JP7535730B2 - Component mounting device and component mounting method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a component mounting device and a component mounting method in which a mounting head picks up components by adsorbing them to a nozzle and mounts them on a board.

A component mounting device that mounts components on a board is configured such that a mounting head picks up components supplied by a parts feeder by suctioning them onto a nozzle, and mounts the picked-up components on a board that has been positioned at the work position by a board positioning unit. In such a component mounting device, the quality of the components picked up by the mounting head is determined by, for example, taking an image of the components with a camera. Components that are determined to be in good condition are mounted on the board, and components that are determined to be in bad condition are dropped into a defective product collection box prepared in advance and collected (see, for example, Patent Document 1 below).

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-177593

However, even if the nozzle stops suctioning the component, if a sticky substance such as paste is present between the component and the nozzle, the component may not easily be removed from the nozzle. In such cases, the component mounting device must be stopped and the worker must manually remove the component from the nozzle, which means that the operation of the component mounting device must be interrupted during that time, resulting in reduced productivity.

The present invention aims to provide a component mounting device and a component mounting method that can reliably detach a component to be discarded from a nozzle and prevent a decrease in productivity due to interruptions to work.

The component mounting device of the present invention comprises a board positioning unit which positions a board at a work position, a parts feeder which supplies parts, a mounting head which is freely movable in a horizontal plane and has a plurality of nozzles which picks up a plurality of parts supplied by the parts feeder by adsorbing them to the plurality of nozzles, respectively , a determination unit which determines whether the plurality of parts picked up by the mounting head are in good or bad condition, and an operation control unit which operates the mounting head so that, when the plurality of parts picked up by the mounting head include parts which have been determined to be in good condition by the determination unit and parts which have been determined to be in poor condition by the determination unit, the parts which have been determined to be in good condition by the determination unit are mounted on the board positioned at the work position, and then the parts which have been determined to be in poor condition by the determination unit are dumped into a predetermined part dump unit, and the operation control unit causes the mounting head to slightly vibrate in a lateral direction when causing the mounting head to dump the parts.

The component mounting method of the present invention includes a board positioning step of positioning a board at a work position; a component picking up step in which a mounting head having a plurality of nozzles picks up a plurality of components supplied by a parts feeder by adsorbing them to the plurality of nozzles, respectively ; a judging step of judging whether the plurality of components picked up by the mounting head in the component picking up step are good or bad; a component mounting step of operating the mounting head so that the components judged to be in good condition in the judging step are mounted on the board positioned at the work position when the plurality of components picked up by the mounting head in the component picking up step include components judged to be in good condition in the judging step and components judged to be in poor condition by the judging unit ; and a component discarding step of operating the mounting head so that the components judged to be in poor condition in the judging step are discarded to a predetermined component discarding unit after the component mounting step . When the mounting head is caused to discard the components in the component discarding step, the mounting head is slightly vibrated in a lateral direction to shake off the components from the nozzles.

According to the present invention, the part to be discarded can be reliably detached from the nozzle, preventing a decrease in productivity due to interruptions to work.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a main portion of a component mounting device according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a plan view of a main part of a component mounting device according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control system of the component mounting device according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a state in which a mounting head of a component mounting device according to an embodiment of the present invention is subjected to minute vibration in a lateral direction. A flowchart showing the flow of component mounting work by a component mounting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The following describes an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings. First, the structure of the component mounting device 1 will be described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2. In Figs. 1 and 2, the component mounting device 1 is a device that mounts components BH on a board KB, and includes a base 11, a transport conveyor 12, multiple part feeders 13, a head moving mechanism 14, a mounting head 15, a component recognition camera 16, a discarded component storage box 17, and a control device 18.

In Figures 1 and 2, the transport conveyor 12 extends in the left-right direction (X-axis direction) in the center of the base 11, and transports the board KB by supporting both ends from below with a pair of transport belts 12a arranged opposite each other in the front-rear direction (Y-axis direction). The transport conveyor 12 receives the board KB sent from the upstream side, transports it to the center of the base 11, and positions it at a specified work position. That is, in this embodiment, the transport conveyor 12 serves as a board positioning unit that positions the board KB at the work position.

In Figures 1 and 2, multiple part feeders 13 are attached to a feeder base 11F, which is provided on the front side of the transport conveyor 12 as seen by the worker OP, in a line in the X-axis direction. Each part feeder 13 supplies a part BH to be mounted on the board KB to a part supply port 13K provided at the end on the transport conveyor 12 side.

