TWI662647B - Treatment apparatus, component feeder, and treatment method - Google Patents

Abstract

A processing device, a component transfer device, and a processing method that improve the processing capability of a component body constituting an electronic component. The processing device (10) includes a conveying device (12) and a laser device (13). The transfer device (12) includes a transfer rotor (20) and a motor (40). The transfer rotor (20) is rotatably supported. A support portion extending in the circumferential direction is formed on an outer peripheral surface of the transport rotor (20), and holding grooves are formed at the support portion at equal angular intervals. The laser device (13) processes the component body transferred to the processing position. The control device controls the motor (40) to stop the transfer rotor (20) at a predetermined angle (the angle forming the holding groove (22)), and transfers the element body to the processing position. The control device controls the laser device (13) and processes the element body.

Description

   Processing device, part transfer device and processing method   

The present invention relates to a processing device and a processing method that perform processing related to the manufacture of electronic parts. The present invention also relates to a component transfer device constituting the processing device.

Conventionally, electronic components mounted on a wiring board or the like are produced through various processing steps. For example, for external terminals of electronic components, there is a method of forming a base electrode formed by applying a conductive paste to a component body by electroplating, exposing an end surface of an internal electrode included in the component body, and forming the component by electroless plating. Method (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-40084

However, the miniaturization and high-performance development of electronic devices such as mobile phones have increased the demand for miniaturization of electronic components mounted in such electronic devices. Moreover, in the manufacturing steps of small electronic parts, high processing power is required. However, for example, in various methods for forming the external terminals, it is difficult to improve the processing capability.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object thereof is to provide a processing device, a component transfer device, and a processing method capable of improving the processing capability of a component body constituting an electronic component.

A processing device that solves the above-mentioned problems is a processing device that processes a component body constituting an electronic component, and includes a transfer mechanism having a transfer rotor supported to be rotatable, and the transfer rotor is arranged at equal angular intervals in the circumferential direction. A plurality of holding grooves that hold the component body at an end portion, and a driving unit that drives the conveying rotor to rotate, and conveys the component body held in the holding groove; and a supply mechanism that supplies the component body to the plurality Each of the holding grooves; a processing mechanism for processing the component body at the processing position; and a control mechanism for controlling the transportation mechanism to drive the transportation rotor to rotate the component body to the processing position, and to The conveyed component body is processed to control the processing mechanism.

According to this configuration, the wafer is transferred by the round transfer rotor and the element body is processed at a predetermined processing position. For example, compared with a case where a wafer arranged on a table is processed, processing can be performed more efficiently, that is, processing can be performed. Improvement of capabilities. In addition, by driving the transfer rotor to transfer the component body, it is possible to process a plurality of component bodies without changing the position of the processing mechanism, and thus it is possible to improve processing capacity.

In the processing device, it is preferable that the holding groove is formed to abut on a part of two adjacent surfaces of the element body to hold the element body, and the two surfaces parallel to the abutting surface are integrally formed from the above. The holding groove protrudes, and the element body has a rectangular parallelepiped shape. Among the surfaces of the element body, a surface parallel to the two surfaces abutting the holding groove is a side surface, the two surfaces abutting the aforesaid portion, and the two side surfaces The two orthogonal surfaces are end surfaces, and the control mechanism controls the processing mechanism to process one side surface and two end surfaces of the two side surfaces that are not in contact with the holding groove. The “cuboid shape” includes, for example, a case where corners and ridges of a rectangular parallelepiped are rounded.

According to this configuration, the two adjacent side surfaces of the element body can be brought into contact with the holding grooves of the transport rotor, and the element body can be stably held. In addition, at least one of two side surfaces and two end surfaces of the element body held in the holding groove that is not in contact with the holding groove can be processed.

In the processing apparatus, it is preferable that the control mechanism controls the transfer mechanism to stop the transfer rotor at each angle where the holding groove is formed, and controls the processing mechanism to process the component body stopped at the processing position.

According to this configuration, the transport rotor is stopped at each angle where the holding groove is formed, and the element body can be reliably stopped at the processing position. Furthermore, the component body stopped at the processing position can be processed with high accuracy.

In the processing apparatus, it is preferable that the transfer rotor has a rotation shaft supported horizontally and is supported to be vertically rotatable, and has a support portion extending in a circumferential direction on an outer peripheral surface, and the holding groove is formed to be disposed on the support groove. An outer peripheral surface of the support portion extends in the thickness direction of the transfer rotor, and the support portion is formed so that both end surfaces of the element body held in the holding groove protrude from the support portion in a direction parallel to the rotation axis of the transfer rotor.

According to this configuration, the conveying rotor is vertically rotated (vertically rotated) by the horizontally supported rotating shaft. The element body is held by the support portion of the transfer rotor that rotates vertically so that the end surface projects in a direction parallel to the rotation axis. Therefore, the end surface of the element body can be easily processed. In addition, the element body is held so that the end surface protrudes from the support portion, so that the processing of the processing mechanism can be prevented from affecting the support portion, that is, the rotor.

In the processing apparatus, it is preferable that the transfer rotor has a rotation shaft supported vertically and is supported so as to be capable of horizontal rotation, the transfer rotor has an annular support portion extending in a circumferential direction on the upper surface, and the holding groove is formed In order to be disposed on the upper surface of the support portion and extend in the radial direction of the conveying rotor, the support portion is formed to be held in one end surface of both end faces of the element body held in the retaining groove from the support portion to a radially inner side. , The other end surface of the two end surfaces protrudes radially outward from the support portion.

According to this configuration, the conveying rotor is horizontally rotated (laterally rotated) by the vertical rotation shaft supported. Since the element body is held by the support portion of the transfer rotor that rotates horizontally in this way, the element body can be transported in a stable state. In addition, the element body is held so that the end surface protrudes from the support portion, so that it is possible to suppress the processing of the processing mechanism from affecting the transport rotor that is the support portion.

Preferably, the processing device has a photographing mechanism for photographing the component body and the conveying rotor at a predetermined recognition position, and the control mechanism grasps the position of the component body based on a photographing result of the imaging mechanism, and corresponds to the grasped component body. The position corrects the position of the processing performed by the processing unit on the component body.

According to this configuration, when the component body is transferred from the supply mechanism to the transfer rotor, a positional shift may occur in the component body. Therefore, the imaging of the component body held by the conveying rotor is performed by the imaging mechanism, the position of the component body is grasped, and the processing position is corrected based on the position, thereby realizing highly accurate processing.

In the processing device, it is preferable that the electronic component includes the element body as a ceramic body and an external electrode formed on a surface of the element body, and the processing mechanism locally heats the surface of the ceramic body to heat the ceramic. A laser processing device having a reduced body resistance.

According to this configuration, it is possible to locally heat the surface of a minute element body with high accuracy by irradiating the element body that is a ceramic body with laser light. Furthermore, by reducing the resistance of the ceramic body by such local heating, it is possible to form an external electrode by plating the part.

In the processing device, it is preferable that the processing mechanism includes: a first processing mechanism for processing one of the two sides; and a second processing mechanism for processing the other of the two sides; And a third processing mechanism and a fourth processing mechanism, which are respectively used for processing the two above-mentioned end faces.

According to this configuration, an end face and a side face of the element body can be processed in the element body held by the transfer rotor. In addition, the two sides of the element body that are not in contact with the holding groove protrude from the holding groove, so that it is possible to suppress the processing of the processing mechanism from affecting the transport rotor.

In the processing apparatus, it is preferable that the control mechanism controls any one of the first processing mechanism and the second processing mechanism, the third processing mechanism, and the fourth processing mechanism to process one side and two of the component body. End faces.

According to this configuration, one side surface and two end surfaces of the element body can be processed. When one of the two side surfaces of the element body held in the holding groove that does not come into contact with the holding groove is a processing target surface, the state (posture) of the element body held in the holding groove is corresponding. ) To control the first processing mechanism or the second processing mechanism to perform processing, so that the side surface of the component body being conveyed can be processed without being affected by the state of the component body.

In the processing device, it is preferable that the control mechanism controls the first processing mechanism or the second processing mechanism according to a photographing result of the imaging mechanism, and processes a side corresponding to the controlled processing mechanism.

According to this configuration, it is possible to grasp the processing target surfaces of the two side surfaces that are not in contact with the holding grooves and control the first processing mechanism or the second processing mechanism corresponding to the processing target surface to perform processing, so that the device body can be free from The side of the component body to be transported is processed in an influential manner.

Preferably, the processing device sets a processing position at which the first to the fourth processing mechanisms process the component body according to a rotation direction of the conveying rotor.

According to this configuration, the element body is held such that the side surface abuts the holding groove. For example, when the surface of the element body is completely processed, a position shift may occur in the element body. The positional deviation of the element body is generated along the side surface held by the holding groove. However, when the end surface of the element body is viewed from a direction along the side surface of the element body, no positional shift occurs. Therefore, after processing the side surfaces, it is possible to perform high-precision processing on each surface by processing the end surface.

In the processing apparatus, it is preferable that the element body has a shaft portion, a first flange portion connected to one end of the shaft portion, and a second flange portion connected to the other end of the shaft portion, and each of the flanges The part has a first side, a second side with one end connected to one end of the first side, a third side with one end connected to the other end of the first side, another end of the second side, and the third side. A fourth side surface connected to both sides of the other end, and an end surface connected to all of the first side surface, the second side surface, the third side surface, and the fourth side surface, and the holding groove has the first side surface connected to the flange portions. The control mechanism controls the processing mechanism to control the first holding surface that is in side contact and the second holding surface that is in contact with the second side of each of the flange portions. In the process, the surfaces that are not in contact with the first holding surface and the second holding surface are processed.

According to this configuration, the first side surface of the flange portion is brought into contact with the first holding surface of the holding groove, and the second side surface of the flange portion is brought into contact with the second holding surface of the holding groove. The groove stably holds the element body. In addition, the processing mechanism can be used for the third side surface, the third side surface, the surface that is not in contact with the first holding surface and the second holding surface of the holding groove in at least one flange portion of the element body held in the holding groove. The four sides and at least one of the end faces are processed.

In the processing apparatus, it is preferable that the transfer mechanism is configured to adsorb at least one flange portion of the flange portions of the element body held by the holding groove.

According to this configuration, at least one flange portion of each flange portion of the element body is attracted to a surface constituting the holding groove, and the element body can be held by the holding groove.

In the processing apparatus, it is preferable that the transfer rotor includes a convex portion protruding from the first holding surface between the first flange portion and the second flange portion of the element body held by the holding groove. .

According to this configuration, when the direction in which the first flange portion, the shaft portion, and the second flange portion are aligned is the axial direction of the element body, the convex portion can suppress the element body held by the holding groove from moving in the axial direction. Of displacement. That is, it is possible to suppress the positional deviation of the element body held by the holding groove.

In the processing apparatus, it is preferable that the transfer rotor includes a convex portion protruding from the first holding surface between the first flange portion and the second flange portion of the element body held by the holding groove. A suction port is provided in the convex portion to suck the shaft portion of the element body held by the holding groove.

According to this configuration, it is possible to attract the shaft portion in addition to the at least one flange portion of each flange portion in the element body held by the holding groove. Therefore, it is possible to improve the accuracy of suppressing the shift in the holding position of the element body held by the holding groove.

In the processing apparatus, it is preferable that the holding groove is configured to have a shape corresponding to a shape of the flange portions of the element body held by the holding groove.

According to this configuration, the holding groove is formed into a shape corresponding to the shape of the flange portion constituting the element body, so that the element body can be easily held by the holding groove.

In the processing apparatus, it is preferable that each of the flange portions of the element body is configured such that the first side surface is longer than the second side surface, and the holding groove is configured such that the first holding surface is longer than the second holding surface. .

According to this configuration, it is possible to maximize the contact area between the first side surface of the flange portion in contact with the first holding surface and the first holding surface. Therefore, the stability when the element body is held by the holding groove can be further improved.

The component transfer device that solves the above-mentioned problems is a component transfer device that transfers a component body constituting an electronic component. The component body includes a shaft portion, a first flange portion connected to one end of the shaft portion, and the other end of the shaft portion. A second flange portion connected, each of the flange portions having a first side surface, a second side surface with one end connected to one end of the first side surface, a third side surface with one end connected to the other end of the first side surface, and The other end of the second side surface and the fourth side connected to the other end of the third side surface, and an end surface connected to all of the first side surface, the second side surface, the third side surface, and the fourth side surface, and have: A transporting mechanism includes a transporting rotor that is rotatably supported, a plurality of holding grooves that are arranged at the end of the transporting rotor at equal angular intervals in the circumferential direction and hold the element body, and a drive that drives the transporting rotor to rotate And the component body held by the holding groove is transported; and a supply mechanism that supplies the component body Up to a plurality of the holding grooves, the holding grooves having a first holding surface in contact with the first side surface of each of the flange portions and a second holding surface in contact with the second side surface of each of the flange portions; The conveyance mechanism is configured to attract at least one flange portion of each of the flange portions of the element body held by the holding groove.

According to this configuration, the conveyance direction of the element body that performs a predetermined process by the processing mechanism is the rotation direction of the conveyance rotor. Therefore, in the transfer mechanism configured as described above, the position accuracy of the component body held in the holding groove when the rotation angle of the transfer rotor is controlled can be improved compared to the position accuracy of the component body when the linearly-oriented component body is stopped. Therefore, when the component main body held by the holding groove of the transfer rotor in the component transfer device configured as described above is processed, the processing capability can be improved.

