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US 4,731,923 AGranted
Apparatus and method for mounting circuit element on printed circuit board
AssigneeTDK Corporation
InventorsHiroshi Yagi, Shuichi Tando, Yoshihito Oba, Toshihisa Nakamura
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An automatic circuit element mounting apparatus includes a lead wire detection mechanism for detecting lead wires of a circuit element held on a mounting head by suction and a substrate mark detection mechanism for detecting a mounting reference mark of a printed circuit board on which the circuit element is mounted by means of the mounting head, so that the amount of movement of the mounting head may be corrected depending on a result of detection by each of the detection mechanisms to precisely mount the circuit element on the printed circuit board. Also, a method for mounting a circuit element on a printed circuit board is disclosed.
Claims20
An apparatus for mounting a circuit element on a printed circuit board comprising:
- a base;
- a circuit element supply mechanism for supplying a circuit element to a predetermined position on said base;
- a centering and optional turning mechanism for regulating a position and a posture of said circuit element;
- a circuit element extracting head arranged so as to be movable between said supply mechanism and said centering and optional turning mechanism, said extracting head taking out said circuit element from said supply mechanism by suction and delivering said taken-out circuit element to said centering and optional turning mechanism;
- a mounting head arranged so as to be movable with respect a printed circuit board, said mounting head holding said circuit element of which the position and posture have been regulated by said centering and optional turning mechanism thereon by suction and carrying it to said printed circuit board;
- a substrate support mechanism for supporting thereon said printed circuit board on which said circuit element is to be mounted;
- a lead wire detection mechanism for detecting lead wires of said circuit element of which the position and posture have been regulated by said centering and optional turning mechanism;
- and
- a substrate mark detection mechanism for detecting a mounting reference mark on said printed circuit board supported on said substrate support mechanism;
- all of said mechanisms being mounted on said base;
- whereby movement of said mounting head with respect to said printed circuit board is corrected depending on a result of detection by each of said detection mechanisms.
8 more elements
In a method for mounting a circuit element on a printed circuit board, including the steps of supplying a circuit element to a predetermined position of an automatic mounting apparatus;
- transferring said circuit element from said predetermined position to a centering and optional turning mechanism incorporated in said mounting apparatus to carry out the centering and turning of the circuit element by four claws, said four claws being mounted on said centering and optional turning mechanism and being arranged so as to be opposite to four sides of a circuit element;
- delivering said circuit element to a mounting head which is adapted to hold a circuit element thereon by suction;
- conveying a printed circuit board to a stop position;
- and mounting the circuit element on said printed circuit board when is at said stop position, the improvement resides in that:
- said step of centering and optional turning of said circuit element by said four claws comprises holding two sides of said circuit element parallel to each other between one pair of claws of said four claws positioned oppositely to said two parallel sides of said circuit element through a tip end of each of lead wires projecting from said two parallel sides or a body of said circuit element and then separating said two claws from said lead wires of said body, and thereafter holding the remaining two sides of said circuit element between the other pair of claws through a tip end of each of lead wires projecting from said remaining two sides or said body.
2 more elements
A method for mounting a circuit element on a printed circuit board, comprising the steps of:
- supplying a circuit element to a predetermined position of an automatic mounting apparatus;
- transferring said circuit element from said predetermined position to a centering and optional turning mechanism incorporated in said mounting apparatus to carry out the centering and turning of the circuit element by four claws which are mounted on said centering and optional turning mechanism and arranged so as to be opposite to four sides of a circuit element, said step of centering and optional turning of said circuit element by asid four claws comprising the steps of holding two sides of said circuit element parallel to each other between one pair of claws of said four claws positioned oppositely to said two parallel sides of said circuit element through a tip end of each of lead wires projecting from said two parallel sides or a body of said circuit element and then separating said two claws from said lead wires or said body, and thereafter holding the remaining two sides of said circuit element between the other pair of claws through a tip end of each of lead wires projecting from said remaining two sides or said body;
- delivering said circuit element to a mounting head which is adapted to hold a circuit element thereon by suction;
- irradiating light to said circuit element held on said mounting head to display a binary optical image of each of said lead wires of said circuit element on a telescreen of a TV;
- finding an axial center of said lead wire based on said optical image and a pitch ineterval between each adjacent two optical image about said center to detect bending of each of said lead wires by operation of comparison between each of said pitch intervals and an average thereof;
- and discharging lead wire bended circuit elements from a circuit element mounting line;
- preparing a printed circuit board having at least one mounting reference mark formed of the same material as a conducting pattern deposited thereon to convey it to a stop poition;
- and
- radially irradiating light to a whole surface of said mounting reference to randomly display an optical image on a telescreen of a TV through a camera by means of light reflected on said mounting reference mark, said telescreen of said TV having an outer frame line and a center of a reference pattern corresponding to said mounting reference mark on a central position thereof;
- coiciding said random optical image of said mounting reference mark displayed on said telescreen of said TV with said outer frame line of said reference pattern by up-down adjustment of a binary level;
- comparing a center of said optical image coincided with said reference pattern with said center of said reference pattern preset on said telescreen of said TV;
- and detecting misregistration between said center of said optical image and said center of said reference pattern to adjust a positional correlation between said mounting head holding an indefective circuit element thereon and said substrate, to thereby precisely mount said indefective circuit element on a predetermined portion of said printed circuit board.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.