In Figures 1 and 2, the head movement mechanism 14 includes a fixed beam 14A that is fixed to the base 11 and extends in the Y-axis direction, and a moving beam 14B that is supported at one end by the fixed beam 14A and extends in the X-axis direction. The mounting head 15 is attached to the moving beam 14B.

A beam movement linear motor 14C is provided between the fixed beam 14A and the moving beam 14B, and the moving beam 14B moves in the Y-axis direction on the fixed beam 14A by the operation of the beam movement linear motor 14C. A head movement linear motor 14D is provided between the moving beam 14B and the mounting head 15, and the mounting head 15 moves in the X-axis direction on the moving beam 14B by the operation of the head movement linear motor 14D. The mounting head 15 can freely move in the horizontal plane (XY plane) in the area above the base 11 by combining movement in the Y-axis direction by the operation of the beam movement linear motor 14C and movement in the X-axis direction by the operation of the head movement linear motor 14D.

In FIG. 1, the mounting head 15 is equipped with multiple nozzles 15N extending downward. Each nozzle 15N is driven by a nozzle drive unit 15A provided in the mounting head 15 to move up and down relative to the mounting head 15 and rotate around the Z axis. Vacuum pressure can be supplied to each nozzle 15N through a valve unit 15B provided in the mounting head 15, which can generate a suction force at the bottom end of each nozzle 15N. Positive pressure can also be applied inside the nozzle 15N through the valve unit 15B, which can cause air to be blown out from the bottom end of each nozzle 15N.

In Figures 1 and 2, the part recognition camera 16 is provided in the area between the transport conveyor 12 and the parts feeder 13 of the base 11. The part recognition camera 16 has an imaging optical axis facing upward, and images the part BH picked up by the mounting head 15 by adsorbing it to the nozzle 15N from below.

The discarded parts storage box 17 is a container that opens upward and is provided to the side of the part recognition camera 16 so that it can be attached and detached freely from the base 11. The discarded parts storage box 17 is used to discard parts BH picked up by the mounting head 15 that have been recognized by the part recognition camera 16 as being in a poor condition and therefore should not be mounted on the board KB. The parts BH discarded in the discarded parts storage box 17 are collected by removing the discarded parts storage box 17 at an appropriate time.

In FIG. 3, the control device 18 controls the operation of each part of the component mounting device 1. Specifically, the control device 18 operates the transport conveyor 12 to transport the board KB and position it at the work position, and operates each part feeder 13 to supply the component BH to the component supply port 13K. The control device 18 also operates the beam movement linear motor 14C and the head movement linear motor 14D to move the mounting head 15 in a horizontal plane. The control device 18 also operates the nozzle drive unit 15A to raise and lower and rotate each nozzle 15N. The control device 18 also operates the valve unit 15B to generate a suction force at the lower end of each nozzle 15N or to blow air from the lower end of the nozzle 15N. The control device 18 also causes the component recognition camera 16 to capture the component BH that the mounting head 15 has picked up by adsorbing it to the nozzle 15N, and recognizes the component BH.

In FIG. 3, the control device 18 includes a memory unit 21, an operation control unit 22, and a judgment unit 23. The memory unit 21 stores a component mounting program that defines the procedure for executing the component mounting work, as well as various data such as the type and size of the component BH to be mounted on the board KB. The operation control unit 22 operates each unit of the component mounting device 1 in a predetermined order based on the component mounting program stored in the memory unit 21, and mounts the component BH at each target mounting coordinate set on the board KB.

The judgment unit 23 judges whether the condition of the component BH picked up by the mounting head 15 is good or bad. Here, "the condition of the component BH" refers to the quality of the component BH itself (whether there is a defect or not), as well as the quality of the suction state of the component BH relative to the nozzle 15N (whether the component BH is suctioned in the correct position by the nozzle 15N or not). In this embodiment, the judgment unit 23 judges whether the condition of the component BH is good or bad based on an image obtained by capturing an image of the component BH picked up by the mounting head 15 using the component recognition camera 16.

The operation control unit 22 of the control device 18 operates the mounting head 15 so that, for the components BH picked up by the mounting head 15 and determined by the determination unit 23 to be in good condition, the components BH are mounted on the board KB positioned at the work position. On the other hand, for the components BH picked up by the mounting head 15 and determined by the determination unit 23 to be in poor condition, the operation control unit 22 operates the mounting head 15 so that, as for the components BH picked up by the mounting head 15 and determined to be inappropriate for mounting on the board KB, the operation control unit 22 operates the mounting head 15 so that the components BH are not mounted on the board KB and are discarded in a specified component discard unit (here, discarded component storage box 17).