The processing method for solving the above-mentioned problems is a processing method of processing the surface of the element body constituting the electronic component, and includes a plurality of holdings which are arranged at equal angular intervals in the circumferential direction at the end portion of the conveying rotor supported to be rotatable. A step of holding the component body by the groove; a step of driving the transfer rotor to transfer the component body to a processing position set in a rotation direction of the transfer rotor; and a step of processing a surface of the component body at the processing position step.

According to this configuration, the component body is transferred by the transfer rotor and processed at a predetermined processing position, so that, for example, the component body arranged on the table can be processed more efficiently, that is, capable of processing. Improved capabilities. In addition, since the component body is transferred by driving the transfer rotor in a rotating manner, a plurality of component bodies can be processed, and thus the processing capacity can be improved.

According to the processing apparatus, the component conveying apparatus, and the processing method of this invention, the capability of processing the component body which comprises an electronic component can be improved.

10, 100, 210, 300‧‧‧ processing devices

11, 210‧‧‧ parts supplier (supply organization)

12, 112, 212, 312‧‧‧ transport device (transport mechanism)

13, 13a ~ 13d, 213, 213a ~ 213c‧‧‧laser device (processing mechanism)

20, 120, 220, 320 ‧‧‧ transport rotor

20a, 120a, 220a, 320a‧‧‧rotation shaft

21, 121‧‧‧ support

22, 122, 222, 322‧‧‧ Keep groove

222a, 322a‧‧‧First holding surface

222b, 322b‧‧‧Second holding surface

235‧‧‧ convex

51, 251‧‧‧ Control device (control agency)

53, 253‧‧‧Camera (shooting agency)

70, 270‧‧‧Electronic parts

71, 271‧‧‧ Element body

71a‧‧‧side

71e, 71f‧‧‧face

72, 73, 272 ~ 275‧‧‧External electrode

271a‧‧‧first side

271b‧‧‧second side

271c‧‧‧ third side

271d‧‧‧Fourth side

271e‧‧‧face

280‧‧‧Shaft

281‧‧‧first flange

282‧‧‧Second flange part

P1, P21‧‧‧Recognition position (check position, processing position)

P2a ~ P2d, P22a ~ P22c‧‧‧First ~ fourth irradiation position (processing position)

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an outline of a processing apparatus according to the first embodiment.

In Fig. 2, (a) is a perspective view showing a disk portion of the first embodiment, and (b) is a perspective view showing a periphery of a holding groove.

In FIG. 3, (a) is a side view showing an electronic component, and (b) is a perspective view showing a component body.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the transfer of electronic components.

In FIG. 5, (a)-(c) is an enlarged view which shows the state of a disk part and an electronic component.

In FIG. 6, (a) is a partially exploded perspective view of the disk portion, and (b) is a cross-sectional view of the disk portion.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing positions of various processes with respect to the disk section.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a processing device.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the processing device.

In FIG. 10, (a) to (c) are perspective cross-sectional views showing processing of an electronic component.

In FIG. 11, (a) and (b) are schematic diagrams which show a disk portion of a comparative example.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing an electronic component as another processing target.

In FIG. 13, (a) is a perspective view which shows the outline of the processing apparatus of 2nd Embodiment, (b) is a perspective view which shows the disk part of 2nd Embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view showing an outline of a process for an electronic component held on a disk portion.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing an outline of a processing apparatus according to a third embodiment.

In FIG. 16, (a) and (b) are perspective views showing electronic components.

In FIG. 17, (a) is a perspective view of the element body, and (b) is a cross-sectional view of the element body.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of a transfer rotor.

FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram showing the transfer of the element body.

In FIG. 20, (a) and (b) are enlarged views which show the state which conveyed a rotor and an element main body.

FIG. 21 is a perspective view showing a part of the transfer rotor.

Fig. 22 is a partially exploded perspective view of a transport rotor.

FIG. 23 is a view schematically showing a cross section of a part of the transfer rotor.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a processing device.

FIG. 25 is a schematic view showing positions of various processes with respect to a transport rotor.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the processing device.

In Fig. 27, (a) to (c) are perspective cross-sectional views showing processing on the element body.

In FIG. 28, (a) is a perspective view showing an outline of a processing apparatus according to the fourth embodiment, and (b) is a perspective view showing a transport rotor according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 29 is a cross-sectional view showing an outline of a process for a component body held by a transfer rotor.

In FIG. 30, (a) is a perspective view showing a part of a transfer rotor according to another embodiment, and (b) is a view schematically showing a cross section of a part of the transfer rotor.

Hereinafter, each aspect will be described.

In addition, the drawings may show the constituent elements in an enlarged scale for easy understanding. The dimensional ratios of the constituent elements may be different from those in actual cases or in other drawings.

(First Embodiment)

The first embodiment will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 1, the processing device 10 includes a parts supplier 11 as a supply mechanism, a transfer device 12 as a transfer mechanism, and a laser device 13 as a processing mechanism. The processing device 10 includes a plurality of laser devices 13. Further, in FIG. 1, although two laser devices 13 are shown, a number of processing mechanisms corresponding to the processing may be provided. In the following description, when the laser device is described one by one, each laser device is marked with a symbol, and when the laser device is described in common, "13" is used as a symbol.

The parts supplier 11 sequentially supplies the objects processed by the laser device 13 to the transfer device 12 by vibration. The object to be processed is a component body constituting a wafer-shaped electronic component. The transfer device 12 transfers the supplied component body to a processing position. In the present embodiment, the processing device 10 includes a plurality of laser devices 13, and a processing position is set for each laser device 13. The transfer device 12 sequentially transfers the component body to each processing position, and the laser device 13 processes the transferred component body, that is, irradiates the laser. The processed component body is transported to a discharge position by the transfer device 12 and discharged.

Here, the element body to be processed will be described.

As shown in FIG. 3 (a) and FIG. 3 (b), the electronic component 70 of this embodiment has a rectangular parallelepiped shape and has six faces. Among the surfaces that the electronic component 70 has, two surfaces that are in contact with a holding groove 22 (see FIG. 2 (b)) described later, and two surfaces that are parallel to the two surfaces in contact with each other are side surfaces, The four orthogonal surfaces are end surfaces. That is, the electronic component 70 has four side surfaces and two end surfaces. In addition, in the present specification, the “cuboid shape” includes, for example, a shape in which corner portions and ridge portions of a rectangular parallelepiped are rounded. The electronic component 70 is, for example, a capacitor, a piezoelectric component, a thermistor, or the like.

The electronic component 70 is an electronic component mounted on a substrate or the like, and is, for example, a wafer ferrite bead. In addition, as the electronic component 70, for example, a chip inductor and a chip capacitor may be processed.

The electronic component 70 includes a component body 71 as a processing object and two external electrodes 72 and 73 formed on the surface of the component body 71. The element body 71 of this embodiment is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and has four side surfaces 71a, 71b, 71c, and 71d and two end surfaces 71e and 71f. The electronic component 70 is a small component and has a size of, for example, 0.6 mm × 0.3 mm × 0.4 mm.

The element body 71 is, for example, a sintered ceramic body. The ceramic body is made of a ferrite material containing nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn). As the ferrite material, for example, a Ni-Zn-based ferrite containing Ni and Zn as main components, and a Ni-Cu-Zn-based ferrite containing Ni, Zn, and copper (Cu) as main components can be used. For example, the element body 71 is obtained by compressing and sintering the above-mentioned ferrite material.

The external electrodes 72 and 73 are formed so as to cover both end surfaces 71 e and 71 f of the element body 71, respectively. The external electrodes 72 and 73 are formed so as to cover a part of one side surface 71 a and are continuous from the end surfaces 71 e and 71 f. The external electrodes 72 and 73 are formed by a plating process. As a material of the external electrodes 72 and 73, for example, Cu, gold (Au), (Ag), (Pd), Ni, (Sn), or the like is used. Alternatively, the external electrodes 72 and 73 may be composed of a plurality of plated metal.

The external electrodes 72 and 73 are formed by a plating process after locally heating the element body 71. In FIG. 3 (b), the portion subjected to the local heat treatment is shown by hatching. The laser device 13 described above is used to perform a local heating treatment on the element body 71. As the laser device 13, for example, a YVO ₄ laser device (wavelength: 1064 nm) can be used. Moreover, as a processing apparatus, an electron beam irradiation apparatus, a heating furnace, etc. can be used. The laser device 13 is preferably capable of quickly changing the irradiation position in the element body 71.

The local heating performed by the laser device 13 deteriorates the ceramic body on the surface of the element body 71. By local heating, the insulating material (ferrite) constituting the ceramic body is deteriorated, and a low-resistance portion having a lower resistance value than the insulating material is formed. This is considered to be caused by reduction of iron (Fe) or Cu contained in the ferrite due to local heating. The depth and size of the low resistance portion can be adjusted in accordance with the irradiation energy of the laser.

The element body 71 having a low resistance portion is immersed in a plating solution, and is plated. The conductive low-resistance portion has a higher current density than the other portions, and therefore, plating metal is deposited on the surface of the low-resistance portion. In this way, the external electrodes 72 and 73 can be formed from the deposited electroplated metal.

Compared with the growth rate of the plated metal in the laser-irradiated area, the growth rate of the plated metal in the non-laser-irradiated area is slow. Therefore, even if the plating processing time is not strictly controlled, the plated metal can be selectively grown in the laser-irradiated area. In addition, by controlling the plating process time, voltage, or current, the formation time and thickness of the external electrode can be controlled. Furthermore, by performing an additional plating process on the external electrode formed by the first plating process, an external electrode having a multilayer structure can be formed. At this time, the external electrode that has become the base is already formed, so the additional plating treatment time can be shorter.

As described above, the processing device 10 of this embodiment sequentially transports the component body 71 constituting the electronic component 70 described above, and performs processing by the laser device 13. The conveyance of the element body 71 will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 1, the processing device 10 includes a parts supplier 11 and a conveying device 12. The component feeder 11 aligns the component body 71 (see FIG. 3 (a)) by vibration and carries it. In this embodiment, the component feeder 11 arranges the element body 71 so that the side surface 71 a to be processed faces the lower side. The component body 71 transferred by the component supplier 11 is transferred to the transfer device 12 through the vibration-free portion 14 disposed at the tip of the component supplier 11.

The transporting device 12 includes a transporting rotor 20 and a motor 40 as a driving unit that rotationally drives the transporting rotor 20. The size of the transport rotor 20 is, for example, 70 mm in diameter. Since the diameter is relatively small, even if the rotary drive is performed at a high speed (for example, 4000 rpm), the positional shift caused by the vibration of the conveying rotor 20 can be reduced. The rotation shaft 20 a of the transport rotor 20 is rotatably supported by a support stand 41 having a bearing. The rotation shaft 20 a and the output shaft 40 a of the motor 40 are connected by a coupling 42. The coupling 42 allows a shaft offset between the rotation shaft 20 a of the transfer rotor 20 and the output shaft 40 a of the motor 40.

As shown in FIG. 2 (a), a support portion 21 extending in the circumferential direction of the transfer rotor 20 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the transfer rotor 20 formed in a circular shape. As shown in FIG. 2 (b), a holding groove 22 is formed in the support portion 21, and the element body 71 is held by the holding groove 22. The element body 71 is held in the holding groove 22 by vacuum suction.

The holding groove 22 is formed to extend in a direction parallel to the rotation axis of the transfer rotor 20. The holding groove 22 is formed in a V shape, and holds the conveyed element body 71 obliquely as viewed from the direction of the rotation axis of the conveying rotor 20. At this time, the side surface 71 a of the element body 71 held as the processing target becomes the radially outer side of the transport rotor 20. In other words, the above-mentioned parts supplier 11 arranges the component body 71 as the processing target side surface 71 a on the radially outer side of the conveying rotor 20. In addition, the component feeder 11 may arrange the element bodies 71 so that the side surfaces 71 a of the processing target are aligned in a certain direction.

The holding grooves 22 are formed at the end of the transport rotor 20 at equal intervals (equal center angular intervals) in the circumferential direction. For example, the holding grooves 22 are formed every 3 degrees. That is, 120 holding grooves 22 are formed in the conveying rotor 20. As a result, processing of 120 element bodies 71 is performed during one rotation of the transport rotor 20.

Next, the component body 71 is transferred from the component supplier 11 to the transfer rotor 20.

As shown in FIG. 4, a vibration-free portion 14 is arranged at the front end of the parts supplier 11. The vibration-free portion 14 includes an abutment member 14 a for abutting and positioning the element body 71 and a separation pin 14 b for separating the element body 71. The separation pin 14b is moved in the up-down direction in FIG. 4 by a separation pin driving section described later. The abutting member 14a is connected to a vacuum pump described later. When the separation pin 14b is lowered, the element body 71 is attracted to the abutting member 14a. Then, the component body 71 to be transported next is separated from the component body 71 attracted to the abutting component 14a by the rising of the separation pin 14b. The element body 71 attracted to the abutting member 14a abuts on the abutting member 14a, and is positioned by the abutting member 14a. The element body 71 is held by the holding groove 22 shown in FIG. 2 (b).

A state of the element body 71 held by the transport rotor 20 will be described with reference to Figs. 5 (a) to 5 (c). As shown in the left side of FIG. 5 (a), the element body 71 is held so that both side surfaces 71 a and 71 d protrude radially outward (upper side in FIG. 5 (a)) from the side surface (outer peripheral surface) 21 a of the support portion 21. . Further, as shown in the right side of FIG. 5 (a), the element body 71 is held so that both side surfaces 71 a and 71 b protrude. In other words, the holding groove 22 is formed to abut a part of two adjacent side surfaces 71b and 71c (or side surfaces 71c and 71d) in the element body 71, and the two side surfaces 71a and 71d (or side surfaces 71a and 71b) which are not abutted. ) As a whole protrudes from the upper end of the holding groove 22. As shown in FIGS. 5 (b) and 5 (c), the element body 71 is held such that the end surface of the element body 71 is opposite to the support portion 21 in the thickness direction of the support portion 21 (as shown in FIGS. 5 (b) and 5 (c). ) Is a vertical direction, and is a direction parallel to the rotation axis). In other words, the support portion 21 holds a central portion of the cuboid-shaped element body 71.

