Component feeder configuration monitoring
OwnerYuen-Foo Michael Kouinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for monitoring the configuration of component feeders in a placement machine having a series of feeder slots for holding the component feeders. The system includes slot markers for installation on the placement machine to correspond to the feeder slots, feeder markers for installation on the component feeders of the placement machine, and a marker detector (e.g., a bar code scanner) adapted to monitor the arrangement of slot markers and feeder markers in the machine while the machine is in operation.
Claims19
An apparatus for monitoring a configuration of component feeders in a placement machine having a series of feeder slots for holding the component feeders, the apparatus comprising
- slot markers for installation on the placement machine to correspond to the feeder slots;
- feeder markers for installation on the component feeders of the placement machine;
- and
- a marker detector adapted to monitor the arrangement of slot markers and feeder markers in the machine by referencing stored configuration data as the machine plates components picked from the feeders.
In a placement machine for mounting electronic components on circuit boards, the machine comprising
- a series of feeder slots for holding component feeders;
- and
- a picking device constructed to pick components from the feeder slots for mounting to a circuit board;
- the improvement wherein the placement machine further comprises
- a system for monitoring the configuration of the component feeders in the feeder slots, the system comprising
- slot markers for installation on the placement machine to correspond to the feeder slots;
- feeder markers for installation on the component feeders of the placement machine;
- and
- means for monitoring the arrangement of slot markers and feeder markers while the machine plates components picked from the feeders.
A method for monitoring a configuration of component feeders in a placement machine having a series of feeder slots for holding the component feeders, the method comprising
- scanning, while the machine is in process of picking components from given feeder slots, slot markers corresponding to the slots and feeder markers corresponding to the component feeders in the slots;
- and
- comparing configuration information gathered by said scanning with previously stored configuration information to check for configuration errors.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.