JPH09327644A - Device and method for coating liquid agent - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid agent coating device and a method thereof for cleaning simply the end of a transfer pin and applying stably the liquid agent in the given state at all times. SOLUTION: A work 60 is coated with a liquid agent 39 by a transfer pin 21, and a process of making the liquid agent 39 adhere to the transfer pin 21, a process of moving the transfer pin 21 to which the liquid agent 39 adheres to a liquid agent applying position and the work 60 is coated and a process of moving the transfer pin 21 after completing the coating on the work 60 and moving the transfer pin to the cleaning position are provided, and the transfer of the transfer pin 21 to respective processes is controlled by a robot.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for supplying a liquid agent such as an adhesive agent by a transfer pin.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a dispenser has been mainly used as a method for applying a liquid agent such as an adhesive. However, with the method using this dispenser, it is difficult to apply a small amount of a highly viscous liquid agent, and in the case of a highly viscous liquid agent, a method using a transfer pin is generally used. The method using the transfer pin is that the tip of the transfer pin is once dipped into a container containing a liquid agent controlled to a predetermined liquid surface height, and the liquid agent attached to the tip is adhered (work). It is applied to and is repeatedly performed.

[0003]

However, in the case of the above-mentioned application by the transfer pin, the tip of the transfer pin is once dipped into the liquid agent and taken out, and the liquid agent attached to this is transferred to the adherend. In the method, the dirt on the pin tip directly affects the application amount and application shape of the liquid agent. That is, when the liquid agent hardens while the transfer is repeated, the subsequent liquid agent overlaps the previously transferred liquid agent, so that the attached shape of the liquid agent changes. Further, even when dust or the like attached to the adherend adheres to the transfer pin, the operation is repeated, so that there is a problem in that the supply amount and supply shape of the liquid agent vary. Further, because of these problems, it has hitherto been impossible to apply an extremely small amount of liquid.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is a liquid agent applying device capable of easily cleaning the tip of a transfer pin and performing stable liquid agent application in a constant state at all times. And to provide a method. Further, other objects will be clarified sequentially in the contents described below.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention is characterized by taking the following technical means in order to achieve the above object.
That is, a liquid agent is applied to a work by a transfer pin, the movement of the transfer pin is controlled by a robot, a means for attaching the liquid agent to the transfer pin, and a transfer pin to which the liquid agent is attached. There are provided means for moving to the coating position and coating the work, and means for moving the transfer pin after finishing coating the workpiece to the cleaning position for cleaning.

According to this, it is possible to automatically apply the liquid agent to the work by the transfer pin and wash the transfer pin after the application. Therefore, unlike the conventional case, it is not necessary to regularly clean the transfer pin, and since the liquid agent can be always applied in the same state, the reliability of the application is improved and it is not necessary to constantly inspect the application state. . Furthermore, it becomes possible to apply a very small amount.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIGS. 1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a micro biaxial assembling machine for an optical pickup, in which a liquid agent such as an adhesive is applied to a predetermined position of a component (work). 2 is a schematic configuration layout diagram of a liquid agent coating device for coating
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control system of the device. 1 and 2, the liquid agent applying apparatus is roughly composed of a work transfer unit 10, a liquid agent applying unit 20 that holds and drives a transfer pin 21 that applies the liquid agent, and a liquid agent supplying unit 30 that holds and supplies the liquid agent. A cleaning unit 40 for cleaning the transfer pin 21 after applying the liquid agent is provided, and these are controlled by a control unit (CPU) 50 that controls the entire apparatus.

More specifically, the work transfer section 10 includes
An index table 11 is provided, an index 12 for indexing the position of the index tape 11, and a drive unit 13 having a stepping motor (not shown) for intermittently rotating the index table 11 to the position indexed by the index 12. There is. Further, the index table 11 is provided with a plurality of work holders 14 according to the number of indexes, and the index tape 11 is sequentially moved to the work supply / discharge position and the liquid application position by the rotation of the index tape 11. That is, in the work transfer section 10, the work holders 14 hold the works 60 in order at the work feeding / discharging position, and the held works 60 are conveyed to the liquid application position by the indexing rotation operation of the index table 11, After coating, it is sent back to the original work feeding / discharging position. Further, the index position of the index table 11 is detected by a sensor 14 (see FIG. 2) that detects a dog (not shown) attached to the shaft end of the motor in the drive unit 12.
Upon receiving the indexing signal from the control unit 4, the control unit 50 controls the operation of each device.