Next, an example of the configuration of the transfer rotor 20 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 6 (a), the transfer rotor 20 is composed of three circular plates 31, 32, and 33 laminated in the axial direction.

The first circular plate 31 is formed in a plate shape. The second circular plate 32 is formed with a plurality of through holes 32a penetrating in the thickness direction. The through-holes 32a are formed at predetermined angles (every 3 degrees in this embodiment), and extend to the end of the circular plate 32 in the radial direction. The circular plate 32 has inclined surfaces 32b, 32c which are inclined with respect to the circumferential direction at the radially outer end portion of the through hole 32a, and the inclined surfaces 32b, 32c are formed at right angles to each other. The inclined grooves 32b and 32c constitute the holding groove 22 shown in FIG. 2 (b). In a state where the first to third discs 31 to 33 are laminated, the first disc 31 and the third disc 33 are formed so that a part of the through hole 32 a formed in the second disc 32 is in the second disc 32. Cover in the thickness direction. As shown in FIG. 6 (b), the second circular plate 32 is formed larger than the first and third circular plates 31 and 33. The second circular plate 32 forms a support portion 21 shown in FIG. 2 (b) by a protruding portion.

The third circular plate 33 is formed with a communication groove 33 a extending in the circumferential direction. As shown in FIG. 6 (b), the communication groove 33 a communicates with the through-hole 32 a formed in the second disk 32 in a state where the first to third disks 31 to 33 are stacked. The communication groove 33a is connected to a vacuum pump 55 described later. Therefore, the through hole 32a and the communication groove 33a constitute an adsorption port formed on the bottom of the holding groove 22 and adsorbing the element body 71 (see FIG. 2 (b)). In addition, FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b) show outlines of constituent elements necessary for forming the suction port in the transfer rotor 20.

In this way, the first to third circular plates 31 to 33 constitute the conveyance rotor 20, so that the formation of the conveyance rotor 20 having the suction port is facilitated, and the manufacturing cost is reduced. That is, the transfer rotor 20 has a suction port extending in the radial direction. In order to adsorb the minute element body 71, the inner diameter (diameter) of the adsorption port is extremely narrow (for example, 0.25 mm). For example, it is extremely difficult to form such a suction port by a drill or the like, and its processing requires a long time. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to manufacture the transport rotor for forming the suction port in the radial direction, and the manufacturing cost increases.

On the other hand, in the transport rotor of this embodiment, the second circular plate 32 is formed with a through hole 32 a penetrating in the thickness direction, and the first circular plate 31 and the third circular plate 33 laminated on the second circular plate 32 cover the through hole. 32a, thereby forming a suction port extending in the radial direction. In the second circular plate 32, it is easy to form a through hole 32a that penetrates in the thickness direction and extends in the radial direction. Furthermore, in the third circular plate 33, it is also easy to form a communication groove 33a extending in the circumferential direction. Therefore, it is possible to easily form the conveying rotor 20 composed of the first to third circular plates 31 to 33 and reduce the cost of manufacturing.

Next, the electrical configuration of the processing device will be described.

As shown in FIG. 8, the processing device 10 includes a control device 51 as a control mechanism, a parts supplier 11, a separation pin driving unit 52, a motor 40, a camera 53 as an imaging mechanism, an illumination device 54, a laser device 13, and a vacuum pump 55 And air supply pump 56.

The separation pin driving section 52 is, for example, a solenoid. The control device 51 controls the separation pin driving unit 52 to move the separation pin 14b shown in FIG. 4 up and down.

The vacuum pump 55 is connected to the contact member 14 a shown in FIG. 4 and is used for transferring the element body 71. The vacuum pump 55 is used for the suction port holding element body 71 constituted by the through-hole 32a and the communication groove 33a shown in FIG. 6 (b).

The air supply pump 56 is used to discharge the element body 71 by supplying compressed air.

The camera 53 and the illuminating device 54 are used in order to grasp the position of the element body 71 held by the conveyance rotor 20 and correct the processing position of the laser device 13. The camera 53 and the illuminating device 54 are used in the element body 71 to determine the side to be processed. The correction of the processing position and the determination of the side will be described later.

Next, various processing positions of the processing apparatus 10 according to this embodiment will be described.

As shown in FIG. 7, the parts supplier 11, the camera 53, the lighting device 54, and the laser devices 13 a, 13 b, 13 c, and 13 d are arranged around the conveying rotor 20. The black circles shown on the periphery of the transport rotor 20 indicate the processing positions. The processing positions include a transfer position P0, a recognition position (inspection position) P1, an irradiation position P2a, P2b, P2c, P2d, and a discharge position P3. Each processing position is set according to the angle which forms the holding groove 22 shown in FIG.2 (b). In this embodiment, the holding grooves 22 are formed every 3 degrees. Therefore, each processing position is set at an angle which is an integer multiple of the angle at which the holding groove 22 is formed.

Specifically, a parts supplier 11 is disposed below the transport rotor 20. The component body 71 transferred by the parts supplier 11 is held by the holding groove 22 (see FIG. 2 (b)) of the transfer rotor 20 at the transfer position P0 located at the lowest point.

In FIG. 7, the conveyance rotor 20 is rotationally driven in a direction indicated by an arrow. The component body 71 being conveyed is captured by the camera 53 at the recognition position P1. A camera 53 and a lighting device 54 are provided corresponding to the recognition position P1. The lighting device 54 is, for example, a ring lighting device. The camera 53 images the element body 71 and the transfer rotor 20 from the outer peripheral side of the transfer rotor 20. As shown in FIG. 5 (b), the element body 71 is held by the support portion 21 of the transfer rotor 20. When the rectangular parallelepiped element body 71 is held, a positional shift may occur in its longitudinal direction (the vertical direction in FIG. 5 (b), that is, the direction perpendicular to the end surface). Therefore, the camera body 53 captures the device body 71 and the conveying rotor 20 to grasp the position of the device body 71. Specifically, the control device 51 grasps the position of the element body 71 with respect to the conveyance rotor 20. In addition, the control device 51 corrects the processing position of the laser device 13 that processes the side surface of the element body 71 in accordance with the grasped position of the element body 71. In this embodiment, the laser device 13 is a laser processing device, and the control device 51 corrects the laser emitting angle of the laser device 13. With this correction, the side surface of each element body 71 can be processed with high accuracy.

In FIG. 7, first to fourth irradiation positions P2 a to P2 d are set along the rotation direction of the transport rotor 20. The first and second irradiation positions P2a and P2b are processing positions on the side of the processing element body 71. The third and fourth irradiation positions P2c and P2d are processing positions where two end faces of the element body 71 are sequentially processed.

The first laser device 13a processes the surface (side surface) of the element body 71 transferred to the first irradiation position P2a. The first laser device 13a that emits a laser is arranged such that the optical axis La of the laser is perpendicular to the side surface of the element body 71 that is transported to the first irradiation position P2a.

The second laser device 13b processes the surface (side surface) of the element body 71 transferred to the second irradiation position P2b. The second laser device 13b that emits a laser is arranged such that the optical axis Lb of the laser is perpendicular to the side surface of the element body 71 that is transported to the second irradiation position P2b.

In addition, the first laser device 13a and the second laser device 13b are arranged so that their respective optical axes are perpendicular to the sides different from each other. In detail, as shown in Fig. 5 (a), the element body 71 is held by the V-shaped holding grooves 22 of two adjacent side surfaces 71b, 71c or 71c, 71d. Therefore, the side surface 71a held as the processing target faces the rotation direction of the transport rotor 20 (the right direction in FIG. 5 (a)), and the element body 71 held as the side surface 71a faces the direction opposite to the rotation direction (reverse rotation direction) The element bodies 71 are mixed together.

The control device 51 shown in FIG. 8 determines which of the rotation direction and the reverse rotation direction of the side surface of the element body 71 based on the image of the element body 71 captured by the camera 53. In addition, the control device 51 controls a processing device corresponding to a direction in which the side surface 71 a of the element body 71 faces based on the determination result, and processes the processing target side surface 71 a.

The third laser device 13c processes the surface (side surface) of the element body 71 transferred to the third irradiation position P2c. The third laser device 13c that emits a laser is disposed such that the laser is incident substantially perpendicularly to one end surface of the element body 71 that is transported to the third irradiation position P2c. The fourth laser device 13d processes the surface (side surface) of the element body 71 transferred to the fourth irradiation position P2d. The fourth laser device 13d that emits a laser is disposed so that the laser is incident substantially perpendicularly to the other side surface of the element body 71 that is transported to the fourth irradiation position P2d. In addition, the third and fourth laser devices 13 c and 13 d may be configured to use one or more mirrors to enter the laser light approximately perpendicularly to the end surface of the element body 71. Similarly, the first and second laser devices 13 a and 13 b may be arranged so that the optical axis is perpendicular to the side surface of the element body 71 using one or more mirrors. In addition, the third and fourth laser devices 13c and 13d shown in FIG. 7 do not show their respective shapes, but show cases corresponding to the irradiation positions P2c and P2d.

In this way, the element body 71 having the side surface and the end surface processed is discharged at the discharge position P3 shown in FIG. 7.

Next, a processing flow of the processing device will be described.

FIG. 9 shows a processing flow executed by the control device 51 of the processing device 10.

The control device 51 performs the processing of steps S1 to S5 shown in FIG. 9 and processes the component body 71 (see FIG. 3) as a processing target.

In step S1, the element body 71 is supplied to the carrying rotor 20 shown in FIG. Then, the transfer rotor 20 to which the element body 71 is adsorbed is rotated to transfer the element body 71.

In step S2, the camera 53 shown in FIG. 7 is used to identify the position of the element body 71.

In step S3, the side of the element body 71 is processed. That is, a part of the side surface of the element body 71 is processed using the first laser device 13 a or the second laser device 13 b shown in FIG. 7. The laser is scanned on the side of the element body 71 to process a predetermined area. For example, a laser with a spot diameter of 40 μm is scanned back and forth. At this time, the position of the laser beam irradiated to the side surface 71 a of the element body 71 is corrected based on the position of the element body 71 identified in step S2. With this correction, it is possible to accurately align the irradiation position of the laser with respect to each element body 71.

In step S4, the end surface of the element body 71 is processed. That is, the entirety of both end surfaces of the element body 71 is processed using the third laser device 13c and the fourth laser device 13d shown in FIG. In step S5, the element body 71 is discharged.

10 (a) to 10 (c) show processing of the element body 71.

First, as shown in FIG. 10 (a), the side surface 71a of the element body 71 is processed using the first laser device 13a. The same applies to the case where the second laser device 13b is used. Next, as shown in FIG. 10 (b), one end surface 71e of the element body 71 is processed using the third laser device 13c, and the other end surface 71f of the element body 71 is processed using the fourth laser device 13d. Then, as shown in FIG. 10 (c), the compressed air supplied from the air supply pump 56 shown in FIG. 8 is sprayed through the nozzle 56c, and the element body 71 is discharged.

In this way, after processing the side surface 71 a of the element body 71, the processing device 10 sequentially processes the two end surfaces 71 e and 71 f of the element body 71. The laser device 13 irradiates a part of the surface of the element body 71 with a laser, and the surface of the element body 71 is locally heated by the irradiation energy of the laser. The position of the element body 71 may be shifted by the laser irradiation. In some cases, this position shift occurs due to laser irradiation on the end surface. Therefore, it is considered to recognize the position of the element body 71 before each process.

The positional deviation of the element body 71 causes a reduction in the accuracy of the processing of the side surface 71a. Therefore, after the process of identifying the position of the element body 71 (step S2 in FIG. 9) is performed, the irradiation position is corrected in accordance with the position of the element body 71 to process the side surface (step S3 in FIG. 9), thereby suppressing the reduction in the accuracy of the process. .

On the other hand, the element body 71 is held on the side by the conveyance rotor 20. Therefore, the positional deviation of the element body 71 is generated in a direction along the side. In this way, even if the position shift occurs, the position of the end surface of the element body 71 in the direction along the end surface, specifically, the position of the rotor 20 for the element body 71 does not shift. That is, no positional shift occurs in the third irradiation position P2c and the fourth irradiation position P2d shown in FIG. 7. Therefore, after the processing on the side surface (step S3 in FIG. 9), the processing on the end surface can be performed without recognizing the position of the element body 71 (step S4 in FIG. 9).

Next, the operation of the processing device 10 will be described.

The processing device 10 includes a transfer device 12 and a laser device 13. The transfer device 12 includes a transfer rotor 20 and a motor 40. The conveying rotor 20 is rotatably supported and formed in a circular shape. A support portion 21 extending in the circumferential direction is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the transport rotor 20, and holding grooves 22 are formed at the support portion 21 at equal angular intervals. The laser device 13 processes the surface of the element body 71 transferred to the processing position. The control device 51 controls the motor 40 to stop the transfer rotor 20 at a predetermined angle (the angle at which the holding groove 22 is formed), and transfers the element body 71 to the processing position. The control device 51 controls the laser device 13 and processes the surface of the element body 71.

According to this configuration, the wafer is transferred by the round transfer rotor 20 and the element body 71 is processed at a predetermined processing position. For example, the wafer can be processed more efficiently than when the wafer is arranged on a table, that is, it can be processed. Strive for improvement in processing capacity. In addition, by rotating and driving the transfer rotor 20 to transfer the element body 71, the plurality of element bodies 71 can be processed without changing the position of the laser device 13, and thus the processing capacity can be improved.

