JPH10232179A - Method for inspecting leak of fine part and apparatus for inspecting leak using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable inspection with high reliability by judging only an test specimen without leakage to be acceptable by both air leak tester and helium leak detector. SOLUTION: Test specimens supplied to a parts supplying means 100 are arranged one by one in the posture to be sent to an arranging means 200. When the test specimens are completely housed in all housing parts 201, the arranging means 200 advances to a position shown by the dotted line to be stopped. Then, the respective test specimens are inserted into test capsules 401A-401H of a lower capsule plate 400 mounted on an endless carrying means 300 by a vacuum attraction head. The presence of leakage from the respective test specimens is inspected in a gross leak test station 500 and a fine leak test station 600 along a carrying path A→B→C of the endless carrying means 300. The test specimens on the lower capsule plate 400 returned to a position A after making a round are divided into accepted one and rejected one to be housing parts 700 according to the result of tests stored in a memory for every test capsule 401A-401H.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a leakage inspection apparatus for inspecting leakage of a casing of a microelectronic component or the like having a shape of, for example, about several mm square.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a leak inspection device (hereinafter referred to as an air leak tester) has been put to practical use for inspecting the presence or absence of leakage of various instruments using air pressure as a pressurized gas. FIG.
Shows the configuration of a general air leak tester. M is a component called master, which has been previously confirmed to be leak-free, W
Indicates an object to be inspected called a work. An air pressure having a test pressure P1 from the air pressure source 1 is applied to the master M and the test object W to the master M and the test object W.
2 and V3 are closed to confine the air in the inspection object W and the master M, and the leakage of the inspection object W is inspected by the differential pressure generated in the small differential pressure sensor DPS1 inserted between the inspection object W and the master M. It is a structure that does. The air leak tester having this structure is called an internal pressure system, and most automobile parts, gas appliances, parts and the like are inspected by this system.

FIG. 11 shows a configuration of an air leak tester for inspecting a sealed product. In other words, in the case of products such as waterproof watches, waterproof cameras, hermetic relays, and sealed products to which internal pressure cannot be applied such as parts, the work capsule WK and the master capsule M are provided on both the master side and the inspection object side.
K is provided, and the test object W and the master M are inserted into each of the capsules WK and MK to form the work capsule WK.
A constant amount of air pressure is applied to the master capsule MK from the tanks T1 and T2 having a fixed volume.

The amount of leakage per time (cc / s)
ec), there is a large leak (this is generally called a large leak), a volume difference occurs between the work capsule WK and the master capsule MK, and a pressure difference is generated from the volume difference, and the leak occurs. Can be detected. With the leak inspection apparatus of this principle, any large leak can be reliably detected if the internal volume of the work is 0.5 cc or more. However, when the internal volume of the inspection object W becomes small,
Since the volumes of the tanks T1 and T2 also need to be reduced, the inspection of the minute-volume subject W becomes difficult.

FIG. 1 shows one method of solving this drawback.
2 has been proposed. In this air leak tester, the variable capacity tanks VT1 and VT are provided in the pipelines of both the work capsule WK and the master capsule MK.
2 and a work capsule W through valves V2 and V3.
By applying air pressure of test pressure P1 to K and master capsule MK, closing valves V2 and V3 and then opening valve V6 to apply air pressure to variable capacity tanks VT1 and VT2, thereby providing variable pressure tanks VT1 and VT2. By moving the piston, a volume change is applied to both the work capsule WK and the master capsule MK to generate pressure.

At this time, if the internal volumes of both the work capsule WK and the master capsule MK are equal, no differential pressure is generated even if pressure is generated. If there is a large leak in the test object W, a small internal volume difference occurs between the master M side and the test object W side, so that a differential pressure is generated. (However, in order to generate this differential pressure, it is necessary to minimize the internal volume of the pipe line etc. of the inspection apparatus itself.) By detecting this differential pressure with the high-sensitivity differential pressure sensor DPS1, a large leak Is determined. According to the air leak tester of this type, it is possible to inspect a component having an internal volume of about 0.0025 cc for leakage.

[0007]

As described above, FIG.
According to the air leak tester having the configuration shown in FIG.
It is possible to inspect the inspection object having a minute internal volume of about 0025 cc (about 1/5 of rice grain) for leakage. However, the leakage flow rate is 1 × 10 ⁻⁴ to 1 × 10 ⁻⁵ cc / sec or more, which is a case where the leakage flow rate is generally called a large leak.