The liquid agent applying section 20 comprises a holding section 22 for holding a transfer pin 21 for applying the liquid agent, and a robot 25 for moving the holding section 22 in the vertical and horizontal directions. The transfer pin 21 is for applying a liquid agent to a work, and has a columnar shape and has a pin portion 21a whose tip portion is processed into a smooth flat surface, and the pin portion 21a facing downward. It has a coil spring (not shown) that is pushed. The holding unit 22 moves the transfer pin 21 held as described above to a predetermined position, and the robot 25 moves the position P1 of the liquid agent supply unit 30, the liquid application position P2, and the position of the transfer pin cleaning unit 40. The transfer pin 21 is moved to P3. A robot 25 as a means for moving the holding unit 22 to each of the positions P1 to P3, etc.
Includes a vertical driving unit 23 that moves the holding unit 22 in the vertical direction together with the transfer pin 21, and the holding unit 22 to the transfer pin 2.
1 and the up-and-down direction drive unit 23, and the left-and-right direction drive unit 24 that moves in the left-right direction.

The liquid agent supply section 30 supplies a first liquid agent 39 as an adhesive to the transfer pin 21, and a liquid tank 31 for storing the first liquid agent 39 and the transfer pin 21.
A squeegee 32 for applying a predetermined amount of liquid agent 39 to
A heater unit 35 that stabilizes the temperature of the liquid agent in the liquid tank 31 and a liquid tank moving drive unit 34 that moves the liquid tank 31 are included. The heater unit 35 is the first liquid agent 3 in the liquid tank 31.
In order to stabilize the viscosity of No. 9, the temperature is kept constant, and in order to supply a predetermined amount of the first liquid 39 to the transfer pin 21, the liquid temperature is controlled to be always constant. The squeegee 32 maintains a predetermined height of the liquid surface in the liquid tank 31, and has a tip portion 32a that comes into contact with the liquid surface in the liquid tank 31, and a squeegee drive unit that vertically moves the tip portion 32a. Has 36. Then, the drive unit 36 is driven to lower the tip portion 32a to a predetermined liquid level height, and then the liquid tank moving drive unit 34 is driven to move the liquid tank 31 in the horizontal direction to flatten the liquid level. Then, it can be maintained at a predetermined height.

The cleaning section 40 is for cleaning the tip of the transfer pin 21, and is a liquid tank 41 having a second liquid agent 49.
And an ultrasonic cleaner 42 that vibrates the second liquid agent 49.
The circulation path 43, and a filtering section 44 and a pump 45 disposed in the middle of the circulation path 43. The liquid tank 41 is a container of a medium for flowing the first liquid agent 39 separated from the transfer pin 21, and a predetermined second liquid agent 49 such as water for cleaning the first liquid agent 39 attached and remaining on the transfer pin 21. It is stored at a height, and the transfer pin 21 moved to the position P3 can be dipped therein. The ultrasonic cleaner 42 is the second solvent 4 in the liquid tank 41.
This is for peeling off the first liquid agent 39 remaining on the transfer pin 21 by applying ultrasonic waves to 9 and vibrating it, and dust and the like are also peeled off together with the peeling of the first solvent 39. The circulation path 43 has a suction port 43a opening to the liquid surface in the liquid tank 41 and a jetting port 43b opening to the upper part of the liquid surface. Then, when the pump 45 is driven, the transfer pin 21
The first liquid agent 39 separated from the tip of the
9 is sucked into the circulation path 43 together with the suction port 43a, the first liquid agent 39 and dust are filtered by a filter (not shown) in the liquid agent filtering section 50 on the way, and only the second liquid agent 49 is forced from the outlet 43b. It has a structure that is well ejected and collected. That is, the tip portion of the transfer pin 21 to which the first liquid agent 39 is attached is cleaned by the jet flow of the second liquid agent 47 which is filtered and discharged from the ejection port 43b and the ultrasonic vibration by the ultrasonic cleaning device 42. Will be done. Then, when the pump 45 is driven, the transfer pin 2
The first liquid agent 39 separated from the tip of No. 1 is sucked into the circulation path 43 together with the second liquid agent 49 through the suction port 43a, and only the second liquid agent 49 is filtered by the filtering unit 44, and the second liquid agent after filtering is filtered. The second liquid agent 49 can be ejected from the ejection port 43b and returned into the liquid tank 41. The portion where the second liquid agent 49 is ejected from the ejection port 43b is removed by the ultrasonic cleaner 42 after the first liquid agent 39 attached to the transfer pin 21 is removed by the second liquid agent 49. 49
Together with this, it constitutes a liquid flow generating means for flowing out into the circulation path 43.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the operation of the liquid agent applying device. Therefore, the operation of the liquid agent applying device shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with FIG. 3 will be described below. In FIG. 3, the flow of operation of the transfer pin 21 is shown on the left side, and the flow of the work 60 is shown on the right side. First, the workpiece 60 is transported from the workpiece feeding / discharging position of the workpiece transport unit 10 to the liquid agent application position indexed by the index table 12 by the workpiece holder 14 and waits for the first liquid agent 39 to be applied. The transfer pin 21 is located at a position P which is an upper portion of the liquid tank 31 in which the first liquid agent 39 is stored after the surface is smoothed.
In step 1, the control unit 50 waits until the robot 25 receives a liquid agent application command. When a liquid agent application command is issued, the transfer pin 21 is lowered by the robot 25, immersed in the first liquid agent 39, and raised again to the position P1. When the transfer pin 21 is raised to the position P1, the squeegee 32 is driven to smooth the liquid surface of the first liquid agent 39 in the liquid tank 31 again, and when the smoothing is completed, it is stopped.