In the processing device 10, the control device 51 stops the conveying rotor 20 at every angle formed by the holding groove 22, and processes the surface of the element body 71 stopped at the processing position. In this way, by stopping the transport rotor 20 at every angle formed by the holding groove 22, the element body 71 can be reliably stopped at the processing position. In addition, the component body 71 stopped at the processing position can be processed with high accuracy.

The element body 71 is a ceramic body, and the laser device 13 is a laser processing device that locally heats the surface of the ceramic body to reduce a portion of the ceramic body in electrical resistance. Therefore, by irradiating the element body 71 which is a ceramic body with laser light, local heating in the surface of the minute element body 71 can be performed with high accuracy. Furthermore, by reducing the resistance of the ceramic body by such local heating, it is possible to form an external electrode by plating the part.

The holding grooves 22 of the transport rotor 20 are formed to abut a part of two adjacent side surfaces of the rectangular parallelepiped-shaped element body 71, and the two side surfaces that are not abutted project from the holding grooves 22 as a whole. The laser device 13 includes a first laser device 13a and a second laser device 13b corresponding to the two side surfaces that are not held, and a third laser device 13c and a fourth laser device 13d corresponding to the two end surfaces.

The element body 71 held by the transfer rotor 20 can handle the end surface and the side surface of the element body 71. In addition, the element body 71 is held so that both side surfaces that are not in contact with the holding groove 22 protrude from the holding groove 22, so that it is possible to suppress the processing of the laser device 13 from affecting the transfer rotor 20.

The control device 51 controls any one of the first laser device 13a and the second laser device 13b, the third laser device 13c, and the fourth laser device 13d to process one side surface and two end surfaces of the element body 71. The third and fourth laser devices 13c and 13d can process one side surface and two end surfaces of the element body 71. When one of the two side surfaces not in contact with the holding groove 22 is the surface to be processed, the first laser is controlled in accordance with the state (posture) of the element body 71 held in the holding groove 22. The device 13a or the second laser device 13b performs processing. Thereby, the side surface of the conveyed component body 71 can be processed without being affected by the state of the component body 71.

The control device 51 controls the first laser device 13 a or the second laser device 13 b according to a photographing result of the camera 53, and processes a side corresponding to the controlled laser device 13. By grasping the processing target surfaces of the two side surfaces that are not in contact with the holding groove 22 and controlling the processing by the first laser device 13a or the second laser device 13b corresponding to the processing target surface, it is possible to avoid the component The state of the main body 71 affects the side surface of the component main body 71 being conveyed.

The processing positions of the processing elements main body 71 of the first to fourth laser devices 13a to 13d are set according to the rotation direction of the conveying rotor 20. The element body 71 is held so that the side surface thereof comes into contact with the holding groove 22. The position of the element body 71 may be shifted due to the processing of the surface of the element body 71. The positional deviation of the element body 71 occurs along the side surface held by the holding groove 22. However, when the end surface of the element body 71 is viewed from a direction along the side surface of the element body 71, no positional shift occurs. Therefore, by processing the end faces after the side faces have been processed, it is possible to perform highly accurate processing on each face.

Here, a comparative example with respect to this embodiment will be described.

In the transfer rotor 501 shown in FIG. 11 (a), a rectangular holding groove 502 is formed, and the element body 71 is housed in the holding groove 502. In this case, a laser is irradiated to one side surface and both end surfaces of the element body 71. Therefore, if the element bodies 71 are not aligned correctly, the side processing cannot be performed. In addition, the laser on the processing side may be irradiated to the transfer rotor 501 in some cases. The irradiated laser deteriorates the transport rotor 501, and thus the life of the transport rotor 501 is shortened.

In the transfer rotor 511 shown in FIG. 11 (b), the holding groove 512 is larger than the size of the element body 71. In this case, the two side surfaces 71 a and 71 d of the side surface of the element body 71 that do not contact the holding groove 512 do not protrude from the holding groove 512 as a whole. Therefore, the laser of the processing side surface 71a may be irradiated to the conveyance rotor 511. The irradiated laser deteriorates the transfer rotor 511, and therefore, the period during which the transfer rotor 511 can be used, that is, the life is shortened.

With respect to the comparative example described above, in the processing device 10 according to the present embodiment, the conveying rotor 20 has a horizontal rotation shaft that is supported horizontally and can be vertically rotated, and has a support portion 21 extending in the circumferential direction on the outer peripheral surface. The holding groove 22 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the support portion 21 and extends in the thickness direction of the transfer rotor 20. The support portion 21 is formed so that both end surfaces of the element body 71 held in the holding groove 22 protrude from the support portion 21 in a direction parallel to the rotation axis of the transfer rotor 20.

The conveying rotor 20 is vertically rotated (vertically rotated) by a horizontal rotation shaft supported. The element body 71 is held by the support portion 21 of the transfer rotor 20 that rotates vertically so that the end surface projects in a direction parallel to the rotation axis. Therefore, the end surface of the element body 71 can be easily processed. In addition, the element body 71 is held so that the end surface protrudes from the support portion 21, so that it is possible to suppress the processing of the laser device 13 from affecting the support portion 21, that is, the transport rotor 20.

The control device 51 grasps the position of the element body 71 based on the imaging result of the camera 53, and corrects the position of the processing performed by the laser device 13 on the element body 71 based on the grasped position of the element body 71.

When the component body 71 is transferred from the parts supplier 11 to the transfer rotor 20, a positional shift may occur in the component body 71. Therefore, the position of the element body 71 can be grasped by imaging the element body 71 held by the conveyance rotor 20 with the camera 53, and the processing position can be corrected based on the position, thereby realizing highly accurate processing.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the following effects can be achieved.

(1-1) The processing device 10 includes a transfer device 12 and a laser device 13. The transfer device 12 includes a transfer rotor 20 and a motor 40. The conveying rotor 20 is rotatably supported and formed in a circular shape. A support portion 21 extending in the circumferential direction is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the transport rotor 20, and holding grooves 22 are formed at the support portion 21 at equal angular intervals. The laser device 13 processes the surface of the element body 71 transferred to the processing position. The control device 51 controls the motor 40 to stop the transfer rotor 20 at a predetermined angle (the angle at which the holding groove 22 is formed), and transfers the element body 71 to the processing position. The control device 51 controls the laser device 13 and processes the surface of the element body 71.

According to this configuration, the wafer is transferred by the round transfer rotor 20 and the element body 71 is processed at a predetermined processing position. For example, the wafer can be processed more efficiently than when the wafer is arranged on a table, that is, it can be processed. Strive for improvement in processing capacity. In addition, by rotating and driving the transfer rotor 20 to transfer the element body 71, the plurality of element bodies 71 can be processed without changing the position of the laser device 13, and thus the processing capacity can be improved.

(1-2) In the processing device 10, the control device 51 stops the conveyance of the rotor 20 at every angle formed by the holding groove 22. The surface of the element body 71 stopped at the processing position is processed. In this way, by stopping the transport rotor 20 at every angle formed by the holding groove 22, the element body 71 can be reliably stopped at the processing position. In addition, the component body 71 stopped at the processing position can be processed with high accuracy.

(1-3) The element body 71 is a ceramic body, and the laser device 13 is a laser processing device that locally heats the surface of the ceramic body to reduce the resistance of a part of the ceramic body. Therefore, by irradiating the element body 71 which is a ceramic body with laser light, the local heating of the surface of the minute element body 71 can be performed with high accuracy. Furthermore, by reducing the resistance of the ceramic body by such local heating, it is possible to form an external electrode by plating the part.

(1-4) The holding groove 22 of the transport rotor 20 is formed to abut a part of two adjacent side surfaces of the rectangular parallelepiped-shaped element body 71, and the two side surfaces that are not abutted project from the holding groove 22 as a whole. The laser device 13 includes a first laser device 13a and a second laser device 13b corresponding to the two side surfaces that are not held, and a third laser device 13c and a fourth laser device 13d corresponding to the two end surfaces.

The element body 71 held by the transfer rotor 20 can handle the end surface and the side surface of the element body 71. In addition, the element body 71 is held so that both side surfaces that are not in contact with the holding groove 22 protrude from the holding groove 22, so that it is possible to suppress the processing of the laser device 13 from affecting the transfer rotor 20.

(1-5) The control device 51 controls any one of the first laser device 13a and the second laser device 13b, the third laser device 13c, and the fourth laser device 13d to process one side of the element body 71 And two end faces. The third and fourth laser devices 13c and 13d can process one side surface and two end surfaces of the element body 71. When one of the two side surfaces not in contact with the holding groove 22 is the surface to be processed, the first laser is controlled in accordance with the state (posture) of the element body 71 held in the holding groove 22. The device 13 a or the second laser device 13 b performs processing, so that the side surface of the component body 71 being conveyed can be processed without being affected by the state of the component body 71.

(1-6) The control device 51 controls the first laser device 13 a or the second laser device 13 b according to a photographing result of the camera 53, and processes a side corresponding to the controlled laser device 13. By grasping the processing target surfaces of the two side surfaces that are not in contact with the holding groove 22 and controlling the processing by the first laser device 13a or the second laser device 13b corresponding to the processing target surface, it is possible to avoid the component The state of the main body 71 affects the side surface of the component main body 71 being conveyed.

When the side surface of the element body 71 is processed by the first laser device 13 a or the second laser device 13 b, a positional shift may occur in the element body 71. This positional deviation occurs in a direction along the side surface of the element body 71, that is, a direction orthogonal to the end surface. In addition, the amount of positional deviation generated in the element body 71 is smaller than the focal range of the laser light irradiated from the third and fourth laser devices 13c and 13d on the processing end surface. Therefore, the end surface of the element body 71 can be processed with high accuracy.

(1-7) The conveying rotor 20 has a horizontal rotation shaft and is supported so as to be able to rotate vertically, and has a support portion 21 extending in the circumferential direction on the outer peripheral surface of the conveying rotor 20. The holding groove 22 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the support portion 21 and extends in the thickness direction of the transfer rotor 20. The support portion 21 is formed so that both end surfaces of the element body 71 held in the holding groove 22 protrude from the support portion 21 in a direction parallel to the rotation axis of the transfer rotor 20.

The conveying rotor 20 is vertically rotated (vertically rotated) by a horizontal rotation shaft supported. The element body 71 is held by the support portion 21 of the transfer rotor 20 that rotates vertically so that the end surface projects in a direction parallel to the rotation axis. Therefore, the end surface of the element body 71 can be easily processed. In addition, the element body 71 is held so that the end surface protrudes from the support portion 21, so that it is possible to suppress the processing of the laser device 13 from affecting the support portion 21, that is, the transport rotor 20.

(1-8) The control device 51 grasps the position of the element body 71 based on the photographing result of the camera 53, and corrects the position of the processing performed by the laser device 13 on the element body 71 based on the grasped position of the element body 71.

When the component body 71 is transferred from the parts supplier 11 to the transfer rotor 20, a positional shift may occur in the component body 71. Therefore, the position of the component body 71 can be grasped by imaging the component body 71 held by the conveyance rotor 20 with the camera 53, and the processing position can be corrected based on the position, so that high-precision processing can be realized.

(Second Embodiment)

Hereinafter, a second embodiment will be described.

In this embodiment, the same components as those in the above-mentioned embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and a part or all of the description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 13 (a), the processing device 100 includes a parts supplier 11, a transfer device 112, and a laser device 13 as a processing device. In FIG. 13 (a), three laser devices 13 are shown. The straight line connecting the laser device 13 and the conveyance device 112 indicates the relationship between the laser device 13 and the conveyance device 112, and does not indicate the processing position performed by the laser device 13.

The transfer device 112 includes a transfer rotor 120 and a rotation shaft 120 a that supports the transfer rotor 120. In this embodiment, the rotation shaft 120a is vertically supported by the main body portion 112a of the conveying device 112. Therefore, the conveyance rotor 120 rotates in a horizontal direction (lateral direction).

As shown in FIG. 13 (b), a support portion 121 extending in the circumferential direction of the transport rotor 120 is formed on the upper surface 120 b of the transport rotor 120 formed in a circular shape. A holding groove 122 is formed in the support portion 121, and the element body 71 is held in the holding groove 122. 13 (b), in order to easily understand the holding state of the element body 71, the element body 71 is enlarged and shown, and thus the number of the element bodies 71 is smaller than the number actually held.

The holding groove 122 is formed to extend in the radial direction of the transfer rotor 120. The holding groove 122 is formed in a V shape to hold the conveyed element body 71 obliquely as viewed from the radial direction of the conveying rotor 120.

At this time, the side surface 71 a of the element body 71 held as the processing target becomes the upper surface side of the transport rotor 120. In other words, the above-mentioned parts supplier 11 arranges the component body 71 as the processing target side surface 71a on the upper surface side of the transport rotor 120.

The holding grooves 122 are formed at equal intervals (equal angular intervals) at the ends of the transport rotor 120. A suction port (not shown) is formed at the bottom of the holding groove 122. As in the first embodiment, the element body 71 is held and held in the holding groove 122 by a vacuum pump.

The element body 71 is held in the holding groove 122 of the support portion 121 at the center in the longitudinal direction, similarly to the first embodiment. The holding groove 122 is formed to extend in the radial direction of the transfer rotor 120. Therefore, the element body 71 is held so that the end surfaces thereof protrude radially inward and outward relative to the support portion 121.