[0008] As a recent trend, in electronic parts used in equipment used in a severe environment such as a portable telephone, for example, a minute leak of about 1 × 10 ^-8 to 1 × 10 ^-5 cc / sec. Even if there is a leak of the flow rate (hereinafter, referred to as a minute leak), there is a possibility that the operation may be disabled. The air leak tester has not yet inspected such a small leak. As a device capable of detecting a minute leak, a helium leak detector using helium gas as a detection medium is, for example, a product model name MSE-100 from Shimadzu Corporation.
0, MSE-3000, MSE-5000, etc.

In a helium leak detector, a test object is placed in a vacuum environment in a container, helium gas is injected into the container in that state, and helium gas is pressurized in the container at a pressure of 4 kg / cm ^2. It is left for 2 hours, and helium gas is sucked into the leaking test object. This helium gas injection process is called a bombing process. After the bombing process, the object to be inspected is inserted into the capsule for inspection, and a rough drawing process of sucking the capsule for inspection into vacuum is performed. Next, it is measured whether or not the helium gas is leaking from the inspection object. If the helium gas is detected, it is determined that “there is a leak”.

According to this helium leak detector, 1
It is possible to detect a minute leak in a region of × 10 ⁻⁸ cc / sec to 1 × 10 ⁻⁵ cc / sec. However, this helium leak detector has a drawback that when there is a large leak, especially when the leak flow rate is large, it is erroneously determined that there is no leak. The reason is that after the bombing process, the helium gas is released into the atmosphere in a short time during the roughing process from the test object that has a large leak flow rate within the range that can be inspected by the helium leak detector. In many cases, the helium gas escapes and is in an empty state. Therefore, even when the helium gas is inserted into the test capsule and inspected in this state, the helium gas does not originally exist, so that it is determined that there is no leakage.

In the case of a test object having a relatively small leak amount even among the large leaks, the helium gas does not scatter before the test and remains at the test object. Therefore, the helium leak detector determines that there is no leak even in a large leak,
May be determined, and there is a problem in detection performance for a large leak. That is, there is a disadvantage that the inspection accuracy is deteriorated at the boundary between the inspection ranges of the air leak tester and the helium leak tester.

Further, since the helium leak detector is provided with a high-sensitivity sensor for detecting a small amount of helium, a large amount of helium gas is released from the test object having a large leak that can be detected by an air leak tester. ,
If the helium gas is sucked by the helium leak detector, there is a disadvantage that the next test cannot be performed until the helium gas is completely exhausted. Therefore, the leak test using the helium leak detector has a disadvantage that the efficiency (through-put) is poor.

A first object of the present invention is to provide a leak inspection method capable of reliably (reliably) inspecting both a large leak and a small leak in a single step, and a leak inspection for performing an inspection according to the leak inspection method. It is to propose a device. A second object of the present invention is to provide a leakage inspection method capable of operating a helium leak detector efficiently and a leakage inspection apparatus for performing an inspection according to the inspection method.

A third object of the present invention is to propose a leakage inspection method capable of improving the inspection accuracy at the boundary between inspection ranges of an air leak tester and a helium leak tester.

[0015]

According to the present invention, a test object subjected to bombing treatment with helium gas is first inspected for a large leak by an air leak tester, and then inspected for a minute leak by a helium leak detector. A first leak inspection method is proposed in which only a test object determined to be non-leak by both the leak tester and the helium leak detector is determined to be non-defective.

According to the present invention, when the presence or absence of a large leak is inspected by an air leak tester, helium gas is used instead of air as a pressurized gas to be applied to the test object and the master.
By applying helium gas particularly to the test object, helium gas is re-bombed to the test object from which the helium gas has escaped with the passage of time after the bombing process, and the helium gas escapes. A second leak inspection method that can eliminate the inconvenience of giving an erroneous inspection result due to the accident is proposed.

Further, as a leak inspection apparatus for realizing the leak inspection method, a component supply means for sending out the aligned test objects in a fixed posture in a line, and a test object sent by the component supply means. Alignment means for holding and aligning a predetermined posture one by one, an aerial transport device for transporting the inspected objects aligned by the alignment means, and a lower capsule for storing the inspected objects sent by the aerial transport device Plate, a non-terminal transport means for transporting the lower capsule plate, an inspection station arranged in the order of an air leak tester and a helium leak detector along the transport path of the endless transport means, and a capsule that has passed through the inspection station. Both large leaks and small leaks are inspected at once by the storage unit that sorts and inspects the inspected object into non-defective products and defective products. It proposes a testing device leakage can and.

