JPH0315837B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a method for transferring printed circuit boards of various sizes during a printed circuit board manufacturing process.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, various electronic devices have been developed and put into practical use, and the electronic components that make up these electronic devices are often soldered to printed circuit boards. For example, when the electronic device is a complicated device such as a computer, the number of printed circuit boards is quite large, and the size (dimensions) of the printed circuit boards also vary.

If we take a look at a part of this printed circuit board manufacturing process, we will see the following. In other words, patterning must be applied to a laminated insulating board with so-called through-holes formed on both the top and bottom surfaces of the copper foil. It is necessary to go through a process to make the surface rough and a process to attach a photosensitive film for patterning to the rough surface. of course,
Although this is not the only process for the printed circuit board, for convenience of explanation, the process of roughening the copper foil surface will be referred to as the first process, and the process of pasting the photosensitive film will be referred to as the second process.

In this way, even if you look at one type of printed circuit board manufacturing, it must go through multiple steps until it is completed, but the following are some of the inconveniences that occur during the transfer between each step. There is. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the printed circuit boards 2 that have been placed horizontally on the first conveyor 1 in the first conveyor mechanism _M1 so as not to overlap each other and are sent are further moved in the direction of arrow A. will be transferred to. on the other hand
In the stock mechanism shown as ST, a large number of hangers 5 that can slide freely along an endless rail 3 wound in an oval shape are fitted, and when this hanger is at position H, the tip of the hanger The edge 2' of the printed circuit board is inserted into the opening of the gripping member 4, which has a U-shaped cross section. Then, in order to move along the rail 3, the hanger 5 is rotated 90 degrees in the direction of the printed circuit board arrow RO held by the hanger 4 and is stood vertically.
It is also sent in the direction of arrow A and accumulated in the area indicated by R in the figure. The reason why printed circuit boards are accumulated in the stock mechanism ST in this way is that M ₂
This arises from the need to adjust the overall transport speed when the transport speed v ₁ of the printed circuit board in the second transport mechanism shown as is slower than the transport speed v ₂ in the first transport mechanism M ₁ It is. If the printed circuit board 2 is stood vertically in the stock mechanism ST in this way, a considerable number of printed circuit boards (for example,
70 sheets) can be stored without contamination, as well as the speed of the conveyor in the second transport mechanism _M2 .
Adjust with v ₂ and transfer the printed circuit board to the second transport mechanism.
It can be delivered on the ST conveyor. Incidentally, before such a stock mechanism was developed, an operator intervened between the first transport mechanism _M1 and the second transport mechanism _M2 , and manually controlled the speed _v2 of the printed circuit board. We were conducting a combined delivery. However, with this method, scandals have occurred, such as fingerprints and other contamination on the surface of printed circuit boards that have been carefully transported in a clean state. Once the surface is contaminated, it will interfere with the next step of attaching photosensitive film to the printed circuit board. However, it can be said that this problem can be avoided by the arrangement of the stock mechanism ST.

[Problem that the invention is trying to solve]

However, even with these improvements, there are still problems that require further countermeasures. This is because the size of the printed circuit board sent by the transport mechanism _M1 is not necessarily uniform, and there are various sizes.
This occurs when items L ₁ , L ₂ , and L ₃ are transported. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the printed circuit board 2C having a size of, for example, _L1 , which has been temporarily stored vertically in the stock mechanism ST, is further transferred to the second transport mechanism _M3 as shown by the arrow C. If the conveyor ₆ of the second conveyance mechanism M2 is rotated 90 degrees and delivered in a horizontal state,
Above is the printed circuit board 2n that was delivered last time.
Assume that the object is placed horizontally and is still being transferred. In this case, before the edge 2n' of the printed circuit board 2n has moved sufficiently away from the end F of the conveyor, the prevention mechanism (for example, Pin-shaped object) 7 came off, and the distance was 2 m.
It happens that the image is transferred to the second conveyance mechanism _M2 in the form shown in FIG. As a result, the 2n printed circuit board and the 2m printed circuit board partially overlap, and in this case, the surface of one is damaged by the edge of the other. This is due to the fact that the size of the printed circuit board is different from L ₁ , L ₂ , L ₃ . . . To avoid this, the operator must intervene instead of the stock mechanism ST. There was no other way than to measure the dimensions of the substrates with the naked eye and place the substrates horizontally on the conveyor 6 with some distance between them so that they would not overlap. Furthermore, even if an operator intervenes, there is a problem in that the distance between the placed substrates varies.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention provides a printed circuit board delivery method that solves the above-mentioned problems.The present invention provides a method for transferring printed circuit boards that solves the above-mentioned problems. A first sensor group is arranged at a predetermined interval apart from each other, and a second sensor group corresponding to each of the above sensor groups is arranged at a predetermined position along the conveyor of the second transport mechanism _M3 . This is accomplished by ANDing the signals output from the corresponding ones of both sensor groups to remove the accumulated printed circuit board inhibiting mechanism.

