JPS63236400A - Holder - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a gripping device for use in an assembly device for setting electronic and/or electrical components onto a substrate, for example a printed circuit board. In particular, the present invention relates to a gripping device used in an assembly device for positioning a component having a pin to be inserted into a hole in a board.

Such an assembly device is described in European Patent Application No. 0183301
, the gripping device is moved in mutually orthogonal X-axis and Y-axis directions, and the component gripped by the gripping device is moved to a position above a predetermined position on a board where the component is to be assembled, Furthermore, Z is perpendicular to the X and Y axes.
In the axial direction, the gripping device is first directed toward the component at the pick-up position, and after completing the required movement in the There is.

More specifically, the present invention includes a pair of grippers,
The present invention relates to a gripping device in which each gripper has a gripper jaw, and at least one gripper is movable relative to the other by means of hydraulic actuation, and is arranged to grip and release a component by opening and closing the jaws. be.

The present invention is intended to be applied to an assembly device capable of handling various electronic and/or electrical components having different dimensions, particularly heights.

When assembling electronic and/or electrical components into a board, a certain force is required to push the pins of the component into the holes in the board. In order to attach the component to the board, if the component is provided with snap-in members, i.e. members that cooperate with holes in the board in a snap-action manner, to push these into engagement with the associated holes. , more force is required. It goes without saying that the force with which the gripper jaws grip the part must be limited to avoid damage to the part. Therefore, if the resistance in inserting a pin of a component into a hole in a board or in engaging a snap-in member with an associated hole in a board is excessive, the above-mentioned limitations will cause the jaws to This results in downward displacement while slipping along the sides. To prevent this, stop means can be provided which can engage the upper side of the part. Known stopper means for this purpose include the gripper shown in FIGS.
It consists of a shoulder provided on the inner surface of the jaw.

Stop means of this type have the disadvantage that they are fixed relative to the gripper jaws and must be designed to be effective for parts of minimum height intended for handling by the gripping device. That is, the stopper means and the gripper
The distance between the jaws and the ends cannot be greater than the height from the bottom to the top of the body of the smallest part. the result,
When gripping larger parts with gripper jaws, the engagement of the jaws on the part should not extend to the bottom of the part body; on the other hand, the pins of the part should be inserted during assembly of the part onto the base. In order to facilitate accurate positioning within the hole, it is desirable to grip the component as low as possible. Another disadvantage of fixedly arranged stopper means is that when picking up parts of different heights the gripping device must be displaced down to different levels to engage the stopper means with the parts; It is difficult to reduce the cost of the entire assembly apparatus in which the gripping device is provided for the control device for program control.

The object of the invention is to propose a gripping device that allows parts of different heights to be handled accurately without the above-mentioned drawbacks.

That is, the present invention provides a gripping device for use in an assembly device for setting electronic and/or electrical components on a substrate.
A pair of grippers are provided, each gripper having a gripper jaw, and at least one gripper is movable relative to the other by means of hydraulic actuation, and is arranged to grip and release a component by opening and closing the jaws. , further comprising stopper means cooperating with a component gripped between the gripper jaws, the stopper means being movable relative to the gripper jaws, and the direction of movement of the stopper means being set in accordance with the assembly. a biasing force that is at least substantially aligned with the Z-axis direction of movement of the gripping device when the gripping device is mounted on the apparatus, and biasing the stopper means into a position of engagement with a component gripped between the gripper jaws; and locking means actuated by hydraulically actuated means and capable of engaging said stopper means to lock said stopper means at any position within its range of movement. be.

Since the locking means is in an inoperative state when the gripping device according to the above-mentioned configuration is displaced in the Z-axis direction, usually in the vertical direction, toward the pick-up position of the part, the stopper means comes into contact with the part at the pick-up position. Even under such conditions, the gripper jaws can be moved downwardly to a predetermined level, at which point the part can be gripped over an area extending to the bottom of the part. Due to the self-adjusting feature of the stop means with respect to the height of the part, the level at which the jaws are intended to grip the part is constant regardless of the height of the part. When the jaws grip a part, or at the moment the jaws close to grip a part, the locking means is actuated to lock the stopper means into engagement with the part so that the part can subsequently be gripped for installation. Bins and snaps of parts are removed as the device is displaced toward the board.
The force required to push the inner member into the hole in the board is
It becomes possible to transmit via the stopper means in the locked state.

GB 1.546.996 describes a manual gripping device having a stopper member movable relative to a pair of gripper elements, which stopper member is different from the stopper means of the present invention. It does not, however, lock into different positions to accommodate parts of different heights. Furthermore, this known device is designed primarily for hand-held single use.