According to the first leak inspection method of the present invention, only the test object determined as “no leakage” by both the air leak tester and the helium leak detector is determined as a non-defective product. Can be a product having neither a large leak nor a small leak. Therefore, a highly reliable leak test can be performed. Furthermore, according to the first inspection method of the present invention, since a large leak is inspected by an air leak tester and then a small leak is detected by a helium leak detector, a large leak is detected when the inspection is performed by the air leak tester. Since a test object having a leak can be detected, it is not necessary to test the test object determined to be "having a large leak" when testing a minute leak with a helium leak detector. Therefore, since the test object having a large leak is not inspected by the helium leak detector, there is no possibility that a large amount of helium gas is sucked. As a result, an advantage that the helium leak detector can be operated efficiently can be obtained.

According to the second leak inspection method of the present invention,
Even if helium gas leaked due to the presence of a relatively large leak from the test object subjected to the bombing process, the helium gas was used as a pressurized gas instead of air when performing the air leak test. Helium gas can be re-bombed to the body. Therefore, although it is not possible to determine “leakage” depending on the air leak tester, the helium gas can be re-bombed on the test object having a large leak with respect to the helium leak detector. The advantage is obtained that the inspection accuracy of the inspection object having the leak amount belonging to the boundary of the range can be improved.

Here, the test object that can rebomb the helium gas during the air leak test is limited to the test object that can suck the helium gas in a short time. In other words, it is limited to the test object having a relatively large leak flow rate (having a large hole area). For the test object with a small leak, the helium gas is sucked without the original bombing process performed before the start of the test. I can't let that happen. Therefore, even though helium gas can be bombed on the test object during the air leak test, the original bombing processing (bombing processing performed for about 2 hours) performed before the inspection is indispensable.

Further, according to the leak inspection apparatus of the present invention,
For example, since the component to be inspected is supplied to the component supply means because the component supply means constituted by the vibration feeder is used, thereafter, all the air leak test (or gross leak test) and the leak test by the helium leak detector (hereinafter referred to as fine leak test) are performed. ) Can be performed automatically. Therefore, there is an advantage that a large number of minutely shaped electronic components and the like can be leak-inspected with high reliability without human intervention.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a component having a minute space volume (hereinafter referred to as "test object") by a leak inspection method according to the present invention.
1 shows an embodiment of a leak inspection apparatus for inspecting leaks of a sheet. FIG.
The outline configuration of the leak inspection apparatus according to the present invention will be described in advance with reference to FIG. The leak inspection apparatus according to the present invention is roughly classified into 7
It is composed of two means.

These seven means are a component supply means 100, an alignment means 200, an endless transport means 300, a lower capsule plate 400, a gross leak test station 500, a fine leak station 60
0, the storage unit 700 is arranged and configured. The schematic configuration and operation will be described below. Component supply means 1
At 00, helium gas is supplied to a part which has been subjected to a bombing process in advance and has a leak while being sucked into the internal space. The inspection objects supplied to the component supply means 100 are sent to the alignment means 200 with their postures aligned one by one. The alignment means 200 has a storage unit 201 for storing a plurality of test objects, and stores the test objects one by one in the storage unit 201. When the test object is stored in all the storage units 201, the alignment unit 200 moves to the position indicated by the dotted line in FIG.

When the aligning means 200 advances to the position indicated by the dotted line and stops, the test object is moved to the vacuum suction head 8 by an air transport means 800 called pick and press shown in FIG.
01A to 801H, the non-terminal transport means 30
0 is carried to the lower capsule plate 400 mounted on the lower capsule plate 400 and the inspection capsules 401A to 401 provided on the lower capsule plate 400.
Inserted into H.

In the example shown in the figure, the non-terminal transport means 300 is constituted by a disk-shaped turntable. A gross leak test station 500 and a fine leak test station 600 are provided along the transport path of the endless transport means 300.
At 00, each inspection object is inspected for leakage. In the example shown in the figure, a case is shown in which eight test objects are supplied to the lower capsule plate 400 and the presence or absence of leakage of eight test objects is inspected at a time.

In this embodiment, three lower capsule plates 400 are mounted on the endless transport means 300 at 120-degree angle intervals.
In one operation, the lower capsule plate 400 is rotated by 120 degrees to lower the lower capsule plate 400 into the loader and unloader positions (loading and unloading positions) A, the position B facing the gross leak test station 500, and the fine leak test station 60 shown in FIG.
A case is shown in which the system is configured to return to the loader and unloader position A again around the position C facing 0.

