Component mounting apparatus and component detection method

A component detection method for detecting whether or not a component exists on a lower end of a pickup nozzle of a mounting head in a component mounting apparatus that picks up a component from a component feeding unit by the mounting head, transferring and mounting the component on a substrate, wherein

• the apparatus comprises
• a substrate conveyance mechanism that conveys the substrate in a first direction, positioning and retaining the substrate at a component mounting operation position and a head transfer mechanism that transfers the mounting heads in the first direction and a second direction orthogonal to the first direction by a first transfer mechanisms and a second transfer mechanism, thereby moving the mounting head between the substrate conveyance mechanism and the component feeding unit disposed beside the substrate conveyance mechanism in the second direction thereof,
• an imaging unit that includes a light projection unit for projecting a belt-like inspection beam and a plurality of line sensor cameras which receive the inspection beam and which output the beam as image data representing a state of a lower end of a pickup nozzle attached to the mounting head and that are configured such that the light projection unit and the plurality of line sensor cameras are placed opposite to each other with a transfer pathway of the mounting head interposed therebetween and outside a transfer stroke of the mounting head in the first direction thereof, and
• optical systems provided for the plurality of line sensor cameras respectively and have focusing points set in correspondence with any of head transfer range segments which have been determined by dividing the transfer stroke in the first direction into a plurality of pieces, and an image selection processing unit that selectively captures image data output from the plurality of line sensor cameras;
• and wherein
• the method includes
• a transfer pathway calculation step of deriving, in each of component-mounting rounds, from mounting program data targeted for the substrate the transfer pathway of the mounting head in a component-mounting round during which the mounting head is moved back and forth between the respective component feeding units and the substrate conveyance mechanism,
• an imaging control step of controlling the image selection processing unit on the basis of data pertaining to the derived transfer pathways, thereby selecting and capturing image data output from the line sensor cameras assigned to the respective head transfer range segments that the transfer pathways of the mounting head cross during each of the component-mounting rounds, and
• a determination processing step of determining from the selectively captured image data whether or not a component still exists on the lower end of the pickup nozzle.