Apparatus for equipping printed circuited boards

An apparatus for automatically equipping printed circuit boards with components, comprising:

• equipping modules arranged at a distance from one another, each of said equipping modules including:
• an equipping head operable to position the components at predetermined equipping positions on the printed circuit boards,
• a delivery means for supplying components to a receiving positions,
• a first conveyer element means for receiving the components at the receiving position, conveying the components to a transfer position, and transferring the components to said equipping head at the transfer position,
• a second conveyer element means for receiving the components at the receiving position, conveying the components to a transfer position, and transferring the components to said equipping head at the transfer position;
• an endless drive operable in program controlled fashion, said first and second conveyer elements being mounted on said endless drive as a predetermined distance from one another, said predetermined distance being such that one of said first and second conveyer elements is at a retrieving position when another of said first and second conveyer elements is spaced from the transfer position;
• printed circuit board displacement means for substantially simultaneously moving a plurality of the printed circuit boards so that one of the printed circuit boards is moved to an equipping position relative to a selected one of said equipping heads;
• means for actuating the selected one of said equipping heads when the one of the printed circuit boards has been moved to the equipping position by said printed circuit board displacement means to position the component on the one of the printed circuit boards;
• and
• printed circuit board conveyer means for clock step-by-clock step conveying of the printed circuit boards from equipping module to equipping module so that an unequipped circuit board is moved in a conveying direction to a first of said equipping heads and an equipped printed circuit board is discharged from a last of said equipping modules at every clock step.

An apparatus for automatically equipping printed circuit boards with components, comprising:

• equipping modules arranged at a distance from one another, each of said equipping modules including:
• equipping heads operable to position the components at predetermined equipping positions on the printed circuit boards,
• a delivery means for supplying components to a receiving position,
• a conveyer element means for receiving the components at the receiving position, conveying the components to a transfer position, and transferring the components to said equipping head at the transfer position;
• printed circuit board displacement means for substantially simultaneously moving a plurality of the printed circuit boards so that one of the printed circuit boards is moved to an equipping position relative to a selected one of said equipping heads;
• means for actuating the selected one of said equipping heads when the one of the printed circuit boards has been moved to the equipping position by said printed circuit board displacement means to position the component on the one of the printed circuit boards;
• printed circuit board conveyer means for clock step-by-clock step conveying of the printed circuit boards from equipping module to equipping module so that an unequipped circuit board is moved in a conveying direction to a first of said equipping heads and an equipped printed circuit board is discharged from a last of said equipping modules at every clock step;
• and
• a component aligning and rotating station integrated in said equipping module at the transfer position to reposition the components, said component aligning and rotating station accepting components from said conveyer element means at the transfer position and releasing the components to equipping head after repositioning the components.

An apparatus for mounting electrical components on printed circuit boards, comprising:

• a compound table movable in two perpendicular directions;
• guide rails mounted on said compound table in parallel so that the printed circuit boards are slidably movable along said guide rails;
• circuit board holding and moving means for selectively holding a plurality of the printed circuit boards in said guide rails at a predetermined distance from one another and for selectively sliding the printed circuit boards along said guide rails while maintaining said predetermined distance between the printed circuit boards;
• a plurality of equipping heads spaced from one another by said predetermined distance and positioned at substantially identical positions relative to corresponding ones of the printed circuit boards, each one of said equipping heads being operable to mount a component in a corresponding printed circuit board when the printed circuit board is moved to an equipping position relative to said each one of said equipping heads by said compound table.