The inspection of the test object stored in the lower capsule plate 400 which has returned to the loader and unloader position A has been completed, and the test capsules 401A to 401H have been inspected.
The test results are stored in the storage device provided for each of them, and are sorted into non-defective products and defective products and stored in the storage section 700 according to the test results. In the example shown in the figure, three types of storage portions 701, 702, and 703 are provided in the storage portion 700. For example, a test object determined to be defective in a gross leak test, a test object determined to be defective in a fine leak test, and a defect determination This shows a case where a non-defective inspection object having no defect is sorted and stored.

From the above, the outline of the leak inspection apparatus according to the present invention can be understood. Next, the configuration of each part will be described in detail for the unique part of the present invention. Component supply means 10
Numeral 0 can be constituted by a device which is conventionally known as a parts feeder or a vibration feeder. The test object subjected to the bombing process as described above is placed in the storage recess 101. This mounting state is randomly placed as generally called a piled state. Vibration is applied to the storage recess 101 by, for example, a vibrator driven at a commercial power frequency. The test object to which the vibration is applied is gradually taken in by the guide 102 and is sent along the guide 102 in the direction of the arrow 103. Various barriers are provided in the middle of the guide 102, and their directions are aligned according to, for example, the shape of a terminal or a projection provided on the test object. In other words, as is well known in this type of field, only test objects that match a certain direction are allowed to pass, and those that do not match are dropped into the storage recess 101 at the gate.

An escape mechanism 104 is provided at the end of the component supply means 100. The escape mechanism refers to a mechanism that separates the inspection objects W aligned along the guide 102 one by one and sends out the inspection objects W to the next stage. Various structures are conceivable for the escape mechanism 104. In general, while moving the next stage, the test object W positioned at the forefront of the guide 102 is held down and stopped at that position. Perform the operation to save. In the example of FIG.
With the empty storage unit 201 facing the discharge port of 00, the state of holding down the foremost inspection object W is released, and the rows of the inspection object W are poured toward the alignment means 200. In a state where the leading-edge inspection object W is stored in the storage unit 201 of the alignment unit 200, the inspection object W that has arrived at the next outlet is suppressed. The alignment unit 200 moves the next storage unit 201 so as to face the component outlet of the component supply unit 100 with the inspection object W held down. By repeating this, the inspection object W is stored in each storage unit 201 of the alignment unit 200.

Here, the depth of each storage section 201 of the aligning means 200 (the dimension in the direction in which the test object W flows) is
The size of one piece is selected. Therefore, when one inspection object W is stored in each storage unit 201, it can be seen that the tip of the next inspection object W exactly matches the opening end of the entrance of the storage unit 201 of the alignment unit 200. Can be. Therefore, the alignment means 200 may be moved in the X-axis direction in that state, but in this embodiment, the alignment means 200 is slightly retracted once in the Y-axis direction, and is moved in the Y-axis direction in the X-axis direction. Here, a case is shown in which it is configured to be moved to.

The reason is as follows. Inspection object W
Is a product in which a quartz oscillator is housed in a ceramic package, for example. In many cases, a ceramic package is formed such that burrs or the like protrude around during molding. For this reason, from the component supply means 100 to the alignment means 200
The inspection objects W sent into the storage unit 201 may be connected to each other by burrs or the like. As a result, when the aligning means 200 is moved in the X-axis direction while the inspected objects W are connected to each other by burrs or the like, the inspected objects W may be engaged with each other and may be damaged. is there. For this purpose, in this embodiment, the aligning means 200 is moved in the Y-axis direction, and is moved in the X-axis direction with the inspected objects W separated from each other. The movement in the X-axis direction is performed by, for example, the pulse motor 202 and the pulse motor 20.
2 and a screw shaft 203 driven to rotate. A movable base 204 is screwed and arranged on the screw shaft 203.
The alignment means 200 is supported so as to be movable in the Y-axis direction. As means for moving the aligning means 200 in the Y-axis direction, for example, an air cylinder 205 mounted on a movable base 204
Move by. Therefore, as the movement of the alignment means 200, Y1-X1-Y2-Y3-X2-Y4-Y5.
In the order of.

