The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 06, 1988
Filed:
Feb. 17, 1987
Gregory W Holcomb, Irvine, CA (US);
Other;
Abstract
A component insertion end effector for robotic equipment is disclosed. The end effector is particularly adapted for printed circuit insertion of electrical component whose relationship between component body and leads varies from the nominal dimensions. The end effector compensates for variations in body-to-lead configurations to permit components to be precisely placed without damaging the component body or its leads. The effector comprises a pneumatic gripping mechanism which is coupled to the robot arm by a compliance mechanism. The compliance mechanism is operable in two states, the first state in which the gripping mechanism is freely movable throughout a predetermined range of movement with respect to the robot arm, and a second state in which the gripping mechanism is fixedly secured in relation to the robot arm. An actuating mechanism is adapted to configure the compliance mechanism into the first state while the gripping mechanism initially grips the component to be gripped, so that the component is gripped without preloading or deforming the component or its leads. The actuating mechanism is adapted then to configure the compliance mechanism into the second state for the component insertion. A novel release mechanism is provided to release the component from the gripping mechanism after insertion, which is adapted to allow effective of the gripping mechanism insertion and release in a densely populated board.