Aligning and feeding device and aligning method
AssigneeMurata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
InventorsMasatoshi HARADA, Miki KURABE
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An aligning and feeding device which accommodates a component including a pair of rectangular end surfaces oppositely facing each other and having a longitudinal direction extending between the end surfaces of the component in a cavity formed in an accommodating member. The component is accommodated in the cavity by aligning a direction of the component such that the longitudinal direction of the component extends parallel to a main surface of the accommodating member.
Claims6
An aligning and feeding device used for a component having a rectangular parallelepiped shape where the component includes a pair of rectangular end surfaces which oppositely face each other and four side surfaces which connect the end surfaces to each other and a direction extending between the end surfaces of the component is set as a longitudinal direction, the aligning and feeding device comprising:
- a conveyance surface for moving the component placed on the conveyance surface;
- a component passage disposed above the conveyance surface, having a first opening and a second opening, and extending from the first opening to the second opening,
- the component passage having a width which is larger than at least one of a length between one pair of side surfaces of the component which oppositely face each other and a length between the other pair of side surfaces of the component which oppositely face each other and the component passage having the width which is smaller than a length between the end surfaces of the component thus allowing the component to pass through the component passage;
- an accommodating member having a main surface and a plurality of cavities which are continuously formed with the main surface, extend in an extending direction which is a direction parallel to the main surface and are configured to accommodate the component such that the extending direction and the longitudinal direction of the component agree with each other,
- the accommodating member configured to be disposed such that the cavities extend parallel to the conveyance surface, one end side of each of the cavities in the extending direction is disposed adjacent to the second opening, and the other end side of said each of the cavities in the extending direction and the component passage make an obtuse angle;
- and
- a suction member configured to apply a vacuum suction to the other end side of said each of the cavities in the extending direction when the accommodating member is disposed such that the cavities extend parallel to the conveyance surface, one end side of said each of the cavities in the extending direction is disposed adjacent to the second opening, and the other end side of said each of the cavities in the extending direction and the component passage make an obtuse angle.
An aligning method for aligning a component having a rectangular parallelepiped shape where the component includes a pair of rectangular end surfaces which oppositely face each other and four side surfaces which connect the end surfaces to each other and a direction extending between the end surfaces of the component is set as a longitudinal direction, the aligning method comprising:
- supplying the component onto a conveyance surface;
- making the component enter a component passage which has a first opening and a second opening, extends from the first opening to the second opening, has a width which is larger than at least one of a length between one pair of side surfaces of the component which oppositely face each other and a length between the other pair of side surfaces of the component which oppositely face each other and is smaller than a length between the end surfaces of the component, and allows the component to pass through the component passage or approach the first opening while moving the component supplied onto the conveyance surface;
- and
- disposing an accommodating member having a main surface and a plurality of cavities which are continuously formed with the main surface, extend in an extending direction which is a direction parallel to the main surface and are configured to accommodate the component such that the extending direction and the longitudinal direction of the component agree with each other,
- applying a vacuum suction to the inside of each of the cavities from the other end side in the extending direction in a state where the cavities extend parallel to the conveyance surface, one end side of each of the cavities in the extending direction is disposed adjacent to the second opening, and the other end side of said each of the cavities in the extending direction and the component passage make an obtuse angle,
- moving the component which enters the component passage or approaches the first opening to said each of the cavities through the component passage, and
- accommodating the component in said each of the cavities in a state where the longitudinal direction of the component and the extending direction of said each of the cavities agree with each other.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.