As shown in FIG. 14, the element body 71 supported by the transfer rotor 120 is irradiated with a laser Lc (indicated by a one-dot chain line) on an end surface 71 e of the element body 71 through a reflector 150 disposed inside the transfer rotor 120. In addition, the laser beam Ld is directly irradiated to the end surface 71f of the element body 71 from the outside of the conveyance rotor 120.

As described above, according to this embodiment, in addition to the effects of the first embodiment described above, the following effects are achieved.

(2-1) In the processing apparatus 100 of this embodiment, the conveying rotor 120 has a vertical rotation shaft and is supported so as to be horizontally rotatable, and has an annular support portion 121 extending in a circumferential direction on the upper surface. . The holding groove 122 is formed on the upper surface of the support portion 121 and extends in the radial direction of the transfer rotor 120. In addition, the support portion 121 is formed so that both end surfaces of the element body 71 held in the holding groove 122 protrude radially inward and radially outward from the support portion 121, respectively.

In this way, the transport rotor 120 is horizontally rotated (transversely rotated) by being supported by a vertical rotation axis. Since the element body 71 is held by the support portion 121 of the conveying rotor 120 that rotates horizontally in this way, the element body 71 can be conveyed in a stable state. In addition, the element body 71 is held so that the end surface protrudes from the support portion 121, so that it is possible to suppress the processing of the laser device 13 from affecting the support portion 121, that is, the transport rotor 120.

In addition, the above-mentioned first and second embodiments may be implemented as follows.

． In the above-mentioned first and second embodiments, the processing devices 10 and 100 are designed to process the side surfaces and the end surfaces of the element body 71, but the shape and the processing surface of the element body 71 that is the processing target are not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments. form. For example, only one side of the element body 71 may be processed. Alternatively, only the end surface of the element body 71 may be processed.

The electronic component 80 shown in FIG. 12 includes external electrodes 82 covering the side surfaces 81 a and 81 b of the element body 81 and external electrodes 83 covering the side surfaces 81 a and 81 c. When the external electrodes 82 and 83 of the element body 81 are formed, the external electrodes 82 and 83 of the element body 81 can be used as a processing device that processes a part of the side surfaces 81 a, 81 b, and 81 c of the element body 81. In addition, with this element body 81, two side surfaces (for example, side surfaces 81a, 81b) are processed and discharged, and the remaining side surfaces (for example, side surface 81c) can be processed by being recharged into the processing device 10, thereby enabling the processing Treatment of 3 sides.

． In the above-mentioned first and second embodiments, the processing devices 10 and 100 are designed as laser devices 13 having external electrodes 72 and 73 shown in FIG. 3 (a) and locally heating the surface of the element body 71. However, it can also be embodied as a system that performs other processing. For example, in a case where a wafer inductor is formed by forming an electrode formed on a surface into a desired shape by laser irradiation, the system can be designed to perform this processing. In addition, it is possible to design a system that displays characters such as a model number on the surface of a wafer transistor or the like. Moreover, the processing apparatuses 10 and 100 which process the element main body 71 using the apparatus other than a laser processing apparatus as the laser apparatus 13 may be designed. For example, a device for applying a liquid or a resin using a spray dispenser may be used.

． In the first and second embodiments described above, the processing of the element body 71 carried by the transfer rotors 20 and 120 may be any process other than the process of irradiating the surface of the element body 71 with the laser from the laser device 13. Examples of such a process include a process of checking the appearance of the element body 71 reaching the processing position, and a process of checking the performance of the element body 71 reaching the processing position. In this case, the device performing the inspection corresponds to a processing mechanism.

(Third Embodiment)

Hereinafter, a third embodiment will be described. The shape of the wafer-shaped electronic component processed in this embodiment is different from that of the electronic component 70 processed in the first and second embodiments.

As shown in FIG. 15, the processing device 210 includes a parts supplier 211 as a supply mechanism, a transfer device 212 as a transfer mechanism, and a laser device 213 as a processing mechanism. The processing device 10 includes a plurality of laser devices 213. In addition, in FIG. 15, although two laser devices 213 are shown, a number of processing mechanisms corresponding to the processing may be provided. In the following description, when the laser devices are described one by one, each laser device is marked with a symbol, and when the laser device is described in common, "213" is used as a symbol. Moreover, in this embodiment, an example of a "part transfer apparatus" is comprised using the parts supplier 211 and the transfer apparatus 212.

The parts supplier 211 sequentially supplies the objects processed by the laser device 213 to the transfer device 212 by vibration. The object to be processed is a component body constituting an electronic component. The transfer device 212 transfers the supplied component body to a processing position. In the present embodiment, the processing device 210 includes a plurality of laser devices 213, and a processing position is set for each laser device 213. The transfer device 212 sequentially transfers the component body to each processing position, and the laser device 213 processes the transferred component body, that is, irradiates a laser. The processed component body is transported to a discharge position by the transfer device 212 and discharged.

Here, the element body to be processed will be described.

As shown in FIG. 16 (a) and FIG. 16 (b), the electronic component 270 of this embodiment is an electronic component which is surface-mounted on a substrate or the like, and is, for example, a wafer ferrite bead. The electronic component 270 may be, for example, a chip inductor or a chip capacitor.

The electronic component 270 includes a component body 271 as a processing object and four external electrodes 272, 273, 274, and 275 formed on the surface of the component body 271. As shown in FIGS. 17 (a) and 17 (b), the element body 271 has a rectangular parallelepiped shaft portion 280, a first flange portion 281 connected to one end of the shaft portion 280, and connected to the other end of the shaft portion 280. Of the second flange portion 282. Although not shown, a plurality of (for example, two) coils are wound around the shaft portion 280. In addition, end portions of the coils are fixed to the respective external electrodes 272 to 275.

Each of the flange portions 281 and 282 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape in plan view. That is, as shown in FIGS. 17 (a) and 17 (b), each flange portion 281, 282 has a first side surface 271a, a second side surface 271b connected to one end of the first side surface 271a, and a first side surface 271a, respectively. A third side surface 271c connected to the other end thereof, and a fourth side surface 271d connected to the second side surface 271b and the third side surface 271c. When the end connected to the first side surface 271a among the two ends of the second side surface 271b is used as one end, the fourth side surface 271d is connected to the other end of the second side surface 271b. When the end connected to the first side surface 271 a among both ends of the third side surface 271 c is used as one end, the fourth side surface 271 d is connected to the other end of the third side surface 271 c. Further, each flange portion 281, 282 is provided with an end surface 271e connected to the first side surface 271a, the second side surface 271b, the third side surface 271c, and the fourth side surface 271d, respectively.

The first side surface 271a and the second side surface 271b of each of the side surfaces 271a to 271d of the flange portions 281 and 282 are flat. On the other hand, recesses 281a and 282a are formed at the center in the longitudinal direction of the fourth side surface 271d.

In addition, the electronic part 270, that is, the element body 271 is a very small part. For example, the size of the shaft portion 280 is, for example, 1.4 mm × 0.8 mm × 2.0 mm. The dimensions of the flange portions 281 and 282 are, for example, 2.5 mm × 1.3 mm × 0.6 mm. In this case, the length in the longitudinal direction of the first side surface 271 a corresponds to 2.5 mm, and the length in the longitudinal direction of the second side surface 271 b and the third side surface 271 c corresponds to 1.3 mm. That is, in this embodiment, the first side surface 271a is longer than the second side surface 271b and the third side surface 271c.

The element body 271 is, for example, a sintered ceramic body. The ceramic body is made of a ferrite material containing nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn). As the ferrite material, for example, a Ni-Zn-based ferrite containing Ni and Zn as main components, and a Ni-Cu-Zn-based ferrite containing Ni, Zn, and copper (Cu) as main components can be used. For example, the element body 271 is obtained by compressing and sintering the above-mentioned ferrite material.

As shown in FIGS. 16 (a) and 16 (b), the external electrodes 272 and 273 of the external electrodes 272 to 275 are formed in the first flange portion 281 at intervals. On the other hand, the remaining external electrodes 274 and 275 are formed in the second flange portion 282 at intervals. Each of the external electrodes 272 to 275 is formed by a plating process. As the material of the external electrodes 272 to 275, for example, Cu, gold (Au), (Ag), (Pd), Ni, (Sn), or the like is used. In addition, the external electrodes 272 to 275 may be formed by a plurality of plated metal.

The external electrodes 272 to 275 are formed by performing a local heating treatment on the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271 by a plating treatment. The laser device 213 is used for locally heating the flange portions 281 and 282. As the laser device 13, for example, a YVO ₄ laser device (wavelength: 1064 nm) can be used. Moreover, as a processing apparatus, an electron beam irradiation apparatus, a heating furnace, etc. can be used. The laser device 213 is preferably capable of quickly changing the irradiation position in the element body 271.

The local heating performed by the laser device 213 deteriorates the ceramic body on the surfaces of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271. By local heating, the insulating material (ferrite) constituting the ceramic body is deteriorated, and a low-resistance portion having a lower resistance value than the insulating material is formed.

The element body 271 having the low-resistance portion is immersed in a plating solution to perform plating. The conductive low-resistance portion has a higher current density than the other portions, and therefore, plating metal is deposited on the surface of the low-resistance portion. In this way, the external electrodes 272 to 275 can be formed by the deposited plated metal.

As described above, the processing device 210 of this embodiment sequentially transfers the component body 271 constituting the electronic component 270 described above, and performs processing by the laser device 213. The conveyance of the element body 271 will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 15, the processing device 210 includes a parts supplier 211 and a transfer device 212. The component feeder 211 aligns the component body 271 (see FIG. 17 (a)) and transfers it by vibration. In the present embodiment, the component supplier 211 arranges the element body 271 such that the processed side surface, that is, the fourth side surface 271d among the side surfaces 271a to 271d of the flange portions 281 and 282 faces downward. The component body 271 transferred by the component supplier 211 is transferred to the transfer device 212 through the vibration-free portion 214 disposed at the tip of the component supplier 211.

The transporting device 212 includes a transporting rotor 220 and a motor 240 as a driving unit for rotationally driving the transporting rotor 220. The size of the transfer rotor 220 is, for example, 70 mm in diameter. Since the diameter is relatively small, even if the rotary drive is performed at a high speed (for example, 4000 rpm), it is possible to reduce the positional shift caused by the vibration of the transfer rotor 220. The rotation shaft 220a of the conveying rotor 220 is rotatably supported by a support stand 241 having a bearing. The rotation shaft 220 a and the output shaft 240 a of the motor 240 are connected by a coupling 242. The coupling 242 allows a shaft offset between the rotation shaft 220 a of the transfer rotor 220 and the output shaft 240 a of the motor 240.

As shown in FIG. 18, a plurality of holding grooves 222 are provided on the outer peripheral side of the conveying rotor 220 formed in a circular shape in the circumferential direction of the conveying rotor 220. The transport rotor 220 can hold the element body 271 by the holding groove 222. The details are described later, but the element body 271 can be held in the holding groove 222 by vacuum suction. Furthermore, in FIG. 18, in order to easily understand the shape of the holding groove 222 and the manner of holding the element body 271 in the holding groove 222, the holding groove 222 and the element body 271 are exaggeratedly illustrated.

The holding groove 222 is formed to extend in a direction parallel to the rotation axis of the transfer rotor 220. The holding groove 222 is formed in a V-shape, and holds the conveyed element body 271 obliquely as viewed from the direction of the rotation axis of the conveying rotor 220. At this time, the element body 271 is held such that the fourth side surface 271d of each of the flange portions 281 and 282, that is, the processing target side is located radially outward of the transfer rotor 220. In other words, the component supplier 211 described above arranges the element body 271 such that the fourth side surface 271d of each of the flange portions 281 and 282 faces the radially outer side of the conveying rotor 220. In addition, the component supplier 211 may arrange the element bodies 271 so that the fourth side surfaces 271d of the flange portions 281 and 282 are aligned in a certain direction.

The holding grooves 222 are formed at equal intervals (equal center angular intervals) along the circumferential direction on the peripheral edge on the radially outer side of the transfer rotor 220. For example, the holding groove 222 is formed every 3 degrees. That is, 120 holding grooves 222 are formed in the conveying rotor 220. Thereby, the processing of 120 element bodies 271 is performed in one rotation of the conveyance rotor 220.

Next, the component body 271 is transferred from the parts supplier 211 to the transfer rotor 220.

As shown in FIG. 19, a vibration-free portion 214 is disposed at the front end of the parts supplier 211. The vibration-free portion 214 includes an abutment member 214 a for abutting and positioning the element body 271 and a separation pin 214 b for separating the element body 271. The separation pin 214b is moved in the up-down direction in FIG. 19 by a separation pin driving section described later. The abutting member 214a is connected to a vacuum pump described later. When the separation pin 214b is lowered, the element body 271 is attracted to the abutting member 214a. Then, the component body 271 to be transported next is separated from the component body 271 adsorbed to the abutting part 214a by the rise of the separation pin 214b. The element body 271 attracted to the abutting member 214a abuts on the abutting member 214a, and is positioned by the abutting member 214a. The element body 271 is held by the holding groove 222 shown in FIG. 18.

A state of the element body 271 held by the transfer rotor 220 will be described with reference to Figs. 20 (a) and 20 (b). As shown in FIG. 20 (a), the element body 271 is held in the holding groove 222 such that the first side surface 271 a and the second side surface 271 b of each of the flange portions 281 and 282 are supported. In addition, as shown in FIG. 20 (b), the element body 271 is held by the holding groove 222 so that the position of the first surface 220b of the rotor 220 in the extension direction of the rotation shaft 220a and the end surface 271e of the first flange portion 281 The positions are the same, and the position of the second surface 220c of the transfer rotor 220 is the same as the position of the end surface 271e of the second flange portion 282.

