JPH04364097A - Board supply/storage device and board supply/storage method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the stoppage of a mounting line and others by detecting this when the number of boards held by a board holding means such as a magazine, etc., has decreased, or when the number of boards which can be stored has decreased, and performing necessary processing such as board supply, etc. CONSTITUTION:When the number of boards held by a magazine (board holding means) 3 decreases during board supply, or the residual number of boards which can be stored in the board holding means during board storage decreases, a vacancy notifying sensor (detection means) 11 which detects it before they run out completely notifies the decrease based on the detection signal, and boards are supplied, thus unexpected shortage or storage impossibility of boards due to taking out, and stoppage of the mounting device or the line may be prevented.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a board supply device or a board storage device for supplying boards to an electronic component mounting line or an electronic component mounting device, or for storing a board on which electronic components are mounted. The present invention relates to a substrate supply/storage device such as an intermediate buffer device that temporarily stores substrates as a buffer in the middle of a line and supplies them again.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 9, for example, a magazine 52 for holding substrates stacked vertically at appropriate intervals is used. The substrates in the magazine 52 are placed on the lifter 53 which can be driven upward, and the substrates in the magazine 52 are placed facing the substrate transport path of the mounting line in order from the top board by the lifter 53 being raised intermittently. A substrate supply device 51 configured to supply a substrate by pushing it out with a pusher 54 is known.

[0003] Furthermore, in this substrate supply device 51,
Although not shown, means for detecting when the magazine 52 runs out of substrates is provided, and the lifter 5
A carry-in conveyor and a carry-out conveyor are provided on the sides of the lowering limit and rising limit of the magazine 52, and when there are no more substrates in the magazine 52, the magazine 52 is discharged onto the carry-out conveyor, and then the lifter 5
3 is lowered to carry a magazine 52 full of substrates previously supplied onto a carry-in conveyor onto a lifter 53.

[0004] Furthermore, means for detecting whether a spare magazine is being supplied on the carry-in conveyor and means for detecting whether an uncollected empty magazine remains on standby on the carry-out conveyor are provided. .

[0005]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, with the above configuration, although it is possible to detect at any time whether or not a magazine is being supplied onto the carry-in conveyor, it is difficult to detect when the number of substrates in the magazine 52 on the lifter 53 is running low. It is not possible to know whether a spare magazine has already been supplied on the carry-in conveyor, and a situation where no spare magazine is supplied on the carry-in conveyor when there are no more boards in the magazine 52 on the lifter 53 can be avoided. may occur,
In that case, there was a problem in that the mounting equipment and the mounting line stopped due to the board being out of stock, reducing the operating rate.

[0006] A similar problem also exists in a board storage device that stores boards on which electronic components have been mounted in a magazine.

In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention detects when the number of substrates held by substrate holding means such as a magazine decreases or the number of substrates that can be stored decreases, and controls the supply of substrates, etc. It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate supply/storage device that can prevent the stoppage of a mounting line or the like by quickly performing necessary processing.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The substrate supply/storage device of the present invention includes a substrate holding means for storing and holding substrates in a stacked state, and a detection means for detecting when the number of substrates held by the substrate holding means reaches a predetermined amount. It is characterized by having

The substrate holding means may be one that simply laminates the substrates, but it is preferable to have a magazine for stacking the substrates at intervals and a means for intermittently moving the magazine at intervals between the stacked substrates. It is.

[0010] Furthermore, the detection means can be arranged so as to be changeable in position in the stacking direction of the substrates, or can be configured so that a plurality of detection means can be switched arbitrarily.

[0011] Notification means is provided for giving an advance notice based on the output of the detection means which detects that the supply of boards or the remaining number of storable boards has decreased, and furthermore, based on the input of a signal from the notification means, the board holding means is notified. A means for transporting and supplying a substrate, a magazine storing and holding a substrate, or an empty magazine can be provided.

0012

[Function] According to the present invention, when the number of substrates held by the substrate holding means decreases when supplying the substrates, or when the remaining number of substrates that can be stored in the substrate holding means decreases when storing the substrates, the detecting means detects the number of substrates in advance before the number of substrates that can be stored in the substrate holding means decreases. As a result, the board can be immediately supplied or removed by giving an advance notice based on the detection signal, and if the board is unexpectedly lost or cannot be stored, the mounting equipment or line This can reliably prevent the system from stopping.