When the operation control unit 22 causes the mounting head 15 to discard the component BH, it moves the mounting head 15 above the discarded component storage box 17 and releases the nozzle 15N from suction of the component BH. It then operates the head movement linear motor 14D to cause the mounting head 15 to vibrate slightly laterally (here, in the X-axis direction, which is the direction along the moving beam 14B) to shake off the component BH from the nozzle 15N (Figure 4). This makes it possible to reliably detach the component BH from the nozzle 15N even if a sticky substance such as paste is attached between the component BH and the nozzle 15N.

In addition, while the mounting head 15 is being slightly vibrated in the lateral direction, the operation control unit 22 operates the valve unit 15B to apply positive pressure to the nozzle 15N (at least the nozzle 15N that is adsorbing the part BH determined to be in a bad condition). This causes air to be blown out from the bottom end of the nozzle 15N, and the part BH is pushed downward from the bottom end of the nozzle 15N, so that the part BH is more reliably detached from the nozzle 15N.

Next, the flow of the component mounting operation (component mounting method) performed by the component mounting device 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 5. In the component mounting operation, the transport conveyor 12 first receives and transports the board KB sent from the upstream side, and positions it at the work position (board positioning process in step ST1).

When the board KB is positioned at the work position, the head movement mechanism 14 moves the mounting head 15 to above the parts feeder 13. When the mounting head 15 moves above the parts feeder 13, it picks up the parts BH supplied by the parts feeder 13 by adsorbing them onto each of the multiple nozzles 15N (the part pick-up process in step ST2).

When the mounting head 15 picks up the component BH, the head movement mechanism 14 moves the mounting head 15 so that the component BH picked up by the mounting head 15 passes above the component recognition camera 16. The component recognition camera 16 captures an image of the component BH as it passes above, and the control device 18 recognizes the component BH based on the image captured by the component recognition camera 16 (component recognition process in step ST3).

When the control device 18 recognizes the components BH as described above, the judgment unit 23 judges whether the condition of each component BH picked up by the mounting head 15 is good or bad (judgment process of step ST4). If the result is that there is no component BH judged to be in a bad condition, the head movement mechanism 14 moves the mounting head 15 above the board KB, and the mounting head 15 mounts the picked-up component BH at the target mounting coordinates set on the board KB (component mounting process of step ST5). When the mounting head 15 mounts the component BH at the target mounting coordinates, a position correction is made based on the recognition result of the component BH.

On the other hand, if the control device 18 determines in the determination process of step ST4 that the condition of the component BH is poor, it moves the mounting head 15 above the board KB and mounts only the components BH determined to be in good condition on the board KB (step ST6, component mounting process), and then moves the mounting head 15 above the discarded component storage box 17 (step ST7, mounting head movement process). Then, after releasing the suction of the component BH by the nozzle 15N, it blows air from the bottom end of the nozzle 15N while slightly vibrating the mounting head 15 in the horizontal direction (here, the X-axis direction, which is the direction along the moving beam 14B), thereby discarding the component BH into the discarded component storage box 17 (step ST8, component discard process).

After executing the part discard process of step ST8, the control device 18 judges whether the parts BH judged to be in a bad condition in the judgment process of step ST4, i.e., all parts BH to be discarded, have fallen off the nozzle 15N (step ST9). This judgment is made by moving the mounting head 15 above the part recognition camera 16 and using the part recognition camera 16 to capture an image of the nozzle 15N that had picked up the parts BH to be discarded. Alternatively, the pressure inside the nozzle 15N may be measured, and based on the pressure value, it may be judged whether the parts BH have fallen off the nozzle 15N.

If the control device 18 determines in step ST9 that at least one of the components BH to be discarded has not been detached from the nozzle 15N, it temporarily stops the operation of the component mounting device 1 so that the operator OP can manually remove the component BH from the nozzle 15N (step ST10). On the other hand, if the component BH has been mounted on the board KB in the component mounting process in step ST5, or if it has been confirmed in step ST9 that all of the components BH to be discarded have been detached from the nozzle 15N, it proceeds to step ST11.

