section, providing an open area 160 for receiving a bidirectional hook rail 144 therein, when two modules 100 are stacked, see Figure 12. The portion of Coupling 130 includes an over-hanging edge 168 for holding on one of the flanges 119, 120. Adjacent the edge there is an end wall 170 having a slot 172 in the form of a key hole formed therethrough. The slot includes angled entrance walls 173, 174 that form a "V" shaped notch opening into a circular opening 175. The opening 175 is dimensioned to receive a rail pin 124 which has been - resiliently forced through the "V" shaped notch of the walls 173, 174. The bi-directional hook rail 144 includes inclined surfaces 182, 183 that slope downwardly on opposite sides of an upper surface 186 of the rail. These surfaces 182, 183 help to center a tray of components on the module 100, between the adjacent rails 128. The tray of components such as the carrier tape 24 can then be pressed down to jump between one of two opposite overhanging portions 188, 189. The hook rail 144 can retain two edges or longitudinal edges of the trays of adjacent components towards the rail 128. Figure 13 illustrates two component trays such as the carrier ribbons 24 installed side-by-side in a module 100. Three rails 128 are pressed to the flanges 119, 120 and engage the bolts 124 to be secured to the front wall 112 and the rear 114 wall. The machine indexing holes 36 of the two belts 24 coincide with one of the row positioning pins 30 of the outer rails 128 respectively, and coincide with one of the two rows of positioning pins on the central rail 128. The tapes fit under the overhanging edges 188, 189 of adjacent pairs of rails 128, respectively.

- - The module 100 is intended to be stacked with similar modules 100, essentially as described with respect to Figures 1 to 4. The panels 111 of the module can be stacked to create deeper modules in order to retain the component trays which have retention cavities. of relatively deep components. The rails 128 can be positioned to retain the trays of components of the same width in the module, or they can be placed to retain the trays of components of different widths in the same module. The entire module 100, filled with a preselected number of component trays, can be covered by a film to retain the components within its component trays. Alternatively or in addition, component trays such as carrier tape strips 24 can be pre-loaded and pre-sealed with film to retain the components in the tapes. Figure 14 illustrates a further advantage of the configuration of the alternative module 100. Two SI, S2 cells of module box 111 are shown. Within each stack SI, S2, the tiles 111 are hooked together by engaging the hook-shaped retainers 134 in the mating slots 140. However, due to the arrangement of the mating slots 140 and the slots 141 of fitting, the two batteries SI, S2 are - - Relatively oriented to fit together, but not snagged together. As illustrated in Figures 6 and 7, each frame 111 has engaging grooves 140 consistently on the same side of the matching slots 141 adjacent to the left of each nesting slot 141, as shown in Figures 6 and 7. The retainer 134, the coupling grooves 140 and the engaging grooves are positioned in such a way that if an Illa box of the module is rotated 180 ° around a vertical center line CL, as shown in Figure 14, with respect to To a frame III of the module, the hook-shaped retainers 134 will coincide with the engaging slots 141 of the overlying frame IIIb instead of coinciding with the coupling slots 140. Therefore, as shown in Figure 14, the upper SI stack is rotated 180 ° with respect to the lower stack S2 and the hook-shaped retainer 134 of the Illa frame will not engage in the mating grooves 140. of the picture lllb. The two batteries SI, S2 are loosely fitted by means of the hook-shaped retainer 134 of the frame Illa, which are received by the insertion slots 141 of the frame IIIb. The tray modules of the present invention 10, 100 are useful in the assembly and shipping process. For assembly processes, the components are - They feed into a pick-and-place machinery through the stacked trays. When a stacked tray is emptied, it is lifted up to be moved away by the pick and place machinery in order to expose the new tray. In addition, tray modules can be used as shipping packages within a factory or to destinations outside the factory. The tray module in this manner can be a normal modular unit that is modified to accept component trays such as the variable width carrier ribbons. A PSA cover tape can be applied through each component tray or all component trays to hold the products in the tray module. Numerous modifications can be made to the foregoing system without deviating from the basic teachings of the system. Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to one or more of the specific embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that they can be made in the same changes without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as set forth in appended claims.

Claims (14)

R E I V I N D I C A C I O N S

1. A stackable tray assembly for holding carriers of insertable / removable plastic components having various widths, the assembly comprising: a first frame having first and second spaced ends joined together by first and second spaced sides where the ends and sides each has an essentially common selected frame height and defines a carrier receiving region joined in this manner, wherein each of the ends carries at least one partition fixing member facing the carrier receiving region; and at least one first partition separable fixably in the respective partition fixing elements, wherein the first partition forms, when fixed in this manner, at least two carrier grooves, each having a width corresponding to a width of a respective component carrier for insertion therein, with the respective carrier held along a first edge by a respective partition and along a second edge separated by one of the other partition and one side of the first frame.

2. An assembly according to claim 1, including a second stackable table essentially identical to the first table, wherein the first table can be stacked in a second table thereby forming one of a composite table having a composite height that is twice the height of the frame whereby the carriers of components that have a height greater than the height of the frame can be held in a respective carrier slot and, two frames stacked independently whereby the carriers of components that have a height less than or equal to the height of the frame can be received in the respective carrier slots in each frame.

3. An assembly according to claim 2, including a second partition, removably fixably in the respective partition wall fastening elements of the second frame whereby the first partition is above the second partition when the frames are stacked.

4. An assembly according to claim 2, including a plurality of essentially identical partitions fixed to a second frame.

An assembly according to claim 1, wherein the first partition includes a plurality of spaced apart protrusions whereby a component carrier having a plurality of spaced-apart positioning apertures slidably engage at least some of the protuberances when inserted. in a respective carrier slot.

An assembly according to claim 1, wherein the first frame includes a plurality of spaced apart protrusions whereby a component carrier having a plurality of spaced-apart positioning apertures slidably engages at least some of the protuberances when inserted. in a respective carrier slot.

7. An assembly according to claim 2, the first panel includes protruding receiving openings that are defined on one surface thereof, which abuts against the second panel as it is stacked and wherein the second panel includes protrusions that match with the receiving openings when the boxes are stacked.

8. An assembly according to claim 2, wherein at least one of the frames includes an operable latch for coupling the two frames together when stacked as a composite frame and not otherwise when stacked.

9. An assembly according to claim 8, wherein the latch is activated by rotating one of the frames relative to the other.

10. An assembly according to claim 1, wherein the partition and the frame define two carrier slots each of selected width.

11. An assembly according to claim 10, wherein the widths of the carrier groove are different.

12. An assembly according to claim 1, wherein the septum fixing elements include septum receiving slots.

13. An assembly according to claim 2, wherein the stack of frames includes at least one upper frame stacked in and separated independently of one of the lower composite frames and a lower frame.

14. An assembly according to claim 13, wherein the carriers of components in the lower frame of a lower composite frame and a lower frame are held in place by the upper frame.