Then, the robot 25 horizontally moves to a position P2 which is an upper part of the liquid agent application position. And
The transfer pin 21 is lowered to the position of the work 60 which is positioned by the index table 11 and is held by the work holder 14, and the first liquid agent 39 is applied to the work 60. After the application, the second position P2 is applied. Return to. On the other hand, the work 60 to which the first liquid agent 39 is applied is intermittently sent toward the supply / discharge position by the rotation of the index table 11, and when the work is sent to the discharge position, it is taken out and sent to the next process.

Subsequently, the robot 25 horizontally moves to a position P3 which is the upper part of the liquid tank 41, and after the movement, it is lowered and the tip of the transfer pin 21 is dipped in the liquid surface of the second liquid agent 49. Then, in the liquid tank 41, the first liquid agent 39 is peeled off by the vibration of the ultrasonic cleaner 42, and at the same time, the first liquid agent adhered by the second liquid agent 49 which is vigorously ejected from the ejection port 43b. 39, dust, etc. are washed away.
As described above, the first liquid agent 39 and dust are sent into the circulation path 42 and processed by the liquid agent filtering section 50.

On the other hand, the transfer pin 21 from which the first liquid agent 39 and the like have been peeled off and washed is moved to the position P3 by the robot 25, then horizontally moved to the position P1 and dried during this horizontal movement. And wait. After that, this operation is sequentially repeated.

Therefore, according to this liquid agent applying device,
The transfer pin 21 can be automatically cleaned. As a result, it is not necessary to regularly clean the transfer pin 21 as in the conventional case, and the production efficiency of liquid agent application can be improved. Further, the reliability of coating is improved, and it is not necessary to constantly inspect the coating state. Further, it becomes possible to apply a very small amount.

In the above embodiment, the case where water is used as the second liquid agent is disclosed, but liquid agents such as other solvents and cleaning liquids may be used. Also, the first
When a liquid agent having a specific gravity smaller than that of the liquid agent 39, such as alcohol, is used, the liquid agent discharging part may be provided at the bottom of the liquid tank 41.
It becomes easy to collect the liquid agent 39.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to automatically apply the liquid agent to the work by the transfer pin and wash the transfer pin after the application. Therefore, unlike the conventional case, it is not necessary to regularly clean the transfer pin, and the liquid agent can be constantly applied, so that the production efficiency can be improved.
Further, the reliability of coating is improved, and it is not necessary to constantly inspect the coating state. Furthermore, it becomes possible to apply a very small amount.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration layout diagram of a liquid agent applying device shown as an example of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration block diagram of a control system in the device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the operation of the device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Work Transfer Section 20 Liquid Agent Application Section 21 Transfer Pin 30 Liquid Agent Supply Section 31 Liquid Tank 39 First Liquid Agent 40 Cleaning Section 41 Liquid Tank 42 Ultrasonic Cleaner 43 Circulation Path 45 Pump 49 Second Liquid Agent 50 Liquid Agent Filtering Section

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A liquid agent applying device for applying a first liquid agent to a work by a transfer pin, a liquid tank for storing a second liquid agent for cleaning the transfer pin, and a second liquid agent in the liquid layer. Ultrasonic wave generating means for applying slight vibration to the transfer pin to separate the first liquid agent from the transfer pin, and liquid flow generating means for discharging the first liquid agent separated by the ultrasonic wave together with the liquid flow. Filtering means for separating the first liquid agent discharged from the liquid flow generating means from the second liquid agent, and the second liquid agent cleaned by the filtering means to the liquid flow generating means And a pump for supplying the liquid agent to the liquid agent applying apparatus. 2. The transfer pin is transferred to the first by a robot.
2. The solvent according to claim 1, further comprising: a means for sequentially transporting the liquid agent to the work, a position to apply the first liquid agent to the work, and a position to wash the transfer pin after the application. Coating device. 3. A liquid agent applying method of applying a liquid agent to a work by a transfer pin, the step of attaching the liquid agent to the transfer pin, and moving the transfer pin to which the liquid agent is attached to a liquid agent applying position to the work. The method further comprises a step of applying and a step of moving the transfer pin to a cleaning position after the application to the work and cleaning the transfer pin, wherein the transfer pin is moved to the respective steps by a robot. And a solvent coating method. 4. The step of cleaning the transfer pin includes a liquid tank containing a second liquid agent different from the first liquid agent first attached to the transfer pin, and the second liquid tank in the liquid tank. An ultrasonic cleaner for vibrating the liquid agent and a circulation path for filtering the second liquid agent and returning it into the liquid tank again are provided, and the second liquid agent is vigorously ejected to the discharge side of the circulation path. The solvent coating method according to claim 3, further comprising means for pouring the first solvent separated from the transfer pin into the circulation path.