JPH0436463B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to an IC handler for testing an IC using an automatic machine.

[Prior art] IC handlers are used to automatically test the characteristics of ICs, and are broadly classified into three types: room temperature handlers, high temperature handlers, and low temperature handlers, based on the temperature conditions at the time of test measurement. However, the IC flow in all of these is the same.

Therefore, a conventional IC handler is shown in FIG. As is clear from the figure, it has an IC supply path (loader) 1, and this IC supply section 1 has an IC13
There are many magazines loaded with
The IC13 is sent out one by one from this magazine toward the supply runway 2, and the IC13 is sent out one by one toward the supply runway 2.
13 is adapted to be transported by its own weight. In addition, in this supply runway 2, the IC
13 may be equipped with a preheating mechanism that heats it to a high temperature.

A rotating mechanism 3 is provided at the lower end of the runway 2, and this rotating mechanism 3 allows the IC 13 to
Its sliding direction is reversed and it is sent to a runway provided diagonally toward the discharge section (unloader) provided below the supply runway 2. Also, on this runway there is a well-known test machine,
Test head 8 with connection function with IC13
Tests of electrical characteristics, etc. are performed by here,
At this test position, different contact units and wiring boards for connection are installed depending on the type of IC. And this is how I conducted the test
The IC 13 is accommodated in the discharge section 7. The reason why the transport direction of the IC 13 is reversed midway in this way is to keep the installation area small.

When configured as described above, the test head must be placed diagonally, which not only increases the installation space, but also makes it extremely difficult to replace the test head, perform maintenance and inspection, etc., depending on the type of IC, etc. There are drawbacks such as difficulty.

Therefore, in order to deal with the problem caused by the location of the test head 8, as shown in Figure 2, a vertical section was provided on the IC runway, and the test head was placed in this vertical section. A similar method has also been proposed (Utility Application No. 58-016671). In this way, it becomes easy to connect the test head and the test machine, replace parts depending on the product type, and perform maintenance and inspection. As shown in Figure 2, if the runway were to be naturally curved so that the IC could easily slide under its own weight, this curved section would require a considerable height. As the IC handler becomes taller, the position of the supply section 1 becomes higher, making it extremely inconvenient for workers (mostly female workers with low elongation) to load a magazine loaded with ICs. There is a point.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and its purpose is to provide an IC handler that has a small and compact structure and can be easily connected to a test machine and easily maintained and inspected. It's about doing.

[Means for solving the problems] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention
a supply runway for diagonally lowering the lead part while straddling the rail; and a rotating means provided at the end of the supply runway for reversing the direction of movement of the IC and directing it vertically. , a measurement runway having a test position connected to a contact unit in a test machine in the middle of the runway to be slid in the vertical direction by the rotating means, and a tested IC installed at the lower end of the measurement runway. In the IC handler equipped with a sending runway for sending out the IC diagonally downward, an IC receiving part with open ends at both ends and a stopper for opening and closing the exit of the IC receiving part are provided between the measuring runway and the sending runway. The IC receiving part is supported so as to be able to swing between a state where the entrance of the IC receiving part faces the measurement runway and a state where the exit thereof faces the sending runway, and the fulcrum position of the IC receiving part is set to Its feature is that it is arranged on the front side of the swing motion towards the road.

[Operation] Then, the IC is guided from the supply runway to the measurement runway via the rotating means, and electrical characteristics etc. are measured and tested at the test position. By keeping the IC receiver in a state where its entrance is connected to the measurement runway, the IC will descend under its own weight after the test is completed and will be accommodated in the IC receiver. . Therefore, when this IC receiving part is made to swing, its exit will be displaced to a state where it is continuous with the sending runway.If the shutter is opened at this time, the IC in the IC receiving part will move towards the sending runway by its own weight. The IC will be able to be classified based on the test results.

In this way, the connecting swing operation between the measurement runway and the sending runway is performed via the IC receiving part, which is located in front of the IC receiving part in the swing direction. During this transition
The IC can now be lifted to a greater extent, allowing its height dimension to be significantly reduced compared to a curved runway for transitioning from the measurement runway to the delivery runway. Additionally, since the inclination angle of the launch runway can be set arbitrarily, the optimal inclination angle can be selected from the viewpoint of the IC runway conditions, etc., and the transition of the IC can be performed extremely smoothly. .

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.

First, in Fig. 3, numeral 1 indicates a supply section where a magazine for storing ICs is attached, 2 indicates a supply runway to which a preheating function etc. is added as necessary, and 3 indicates a rotating means. supplied
The IC 13 moves obliquely downward under its own weight on the supply runway 2 with its lead section straddling the slide rail, and its direction of movement is reversed by the rotating means 3. In addition, as is well known, the measurement runway 4 installed in the vertical direction consists of a runway cover and a rail that can swing in the horizontal direction (that is, in the left-right direction in Fig. 3), and there is a part in the middle that can be opened and closed. A stopper for IC positioning is provided, and a test head 8 is disposed opposite the mounting position of the stopper, and an IC 13 is connected to this test head 8 to form a test position where a test is performed.

and the IC tested at the test location.
13 is sent out to the sending runway 6, and in a classification section provided in the middle of this sending runway 6, it is moved by a moving means (not shown) that moves in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper of FIG. The magazines are sorted and sent to a discharge section 7 that stores empty magazines.

