JPH0771986B2 - Chain type container for transporting precision parts - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a variety of electronic devices such as IC chips and various odd-shaped parts (for example, connectors, switches, transmitters) or relatively small precision parts for assembling precision machines (hereinafter collectively referred to as "these"). "IC chip") and a chain type container for transporting precision parts suitable for individually retaining and transporting a large number of them.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, most of the main circuit components have tended to be made into chips in order to improve the operational reliability and assembly efficiency of electronic equipment. Therefore, in order to supply IC chips to various intermediate processing lines, final assembly lines, and the like, a relatively large-sized transport container in which recesses for accommodating chips are arranged in a plurality of rows and columns is used. In such a large container, chips are individually transferred to the processing or assembly line by a robot hand or the like arranged in the vicinity of one side edge of the transfer line, but the other side edge of the transfer line is used. The robot hand has to reciprocate over a long distance when taking out the IC chip in a portion close to the container from the container. This increases the waiting time on the processing line side, which is not only a negative factor for efficiency improvement, but also the gripping position must be changed every time, so if there is a failure to grab, chip damage or processing line confusion may occur. There is. In order to avoid such an adverse effect, the position control of the robot hand must be performed with high precision, and the control cost also increases.

Therefore, in a part of the industry, the robot hand intermittently moves in the length direction the strip-shaped bodies respectively containing the IC chips into the plurality of individual recesses arranged in a row so that the robot hand can process the transfer line and the side. A method has been proposed in which a short fixed span between a line and the like is reciprocated. In general, the band-shaped body, which is injection-molded with a wall thickness sufficient to protect an IC chip using a synthetic resin, has a bottom plate in which one row of concave portions having round holes through which an ejecting tool is to be inserted is formed. Small holes for sprocket wheels are arranged along the side edges. Although this strip is used in a reeled state, it has become clear that the reeling method causes certain problems. That is, when it is unwound by a sprocket mechanism, etc., the strip is stretched "almost flat", but some "winding" is unavoidable and the original "strictly horizontal" posture is restored. The point is that it cannot be done. This causes a malfunction when the robot hand individually and accurately picks up an IC chip from the curled strip. As a countermeasure, it is conceivable to make the band as thin as possible so that it does not curl around the band, but in that case the band becomes fragile and damaged during use or handling,
It is not possible to expect complete protection for the precision parts to be contained. Of course, damage during use makes it impossible to carry out an accurate pick-up work by the robot hand. Further, problems in the art relating to the above-mentioned transport container (herein referred to as “tray”) are that a large space is required for storing, accumulating, and handling the tray, and it requires manpower to replace the tray. In addition, it is not always easy to supply the trays in any desired connected state, baking is required depending on the type of IC chip, and the trays for that purpose are inevitably expensive.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the present invention has been made in order to eliminate the above-mentioned various drawbacks in the conventional container for transporting precision parts of vertical and horizontal multiple rows type or vertical single row strip type type.
A chain type container for transporting precision parts, in which a single container of the same shape having a concave portion suitable for individually housing a C chip or the like is connected to form an infinite strip-shaped body such as a chain that is widely used in the machine industry. For the purpose of provision. More specifically, the single container having the recess for holding the IC chip in a non-swingable manner is connected to each other through the arms extending outward from the two opposite sides thereof so that they can be bent and extended mutually. It is an object of the present invention to provide a chain type container for transporting precision parts, which has a structure in which the reel winding operation itself is easier than in the past and there is no possibility that a winding curl will appear when pulled out from the reel. Further, the present invention can solve the above-mentioned various problems related to the "tray" all at once, and in particular, to provide a carrying container which can be baked in a state where an IC chip or the like is housed and can be reused for reuse of the tray thereafter. It is an object of the invention.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] To achieve this purpose,
The chain type container for conveying precision parts according to the present invention is a belt-shaped container in which a single container (10) made of a synthetic resin having a single or a plurality of recesses (11) for accommodating an object to be conveyed is arranged. Presenting a body, along at least one side edge (12) or (13) of the strip, the engaging portions (14) engaging and disengaging with the transport mechanism are provided at regular intervals over the entire length of the strip, Adjacent container units are connected to each other at two opposing sides A and B of the container unit (10) intersecting in the lengthwise direction of the strip so that the refraction angle can be freely changed, and the container units are orthogonal to the two sides. Two arms (21) are connected to one side A along two straight lines L and M parallel to each other, and at least one arm (23) is connected to the other side B. Sideways holes (22) and (24) are formed near the tip of the arm, and the holes (2
Pins (57) to (2) and (24) are characterized in that they are inserted to allow flexion and extension between adjacent container units (10) and (10).