The aligning means 200 is formed by a rectangular metal block, and the storage unit 20 is formed along one long side thereof.
1 is formed. The storage unit 201 is formed by a groove having a shape slightly larger than the shape of the inspection object W, and stores the inspection object W by pouring the inspection object W into the groove. As shown in FIG. 3 in an enlarged manner in each storage section 201 of the aligning means 200, a regulating means 206 for holding down the inspection object W stored in the storage section 201 in one direction and defining a storage position is provided. The restricting means 206 includes a lever 206A provided for each storage unit 201 and a pin 2 attached to the lever 206A.
A sliding lever 206C engaged with the second lever 06B, for example, an air cylinder 206D for driving the sliding lever 206C,
In the example shown in the figure, each lever 206A can be constituted by a spring 206E which is biased to rotate counterclockwise. In a state where the inspection object W is stored in any one of the storage units 201, the air cylinder 206D is operated to perform suction operation, and
Is rotated clockwise against the biasing force of the spring 206E. With the test object W stored in the storage section 201, the air cylinder 206D releases the suction force, and the sliding lever 20
Replace 6C. At this time, the lever 206A rotates counterclockwise, and the test object W is pressed against one inner wall of the concave groove forming the storage unit 201 by the lever 206A. Therefore, the inspection object W stored in each storage unit 201 is restricted to a position where it is held down on one inner wall of each storage unit 201,
The storage positions are aligned. At the same time, the alignment means 200 becomes Y
When the test object W is moved in the axial direction, even if the test object W is connected by burrs, the test object W stored in the storage unit 201 is held down by the lever 206A. It is possible to prevent the device 100 from coming out of the storage unit 201 while being engaged with the inspection object on the discharge port side.

When the test object W is stored in all the storage sections 201 of the alignment means 200, the alignment means 200 stops at the position shown by the dotted line in FIG. At this stop position, each storage unit 20
The suction heads 801A to 801H of the air transport means 800 shown in FIG. Suction head 8
01A to 801H are each formed in a suction cup shape by, for example, rubber, and a hose 80 is provided at the center of the suction cup.
The hose 802 is connected to a suction pump and sucks air. The suction heads 801A to 801H are moved up and down by an air cylinder 803, respectively. By moving the inspection object W stored in the alignment means 200 downward, the suction heads 801A to 801A are moved downward.
H is brought into contact with the test object W and the suction heads 801A-801
Adsorb to each of 1H. Reference numeral 804 denotes a solenoid valve inserted between the hose 802 and each of the suction heads 801A to 801H. By controlling the opening and closing of this solenoid valve 804,
The suction heads 801A to 801H are switched between a state in which suction power is generated and a state in which suction power is released.

Each suction head 801 of the air transport means 800
A to 801H, the inspection object W is attracted to the cylinder 8
03, the suction heads 801A to 801H are moved upward, and the aerial conveyance means 800 is entirely moved in the X-axis direction shown in FIG. It moves to the upper part of the lower capsule plate 400 that has been set.

In this example, eight test capsules 401A to 401H are formed on the lower capsule plate 400, and the test object W conveyed by the air conveying means 800 is dropped into the test capsules 401A to 401H. Lower capsule plate 400
, Master capsules 402A to 402H are formed adjacent to the inspection capsules 401A to 401H. A master M (the same component as the object to be inspected W), which has been inspected in advance and determined not to leak, is inserted into the master capsules 402A to 402H.

FIG. 4 shows the detailed structure of the inspection capsules 401A to 401H and the master capsules 402A to 402H.
Eight circular holes are formed in two rows in a rectangular metal plate, and one row is used as inspection capsules 401A to 401H, and the other row is used as master capsules 402A to 402H.
Use as In this example, each inspection capsule 401
A-401H and master capsules 402A-402H are each formed with a ring-shaped groove on the periphery thereof.
03, and the O-ring 403 is mounted with a part protruding from the plate surface of the lower capsule plate 400, and this protruding portion is pressed against the upper capsule plate to press the test capsules 401A to 401A-4.
01H and master capsules 402A to 402H are configured to be closed in an airtight state.

The lower capsule plate 400 is provided with the endless transport means 30.
It is supported movably up and down with respect to 0. At the positions of the gross leak test station 500 and the fine leak test station 600, an elevating device for moving the lower capsule plate 400 upward is provided. 5 and 6 show an example of the lifting device. The upper capsule plate 450 is moved by the frame 451 shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 at each position of the gross leak test station 500 and the fine leak test station 600.
It is arranged so as to protrude from the top of the zero. That is, it is provided for each position where the lower capsule plate 400 stops. Lower capsule plate 4
A hole 301 that penetrates the endless transport means 300 is provided at the center of the mounting position of 00. The rod 452 constituting the lifting means is pushed upward through the hole 301, and the lower capsule plate 400 is pushed upward by the rod 452, and is pressed against the upper capsule plate 450.

The rod 452 is connected to the air cylinder 4 shown in FIG.
The driving force of the projection 53 is changed by the link 454 and driven. Reference numeral 455 denotes a switch for detecting that the lower capsule plate 400 is at the raised position, for example. Reference numeral 404 shown in FIG. 5 denotes a spring that applies a downward biasing force to the lower capsule plate 400. Accordingly, when the rod 452 is lowered, the lower capsule plate 400 is returned to the original lowered position by the biasing force of the spring 404. In addition, reference numeral 305 shown in FIG. 6 denotes an index-type rotary driving device for driving the endless transporting means 300 to rotate by 120 degrees.