In step ST11, it is determined whether all components BH to be mounted on the board KB currently being targeted for component mounting have been mounted. If, as a result, there are still components BH that have not yet been mounted on the board KB, the process returns to step ST2 and the nozzle 15N picks up the components BH. On the other hand, if, in step ST11, it is determined that all components BH to be mounted on the board KB have been mounted, the transport conveyor 12 transports the board KB downstream of the component mounting device 1 (step ST12). This completes the component mounting operation on the board KB currently being targeted for component mounting.

As described above, in the component mounting device 1 of this embodiment, when a component BH determined to be in a poor condition by the determination unit 23 is dumped into the component dump section (dump component storage box 17), the mounting head 15 is subjected to slight vibrations in the horizontal direction to shake off the component BH from the nozzle 15N. This ensures that the component BH to be dumped can be detached from the nozzle 15N, eliminating the need to stop the operation of the component mounting device 1 and have the operator OP manually pull the component BH away from the nozzle 15N, preventing a decrease in productivity due to interruptions to work.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described so far, the present invention is not limited to the above, and various modifications are possible. For example, in the above embodiment, when the part BH to be discarded is shaken off from the nozzle 15N, air is also blown out from the bottom end of the nozzle 15N, but this blowing of air is not essential, and the mounting head 15 may simply be slightly vibrated in the lateral direction after the suction of the part BH is released.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the head movement mechanism 14 that freely moves the mounting head 15 in a horizontal plane is configured to be driven by a drive system using linear motors (beam movement linear motor 14C and head movement linear motor 14D), but instead of linear motors, it may be driven by another drive system, such as a drive system using ball screws.

In addition, in the above embodiment, a box-shaped member (discarded parts storage box 17) was used as the part discard section, but the part discard section does not have to be a box-shaped member and may be a stage-shaped member, a conveyor, etc.

To provide a component mounting device and a component mounting method that can reliably detach a component to be discarded from a nozzle and prevent a decrease in productivity due to interruptions to work.

1 Component mounting device 12 Transport conveyor (board positioning unit)
13 Part feeder 14 Head moving mechanism 15 Mounting head 15N nozzle 16 Part recognition camera (camera)
17 Discarded parts storage box (parts discard section)
22 Operation control unit 23 Determination unit BH Part KB Board

Claims (6)

a board positioning unit that positions the board at a work position;
A parts feeder for supplying parts;
a mounting head that is movable in a horizontal plane, has a plurality of nozzles, and picks up a plurality of components supplied by the part feeder by suctioning the components onto the nozzles, respectively ;
a determination unit that determines whether or not the components picked up by the mounting head are in a good condition;
an operation control unit that operates the mounting head so that, when the plurality of components picked up by the mounting head include components determined to be in a good state by the determination unit and components determined to be in a bad state by the determination unit, the components determined to be in a good state by the determination unit are mounted on the board positioned at the work position, and then the components determined to be in a bad state by the determination unit are dumped into a predetermined component dump unit,
The operation control unit of the component mounting device causes the mounting head to slightly vibrate in a lateral direction when causing the mounting head to drop a component. 2. The component mounting device according to claim 1, wherein said mounting head blows air from a lower end of said nozzle when discarding a component determined to be in a bad condition by said determining section . The component mounting device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a camera that captures an image of the component picked up by the mounting head, and the judgment unit judges whether the condition of the component is good or bad based on the image of the component captured by the camera. a substrate positioning step of positioning the substrate at a work position;
a component pick-up process in which a mounting head having a plurality of nozzles picks up a plurality of components supplied by a part feeder by suctioning the components to the respective nozzles;
a judging step of judging whether or not a state of the plurality of components picked up by the mounting head in the component picking step is good;
a component mounting process for operating the mounting head so that the component determined to be in good condition in the determination process is mounted on the board positioned at the work position when the plurality of components picked up by the mounting head in the component pick-up process include a component determined to be in good condition in the determination process and a component determined to be in poor condition in the determination process;
a component discarding step of operating the mounting head so that components determined to be in a defective state in the determining step are discarded in a predetermined component discard section after the component mounting step ,
When the mounting head is caused to drop the component in the component dropping step, the mounting head is slightly vibrated in a lateral direction to shake off the component from the nozzle. 5. The component mounting method according to claim 4, wherein in said component discarding step, air is blown out from a lower end of said nozzle to push downwardly from the lower end of said nozzle a component determined to be in a bad condition in said determining step. The component mounting method according to claim 4 or 5, wherein in the judgment step, the quality of the condition of the component picked up by the mounting head is judged based on an image of the component captured by a camera.

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