[Effect]

The printed circuit board transfer mechanism is located on the second transport mechanism and prevents the next printed circuit board from falling down even partially on top of the printed circuit board being transferred, and prevents the printed circuit board surface layer from being overlapped even partially. It is extremely practical as it does not cause damage or contamination.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the main part configuration of the printed circuit board transfer system according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the circuit configuration of a control device 100° that controls the operation of this system. The stock mechanism as seen in this figure
At position G on the side of rail 3 at the rear end of ST, there is a first
A support plate Xa is provided, and the support plate has
Printed circuit boards 2a, 2b, 2c...
First sensors A, B, C, . . . are arranged to detect the lengths (dimensions) L ₁ , L ₂ , L ₃ . At the same time, a second support part Xb is provided in parallel on the side of the upper surface of the conveyor M ₃ of the second conveyance mechanism, and the support plate Xb has a distance L ₁ +ΔLL ₂ measured from position F. Second sensors A', B', C', . . . are arranged at distances of +ΔL, L ₃ +ΔL, .

The sensor A detects the length (size) of the substrate 2a to be transferred to the conveyor 6 next, and a signal is transmitted from the sensor A to the terminal 60 of the control device 100 shown in FIG. It will be done. When this happens, the S terminal of the flip-flop 71 in FIG. 2 becomes high (H), so the output from the output terminal Q of the flip-flop 71 becomes H, and the result is applied to one terminal of the AND circuit 72 and remains in that state for a while. keep.

However, when the substrate 2X is now in the position indicated by the dotted line E, none of the second sensors A', B', C', . . ., which detect the passing of the edge of the substrate, generates a signal. However, when the rear edge of the substrate 2X reaches the position indicated by the solid line, the sensor of the sensor group
A' detects that the trailing edge of the upper substrate 2X has passed the position of the sensor A', and applies a pulse-like output that instantaneously becomes H to the terminal 60'. Then, since this is directly applied to the other terminal of the AND circuit 72, the output of the AND circuit momentarily becomes H. The output of the signal processing unit 101 that performs these operations is applied to the OR circuit 200, but since the input applied to the terminal 60' is in the form of a pulse like the input applied to the terminal 60, the output of the OR circuit 72 is immediately returns to Row (L). However, since the output terminal of the OR circuit 200
The pulse generated at the output No. 1 activates the restraining mechanism 7 shown in FIG. In this case, the substrate 2a has a length _L1 , but the distance between the sensor A' and the position F is _L1 +ΔL. Therefore, the front edge of the substrate 2a does not overlap the rear edge of the preceding substrate 2X, and is transferred on the conveyor 6 in the direction of arrow A while maintaining a predetermined interval ΔL. The pulse-like output of the AND circuit 72, which momentarily becomes H, is delayed by a predetermined time τ _D by the delay circuit 73 and then applied to the R terminal of the flip-flop 71, so that the flip-flop 71 is output after τ _D seconds. It will be reset.

The same thing happens with the next substrate 2b still stored in the stock mechanism ST. That is, after the substrate 2a falls onto the second conveyor 6, the hanger 5 carrying the substrate 2b is pushed forward to position G. Then, sensor B that detects the upper end (height) works, and its output is sent to signal processing unit 1.
02, and the output of a flip-flop (not shown) therein is set to H as described above.
On the other hand, the sensor B' arranged along the conveyor 6 detects when the trailing edge of the substrate 2a passes the position of the sensor B', and sends its output to the terminal 70' in FIG. Add to. Then, an AND circuit (not shown) in the signal processing unit 102 applies a pulse-like output to the OR circuit 200, activates the driver 201, activates the restraining mechanism 7, and tilts the board 2b, which was waiting at position G, in the direction of arrow C. However, in this case, the substrate 2 previously placed on the second conveyor 6
A has been moved in the direction of arrow A past the position of sensor B'. Therefore, even if the substrate 2b falls onto the conveyor 6, its leading edge will be placed and transported with a distance of ΔL from the trailing edge of the substrate 2a. The same is true for the substrate 2c having the dimension _L3 , and the sensor C
gives a signal to the terminal 80 of the signal processing unit 103, and the sensor C' applies a signal to the terminal 80' of the unit 103, causing the driver 201 to operate. Even when 2c is placed on the conveyor 6, a distance of ΔL is maintained.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, an operator is not required when transferring printed circuit boards from the printed circuit board storage mechanism ST to the printed circuit board transport mechanism _M2 , and partial overlap between printed circuit boards is prevented. This can be expected to have great practical effects.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a printed circuit board delivery system according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a circuit that processes signals from the sensor group in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a conventional printed circuit board delivery device. It is a diagram. In the figure, 2a, 2b, 2c, . . . 2X indicate a printed circuit board, 3 a rail, 5 a hanger, 6 a conveyor, and 7 a restraining mechanism, respectively.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 In a configuration consisting of a stock mechanism that temporarily stores a plurality of printed circuit boards while standing upright, and a conveyor-like printed circuit board transport mechanism that follows the stock mechanism, there is a device at the rear end of the stock mechanism that detects various dimensions of the printed circuit boards. A first sensor group for the purpose of transport is disposed, while a second sensor group is disposed parallel to the side of the transport mechanism at a distance corresponding to various dimensions of the printed circuit board, and a second sensor group is disposed parallel to the side of the transport mechanism. A signal corresponding to the dimensions of the printed circuit board located at the rear end of the stocking mechanism is obtained from the sensor group of the second sensor group, and the sensor of the second sensor group corresponding to the dimension is received by the printed circuit board transport mechanism in front of the sensor group. It is characterized by detecting passage of the rear end edge of the passed printed circuit board, and in response to the detection signal, delivering the printed circuit board at the rear end of the stock mechanism onto the conveying mechanism at equal intervals. Printed circuit board delivery method.