Next, an example of the configuration of the transfer rotor 220 will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 21 and 22, the conveyance rotor 220 is composed of three circular plates 231, 232, and 233 that are stacked in the axial direction of the rotation shaft 220 a, that is, in the axial direction. The thickness of the second circular plate 232 in the middle of each of the circular plates 231 to 233 is thicker than the thickness of the first circular plate 231 and the third circular plate 233 of the remaining two circular plates. The thickness of the first circular plate 231 and the third circular plate 233 is thinner than the thicknesses of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271.

In this embodiment, the diameter of the second circular plate 232 is the same as the diameter of the first circular plate 231 and the third circular plate 233. Further, each of the holding grooves 222 provided at the radially outer edge portion of the conveying rotor 220 has a first holding surface 222a that is in surface contact with the first side surface 271a of each flange portion 281, 282, and each flange portion 281 The second holding surface 222b of the second side surface 271b of 282 is in surface contact. Each holding groove 222 is configured to have a shape corresponding to the shape of each flange portion 281, 282 of the element body 271 held by the holding groove 222, respectively. In this embodiment, in each of the flange portions 281 and 282, the first side surface 271a is longer than the second side surface 271b. Therefore, each holding groove 222 is configured such that the first holding surface 222a is longer than the second holding surface 222b. For example, the length dimension of the first holding surface 222a in the length direction is the same as the length dimension of the first side surface 271a, and the length dimension of the second holding surface 222b is the same as that of the second side surface 271b. The length dimensions are the same. Furthermore, the length dimension of the first holding surface 222a in the length direction may be slightly larger than the length dimension of the first side surface 271a, and the length dimension of the second holding surface 222b may be longer than the second side surface. The length dimension in the length direction of 271b is slightly larger. The angle formed by the first holding surface 222a and the second holding surface 222b and the angle formed by the first side surface 271a and the second side surface 271b of the flange portions 281 and 282 are equal. Thereby, the entire first side surface 271a of each flange portion 281, 282 can be brought into surface contact with the first holding surface 222a, and the entire second side surface 271b of each flange portion 281, 282 can be brought into contact with the second holding surface 222b surface. contact.

In addition, as shown in FIGS. 22 and 23, a plurality of suction holes 260 are formed in the conveying rotor 220, and the second disc 232 and the third disc 233 penetrate in the axial direction, that is, the thickness of the discs 232 and 233. . The suction holes 260 are arranged at equal angular intervals in the circumferential direction of the transfer rotor 220, respectively. The number of the suction holes 260 is the same as the number of the holding grooves 222. The suction hole 260 is disposed at the same circumferential position as the corresponding holding groove 222. Each suction hole 260 is connected to a vacuum pump 255. Although the illustration is exaggerated in FIG. 23, the diameter of a portion of the suction hole 260 provided on the second circular plate 232 gradually decreases as it approaches the third circular plate 233 in the axial direction.

As shown in FIGS. 21 and 23, the transfer rotor 220 is provided with a first suction passage 261 and a second suction passage 262 that extend from the suction hole 260 to the radially outer side of the transfer rotor 220. The position of the first suction passage 261 in the circumferential direction of the transfer rotor 220 is the same as the position of the second suction passage 262 in the circumferential direction of the transfer rotor 220. The first suction passage 261 is located closer to the first disk 231 side than the center in the axial direction of the transfer rotor 220, and the second suction passage 262 is located closer to the third disk 233 than the center in the axial direction of the transfer rotor 220. Side position. In addition, the first suction passage 261 is opened across both the first holding surface 222a and the second holding surface 222b of the holding groove 222. Similarly, the second suction passage 262 is opened across both the first holding surface 222a and the second holding surface 222b of the holding groove 222. In this embodiment, the opening of the first suction passage 261 is referred to as a "first suction port 261a", and the opening of the second suction passage 262 is referred to as a "second suction port 262a".

Further, as shown in FIG. 22, a suction groove 232 a extending in the radial direction is provided on a surface on the first disk 231 side of the second disk 232. A peripheral wall of the suction groove 232 a and the first circular plate 231 form a first suction passage 261. In addition, a suction groove 232 b extending in the radial direction is also provided on the surface on the third disk 233 side of the second disk 232. A second suction path 262 is formed by the peripheral wall of the suction groove 232 b and the third circular plate 233.

When the element body 271 is held by the holding groove 222, the first suction port 261 a is blocked by the first side surface 271 a and the second side surface 271 b of the first flange portion 281. Similarly, the second suction port 262a is blocked by the first side surface 271a and the second side surface 271b in the second flange portion 282. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the transport rotor 220 holds the element body 271 on both the first flange portion 281 and the second flange portion 282 by the holding groove 222.

In this embodiment, two suction passages 261 and 262 can be provided for one holding groove 222 without providing a through hole connected to the suction hole 260 on any of the disks 231 to 233. That is, in this embodiment, the second circular plate 232 is formed with the suction grooves 232a and 232b, and the second circular plate 232 is sandwiched between the first circular plate 231 and the third circular plate 233. The groove 222 is provided with two suction passages 261 and 262. Therefore, as compared with a case where an extremely narrow through hole is provided in a circular plate (for example, the second circular plate 232), the suction passages 261 and 262 can be easily formed.

Next, the electrical configuration of the processing device will be described.

As shown in FIG. 24, the processing device 210 includes a control device 251 as a control mechanism, a parts supplier 211, a separation pin driving unit 252, a motor 240, a camera 253 as an imaging mechanism, a lighting device 254, a laser device 213, and a vacuum pump 255 As well as the air supply pump 256.

The separation pin driving section 252 is, for example, a solenoid. The control device 251 controls the separation pin driving unit 252 to move the separation pin 14b shown in FIG. 19 up and down.

The vacuum pump 255 is connected to the contact member 214a shown in FIG. 19 and is used for transferring the element body 271. The vacuum pump 255 is used for attracting the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271 through the first suction port 261 a and the second suction port 262 a shown in FIG. 21.

The air supply pump 256 is used to discharge the element body 271 by supplying compressed air.

The camera 253 and the illuminating device 254 are used for grasping the position of the element body 271 held by the conveyance rotor 220 and correcting the processing position in the laser device 213. The camera 253 and the illuminating device 254 are used in the element body 271 to determine the side to be processed. The correction of the processing position and the determination of the side will be described later.

Next, various processing positions in the processing device 210 of this embodiment will be described.

As shown in FIG. 25, the parts supplier 211, the camera 253, the lighting device 254, and the laser devices 213a, 213b, and 213c are arrange | positioned centering on the conveyance rotor 220. The black dots shown on the circumference of the conveyance rotor 220 indicate processing positions. The processing positions include a transfer position P20, a recognition position (inspection position) P21, an irradiation position P22a, P22b, P22c, and a discharge position P23. Each processing position is set in accordance with the angle at which the holding groove 222 shown in FIG. 18 is formed. In this embodiment, the holding grooves 222 are formed every 3 degrees. Therefore, each processing position is set at an angle that is an integer multiple of the angular gradient of the holding groove 222.

Specifically, a parts supplier 211 is disposed below the transfer rotor 220. The component body 271 transferred by the parts supplier 211 is held by the holding groove 222 (see FIG. 18) of the transfer rotor 220 at the transfer position P20 located at the lowest point.

In FIG. 25, the conveyance rotor 220 is rotationally driven in a direction indicated by an arrow. The conveyed element body 271 is captured by the camera 253 at the recognition position P21. A camera 253 and a lighting device 254 are provided corresponding to the recognition position P21. The lighting device 254 is, for example, a ring lighting device. The camera 253 images the element body 271 and the conveyance rotor 220 from the outer peripheral side of the conveyance rotor 220. The element body 271 is held by the transfer rotor 220 in the posture shown in FIGS. 20 (a) and 20 (b). When the element body 271 is held by the holding groove 222, a positional shift may occur in the axial direction of the element body 271 (the vertical direction in FIG. 20 (b), that is, the direction perpendicular to the end surface). Therefore, the camera body 253 captures the element body 271 and the conveying rotor 220 to grasp the position of the element body 271. Specifically, the control device 251 grasps the position of the element body 271 with respect to the conveyance rotor 220. The control device 251 corrects the processing position of the laser device 213 that processes the surface of the element body 271 in accordance with the grasped position of the element body 271. In this embodiment, the laser device 213 is a laser processing device, and the control device 251 corrects the laser emitting angle of the laser device 213. With this correction, the side surface of each element body 271 can be processed with high accuracy.

In FIG. 25, first to third irradiation positions P22 a to P22 c are set along the rotation direction of the conveying rotor 220. The first irradiation position P22a is a processing position of the fourth side surface 271d of each of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the processing element body 271. The second and third irradiation positions P22b and P22c are processing positions where the end faces 271e of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271 are sequentially processed.

The first laser device 213a processes the fourth side surface 271d of each flange portion 281, 282 of the element body 271 conveyed to the first irradiation position P22a. The first laser device 213a that emits a laser is disposed such that the optical axis La of the laser is perpendicular to the fourth side surfaces 271d of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271 conveyed to the first irradiation position P22a.

The second laser device 213b processes the end surface 271e of the first flange portion 281 of the element body 271 conveyed to the second irradiation position P22b. The second laser device 213b that emits a laser is arranged such that the laser is incident substantially perpendicularly to the end surface 271e of the first flange portion 281 of the element body 271 transported to the second irradiation position P22b. The third laser device 213c processes the end surface 271e of the second flange portion 282 of the element body 271 conveyed to the third irradiation position P22c. The third laser device 213c that emits a laser beam is arranged so that the laser beam is incident substantially perpendicularly to the end surface 271e of the second flange portion 282 of the element body 271 transported to the third irradiation position P22c. In addition, the second and third laser devices 213b and 213c may be configured to use one or more mirrors to enter the laser light approximately perpendicularly to the end surfaces 271e of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271. Similarly, the first laser device 213a may be arranged so that the optical axis is perpendicular to the fourth side surface 271d of each of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271 using one or more mirrors. It should be noted that the second and third laser devices 213b and 213c shown in FIG. 25 do not show their respective shapes, but show cases corresponding to the irradiation positions P22b and P22c.

In this way, the element body 271 having the side surface and the end surface processed is discharged at the discharge position P23 shown in FIG. 25.

Next, a processing flow of the processing device will be described.

FIG. 26 shows a processing flow executed by the control device 251 of the processing device 210.

The control device 251 performs the processes of steps S21 to S25 shown in FIG. 26 and processes the element body 271 (see FIG. 17 (a)) as a processing target.

In step S21, the element body 271 is supplied to the carrying rotor 220 shown in FIG. 18. Then, the transfer rotor 220 holding the element body 271 is rotated to transfer the element body 271.

In step S22, the camera 253 shown in FIG. 25 is used to identify the position of the element body 271.

In step S23, the fourth side surface 271d of each flange portion 281, 282 of the element body 271 is processed. That is, a part of the fourth side surface 271d of each of the flange portions 281 and 282 is processed using the first laser device 213a shown in FIG. 25. The laser is scanned on the fourth side surface 271d of each of the flange portions 281 and 282 to process a predetermined area. For example, a laser with a spot diameter of 40 μm is scanned back and forth. At this time, the position of the laser beam irradiated on the fourth side surface 271d of each of the flange portions 281 and 282 is corrected based on the position of the element body 271 identified in step S22. With this correction, it is possible to accurately align the irradiation position of the laser with respect to each element body 271.

In step S24, the end surfaces 271e of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271 are processed. That is, a part of the end surface 271e of each flange portion 281, 282 of the element body 271 is processed using the second laser device 213b and the third laser device 213c shown in Fig. 25. In step S25, the element body 271 is discharged.

27 (a), 27 (b), and 27 (c) show processing of the element body 271.

First, as shown in FIG. 27 (a), the first laser device 213a is used to process the fourth side surfaces 271d of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271. Next, as shown in FIG. 27 (b), the end face 271e of the first flange portion 281 of the element body 271 is processed using the second laser device 213b, and the second flange of the element body 271 is processed using the third laser device 213c. The end surface 271e of the portion 282. Then, as shown in FIG. 27 (c), the compressed air supplied from the air supply pump 256 shown in FIG. 24 is sprayed through the nozzle 256c, and the element body 271 is discharged.

In this way, the processing device 210 processes the fourth end surfaces 271d of the flange portions 281, 282 of the element body 271, and then sequentially processes the two end surfaces 271e of the flange portions 281, 282. The laser device 213 irradiates a part of the surface of the element body 271 with a laser, and the surface of the element body 271 is locally heated by the irradiation energy of the laser. The position of the element body 271 may be shifted by the laser irradiation. This positional shift may occur similarly due to laser irradiation on the end surfaces 271e of the flange portions 281 and 282. Therefore, it is considered to recognize the position of the element body 271 before each process.

The positional deviation of the element body 271 causes a reduction in the accuracy of processing the fourth side surface 271d of each flange portion 281, 282. Therefore, after the process of identifying the position of the element body 271 (step S22 in FIG. 26) is performed, the irradiation position is corrected in accordance with the position of the element body 271 to process the side surface (step S23 in FIG. 26), thereby suppressing the reduction in the accuracy of the process. .

On the other hand, the element body 271 is held by the conveying rotor 220 on the side surfaces of the flange portions 281 and 282. Therefore, the positional deviation of the element body 271 is generated in the axial direction of the element body 271. In this way, even if a position shift occurs, the position of the element body 271 with respect to the transport rotor 220 is not shifted in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the element body 271 among the directions along the end surface 271e. That is, no positional shift occurs in the second irradiation position P22b and the third irradiation position P22c shown in FIG. 25. Therefore, after the side surface processing (step S23 in Fig. 26), the end surface processing can be performed without recognizing the position of the element body 271 (step S24 in Fig. 26).

