Circuit component mounting system and circuit component mounting method

• US 6,327,776 B1
• Filed: 07/12/2000
• Issued: 12/11/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Fuji Machine Manufacturing Company Limited (Fuji Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Machine Manufacturing Company Limited (Fuji Corporation)
• Inventors: Suhara, Shinsuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Martin-Wallace, Valencia
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, BINH AN DUC
• Application Number:
  US09/614,696
• Time in Patent Office: 517 Days
• Field of Search: 298/32, 297/39, 297/11, 297/40, 297/41, 297/43, 297/07, 297/06, 297/14, 297/15, 298/31, 298/30, 298/34, 298/36, 298/42, 298/46
• US Class Current: 29/832
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 13/0069 Holders for printed circuit boards
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 13/04 Mounting of components , e.g. of leadless components
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49126 Assembling bases
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49128 Assembling formed circuit to base
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/4913 Assembling to base an electrical component, e.g., capacitor, etc.
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49142 including metal fusion
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49147 Assembling terminal to base
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49155 Manufacturing circuit on or in base
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/53048 Multiple station assembly or disassembly apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/53174 Means to fasten electrical component to wiring board, base, or substrate
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/53178 Chip component
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/53183 Multilead component
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/53191 Means to apply vacuum directly to position or hold work part

Abstract

A system for mounting circuit components on a circuit substrate, including a circuit-substrate supporting device which supports the circuit substrate, a circuit-component mounting device which mounts, at a circuit-component mounting position, the circuit components on the circuit substrate supported by the circuit-substrate supporting device, and a circuit-substrate carry-out device which receives, from the circuit-substrate supporting device, the circuit substrate with the circuit components being mounted thereon, and carries out the received circuit substrate, the circuit substrate being transferred from the circuit-substrate supporting device to the circuit-substrate carry-out device in a direction substantially perpendicular to a plane of the circuit substrate.

Claims

1. A method of mounting circuit components on a circuit substrate, comprising the steps of:

mounting the circuit components on the circuit substrate supported by a circuit-substrate supporting device,

removing, from the circuit-substrate supporting device, the circuit substrate with the circuit components being mounted thereon, in a first direction substantially perpendicular to a plane of the circuit substrate, and

carrying out the removed circuit substrate by moving the circuit substrate whose plane extends substantially horizontally, in a parallel direction substantially parallel to the plane of the circuit substrate.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising steps of:

carrying in the circuit substrate by moving the circuit substrate whose plane extends substantially horizontally, in said parallel direction to a circuit-substrate mounting position, and

mounting, at the circuit-substrate mounting position, the circuit substrate on the circuit-substrate supporting device in a second direction opposite to the first direction,

wherein the step of removing the circuit substrate comprises removing the circuit substrate at a circuit-substrate removing position away from the circuit-substrate mounting position in said parallel direction.

3. A method according to claim 1, further comprising, after the step of mounting the circuit components and before the step of removing the circuit substrate, a step of moving the circuit substrate with the circuit components being mounted thereon, from a circuit-component mounting position where the circuit components are mounted on the circuit substrate to a circuit-substrate removing position where the circuit substrate is removed.

4. A method according to claim 2, wherein the step of carrying in the circuit substrate comprises carrying in the circuit substrate to a waiting position, and waiting while holding, at the waiting position, the circuit substrate carried in to the waiting position.

5. A method according to claim 2 further comprising, after the step of mounting the circuit substrate and before the step of mounting the circuit components, a step of moving the circuit substrate which has been mounted on the circuit-substrate supporting device and on which no circuit component has been mounted, from the circuit-substrate mounting position to a circuit-component mounting position where the circuit components are mounted on the circuit substrate.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of carrying out the circuit substrate comprises carrying out a plurality of circuit substrates one by one in the parallel direction, and wherein the step of removing the circuit substrate comprises simultaneously removing the plurality of circuit substrates from the circuit-substrate supporting device.

7. A method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of mounting, at a time different from a time when the circuit substrate as a first circuit substrate is removed from the circuit-substrate supporting device in the first direction, a second circuit substrate on the circuit-substrate supporting device in a second direction opposite to the first direction.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of carrying out the removed circuit substrate comprises a step of moving the removed circuit substrate upward from a circuit-substrate removing height position where the circuit substrate is removed from the circuit-substrate supporting device, to a parallel-direction-movement height position where the removed circuit substrate is moved in the parallel direction.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein the step of moving the removed circuit substrate upward comprises moving a holding device holding the removed circuit substrate, upward, at a speed lower than a speed at which the holding device from which the removed circuit substrate has been carried out in the parallel direction is moved downward from the parallel-direction-movement height position to the circuit-substrate removing height position.