Feeder for placement of components
AssigneeMotorola, Inc.
InventorPatrick J. Masterton
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Orienting air-wound coils for placement by an automatic pick-and-place machine has been a problem for small electronic coils. Extracting damaged or deformed coils on a one-by-one basis is expensive and time-consuming. A feeder for air-wound coils uses a rod (101), a track (103), and a two-segment guide (105, 107) and has built-in mechanisms for rejecting damaged coils while feeding undamaged coils (111, 113) in the proper orientation to a pick-and-place machine.
Claims15
An apparatus for presenting at least one component, having a hole with an axis and inner perimeter of predetermined dimensions, comprising:
- a rod having two ends and arranged to accept the at least one component essentially coaxially on said rod's outer perimeter;
- a guide having at least two sections and positioned at a first end of said rod and parallel to said rod;
- a stop disposed at a first end of said guide;
- and
- a track having at least two ends and a longitudinal axis and along which longitudinal axis said rod is disposed, said first end of said guide being disposed at a first end of said track, such that the at least one component slides along said rod and said track and between said at least two sections of said guide until it rests at said stop.
An apparatus for presenting at least one component, having a hole with an axis and inner perimeter of predetermined dimensions, comprising:
- means for aligning having two ends and an outer perimeter and arranged to accept the at least one component essentially coaxially on said outer perimeter of said means for aligning;
- means for guiding having at least two sections and positioned at a first end of said means for aligning and parallel to said means for aligning;
- means for limiting travel of said at least one component disposed at a first end of said means for guiding;
- and
- means for positioning having at least two ends and a longitudinal axis and along which longitudinal axis said means for aligning is disposed, said first end of said means for guiding being disposed at a first end of said means for positioning, such that the at least one component slides along said means for aligning and said means for positioning and between said at least two sections of said means for guiding until it rests at said means for limiting.
A method for presenting at least one component, having a hole with an axis and inner perimeter of predetermined dimensions, comprising the steps of:
- aligning said at least one component with a rod having two ends and an outer perimeter and arranged to accept the at least one component essentially coaxially on said outer perimeter of said rod;
- guiding said at least one component with a guide having at least two sections and positioned at a first end of said rod and parallel to said rod;
- limiting travel of said at least one component with a stop disposed at a first end of said guide;
- and
- positioning said at least one component with a track having at least two ends and a longitudinal axis and along which longitudinal axis said rod is disposed, said first end of said guide being disposed at a first end of said track, such that the at least one component slides along said rod and said track and between said at least two sections of said guide until it rests at said stop.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.