ELECTRONIC COMPONENT MOUNTING SYSTEM AND ELECTRONIC COMPONENT MOUNTING METHOD

• US 20160007512A1
• Filed: 02/20/2014
• Published: 01/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2013
• 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: HIGASHI, Masayuki, MORI, Taisuke, YAMAZAKI, Takuya, MAEZONO, Hisashi, ANDO, Hiroshi, KOUCHI, Ryouji
• Granted Patent: US 10,863,657 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 15/12 with two or more endless belts
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 15/22 comprising a series of co-operating units
• 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 13/0069 Holders for printed circuit boards
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 13/085 Production planning, e.g. of allocation of products to machines, of mounting sequences at machine or facility level

Abstract

An electronic component mounting system includes a component mounting line formed by interconnecting component mounting units which concurrently performs component mounting work on two kinds of boards different in mounting workload. The component mounting units includes: first and second board conveyance mechanisms; a component mounting unit; a board distribution unit which receives the board from the upstream-side apparatus and distributes the received board to either the first board conveyance mechanism or the second board conveyance mechanism; and a distribution control unit which controls the first board conveyance mechanism, the second board conveyance mechanism and the board distribution unit. The distribution control unit mixedly distributes the two kinds of the boards to each of the first and second board conveyance mechanisms based on a board request signal issued from a most-upstream component mounting unit in the component mounting line.

Claims

1. An electronic component mounting system comprising:

a component mounting line formed by interconnecting a plurality of component mounting units performing component mounting work to mount an electronic component on a board and which concurrently performs the component mounting work on two kinds of boards different in mounting workload,

wherein each of the component mounting units comprises;

a first board conveyance mechanism and a second board conveyance mechanism, each of which comprises a board holding unit which conveys the board delivered from an upstream-side apparatus in a board conveyance direction and positions and holds the conveyed board;

a component mounting unit which executes the component mounting work by picking up the electronic component fed by a component feeding unit and transfers and mounts the picked-up electronic component onto the board held by the board holding unit;

a board distribution unit which receives the board from the upstream-side apparatus and distributes the received board to either the first board conveyance mechanism or the second board conveyance mechanism; and

a distribution control unit which controls the first board conveyance mechanism, the second board conveyance mechanism and the board distribution unit, and

wherein the distribution control unit mixedly distributes the two kinds of the boards to each of the first board conveyance mechanism and the second board conveyance mechanism based on a board request signal issued from a most-upstream component mounting unit in the component mounting line.

2. The electronic component mounting system according to claim 1,

wherein the component feeding unit comprises a first component feeding unit and a second component feeding unit which are disposed on outer sides of the first board conveyance mechanism and the second board conveyance mechanism, respectively,

wherein the component mounting unit comprises a first component mounting mechanism and a second component mounting mechanism which are provided correspondingly to the first board conveyance mechanism and the second board conveyance mechanism, respectively,

wherein the first component mounting mechanism picks up the electronic component from the first component feeding unit, and mounts the electronic component on the board positioned by the first board conveyance mechanism, and

wherein the second component mounting mechanism picks up the electronic component from the second component feeding unit, and mounts the electronic component on the board positioned by the second board conveyance mechanism.

3. The electronic component mounting system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a board kind identification unit which recognizes a recognition mark formed in each of the two kinds of the boards to thereby identify the kind of the board;

a storage unit which stores first mounting data and second mounting data for producing the two kinds of the boards, respectively; and

a mounting control unit which changes over the first mounting data and the second mounting data from one to the other based on a result of the identification performed by the board kind identification unit to thereby control the component mounting unit.

4. An electronic component mounting method performed by an electronic component mounting system that comprises:

a component mounting line formed by interconnecting a plurality of component mounting units performing component mounting work to mount an electronic component on a board and which concurrently performs the component mounting work on two kinds of the boards different in mounting workload,

wherein each of the component mounting units comprises;

a first board conveyance mechanism and a second board conveyance mechanism, each of which comprises a board holding unit which conveys the board delivered from an upstream-side apparatus in a board conveyance direction and positions and holds the conveyed board;

a component mounting unit which executes the component mounting work by picking up the electronic component fed by a component feeding unit and transfers and mounts the picked-up electronic component onto the board held by the board holding unit;

a board distribution unit which receives the board from the upstream-side apparatus and distributes the received board to either the first board conveyance mechanism or the second board conveyance mechanism; and

a distribution control unit which controls the first board conveyance mechanism, the second board conveyance mechanism and the board distribution unit,

said electronic component mounting method comprising;

mixedly distributing the two kinds of the boards to each of the first board conveyance mechanism and the second board conveyance mechanism based on a board request signal issued from a most-upstream component mounting unit in the component mounting line.

5. The electronic component mounting method according to claim 4,

wherein the component feeding unit comprises a first component feeding unit and a second component feeding unit which are disposed on outer sides of the first board conveyance mechanism and the second board conveyance mechanism, respectively, and

wherein the component mounting unit comprises a first component mounting mechanism and a second component mounting mechanism which are provided correspondingly to the first board conveyance mechanism and the second board conveyance mechanism, respectively,

said electronic component mounting method comprising:

causing the first component mounting mechanism to pick up the electronic component from the first component feeding unit, and mount the electronic component on the board positioned by the first board conveyance mechanism, and

causing the second component mounting mechanism to pick up the electronic components from the second component feeding unit, and mount the electronic component on the board positioned by the second board conveyance mechanism.

6. The electronic component mounting method according to claim 4, further comprising:

recognizing a recognition mark formed in each of the two kinds of the boards to thereby identify the kind of the board; and

changing over first mounting data and second mounting data from one to the other based on an identification result of the board to thereby control the component mounting unit, the first mounting data and the second mounting data being stored in a storage unit and being provided for producing the two kinds of the boards, respectively.