Next, an operation of the processing device 210 will be described.

The processing device 210 includes a transfer device 212 and a laser device 213. The transfer device 212 includes a transfer rotor 220 and a motor 240. The conveying rotor 220 is rotatably supported and formed in a circular shape. Retaining grooves 222 are formed at the radially outer edges of the conveying rotor 220 at equal angular intervals. The laser device 13 processes the surface of the element body 271 conveyed to the processing position. The control device 251 controls the motor 240 to stop the conveying rotor 220 every predetermined angle (the angle forming the holding groove 222), and conveys the element body 271 to the processing position. The control device 251 controls the laser device 213 and processes the surface of the element body 271.

According to this configuration, the wafer is transferred by the round transfer rotor 220 and the element body 271 is processed at a predetermined processing position, so that, for example, the wafer can be processed more efficiently than when the wafer is arranged on a table, that is, Can improve the ability to handle. In addition, by rotating and driving the transfer rotor 220 to transfer the element body 271, the plurality of element bodies 271 can be processed without changing the position of the laser device 213, and thus the processing capacity can be improved.

In the processing device 210, the control device 251 stops the conveying rotor 220 at every angle formed by the holding groove 222, and processes the surface of the element body 271 stopped at the processing position. In this way, by stopping the conveying rotor 220 at every angle forming the holding groove 222, the element body 271 can be reliably stopped at the processing position. In addition, the component body 271 stopped at the processing position can be processed with high accuracy.

The element body 271 is a ceramic body, and the laser device 213 is a laser processing device that locally heats the surface of the ceramic body to reduce a portion of the ceramic body in electrical resistance. Therefore, by irradiating the element body 271 which is a ceramic body with laser light, local heating in the surface of the minute element body 271 can be performed with high accuracy. Furthermore, by reducing the resistance of the ceramic body by such local heating, it is possible to form an external electrode by plating the part.

The holding groove 222 of the conveying rotor 220 is formed so that the two side surfaces adjacent to each other of the respective flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271 are in surface contact with each other. The laser device 213 has a first laser device 213a corresponding to an unretained fourth side surface 271d of the side surfaces 271a to 271d of each flange portion 281, 282, and a first laser device 213a corresponding to the end surface 271e of the flange portions 281, 282. Two laser devices 213b and a third laser device 213c.

In addition, two suction ports 261a and 262a are provided for one holding groove 222 so as to straddle both the first holding surface 222a and the second holding surface 222b of the holding groove 222. Then, the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271 are vacuum-adsorbed onto the holding surfaces 222a and 222b by the two suction ports 261a and 262a. Accordingly, the element body 271 can be held by the rotating transfer rotor 220.

Further, as shown in FIG. 23, the connection portion of the second suction passage 262 in the suction hole 260 is closer to the vacuum pump 255 than the connection portion of the first suction passage 261 in the suction hole 260. Therefore, the passage cross-sectional area of the connection portion of the first suction passage 261 in the suction hole 260 is larger than the passage cross-sectional area of the connection portion of the second suction passage 262 in the suction hole 260. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the deviation of the force of the first flange portion 281 of the suction element body 271 and the force of suction of the second flange portion 282.

The element body 271 held by the transport rotor 220 can handle the fourth side surface 271d and the end surface 271e of the flange portions 281 and 282, respectively.

The control device 251 controls the first laser device 213a, the second laser device 213b, and the third laser device 213c to process the fourth side surface 271d and the end surface 271e of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271. Specifically, the control device 251 controls the first laser device 213a based on the imaging result of the camera 253, and processes the fourth side surface 271d of each of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271. Then, the control device 251 controls the second laser device 213b to process the end surface 271e of the first flange portion 281 of the element body 271, and then controls the third laser device 213c to process the second flange portion 282 of the element body 271. The end surface 271e is processed.

The processing positions of the first to third laser devices 213a to 213c of the processing element body 271 are set in accordance with the rotation direction of the conveying rotor 220. The element body 271 is held by the holding groove 222. The surface of the element body 271 may be shifted in position due to processing of the surface of the element body 271. The positional displacement of the element body 271 occurs in the axial direction of the element body 271 held in the holding groove 222. However, the end surface 271e of each of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271 does not shift in position in the direction along the end surface 271e. Therefore, after the fourth side surface 271d is processed, it is possible to perform high-precision processing on each surface by processing the end surface 271e.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the following effects can be achieved.

(3-1) The processing device 210 includes a transfer device 212 and a laser device 213. The transfer device 212 includes a transfer rotor 220 and a motor 240. The conveying rotor 220 is rotatably supported and formed in a circular shape. Retaining grooves 222 are formed at the radially outer edges of the transfer rotor 220 at equal angular intervals. The laser device 213 processes the surface of each of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271 conveyed to the processing position. The control device 251 controls the motor 240 to stop the conveying rotor 220 every predetermined angle (the angle forming the holding groove 222), and conveys the element body 271 to the processing position. The control device 251 controls the laser device 213 and processes the surfaces of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271.

According to this configuration, the wafer is transferred by the round transfer rotor 220 and the element body 271 is processed at a predetermined processing position, so that, for example, the wafer can be processed more efficiently than when the wafer is arranged on a table, that is, Can improve the ability to handle. In addition, by rotating and driving the transfer rotor 220 to transfer the element body 271, the plurality of element bodies 271 can be processed without changing the position of the laser device 213, and thus the processing capacity can be improved.

(3-2) In the processing device 210, the control device 251 stops the conveying rotor 220 at every angle forming the holding groove 222, and processes the surfaces of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271 stopped at the processing position. . In this way, by stopping the conveying rotor 220 at every angle forming the holding groove 222, the element body 271 can be reliably stopped at the processing position. In addition, the component body 271 stopped at the processing position can be processed with high accuracy.

(3-3) The element body 271 is a ceramic body, and the laser device 213 is a laser processing device that locally heats the surface of the ceramic body to reduce the resistance of a part of the ceramic body. Therefore, by irradiating the element body 271 which is a ceramic body with a laser, it is possible to perform local heating on the surface of the minute element body 271 with high accuracy. Furthermore, by reducing the resistance of the ceramic body by such local heating, it is possible to form an external electrode by plating the part.

(3-4) The holding groove 222 has a first holding surface 222a that is in surface contact with the first side surface 271a of each flange portion 281, 282 of the element body 271, and a surface that is in contact with the second side surface 271b of each flange portion 281, 282. The contacted second holding surface 222b. According to this configuration, the first side surface 271a of the flange portions 281 and 282 can be brought into contact with the first holding surface 222a of the holding groove 222, and the second side surface 271b of the flange portions 281 and 282 can be brought into contact with the first holding surface 222 of the holding groove 222. The two holding surfaces 222 b are in contact with each other, so that the conveying rotor 220 can stably hold the element body 271 by the holding groove 222. In addition, the laser device 213 can prevent the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271 held by the holding groove 222 from contacting the first holding surface 222 a and the second holding surface 222 b of the holding groove 222. The surface, that is, the fourth side surface 271d and the end surface 271e are processed.

(3-5) The transfer device 212 is configured to suck each flange portion 281, 282 of the element body 271 held by the holding groove 222. Accordingly, each of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271 can be attracted to the first holding surface 222 a and the second holding surface 222 b, and the element body 271 can be held by the holding groove 222. That is, unlike the case of the suction shaft portion 280, the flange portions 281, 282 can be used to block the suction ports 261a, 262a. Therefore, the element body 271 can be appropriately held by the holding groove 222.

(3-6) In addition, the first holding surface 222a and the second holding surface 222b holding the flange portions 281 and 282 are flat, and no convex portion is provided. Therefore, the parts supplier 211 can be brought close to the conveyance rotor 220. Therefore, the time required to transfer the element body 271 from the parts supplier 211 to the transfer rotor 220 can be shortened.

(3-7) The holding groove 222 is configured to have a shape corresponding to the shape of each of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271. Therefore, each of the flange portions 281 and 282 is in surface contact with the first holding surface 222 a and the second holding surface 222 b of the holding groove 222. As a result, it is easy to hold the element body 271 by the holding groove 222.

(3-8) Each of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271 is configured such that the first side surface 271a is longer than the second side surface 271b. Therefore, in the holding groove 222, the first holding surface 222a is longer than the second holding surface 222b. . Therefore, the contact area between the first side surface 271a of the flange portions 281 and 282 in contact with the first holding surface 222a and the first holding surface 222a can be maximized. Therefore, the stability when the element body 271 is held by the holding groove 222 can be further improved.

(3-9) The control device 251 controls the first laser device 213a, the second laser device 213b, and the third laser device 213c to process the surfaces of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271. When the fourth side surface 271d of each of the side surfaces 271a to 271d of the flange portions 281 and 282 that does not contact the holding groove 222 is the processing target surface, the element body 271 held in the holding groove 222 corresponds to the element body 271. The state (orientation) of the first laser device 213a is controlled so that the fourth side surface 271d of each of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the transferred component body 271 can be processed without being affected by the condition of the component body 271.

(3-10) The control device 251 controls the first laser device 213a based on the photographing result of the camera 253, and processes the fourth side surfaces 271d of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271. By grasping the fourth side surface 271d of the flange portions 281 and 282 and controlling the first laser device 213a to perform processing, the fourth portion of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the component body 271 to be transported can be controlled without being affected by the state of the component body 271. The side 271d is processed.

When the fourth side surface 271d of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271 is processed by the first laser device 213a, a position shift may occur in the element body 271. This position shift occurs in a direction orthogonal to the end surfaces 271e of the flange portions 281 and 282. In addition, the amount of positional deviation generated in the element body 271 is smaller than the focal range of the laser light irradiated from the second and third laser devices 213b and 213c of the processing end surface 271e. Therefore, the end faces 271e of the flange portions 281 and 282 can be processed with high accuracy.

(3-11) The control device 251 grasps the position of the element body 271 based on the photographing result of the camera 253, and corrects the position of the processing performed by the laser device 213 on the element body 271 based on the grasped position of the element body 271.

When the component body 271 is transferred from the parts supplier 211 to the transfer rotor 220, a positional shift may occur in the component body 271. Therefore, the camera body 253 captures the component body 271 held by the conveyance rotor 220, grasps the position of the component body 271, and corrects the processing position based on the position, thereby realizing highly accurate processing.

(Fourth embodiment)

Hereinafter, a fourth embodiment will be described.

In this embodiment, the same components as those in the third embodiment described above are denoted by the same reference numerals, and a part or all of the description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 28 (a), the processing device 300 includes a parts supplier 211, a conveying device 312, and a laser device 213. Three laser devices 213 are shown in FIG. 28 (a). The straight line connecting the laser device 213 and the conveyance device 312 indicates the relationship between the laser device 213 and the conveyance device 312, and does not indicate the processing position by the laser device 213.

The transfer device 312 includes a transfer rotor 320 and a rotation shaft 320 a that supports the transfer rotor 320. In this embodiment, the rotation shaft 320a is vertically supported by the main body portion 312a of the conveying device 312. Therefore, the conveyance rotor 320 rotates in a horizontal direction (lateral direction).

As shown in FIG. 28 (b), a circular support portion 321 is formed on the upper surface 320 b of the transfer rotor 320 formed in a circular shape and extending in the circumferential direction of the transfer rotor 320. A plurality of holding grooves 322 are formed in the support portion 321 at regular intervals in the circumferential direction, and the element main body 271 is held in each of the holding grooves 322. In addition, in order to facilitate understanding of the holding state of the element body 271, FIG. 28 (b) shows the element body 271 in an enlarged manner, and thus the number of the element bodies 271 is smaller than the number actually held.

The holding groove 322 is formed to extend in the radial direction of the transfer rotor 320. The holding groove 322 is formed in a V shape to hold the conveyed element body 271 obliquely as viewed from the radial direction of the conveying rotor 320.

At this time, the side surface of the element body 271 held as a processing target, that is, the fourth side surface 271d of the flange portions 281 and 282 becomes the upper surface side of the conveyance rotor 320. In other words, in the above-mentioned parts supplier 211, the element body 271 is arranged so that the fourth side surface 271d is positioned on the upper surface side of the transport rotor 320.

The holding grooves 322 are formed at equal intervals (equal angular intervals) at the ends of the transfer rotor 320. Two suction ports (not shown) are formed so as to straddle both the first holding surface 322 a and the second holding surface 322 b of the holding groove 322. The first holding surface 322a is in surface contact with the first side surface 271a of each flange portion 281, 282 of the element body 271, and the second holding surface 322b is in surface contact with the second side surface 271b of each flange portion 281, 282. In the same manner as the third embodiment, the element body 271 is sucked and held in the holding groove 322 by a vacuum pump.

Further, as in the third embodiment, the entire first side surface 271a of the element body 271 is in surface contact with the first holding surface 222a, and the entire second side surface 271b is in surface contact with the second holding surface 222b. The length in the radial direction of the support portion 321 is equal to the length in the axial direction of the element body 271.

As shown in FIG. 29, the element body 271 supported by the transfer rotor 320 is irradiated with a laser Lc by an end surface 271 e of the second flange portion 282 of the element body 271 through a mirror 350 disposed inside the transfer rotor 320. With a little chain line). The end face 271 e of the first flange portion 281 of the element body 271 is directly irradiated with the laser Ld from the outside of the transfer rotor 320.

As described above, according to this embodiment, in addition to the effects of the third embodiment described above, the following effects are achieved.

(4-1) In the processing apparatus 300 according to this embodiment, the conveying rotor 320 includes a vertical rotating shaft 320a and is supported so as to be horizontally rotatable, and has a circular ring-shaped supporting portion extending in the circumferential direction on the upper surface 320b. 321. The holding groove 322 is formed on the upper surface of the support portion 321 and extends in the radial direction of the transfer rotor 320.