The upper capsule plate 450 has the lower capsule plate 40
A supply / exhaust port 456 is mounted so as to face the inspection capsules 401A to 401H and the master capsules 402A to 402H formed at zero. This supply / exhaust port 456
The pipe 457 is connected to one air leak tester in the gross leak test station 500. In the fine leak test station 600, each is connected to one helium leak detector through an electromagnetic valve.

FIG. 7 shows a gross leak test station 5
00 and the configuration of each pneumatic circuit and electrical system of the fine leak test station 600. The gross leak test station 500 is provided with eight air leak testers ART1 to ART8 described with reference to FIG. These eight air leak testers ART1 to ART8 are supplied from the pneumatic source 1 to the inspection capsule 401A (similar to other inspection capsules) and the master capsule 402A (similar to other master capsules) through the pipe 457 as described in FIG. An example in which air pressure is applied to change the volumes of the variable volume tanks VT1 and VT2 in a state in which the valves V2 and V3 are closed to apply pressure changes to the inspection capsule 401A and the master capsule 402A.

FIG. 7 shows a case in which the valves V2 and V3 are pneumatic valves, and the valve V7 is controlled to be open, for example, and the valves V2 and V3 are controlled to be closed. Show the case. In the state where the pressure change is given, whether or not there is a leak is determined based on whether or not the differential pressure detector DPS1 detects the differential pressure. 501A to 501H are differential pressure detectors DPS1 provided in each of the air leak testers ART1 to ART8.
Amplifying the detection signal, comparing the amplified output with a reference value, and judging the presence or absence of leakage. Judging device 501A provided in each of air leak testers ART1 to ART8
The determination results of .about.501H are selected one by one by the multiplexer 502 and taken into the controller PC. The controller PC can be constituted by, for example, a personal computer, and performs opening / closing control of the solenoid valves V1, V2, V3, V6, and V7 of each of the air leak testers ART1 to ART8, and capture of the determination results of each of the determination devices 501A to 501H. I do. The air leak testers ART1 to AR are provided in the controller PC.
At each T8, and at 3
A storage device is provided separately for each of the lower capsule plates 400, and the pass / fail determination result is stored in this storage device. Accordingly, each test object W inspected at the gross leak test station 500 is sent to the fine leak test station 600, and the test object W stored in any test capsule is determined to be "leakage" in the gross leak test. You can recognize it.

Fine leak test station 600
Then, each of the inspection capsules 401A to 401H is a solenoid valve 601.
Helium leak detector HEL through A-601H
Connected to T. The helium leak detector HELT has a built-in suction unit, and sucks air from the test capsules 401A to 401H. However, the inspection capsules determined to have “leakage” in the gross leak test station 500 are excluded from the inspection by controlling the solenoid valves 601A to 601H to be in a closed state.

In the helium leak detector HELT, if no helium gas is detected, all the inspected test objects W are determined to be non-defective. When the helium gas is detected, it is determined that the inspection object W inspected at that time has a minute leak. in this case,
As one method, the solenoid valves that are controlled to open the solenoid valves 601A to 601H are sequentially controlled to be in a closed state, and when the detection of helium is lost at the time when the solenoid valves are controlled to be in a closed state, the valve is closed at that time. Corresponding test object has "fine leak"
It is also possible to determine the leaked test object. As another method, it is also possible to determine that all of the test objects W to be inspected at that time are "fine leaked", perform a bombing process again, and perform an inspection again.

The test object W which has completed the gross leak test and the fine leak test is returned to the loader and unloader position A shown in FIG. 1 while being placed on the lower capsule plate 400. The inspection object W returned to the loader and unloader position A is sucked again by the air transport means 800 shown in FIG. The storage section 700 is provided with a storage section 701 for storing "gross leak", a storage section 702 for storing "fine leak", and a storage section 703 for storing "good". Each of these storage sections 701, 702, 703 is sorted and stored.