Therefore, as is clear from Figure 4, IC1
3 moves diagonally downward on the supply runway 2,
At the measurement runway 4, it is sent vertically, and at the delivery runway 6, it is sent diagonally downward again, and the movement of the IC 13 from the supply runway 2 to the delivery runway 6 via the measurement runway 4 is It is now performed using one's own weight. Here, the transition from the supply runway 2 to the measurement runway 4 is carried out by the aforementioned rotating means 3, and for this purpose the fifth
As shown in the figure, the rotating means 3 is guided by a rail 1 with the lead part of the IC 13 straddling it.
2, a cover 11 that holds the IC 13 so that it does not float up, and a stopper 14 that closes the tip.

Further, in order to transfer from the measurement runway 4 to the delivery runway 6, a connecting means 5 is provided between these two runways 4 and 6. This connecting means 5 is a fifth
As shown in the figures and FIG.
2, the IC receiving part 22 is supported by a rotating shaft 23, and its entrance 24 is connected to the measurement runway 4 at the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 5, and its exit 25 is connected to the delivery runway 6. It is possible to swing between the position shown by the two-dot chain line in the figure. Here, the rotating shaft 23 is located at the front side of the swing motion of the IC receiving section 22 toward the delivery runway 6 side, and therefore, when the IC receiving section 22 swings, the IC 13 swings greatly. It will be displaced so that it can be lifted up. A shutter 26 is provided so as to face the outlet 25 of the IC receiving portion 22, and the shutter 26
has a curved surface shape that follows the movement locus of the outlet 25 when the IC receiving portion 22 swings, and is rotatably supported by a shaft 27 .

This embodiment is constructed as described above, and its operation will be explained next.

First, the magazine stored in the supply section 1
Take out IC13 and send it to supply runway 2.
IC sent out to supply runway 2 in this way
13 is lowered by its own weight along the slope of the supply runway 2, and is fed to a position where it abuts against a stopper 14 between the rail 12 and the cover 11 in the rotating means 3. inside the rotating means 3
When it is detected that the IC 13 has been fed, this rotation means 3 is rotated and displaced so that it faces the measurement runway 4. The IC 13 is therefore guided from the rotating means 3 into the measuring runway 4 and tested at a test position provided with a test head 8.

When this test is completed, the IC 13 is further lowered and sent into the IC receiving part 22 where the entrance 24 is continuous with the measurement runway 4.
It is brought into contact with the shutter 26. So, this
After a sensor (not shown) detects that the IC 13 is accommodated in the IC receiving portion 22, the rotating shaft 23 is driven to rotate, and the IC receiving portion 22 swings in the direction shown by the arrow in FIG. Well, that exit 2
5 is displaced to be continuous with the delivery runway 6. After that, the shaft 27 rotates to open the shutter 26, and the IC 13 moves from this IC receiving part 22 to the delivery runway 6, and descends by its own weight along the slope of the delivery runway 6, During this time, they are sorted in the sorting section and stored in the discharge section 7 for each category.

By repeating the above operations, the ICs 13 can be sequentially tested and predetermined sorting can be performed based on the test results.

Therefore, there is no need to use a curved runway to transition from the measurement runway 4 to the delivery runway 6, and moreover, at the time of this transition, the IC receiving part 22 rotates around the rotation axis 23 provided on the front side in the swing direction. IC13 is used as a fulcrum.
The runway 6
will be forced to move to As a result, the delivery runway 6 can be provided at the position shown by a in FIG. This makes it possible to make the handler as a whole smaller and more compact, and in particular its height dimension can be significantly reduced. In addition, IC receiving part 2
Since the swing angle of 2 can be freely selected, the inclination angle of the delivery runway 6 can be adjusted so that the sliding condition of the IC 13 is the best and the height of this handler can be shortened as much as possible. You will be able to set it.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, there is a swing-operable structure between the measurement runway and the sending runway.
An IC receiving part is provided, and this IC receiving part is configured to provide a fulcrum on the front side when swinging from a state continuous with the measurement runway toward the sending runway, so when guiding the IC to the sending runway. Then, the IC
Since the handler operates by lifting a large amount of air, the distance between the delivery runway and the supply runway can be shortened by this lifting amount, making the handler as a whole, especially in the height direction, significantly smaller and more compact. This makes it extremely easy to carry out tasks such as loading a magazine filled with ICs into the supply section, and the testing machine can be placed on the side of the device. The present invention also has various effects such as being able to reduce the size of the apparatus and making it convenient to replace and maintain the test machine.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an IC handler according to the prior art, Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional example in which the test position is provided vertically, and Fig. 3 is a schematic layout diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. , FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the present invention, FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the main part of the handler, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of the connecting means. 1: supply section, 2: supply runway, 3: rotation means,
4: Measurement runway, 5: Sending runway, 7: Discharge section,
8: Test head, 20: Rail, 21: Cover, 22: IC receiver, 23: Rotating shaft, 24: Inlet, 25: Outlet, 26: Shutter, 27: Shaft.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A supply runway that lowers the lead part of the IC diagonally while straddling the rail, and a rotation mechanism provided at the end of the supply runway that reverses the direction of movement of the IC and directs it vertically. a measuring runway having a test position connected to a contact unit in a test machine in the middle of the runway which is slid in the vertical direction by the rotating means; and a measuring runway provided at the lower end of the measuring runway and which has been tested. of
Equipped with a delivery runway that sends ICs diagonally downward.
In the IC handler, between the measurement runway and the sending runway, there is an IC receiving part with open ends, and an IC receiving part with open ends.
A stopper is provided to open and close the exit of the IC receiving part.
The IC receiving part is supported so as to be swingable between a state in which the entrance thereof faces the measurement runway and a state in which its exit faces the delivery runway, and the fulcrum position of the IC receiving part is directed to the delivery runway. An IC handler characterized in that it is configured to be disposed on the front side of the swing motion towards the target.