Substrate conveyance mechanism and component mounting method

• US 10,165,716 B2
• Filed: 03/03/2014
• Issued: 12/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Nagaya, Toshihiko, Fujiwara, Hiroyuki, Ogata, Shigeo, Konda, Yoshinori, Makino, Yoichi, Yamamoto, Shinji, Kubota, Shuuichi, Iizuka, Kimio, Sakurai, Koji
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo, Peter DungBa
• Assistant Examiner(s): Carley, Jeffrey
• Application Number:
  US14/773,097
• Publication Number:
  US 20160021801A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,758 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 15/24 in tandem
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 13/0061 Tools for holding the circuit boards during processing; handling transport of printed circuit boards
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 13/04 Mounting of components , e.g. of leadless components

Abstract

A substrate conveyance mechanism that includes conveyance units and a working area length change part to easily change the types of substrates to allow substrates of different lengths to be selected to mount electronic components onto the substrate. The conveyance units include a working area for substrates having different length that are conveyed from a stand-by area, an area length of the working area that is variable in accordance with the length of the substrate, and a stand-by unit corresponding to a stand-by area for the substrate to be carried in to the working area. The working area length change part changes an interval between a commonly used first pulley and one of a plurality of second pulleys selectively used in accordance with the area length of the working area by changing a belt winding path of a conveyance belt wound on the pulleys in the working unit.

Claims

1. A substrate conveyance mechanism comprising

a plurality of conveyance units arranged in series which convey a plurality of types of substrates having different length dimensions from one another by a conveyance belt wound on a plurality of pulleys, wherein

the conveyance units at least comprise:

a stand-by unit with pulleys wherein the stand-by unit corresponds to a stand-by area where a substrate of one of the plurality of types of substrates is allowed to wait before being conveyed to a working area,

a working unit with pulleys wherein the working unit corresponds to the working area where a component mounting operation is performed with the substrate that is conveyed to the working area, an area length dimension of the working area being variable in accordance with a length dimension of the substrate that is conveyed to the working area, wherein

the pulleys of the working unit include a first pulley commonly used when any substrate of the plurality of types of substrates is conveyed and a plurality of second pulleys wherein one of the plurality of second pulleys is selectively used in accordance with the length dimension of the substrate conveyed, and

a working area length dimension change part that accommodates changing an interval between the first pulley and the selected one of the plurality of second pulleys in accordance with the area length dimension of the working area by changing a belt winding path of the conveyance belt having a same belt length and wound on the plurality of pulleys including the first pulley and the second pulleys in the working unit.

2. The substrate conveyance mechanism according to claim 1, wherein

the first pulley is arranged correspondingly to a substrate stop position in the working area,

the pulleys of the stand-by unit include a third pulley commonly used when any of the plurality of types of substrates is conveyed, and a plurality of fourth pulleys which are respectively arranged adjacently to the plurality of second pulleys, paired with the second pulleys and selectively used, and

further, a stand-by area length change part that changes an interval between the third pulley and the fourth pulleys in accordance with the area length of the stand-by area by changing a belt winding path of the conveyance belt having a same belt length and wound on the plurality of pulleys including the third pulley and the fourth pulleys in the stand-by unit is provided.

3. The substrate conveyance mechanism according to claim 2, wherein

the pulleys of the working unit and the stand-by unit include a plurality of idlers used to draw the conveyance belt, and

at least either of the working area length change part and the stand-by area length change part includes a first idler commonly used when any of the plurality of types of substrates is conveyed and a second idler selectively used in accordance with the length dimension of the substrate that is conveyed when only any one of the plurality of types of substrates is conveyed.

4. The substrate conveyance mechanism according to claim 2, wherein

the pulleys of the working unit and the stand-by unit include a plurality of idlers used to draw the conveyance belt, and

at least either of the working area length change part and the stand-by area length change part includes a position variable idler selectively rearranged in accordance with one of the plurality of types of substrates of a specified length, different from any other of the plurality of types of substrates is conveyed.

5. A component mounting device used in a component mounting line which mounts an electronic component on a substrate to produce a mounting substrate and performs a component mounting operation to the substrate, the component mounting device comprising:

a substrate conveyance mechanism according to claim 1; and

a mechanism for a mounting operation which performs the component mounting operation to the substrate conveyed by the substrate conveyance mechanism.