As a method of sorting the inspection objects W into the respective storage sections 701 to 703 from the aerial transport means 800, the storage section 700 is arranged such that the suction heads 801A to 801H of the aerial transport means 800 are arranged in the arrangement direction. Attached movably in the orthogonal direction (Y-axis direction),
Is moved to the upper part of each of the storage units 701 to 703, the storage unit 700 is moved in the Y-axis direction, and the desired storage unit 7 is moved.
01, 702 or 703 are sequentially positioned below the aerial transport means 800, and the inspected object W is positioned at each position in accordance with each inspection result.
And the whole of the aerial transport means 800 is moved in the Y-axis direction to sort the inspection object W and
To 703, or by supporting the suction heads 801A to 801H of the aerial transport means 800 so that they can be moved separately in the Y-axis direction.
H is moved to sort the inspection object W, and
To 703.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the air leak tester is operated as an original air leak tester using air as the pressurized gas has been described. However, in the second leak inspection method of the present invention, the pressurized gas is changed to helium. Gas and
The present invention proposes a leak inspection method in which helium gas is re-bombed on the inspection object W during a gross leak test.

For this purpose, for example, the pneumatic source 1 shown in FIG. 7 is replaced with a helium gas source 11 as shown in FIG. 8, and helium gas is pressurized and supplied to the test capsule 401A and the master capsule 402A. do it. However, in this case, the solenoid valves V6 and V7 are replaced with three-way solenoid valves as shown in FIG. 8, and these exhaust ports and the exhaust port of the three-way solenoid valve V1 are connected to the recovery device 12, and the gross leak test is performed. At the end point, the helium gas can be recovered to the recovery device 12 through the three-way solenoid valves V1, V6, and V7.

Further, the groove for storing the O-ring 403 formed in the lower capsule plate 400 is formed so that a gap G is formed inside the O-ring 403 as shown in FIG.
The helium gas press-fitted between the O-ring 403 and the groove is quickly released when the upper surface of the lower capsule plate 400 is opened, so that the helium gas does not remain, or the O-ring 403 is connected to the upper capsule plate 450 ( 5 and 6
Reference leak test station 6 with helium gas remaining in the O-ring 403 area.
It is conceivable to configure so as to prevent being carried to 00.

Even if the pressurized gas source in the air leak tester is replaced with the helium gas source 11, the gross leak test is performed normally without any difference from the case of the air pressure. Further, helium gas can be re-bombed on the test object W having a large leak amount during the gross leak test. Therefore, even if the helium gas that has been previously bombed into the test object W having a large amount of leakage has leaked, the helium gas can be re-bombed to the test object W, and the helium gas leaks in the next fine leak test. It can be determined that there is.

Since the re-bombing performed in the gloss leak test is extremely short time of about several seconds, there is no bombing effect on the inspection object W having a small leak amount. Therefore, even if the bombing is performed during the gross leak test, the bombing process before the inspection cannot be omitted.

[0051]

As described above, according to the present invention, the gross leak test and the fine leak test are automatically and continuously executed only by supplying the inspection object W subjected to the bombing process to the component supply means 100. Only the test object determined as “no leakage” in both the gross leak test and the fine leak test is determined to be non-defective, so that the test object determined to be non-defective is a large leak of 1 × 10 ⁻⁵ cc / sec.
Small leak from leak of c or more 1 × 10 ^-8 to 1 × 10 ^-5 c
It can be seen that there is no leakage over a wide area up to c / sec. Therefore, a highly reliable inspection can be performed on the degree of sealing even for a minute component. In addition, since it is fully automated, there is an advantage that two types of inspections can be realized without human intervention.

Further, in the present invention, the inspection object W
Helium gas is blown into the air gap to allow the gas to be sucked into the space, and the bomb-treated test object is detected as having a large leak by a gross leak test. Since the test station 600 adopts an inspection method not to be inspected, the helium leak detector HELT can prevent a large amount of helium gas from being sucked in the fine leak test.

As a result, the helium leak detector HE
A large amount of helium gas is sucked into the LT, the inspection is temporarily suspended, and the helium gas is discharged to the helium leak detector H.
There is no possibility that a situation in which a process such as exhausting from the ELT must be performed occurs, and an advantage that the inspection can be performed efficiently can be obtained. According to the second leak inspection method proposed in claim 7 of the present invention, helium gas is used as the pressurized gas during the air leak test. Rebombing helium gas to the test object even if there is a test object from which helium gas has escaped due to the leak amount smaller than the test range of the leak tester and larger than the test range of the helium leak detector) Can be.

