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US 6,662,437 B2Granted
Apparatus and method for mounting electronic components
AssigneeSanyo Electric Co., Ltd.
InventorTomio Kawashima
Life of this patent
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AssigneeSanyo Electric Co., Ltd.
InventorTomio Kawashima
Estimating the term…
In the invention, there is provided an apparatus for mounting electronic components in which a plurality of mounting heads pick up electronic components concurrently from a plurality of component feeding units for mounting the electronic components on a print circuit board, with assured pick-up and holding of the electronic components. The component feeding units 3 do not always have an identical pick-up position 10 among all the units 3 used in a mounting operation because of the variation in the manufacturing and the mounting of the units. The shift due to the variation along the direction of feeding, the Y direction, is corrected by moving the position of the nozzle 21 along the Y direction with a controlled rotation of the mounting head 7 around an horizontal axis using the nozzle selection motor 22 for selecting the nozzle 21.
An apparatus for mounting electronic components having a plurality of component feeding units and a plurality of mounting heads, said mounting heads picking up electronic components concurrently from the component feeding units for mounting the electronic components on a print circuit board, the apparatus comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
Drawings are temporarily unavailable. Open the PDF at USPTO
From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Mounting of components , e.g. of leadless components: feeding with belts or tapes
Incorporating a pick-up tool: having multiple pick-up tools
Integration of optical monitoring devices in assembly lines; Processes using optical monitoring devices specially adapted for controlling…
On flat or curved insulated base, e.g., printed circuit, etc.: assembling to base an electrical component, e.g., capacitor, etc.
Term ended 3 Jun 2021 (estimated)
USPTO file history isn’t available for this patent, so only indexed dates are shown.
1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for mounting electronic components in which a plurality of mounting heads pick up electronic components concurrently from a plurality of component feeding units for mounting the electronic components on a print circuit board.
2. Prior art
The present invention may be better understood, and its objectives, features and advantages may be made apparent to those skilled in the art, referencing the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a plan view of an apparatus for mounting electronic components as an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a side view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 being viewed from the direction shown as B in the figure.
A few preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail hereinafter in reference to the above drawings. FIG. 1, is a plan view of an apparatus for mounting electronic components 1 of the present invention. There are provided on a base 2 of the apparatus 1 a plurality of component feeding units 3 for feeding various kinds of electronic components to a pick-up position 10, where the electronic components are picked up by suction nozzles as will be described later. In principal, one feeding unit 3 contains one type of electronic components, and feeds one component at one procedure of the mounting operation. There are also provided between the two groups of the component feeding units 3 facing to each other an incoming conveyer 4, a portion for positioning 5, and an outgoing conveyer 6. A print circuit board P is transported by the incoming conveyer 4 from an upstream process to the portion for positioning 5, positioned by a positioning mechanism not shown in the figure for the mounting of electronic components at the portion for the positioning 5, and transported away to a downstream process by the outgoing conveyer 6.
In FIG. 1, mounting heads are not shown for the clarity of showing the structure of the apparatus for mounting electronic component underneath the mounting heads. The overall configuration including the mounting heads 7 is shown in FIG. 2. As seen from the figure, the mounting heads 7 travel above the print circuit board P resting at the portion for positioning 5 and the component feeding units 3.
A beam 8 is placed in the X direction, and travels above the print circuit board P and the component feeding units 3, especially the pick-up positions of electronic components thereof, along the Y direction on a guide 9. The pick-up positions of electronic components are linearly aligned along the X direction. A flexible cableveyer is attached to the beam 8 for holding power cables and air tubes for the suction nozzles.