SUBSTRATE CONVEYANCE MECHANISM AND COMPONENT MOUNTING METHOD

• US 20160021801A1
• Filed: 03/03/2014
• Published: 01/21/2016
• 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
• Granted Patent: US 10,165,716 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 includes conveyance units and a working area length change part. The conveyance units include a working unit corresponding to a working area for types of substrates having different sizes of length taken as objects, an area length of the working area being variable in accordance with the sizes of length, 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 second pulleys selectively used in accordance with the area length of the working area by changing a belt winding form of a conveyance belt wound on the pulleys in the working unit.

Claims

1. A substrate conveyance mechanism comprising

a plurality of conveyance units which convey a substrate by a conveyance belt wound on a plurality of pulleys and are arranged in series, wherein

the conveyance units at least comprise:

a working unit which corresponds to a working area where a component mounting operation is performed with a plurality of types of substrates having different sizes of length taken as objects, an area length of the working area being variable in accordance with the sizes of length and

a stand-by unit corresponding to a stand-by area where the substrate to be carried-in to the working area is allowed to wait,

the pulleys of the working unit include a first pulley commonly used when either of the plurality of types of substrates is taken as an object and a plurality of second pulleys which are selectively used in accordance with the sizes of length when only any one of the plurality of types of substrates is taken as an object, and

further, a working area length change part that changes an interval between the first pulley and the second pulleys in accordance with the area length of the working area by changing a belt winding form 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 is provided.

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 either of the plurality of types of substrates is taken as an object, 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 form 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 either of the plurality of types of substrates is taken as an object and a second idler selectively used in accordance with the size of length when only any one of the plurality of types of substrates is taken as an object.

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 the size of length when only any one of the plurality of types of substrates is taken as an object.

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 as an object, 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 as the object.