Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Mikio Yasuda

Takeshi Nishiguchi

Isamu Chimoto

Shigetoshi Negishi

Manabu Morioka

Takashi Munezane

Manabu Morita

Kameki Ishimoto

Noboru Furuta

Takayoshi Kado

Minoru Shiozaki

Takaharu Fuji

A compact and high-speed automatic electronic parts mounting apparatus is provided which includes first and second parts feeders, first and second mounting heads, a printed board-holding table, and a controller. Each of the first and second parts feeders includes a plurality of cassettes storing therein electronic parts and having pick-up stations. The second parts feeder is arranged at a preselected interval away from the first parts feeder in a first direction. Each of the first and second mounting heads is movable in the first direction and includes a plurality of pick-up nozzles movable in a vertical direction for picking up the electronic parts from the pick-up stations of the cassettes. The printed board-holding table is disposed within the preselected interval between the first and second parts feeders so as to move in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The controller controls the movement of the table and the first and second mounting heads so that the first and second mounting heads pick up the electronic parts from the cassettes of the first and second parts feeders, respectively, and mount them on a printed board held on the table in sequential mounting operations.

High speed electronic parts mounting apparatus having mounting heads which alternately mount components on a printed circuit board

A parts feeder is provided which may be employed in feeding electronic parts such as chip components to a mounting device for mounting them on a printed circuit board, for example. The parts feeder is designed to lift up parts supplied from an inlet to a parts orientation chamber to an outlet along an inner peripheral surface of the parts orientation chamber using a magnetic mechanism. A parts orienting path is defined upstream of the outlet which allows only the parts oriented in given directions to pass therethrough. A guide member is disposed within the parts orientation chamber to guide the parts, which are unoriented in alignment with a parts transport path connecting the outlet and a parts pickup station and which are dropped from the outlet, to an inlet for facilitating transportation of the parts by the magnetic mechanism to the parts orienting path, thereby avoiding jamming of the parts in the parts orienting path.

Parts feeder

A parts alignment device includes: an input port introducing chip-like parts having a magnetic-substance electrode; a storage chamber storing the parts introduced through the input port; a wall made of non-magnetic material, the wall defining a back surface of the storage chamber; an arc-like guide made of non-magnetic material and provided at least above the storage chamber; an intake port provided in connection with the guide and taking in only parts aligned in a predetermined direction from the parts; a parts passageway connected to the intake port and provided toward downstream of the intake port; a rotary plate made of non-magnetic material and provided at the rear of the wall so as to rotate in a parts taking-in direction of the intake port; and a magnet provided on the rotary plate. The magnet attracts the parts both in a direction of the guide and in a direction of the wall simultaneously by a magnetic force thereof.

Parts alignment device

A printed circuit board device comprises bar-like connectors made of a metal material and having a predetermined length and a predetermined width. Each bar-like connector has a plating of a highly electrically conductive, anti-corrosion metal coated over the side surface(s) thereof but not the end surfaces. Each bar-like connector may be more smooth on the side surface(s) than on the end surfaces. Each bar-like connector is fixedly connected at both ends by an electrically conductive bonding agent to a pair of lands on a printed circuit board, respectively, to provide electrical conduction between the two lands. Accordingly, connection faults caused by the Manhattan phenomenon are eliminated and the cost of SMT production is reduced.

Printed circuit board device with surface-mounted bar-like connectors

Growing community of inventors

Ichinomiya, Japan

Mikio Yasuda