When both the recess and the outer peripheral portion surrounding the recess are rectangular (square or rectangular),
One side A of two opposing sides A and B of a single container
It is desirable that the one side B of the other adjacent container alone keeps a close contact with each other regardless of whether they are bent or stretched. However, the depth, the shape in plan view, the size, and the like of the recess formed in the substantially central portion of each container should be determined according to the shape and size of the object to be conveyed, that is, the IC chip. is there. As an example, the size of the recess is about 15 mm square, the depth is 3 mm, and the outer contour excluding the arm portion is about 24 mm × 20 mm.

The shape of the recess in plan view is not limited to a rectangular shape, but may be an oval shape or a complicated polygonal shape. Also in that case, two arms are continuously provided on two parallel straight lines which are orthogonal to two opposite sides of the container having the recessed portion, and two arms are continuously provided, respectively. Sideways holes must be formed near the tips of the arms extending from the sides so that they can be aligned with each other.

The engaging portion that engages and disengages with the feed projection or the small hole of the transport mechanism, for example, a circular small hole, forms only one row along one side edge of the band-shaped body, or along both side edges. You may form one row for each and a total of two rows. In one example of the arrangement of the small holes, circular small holes are bored at regular intervals in the intermediate portion distant from the facing sides A and B, and the small holes are provided at the locations where the facing sides intersect the side edges. A cutout having a shape obtained by dividing the hole into two is provided. As a result, when both sides A and B are in close contact with each other, both notches become a notch having a width equal to the diameter of one small hole, and the pitch of the small holes is deviated at the joint between the adjacent containers forming the strip. There is no such thing. However, no cutout is provided in the portion "abutting" the facing sides A and B, and the distance between the facing side A or B and the small hole closest thereto is ½ of the distance between two adjacent small holes. Also by setting, it is possible to eliminate the pitch irregularity at the joint between the individual containers.
The frame-feeding small hole does not necessarily have to be a hole, and may be a notched portion that is recessed from the side edge portion, or may be formed as a protrusion that protrudes downward, upward, or outward from the side edge portion. It suffices if the engaging portion is adapted to engage with the feed projection of the transport mechanism.

At the center of the bottom of the recess, I
It is desirable to provide a vertical hole for passing an eject tool that projects the C-tip from the recess. If the vertical hole has a larger diameter than the small hole for feeding, the tip can be extruded with a sufficiently thick tool, and the hitting against the tip is softer than that with a thin tool, which is convenient.

Further, when there are "ear" -shaped outer protrusions on the outer periphery of the chip, a pair of "finger" -shaped protrusions for sandwiching and holding each of these protrusions should be provided upright from the bottom surface. Is desirable. If the bottom plate portion between the finger-like projections is punched out, this portion can be used similarly to the vertical hole for eject.

[0011]

Since the chain type container of the present invention has the above-mentioned structure, it is possible to manufacture a large number of containers of the same shape, for example, by injection molding, and then to make one container. By abutting the side A of a single body with the side B of another single body, the hole at the tip of the former arm and the hole at the tip of the latter arm are aligned with each other so as to form a line, and are separated into these holes. The operation of connecting both units by inserting a pin as a body, for example, a steel pin, may be repeated for the required number of unit containers.

The specific operation when using the container according to the present invention is no different from that of the conventional band-shaped container. However, since the chain-type link connection structure between the individual containers facilitates bending and extension between adjacent individual parts, not only the reel winding operation and the reel withdrawing operation are easy, but also the conventional winding operation. There is no risk of gusting. With the IC chip housed,
And, if necessary, the chain length can be adjusted to an arbitrary chain length, and the chain type container can be fed into the baking apparatus for the chips.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The chain type container for conveying precision parts according to the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 is an injection molded product of polystyrene resin. This chain type container is an IC as an example of an object to be transported.
A large number of recesses (11) for individually accommodating chips (small integrated circuits formed on a substrate) are provided in a row to form a band-like body as shown in FIG. The small hole (14), which is the engaging part that engages, has one side edge over the entire length.
The holes are provided at regular intervals along (12).

