Auto-setup control process
OwnerJohn S. Youngquistinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A pick-and-place machine and method includes use of a passive component feeder cartridge including a feeder gear. Rotation of the feeder gear causes a component-bearing tape to be fed through the feeder cartridge. A pickup head includes a vacuum nozzle to pick up the components from the tape and a rack gear to engage and drive the feeder gear of the feeder cartridge via translational motion of the pickup head when operatively disposed with respect to a selected feeder cartridge.
Claims6
At least one non-transitory computer readable medium comprising executable computer program code instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, automatically set up a pick-and-place machine that picks components from a feeder cartridge and places the picked components onto predetermined respective positions on a substrate to assemble a printed circuit board (PCB) after manually installing at least one feeder cartridge in the pick-and-place machine, each feeder cartridge being configured to controllably advance a tape containing a respective group of components, said setup effected by executing said computer program code instructions comprising:
- automatically detecting the presence and location of each feeder cartridge;
- automatically acquiring machine readable information on each feeder cartridge by use of an imaging device carried by the pick-and-place machine to obtain identification information for components carried by the feeder cartridge;
- and
- automatically organizing assembly of a pre-defined printed circuit board in accordance with the acquired feeder location and component identification information.
A pick-and-place machine for picking components from a feeder cartridge and placing the picked components onto predetermined respective positions on a substrate to assemble a printed circuit board (PCB), said machine comprising:
- a plurality of manually installable feeder cartridges, each feeder cartridge being configured to controllably advance a tape containing a respective group of components, each feeder cartridge have machine readable information provided thereon;
- an imaging device configured to acquire the machine readable information on each feeder cartridge to obtain identification information for components carried therein;
- and
- at least one control processor configured to automatically organize assembly of a pre-defined printed circuit board in accordance with the acquired identification information.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.