Furthermore, by using a magazine in which the substrates are stacked at intervals for supplying and taking out the substrates, the structure and operation of the apparatus can be simplified, and a highly reliable apparatus can be obtained at low cost. Furthermore, by adjusting or switching the position of the detection means so that any number of remaining detection signals is output, it is possible to arbitrarily set an appropriate margin time depending on the type of board. Furthermore, if a means for transporting and supplying circuit boards, magazines, etc. is provided based on advance notice signals, F
It can be expanded to MS (Flexible Manufacturing System) and CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing).

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a multilayer printed circuit board for optical bonding according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, and 5.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a board supply device that supplies boards to a component mounting machine 2, and a magazine 3 that holds boards stacked one above the other with appropriate spacing between them.
a lifter 4 that moves up and down while supporting the lifter 4, a carry-in conveyor 5 that supplies the magazine 3 full of substrates onto the lifter 4 at the lower limit position, and discharges the empty magazine 3 from the lifter 4 at the upper limit position. It is equipped with an unloading conveyor 6. A delivery conveyor 4a is provided on the lifter 4 for delivering the magazine 3 between the lifter 4 and the loading and unloading conveyors 5 and 6.

On the side of the ascending and descending path of the lifter 4 of the substrate supply device 1, there is a lower limit sensor 7 for detecting that the lifter 4 is at the lower limit position, and a position for supplying the uppermost substrate in the magazine 3. A supply start position sensor 8 detects, an empty notice sensor 11 detects the position where the number of remaining substrates in the magazine 3 is reduced, and a supply end position sensor detects the position in which the lowest board in the magazine 3 is supplied. 9 and lifter 4
An ascent limit sensor 10 for detecting that the is at the ascent limit position is disposed, and the empty warning sensor 11 is configured to be able to arbitrarily adjust the vertical position as shown by the arrow. A plurality of these vacancy notice sensors 11 may be provided so that they can be selectively switched, or if the vacancy notice position may be fixed, a single vacancy notice sensor 11 may be provided in a fixed manner. Further, the carry-in conveyor 5 is provided with a spare magazine detection sensor 12 on the leading end of the carry-in conveyor 5 to detect whether the magazine 3 is being supplied.

In the section between the supply start position sensor 8 and the supply end position sensor 9, the lifter 4 is configured to move up intermittently at a pitch corresponding to the substrate holding interval in the magazine 3, and starts supplying from the lower limit position. It is configured to rise at an appropriate speed from the start position and the supply end position to the ascent limit position, and to descend at high speed from the ascent limit position to the descent limit position.

As shown in FIG. 2, the output of the empty warning sensor 11 is input to a controller 13, and this controller 13 outputs a patrol light 14 for notifying the empty warning.
is turned on, outputs a digital signal indicating an empty notice to a control personal computer 15, etc., and outputs a transport command to an automatic transport vehicle 16 carrying the corresponding magazine.

As shown in FIG. 5, this controller 13 waits for a magazine empty warning signal output from the empty warning sensor 11, and when this signal is input, it then starts the loading conveyor 5.
It is determined whether the spare magazine 3 is on standby based on the output signal from the spare magazine detection sensor 12 provided in
A warning is given that the electronic component mounting machine 2 will stop due to the board being run out unless the magazine 3 full of boards is promptly supplied. On the other hand, if the spare magazine 3 is on standby, the magazine 3 will be supplied without interruption, so it will remain on standby.

In the above embodiment, an example of the board supply device 1 that supplies boards to the electronic component mounting machine 2 was shown, but as shown in FIG. The same applies to the storage device 21 as well. In FIG. 3, the substrate storage device 21 is the substrate supply device 1 of FIG.
It has almost the same configuration as the above, and includes a carry-in conveyor 22 that supplies an empty magazine 3 at the upper limit position of the lifter 4, and a carry-out conveyor 23 that discharges the full magazine 3 from the lifter 4 at the lower limit position, On the side of the lifter 4's ascending and descending path, there are a rise limit sensor 27 that detects that the lifter 4 is at the rise limit position, and a storage start position sensor 28 that detects the position where the substrate is stored at the lowest stage in the magazine 3. , a full notice sensor 31 that detects the position where the remaining number of boards that can be stored in the magazine 3 is reduced, a storage end position sensor 29 that detects the position at which the board is stored at the top of the magazine 3, and a lifter 4 that is at the lower limit. A lower limit sensor 30 for detecting the position is arranged, and the full warning sensor 31 is configured to be able to arbitrarily adjust the vertical position as shown by the arrow. In addition, the loading conveyor 22 has a magazine 3 on its tip.
A spare magazine detection sensor 32 is provided to detect whether a spare magazine is being supplied.