However, the feature of the chain type container of the present invention is that FIG.
As is clear from FIGS. 3 to 3, the above-mentioned recesses (11) are individually formed in the central portion of the single container (10).
That is, the entire area surrounded by the peripheral flange-shaped portion (15) having a width of 2 to 4 mm is recessed downward in the drawing to form the recess (11). On the two sides A and B of the container unit (10) facing each other, the wall (16) located below the flange-like portion (15),
From (17), two arms (21), (21) or (2) are provided along two straight lines L and M which are orthogonal to the two sides and are parallel to each other.
3) and (23) are connected in series. As will be described later, these arms are provided as means for forming a connecting portion between the container units (10) and (10).

In the vicinity of the tip of the short arm (21) projecting outward from one side B, a hole (22) is formed so as to extend in a direction perpendicular to the short arm (21), that is, laterally. Corresponding to this, the arms (21), (21) projecting outward from the other side A
The other hole (23) that should be
Holes (24), (24) that can be aligned with (22), (22) are formed. In the case of this example, the diameter of the former hole (22) is about 1.2 mm and the diameter of the latter hole (24) is about 1.3 mm, and the steel pin (57) that should be tightly fitted in the former hole. ) Has a diameter of about 1.2 mm. Therefore, since the arm (23) having the hole (24) around the pin (57) firmly held in the former hole easily rotates, both arms (21) and (23) form a kind of hinge. It will be constituted and will function as the above-mentioned connecting part. Adjacent container alone (1
In the work of connecting 0) and (10) to each other, as shown in FIG. 3, between the arms (21) continuously provided on the side B side of one unit, the arm on the side A side of the other unit. Insert (23) as shown by arrow C, and align pins (57) to (22) and (24) aligned with arrow P.
You can insert it from the side like this. As a result, the state shown in FIG. 4 is obtained.

The distance between the center line of the small projection (22) and the center line of the hole (24) arranged near one side edge (12) of the strip is the other side edge ( The small protrusion (22) closer to 13)
Equal to the distance between the center line and the hole (24) center line. Therefore, as is clear from the comparison between FIG. 2 and FIG.
The bending and stretching between the single containers (10) and (10) are free. Figure 2
The notch indicated by reference numeral (19) is similar to the complementary shape of the adjacent simplex (10) at the corner portion where the side A or side B and the edge (12) or (13) intersect as described above. The notch is abutted to form a notch with a width equal to the diameter of the stoma (14) and serves as one of the stoma. That is, since the notch is formed at the joint, the feed hole (corresponding to the small hole (14)) of the chain type container is also formed between the adjacent single containers.

The chain type container described above is used as shown in FIGS. In the case of this example, an IC chip (not shown) housed in the recessed portion (11) as an example of an object to be conveyed is formed in a square shape, and a plurality of input / output pins are projected from all four sides thereof. . At the time of this accommodation, the bent tips of the input / output pins are brought into contact with the inner surfaces of the walls (16) and (17), but the outer peripheral edge of the chip body is along the four sides from the bottom (30) of the recess. It is brought into close contact with the inner surface of the small ribs (31) which are erected upright. After that, a protective film (not shown) is bridged and adhered to the flange-shaped portion (15) on the four sides, which protects the contained object from dust and the like while handling the chain-type container, This is to prevent accidental dropping from the recess (11). In this state, the chain type container accommodating a large number of chips is annularly wound around a reel (not shown) as indicated by a symbol R while being bent as shown in FIG. Alternatively, it is supplied to required places near the processing line. At this point, the band-shaped body that is bent between the individual containers is drawn out from the front end side in order as shown by arrow T so as to assume an extended posture as indicated by reference sign S included in the same plane. At a predetermined position after extension, the tip is pushed out of the recess (11) by an ejector tool that is inserted through the round hole (32) in the center of the bottom (30) and transferred to the required processing station by an appropriate robot hand. Listed. That is, as described above, in a "mounting machine" that seals with a cover tape (protective film), winds a device such as an IC chip on a reel, and mounts the device on a circuit board, one device is mounted. Each one is ejected with an ejector pin.