In this way, the conveying rotor 320 is horizontally rotated (laterally rotated) by the vertical rotation shaft 320a supported. Since the element body 271 is held by the support portion 321 of the transfer rotor 320 that rotates horizontally in this way, the element body 271 can be transported in a stable state.

The third and fourth embodiments can be implemented in the following manner.

． In the third embodiment described above, the second circular plate 232 constituting the transfer rotor 220 may be provided with a convex portion 235 as shown in FIGS. 30 (a) and 30 (b). The convex portion 235 is located between the first flange portion 281 and the second flange portion 282 of the element body 271 held by the holding groove 222. Accordingly, when the direction in which the first flange portion 281, the shaft portion 280, and the second flange portion 282 are aligned, that is, the extending direction of the rotation shaft 220a is an axial direction, the retained groove 222 can be suppressed by the convex portion 235. The held element body 271 is displaced in the axial direction. That is, the positional deviation of the element body 271 held by the holding groove 222 can be suppressed.

In addition, the convex portion 235 may have a shape in which the front end 235 a is in contact with the side surface of the shaft portion 280 of the element body 271. In this case, as shown in FIGS. 30 (a) and 30 (b), a third suction path 263 may be formed in the second circular plate 232 and extends in the radial direction thereof and communicates with the suction hole 260. By opening the third suction passage 263 at the front end 235a of the convex portion 235, a third suction port 263a can be provided in the convex portion 235, the third suction port 263a facing the shaft portion of the element body 271 held by the holding groove 222 280 for attraction. With this configuration, the shaft portion 280 can be attracted in addition to the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271 held by the holding groove 222. Therefore, it is possible to improve the accuracy of suppressing displacement of the holding position of the element body 271 held by the holding groove 222.

In the example shown in FIGS. 30 (a) and 30 (b), the convex portion 235 is provided on the first holding surface 222a, but the convex portion 235 may be provided on the second holding surface 222b.

In addition, when the third suction passage 263 is provided to the conveying rotor 220 in this way, as long as the element body 271 can be stably held by the holding groove 222 by the force of the suction shaft portion 280, the first suction passage 261 may be omitted. And at least one of the second suction passages 262.

． In the third and fourth embodiments described above, as long as the flange portion of at least one of the first flange portion 281 and the second flange portion 282 can be attracted, the element body 271 can be stably held by the holding groove 222. Either of the first suction passage 261 and the second suction passage 262 is omitted.

． In the third and fourth embodiments, the processing devices 210 and 300 are designed to process the fourth side surface 271d and the end surface 271e of each of the flange portions 281 and 282 in the element body 271, but the element body to be processed is The surface to be processed in 271 is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, only the fourth side surface 271d of at least one of the flange portions 281 and 282 may be processed. In addition, only the end surface 271e of at least one flange portion of each of the flange portions 281 and 282 may be processed. Further, only the fourth side surface 271d of each flange portion 281, 282 and the end surface 271e of at least one flange portion may be processed.

． In the third and fourth embodiments described above, there is only one laser device 213a corresponding to the element body 271 located at the first irradiation position P22a. However, the laser device corresponding to the element body 271 located at the first irradiation position P22a may have a plurality of (2 or 4) laser devices 213a.

． In the third and fourth embodiments described above, in order to form the external electrodes 272 to 275 shown in FIGS. 16 (a) and 16 (b), they are designed to have surfaces facing the flange portions 281 and 282 of the element body 271. The processing apparatuses 210 and 300 of the laser apparatus 213 which locally heats can be embodied as a system for performing other processes. Furthermore, it is also possible to design processing devices 210 and 300 that use a device other than a laser processing device as the laser device 213 to process the element body 271. For example, a device for applying a liquid or a resin using a spray dispenser may be used.

． In the third and fourth embodiments, the processing of the component body 271 carried by the transfer rotors 220 and 320 may be performed by irradiating the surfaces of the flange portions 281 and 282 of the component body 271 with the laser from the laser device 213. Any processing other than processing. Examples of such processing include processing for checking the appearance of the element body 271 reaching the processing position, and processing for checking the performance of the element body 271 reaching the processing position. In this case, the device performing the inspection corresponds to a processing mechanism.

Next, the following supplementary notes are technical ideas that can be grasped from the above-mentioned embodiments and other embodiments.

(a) Preferably, the control mechanism controls the transport mechanism to stop the transport rotor at each angle where the holding groove is formed, and controls the processing mechanism to configure the first protrusion of the component body stopped at the processing position. At least one surface of the edge portion and the second flange portion is processed.

(b) It is preferable that the transfer rotor has a horizontally supported rotary shaft and is supported to be vertically rotatable, and has a support portion extending in a circumferential direction on an outer peripheral surface, and the holding groove is formed to be disposed in the support portion. The outer peripheral surface extends in a direction parallel to the rotation axis of the transfer rotor, and the supply mechanism is preferably configured to transfer the component body toward the transfer mechanism in the extension direction of the rotation axis.

(c) It is preferable that the transfer rotor has a rotation shaft supported vertically and is supported so as to be capable of horizontal rotation, the transfer rotor has an annular support portion extending in a circumferential direction on the upper surface, and the holding groove is formed to be disposed On the upper surface of the support portion and extending in the radial direction of the transfer rotor, the supply mechanism is preferably configured to transfer the component body toward the transfer mechanism in the radial direction of the transfer rotor.

(d) Preferably, a photographing mechanism for photographing the component body and the transporting rotor is provided at a predetermined inspection position, and the control mechanism grasps the position of the component body based on a photographing result of the imaging mechanism, and corresponds to the grasped component body. The position corrects the position of the processing performed by the processing unit on the component body.

(e) Preferably, the electronic component includes the element body made of a ceramic body and an external electrode formed on a surface of at least one of the first flange portion and the second flange portion of the element body, Preferably, the processing mechanism is a laser processing device that locally heats the surface of the one flange portion to reduce a part of the ceramic body to reduce electrical resistance.

(f) Preferably, the processing mechanism includes: a first processing mechanism for processing the third side surface of at least one flange portion of the first flange portion and the second flange portion; and a second treatment A mechanism for processing the end surface of the first flange portion; and a third processing mechanism for processing the end surface of the second flange portion.

(g) Preferably, the control means controls at least one of the first processing means, the second processing means, and the third processing means to control the first flange portion and the second flange portion of the element body. The surface of at least one flange portion is processed.

(h) Preferably, the control means controls at least one of the first processing means, the second processing means, and the third processing means according to a photographing result of the imaging means, and processes a surface corresponding to the control processing means.

(i) It is preferable to set a processing position at which the first to the third processing mechanism processes the element body according to a rotation direction of the transfer rotor.

Claims (19)

A processing device for processing an element body constituting an electronic component, the processing device includes a transfer mechanism having a transfer rotor supported to be rotatable, and disposed at an end portion of the transfer rotor at equal angular intervals in a circumferential direction and holding the transfer rotor. A plurality of holding grooves of the element body and a driving unit for driving the conveying rotor to rotate the component body held by the holding grooves; and a supply mechanism that supplies the element bodies to the plurality of holding grooves A processing mechanism for locally heating the component body at the processing position or applying a liquid or resin to the component body; and a control mechanism for driving the transfer rotor to rotate the component body to the processing position, The conveyance mechanism is controlled, and the processing mechanism is controlled in order to process the conveyed component body. For example, in the processing device of claim 1, the holding groove is formed to be in contact with a part of two adjacent surfaces of the element body so as to hold the element body, and two parallel to the abutting surface. The entire surface protrudes from the holding groove, and the element body has a rectangular parallelepiped shape. Among the surfaces of the element body, a surface parallel to the two surfaces abutting the holding groove is a side surface, and two abutting surfaces And the two surfaces orthogonal to each other are the end faces, and the control means controls the processing means to perform at least one of the two side faces and at least one of the two end faces that are not in contact with the holding groove. deal with. For example, the processing device according to the scope of the patent application, wherein the control mechanism controls the conveying mechanism to stop the conveying rotor at each angle at which the holding groove is formed, and controls the processing mechanism to prevent the conveying rotor from stopping at the processing position. The above-mentioned element body is processed. For example, the processing device according to item 2 or 3 of the patent application scope, wherein the conveying rotor has a horizontally supported rotary shaft and is supported to be vertically rotatable, and has a support portion extending in the circumferential direction on the outer peripheral surface, and the holding groove The support portion is formed to be disposed on an outer peripheral surface of the support portion and extends in a direction parallel to the rotation axis of the conveying rotor. The support portion is formed to be held at both end surfaces of the element body held in the holding groove from the support portion to the support portion. The rotation axis of the said conveying rotor protrudes in parallel. For example, the processing device according to item 2 or 3 of the patent application scope, wherein the conveying rotor has a rotation shaft supported vertically and is supported to be horizontally rotatable, and has an annular support portion extending in a circumferential direction on the upper surface, The holding groove is formed to be disposed on the upper surface of the supporting portion and extends in the radial direction of the conveying rotor. The supporting portion is formed to be held on one end surface of both end faces of the element body of the holding groove from the supporting portion. It protrudes radially inward, and the other end of both end faces of the element body protrudes radially outward. For example, the processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a photographing mechanism for photographing the element body and the transporting rotor is provided at a predetermined inspection position, and the control mechanism grasps the element based on a photographing result of the photographing mechanism The position of the body corrects the position of the processing performed by the processing mechanism on the component body corresponding to the grasped position of the component body. For example, the processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the electronic component includes the element body composed of a ceramic body and an external electrode formed on a surface of the element body, and the processing mechanism is configured for the ceramic. A laser processing device that locally heats the surface of a body to reduce a portion of the ceramic body. For example, the processing device of claim 2 or 3, wherein the processing mechanism includes: a first processing mechanism for processing one of the two sides; and a second processing mechanism for processing the two sides. The other side of the sides; and a third processing mechanism and a fourth processing mechanism, which are respectively used for processing the two above-mentioned end surfaces. For example, the processing device of the eighth patent application scope, wherein the control mechanism controls any one of the first processing mechanism and the second processing mechanism, the third processing mechanism, and the fourth processing mechanism to process the component body. One side and two ends. For example, the processing device according to item 8 of the patent application scope, wherein the control mechanism controls the first processing mechanism or the second processing mechanism according to a photographing result of the photographing mechanism, and processes a side corresponding to the controlled processing mechanism. For example, the processing device according to the eighth aspect of the patent application, wherein the processing positions of the first to fourth processing mechanisms for processing the component body are set according to the rotation direction of the conveying rotor. For example, the processing device according to claim 1 in which the element body has a shaft portion, a first flange portion connected to one end of the shaft portion, and a second flange portion connected to the other end of the shaft portion, Each of the flange portions has a first side surface, a second side surface with one end connected to one end of the first side surface, a third side surface with one end connected to the other end of the first side surface, another end connected to the second side surface, and the above. A fourth side surface connected to both ends of the third side surface, and an end surface connected to all of the first side surface, the second side surface, the third side surface, and the fourth side surface, and the holding groove has the flange portions. The control mechanism controls the processing mechanism to control the first holding surface that is in contact with the first side surface and the second holding surface that is in contact with the second side surface of each flange portion, and to project at least one of the flange portions. Among the surfaces of the edge portion, the surfaces that are not in contact with the first holding surface and the second holding surface are processed. In the processing device according to claim 12, the conveyance mechanism is configured to adsorb at least one flange portion of each flange portion of the element body held by the holding groove. The processing device according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the conveying rotor includes the first flange portion and the second flange portion of the element body held by the holding groove from the first flange portion. Convex portion of the holding surface. The processing device according to claim 13, wherein the transfer rotor includes a first holding surface between the first flange portion and the second flange portion of the element body held by the holding groove. The protruding portion is provided with a suction port that sucks the shaft portion of the element body held by the holding groove. In the processing device according to any one of claims 12, 13, and 15, the holding groove is configured to have a shape corresponding to a shape of the flange portions of the element body held by the holding groove. For example, in the processing device according to claim 16, the flange portions of the element body are configured such that the first side surface is longer than the second side surface, and the holding groove is configured such that the first holding surface is longer than the first side surface. Second, keep the face long. A component transfer device for transferring a component body constituting an electronic component, wherein the component body includes a shaft portion, a first flange portion connected to one end of the shaft portion, and a connection to the other end of the shaft portion. Each of the flange portions has a first side surface, a second side surface with one end connected to one end of the first side surface, a third side surface with one end connected to the other end of the first side surface, and the first side surface The other side of the two sides and the fourth side connected to the other side of the third side, and the end face connected to all of the first side, the second side, the third side, and the fourth side, and have: A mechanism having a transporting rotor that is supported to be rotatable, a plurality of holding grooves that are arranged at the end of the transporting rotor at equal angular intervals in the circumferential direction and hold the element body, and a driving unit that drives the transporting rotor to rotate And carrying the component body held in the holding groove; and a supply mechanism that supplies the component body to a plurality of The holding groove, the holding groove having a first holding surface in contact with the first side surface of the flange portion and a second holding surface in contact with the second side surface of the flange portion, and the transport mechanism is configured In order to attract at least one flange portion of each of the flange portions of the element body held by the holding groove. A processing method is a method of processing a component body constituting an electronic component, and the method includes a plurality of holding grooves arranged at equal angular intervals in a circumferential direction at an end portion of a conveying rotor supported to be rotatable to hold the above. A step of the component body; a step of driving the transfer rotor to transfer the component body to a processing position set in the rotation direction of the transfer rotor; and locally heating the component body at the processing position or locally heating the component body Step of applying liquid and resin.