In this embodiment as well, the full warning sensor 3
The output of 1 is input to a controller similar to that shown in FIG. 2, and this controller operates as shown in FIG. 6 in the same manner as in FIG. 5 of the above embodiment. The operation in FIG. 6 is the same as that in FIG. 5 except that the empty magazine and the full magazine are reversed, so a detailed explanation will be omitted.

Further, in the above embodiment, an example was shown in which the magazine 3 was used to store the substrates in a stacked state with a space between each other, but as shown in FIG. A substrate supply device 41 or a substrate storage device that is provided with a storage section 42, and is configured to suction and hold a substrate with a suction means 43 that can be raised and lowered, and transfer the substrate between an upper substrate transport path 44 and the substrate storage section 42. , a similar effect can be obtained by arranging the advance notice sensor 45 on the side of the substrate storage section 42 to detect when the remaining number of substrates that can be supplied or the number that can be stored becomes small.

Further, in each of the above embodiments, the detection sensor is arranged on the side of the substrate storage section, but a counter is provided to count the number of substrates taken in and out of the substrate storage section.
An empty notice or a full notice may be output depending on the count value.

Next, the board supply and storage operations including the empty notice and full notice will be explained with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. If empty or full notice is not detected, leave it as is; if it is detected, output a notice, then determine whether empty or full is detected at the current time, and if it is, output the full notice. It waits for a magazine or an empty magazine to be supplied, and if it is not detected, it repeats the operation of normally supplying or storing substrates.

On the other hand, when an empty or full warning is detected and a warning notification is output, as shown in FIG.
A magazine supply command is notified to the automatic guided vehicle 16, the desired magazine 3 is conveyed to the corresponding substrate supply device or substrate storage device by the automatic guided vehicle 16, the magazine is supplied, and the control returns to the control shown in FIG. 7. .

[0026]

[Effects of the Invention] According to the substrate supply/storage device of the present invention,
When the number of substrates held by the substrate holding means decreases when supplying the substrates, or when the remaining number of substrates that can be stored in the substrate holding means decreases when storing the substrates, the detection means detects this in advance before it is completely used up, so the detection signal By giving advance notice based on the above, boards can be immediately supplied or removed, and it is possible to reliably prevent mounting equipment and lines from being stopped due to unexpectedly missing boards or being unable to store them. can do.

Further, by using a magazine in which the substrates are stacked at intervals for supplying and taking out the substrates, the structure and operation of the apparatus can be simplified, and a highly reliable apparatus can be obtained at low cost. Furthermore, by adjusting or switching the position of the detection means so that any number of remaining detection signals is output, it is possible to arbitrarily set an appropriate margin time depending on the type of board. Furthermore, if a means for transporting and supplying circuit boards, magazines, etc. is provided based on advance notification signals, F
It can be expanded to MS (Flexible Manufacturing System) and CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing).

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a substrate supply device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a detection signal processing system of the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a substrate storage device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a substrate supply/storage device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of advance notice operation in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a notice operation in a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of supply/storage control according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a magazine supply operation according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a conventional substrate supply device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1　Substrate supply device 3 Magazine 4 Lifter 11 Sky warning sensor 12 Spare magazine detection sensor 13 Controller 16 Automatic guided vehicle 21 Board storage device 31 Full warning sensor 32 Spare magazine detection sensor 41　Substrate supply device 42 Board storage section 45 Advance notice sensor

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A substrate supply/storage device comprising: substrate holding means for storing and holding substrates in a stacked state; and detection means for detecting when the number of substrates held by the substrate holding means reaches a predetermined amount. 2. The substrate holding means includes a magazine in which the substrates are stacked at intervals, and a means for intermittently moving the magazine at intervals between the stacked substrates. Board supply/storage equipment. 3. The substrate supply/storage device according to claim 1, wherein the detection means is arranged so as to be repositionable in the direction in which the substrates are stacked. 4. The substrate supply/storage device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of detection means are arranged in the stacking direction of the substrates, and the detection means can be switched to any one of the detection means. 5. Claim 1, further comprising notification means for detecting, by means of a detection means, that the supply of boards or the remaining number of boards that can be stored has decreased, and for giving an advance notice based on the output of the detection means. , 2, 3 or 4, the substrate supply/storage device. 6. The apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising means for transporting and supplying the substrate, a magazine storing and holding a substrate, or an empty magazine to the substrate holding means based on the input of a signal from the notification means. Board supply/storage equipment.