The thickness of said flange-like portion (15) is about 0.
Although it is 4 mm, the thickness of the bottom (30) and the walls (16), (17) is about 0.7 mm so that it will not be deformed during handling, to ensure the protection effect on the contained object. There is. this is,
This type of container, which was conventionally disposable, can be used repeatedly if necessary. As described above, in the recycling use of the chain type container of the present invention, it is of course possible to arbitrarily increase or decrease the number of single bodies constituting the band-shaped chain.

The upper ends of the four walls (16) and (17) that define the recess (11), that is, the transition region to the flange-like portion (15), is formed as an outwardly-opening taper (18). However, this is intended to facilitate the operation of putting in and out the contained object. That is, the taper shape is set so that it is easy to insert in the device taping process.

In the second embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the arm (23) on the side A is formed into a bifurcated shape that is connected to the side wall of the single container at the base, and the branching tip side thereof has the above-mentioned structure. Hole (2
4) is drilled sideways. However, the other points are the same as those in the first embodiment. Further, in the third embodiment shown in FIGS. 7 to 8, the number of arms (23) on the side A is also set to one, and the narrow base portion is connected to the side wall of the container alone, and the width on the tip side of the side B side. The arms (21) and (21) are enlarged to fit inside. However, the other points are similar to those of the first and second embodiments.

Although the embodiments considered to be typical of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the structures of these embodiments, and has the above-mentioned constitutional requirements and achieves the above-mentioned object. However, as long as it has the following effects, it can be appropriately modified and implemented. For example, a container of one group has an arm (21) that should be located outside on both sides A and B, and a container of the other group has an inner side on both sides A and B. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the arm (22) to be positioned at is provided.

[0022]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a large number of containers can be flexed and extended freely after being connected to each other, but there is no fear of accidental disassembly. A container in which a chain-shaped strip is configured by itself is provided, and since each single body has a sufficient wall thickness, each strip-shaped body can be swirled on a reel or the like or can be drawn flat. There is no undesired deformation in the single body, and there is no possibility that the conventional bending tendency remains in the stretched posture. Therefore, the container according to the present invention is extremely suitable as a carrying container for IC chips and the like, which requires careful handling and requires precise positioning at the carrying destination. In short, it is possible to connect a large number of rigid single containers each having a pocket so that they can be wound on a reel, and to extend them without curling, while supplying the accommodated device to a mounting machine that requires precision. In particular,
Since the container bodies are connected to each other by the hinge-shaped structure using the separate pins, not only the work of assembling the belt-shaped body is easy, but also the bending and stretching between the units are extremely smooth.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a reduced scale front view showing a use state of a chain type container according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of an essential part of the same.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a connection structure between the single containers.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a connecting portion.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing a connection structure between single containers in the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a connecting portion in the same manner.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing a connection structure between single containers in a third embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing a connecting portion.

[Explanation of symbols]

 (10) Container only (11) Recess (12) One side edge (13) Other side edge (14) Small hole (21) A pair of arms (22) Hole (23) protruding from the side of the opposite side A ) Arm (24) Hole (57) Pin (40) that protrudes from the other side B facing each other IC chip (L) as an example of the object to be stored Straight line (M) Side A intersecting sides A and B And another line that intersects B and is parallel to line L

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A synthetic resin container unit (10), (10) having a single or a plurality of recesses (11) for accommodating an object to be conveyed is arranged in a row to present a strip-shaped body. Along with at least one side edge (12) or (13) of the belt, engaging portions (14) for engaging and disengaging the transport mechanism are provided at regular intervals over the entire length of the belt, and intersect in the length direction of the belt. The adjacent container units are connected to each other on two opposite sides A and B of the container unit (10) to be changed so that the refraction angle can be freely changed. Two straight lines L and M parallel to each other and orthogonal to the two sides are formed. One side A along
Two arms (21) are connected to each other, and at least one arm (23) is connected to the other side B, and lateral holes (22), () are provided near the tips of these arms. 24) are respectively bored, and the pins (57) are inserted into the aligned holes (22) and (24) so as to allow flexion and extension between the adjacent container units (10) and (10). A chain-type container for transporting precision parts.