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:
Mar. 19, 2002
Filed:
Jan. 19, 1999
Noboru Kanauchi, Yamagata, JP;
Yamagata Casio Co., Ltd., Yamagata, JP;
Abstract
The present invention aims at providing a part mounting device for efficiently performing mounting operations by eliminating an amount of time required for moving and stoppage intended for recognizing an image of a part. In the part mounting device according to the present invention, an image recognizing device included in a working tower together with a mounting head comprises an optical fiber, a beam splitter arranged at the top of the optical fiber, and an image recognizing camera arranged at the top of the beam splitter. The image recognizing device further comprises an illumination light source at the side of the beam splitter. A nozzle shaft of the mounting head is arranged by being loosely inserted into a lower portion of the optical fiber. An irradiation light from the illumination light source irradiates a part which is picked up by the picking-up nozzle attached to the tip of the nozzle shaft via the beam splitter and the optical fiber. The reflected light is propagated through the optical fiber in the direction reverse to the irradiation direction. The light which has passed through the beam splitter is formed into an image by the image recognizing camera. This image signal is analyzed by a central controlling unit, so that any position deviation of the part is detected and the position is corrected. As described above, an image of a picked up part is recognized also on a working tower side by combining the optical fiber and the nozzle shaft, which can be arbitrarily inserted. Therefore, the mounting head picks up all parts other than a uniquely-shaped part from a part supplying unit, and the image recognizing process can be performed while the mounting head is moving the picked up part directly to the part mounting position on a board. As a result, the mounting head can mount almost all the parts directly on the board without moving the parts to the position of an image recognizing camera which is arranged on a chassis side and is intended for recognizing an image of a part, thereby increasing the efficiency of the part mounting process.