Therefore, by using this second leak inspection method, even if helium gas escapes before the fine leak test is performed because the leak amount is larger than the inspection range of the helium leak detector, the gross by the air leak tester is used. Since helium gas is re-bombed during the leak test, the leakage is determined to be “no leakage” during the gross leak test because it is smaller than the inspection range of the gross leak test. The advantage is obtained that an accident in which a leak test is determined to be “no leakage” can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view for explaining one embodiment of a leakage inspection device that performs a leakage inspection by a first leakage inspection method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view for explaining an example of an aerial transport means used in the leak inspection apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view for explaining an example of an alignment means used in the leak inspection apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view for explaining the structure of a lower capsule plate used in the leakage inspection device shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a front view for explaining an example of an elevating device provided in each test station used in the leak inspection device shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a side view of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a system diagram for explaining a configuration of a pneumatic circuit and an electric system of the leakage inspection device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a system diagram for explaining a second leak inspection method proposed in claim 7 of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged sectional view for explaining the structure of a lower capsule plate used in the second inspection method shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a conventional air leak tester.

FIG. 11 is a view for explaining another example of the conventional air leak tester.

FIG. 12 is a view for explaining an example of an air leak tester capable of inspecting leakage of the volume in a minute gap.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Pneumatic pressure source 11 Helium gas source 100 Component supply means 200 Alignment means 300 Endless transport means 400 Lower capsule plate 500 Gross leak test station 600 Fine leak test station 700 Storage section 800 Air transport means

Claims (8)

[Claims] A gross leak test is performed on the test object subjected to bombing treatment with helium gas by an air leak tester, and then a fine leak test is performed on only the test object determined to have no leakage in the gross leak test by a helium leak detector. And a method for inspecting the leakage of a micro component which determines that the test object determined to be leak-free in both tests is a non-defective product. 2. A. B. component supply means for aligning the mixed test object on the guide and sending it to the discharge port; B. an escape mechanism provided at the discharge port of the component supply means for separating and discharging the inspected objects one by one; A. alignment means for taking in a predetermined posture the inspected objects which are separated and discharged one by one by the escape mechanism; B. an aerial transport device that picks up and transports the inspection object taken into the alignment means; A plurality of inspection capsules which are mounted at equal intervals on the endless transportation means and accommodate one by one each of the plurality of inspection objects transported by the aerial transportation device, and a plurality of inspection capsules are provided adjacent to the inspection capsules to prevent leakage. B. a lower capsule plate having a master capsule for storing the same parts as the inspected object, G. lifting and lowering devices that are provided at a plurality of positions in the transport path of the endless transport means and raise the lower capsule plate each time the lower capsule plate is sent; B. an upper capsule plate that contacts the lower capsule plate raised by the lifting device and seals the test capsule; A pipe that penetrates the upper capsule plate provided in the elevating device that first faces the lower capsule plate mounted on the endless transport means from the position where the test object is loaded, and communicates with the inspection capsule and the master capsule. And I. An air leak tester connected to the pipe; A pipe in which the lower capsule plate is conveyed by the endless conveying means and penetrates the upper capsule plate provided in the second opposing lifting device and communicates with the inspection capsule; A helium leak detector connected to each of the pipes via a solenoid valve; A leak inspection device, comprising: a storage unit that determines and stores a test object whose both test results have no leakage according to the test results of the air leak tester and the helium leak detector as non-defective products. 3. The leak inspection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein
The alignment means is constituted by a rectangular metal plate, and a storage portion formed by a predetermined number of concave grooves is provided along one long side of the metal plate, and an object to be inspected supplied to the storage portion is provided. A leakage inspection apparatus characterized in that the leakage inspection apparatus has a structure in which a restricting means is provided which is held down on one side wall of the concave groove and aligns the storage position. 4. The leak inspection apparatus according to claim 3,
The alignment means is moved by a driving means for driving in a direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the storage unit and in a direction parallel to the arrangement direction, and is moved in the orthogonal direction each time the test object is stored in the storage unit. Later move in the direction parallel to the arrangement direction,
A leak inspection apparatus characterized in that the inspection object is stored in all storage sections by repeating the reverse movement in the orthogonal direction again. 5. The leak inspection apparatus according to claim 2,
A leak test apparatus, wherein the endless transport means comprises a disk-shaped rotary table, and three lower capsule plates are mounted on the rotary table at regular intervals. 6. The leak inspection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein
A leak inspection apparatus, wherein pipes penetrating through the upper capsule plate and communicating with each inspection capsule and the master capsule are connected to one air leak tester. 7. A gross leak test is performed on the test object subjected to bombing treatment with helium gas using an air leak tester using helium gas as a compressed gas source. Then, only the test object determined to have no leakage in the gross leak test is tested. A leak test method for a micro component that performs a fine leak test with a helium leak detector and determines that the test object determined to be non-leak in both tests is non-defective. 8. The leak inspection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein
A leak inspection apparatus characterized in that helium gas is used as a compressed gas for an air leak tester.