European Patent Application No. 0178167 discloses a pickup in which a part is picked up by a vertically arranged pressure tube and the part is positioned relative to the lower end of the tube by a group of centering arms arranged around the lower end of the tube. The equipment is described. In this device, the vacuum tube can be adjusted in the vertical direction with respect to the centering arm, and is configured to accommodate changes in the size and/or shape of the component. According to this device, the components are simply set on the substrate by cutting off the vacuum.

The parts that the device is intended to handle do not have bottles to be inserted into holes in the substrate, so no force is required for assembly of the parts. Therefore, this vacuum tube does not constitute a stopper means for transmitting force to the component.

A gripping device according to a preferred embodiment of the invention comprises valve means for controlling the hydraulic actuating means for actuating the gripper and the hydraulic actuating means for actuating the locking means. This configuration has the advantage that no additional control signal system is required for initiating actuation of the locking means.

The stopper means can be of extremely simple construction. In one embodiment of the invention, the stop means comprises a rod which is axially movable within the gripping device and is spring-loaded in the direction of abutment against one end of the part gripped between the gripper jaws. In this embodiment, the locking means can be provided with friction elements that can engage the sides of said rod.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments shown in the drawings.

In FIG. 1, a pair of gripper jaws 1 and 2 of a known gripping device are shown in a state of gripping an electronic component 3, and the component 3 is
It includes a main body 4 and a terminal pin 5 projecting downward from the main body 4. Shoulders 6 and 7 are formed on the inner surfaces of the jaws 1 and 2, so that when inserting the component bottle 5 into the hole of the board, the component body 4
Apply the required force to the part by bringing it into contact with the upper side of the part. The part 3 has a low height and therefore the jaw 1.2 is attached to the part body 4.
engages the sides of the holder over an area extending substantially to the bottom. On the other hand, when the same jaw is used to grip a component with a larger height, such as the component 8 shown in FIG. As such, it does not facilitate accurate positioning of the component bin relative to the associated hole in the board during component installation. Furthermore, as is clear from the comparison between Figures 1 and 2, since the pick-up position of the part is at a constant level, the gripping device can move the shoulder of the gripper jaws to the parts bodies at different heights at the pick-up position. It is necessary to descend to a different level in order to make contact with the

The gripping device according to the invention shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 comprises a pair of grippers 9, 10, which grippers are connected to a device for placing electronics and/or electronic components on a substrate, such as in the European patents mentioned above. It is supported in a mount 11 which can be mounted on a device similar to that described in application no. 0183301.

The gripper 9.10 comprises jaws 12.13 having a flat continuous inner surface 14.15 between which a component, for example the component 16 shown in FIG.
It is configured to be gripped on both sides of 7. Inner surface 14.15
The vertical dimension of is such that the inner surfaces 14.degree. 15 can grip the highest component to be handled by the gripping device in the area extending to the bottom of the component body.

Both grippers 9 and 10 are movably supported within the mount 11 so as to be able to move translationally toward and away from each other,
The jaws 12 and 13 can be opened and closed. Instead, one gripper may be fixed within the mount 11, and the other gripper may be movably supported so that it can be moved toward and away from the fixed gripper. In this example, both grippers are movable. Movement of the gripper is effected by any suitable type of hydraulic actuation means, which are known and need not be described in detail. This actuation means is
For example, it can be constituted by at least one single-acting or double-acting piston which is pneumatically, hydraulically or vacuum operated. If at least one single-acting piston is used, each gripper 9°10 (or movable gripper if only one is movable) is moved pneumatically, hydraulically or vacuumally in one direction and returned by a spring in the opposite direction. let Also, if at least one double-acting piston is used, each gripper (or movable gripper) is moved pneumatically, hydraulically or vacuumally in both directions.

A stopper means consisting of a rod 18 is arranged between the gripper jies 12 and 13, and the rod 18 is connected to the mount 11.
It can be slid in the axial direction within the vertical hole 19 inside. As shown in FIG. 4, the lower end surface of the rod 18
It functions as a stopper that cooperates with the upper side of the component body gripped between 3 and 3.

At the upper end of the rod 18 there is provided a flanged head 21 which is slidable within a cylindrical chamber 22 in the mound 11 and which is attached to a shoulder 23 at the lower end of the chamber 22, as shown in FIG. The downward displacement of the rod 18 is limited in cooperation with the above.

A downward force is applied to the rod 18 which causes the lower end of the rod to engage the component gripped between the gripper jaws 12.13. This force can be caused by gravity, but in this example it is generated by a coiled spring 24 placed in a compressed state between the head 21 of the rod 18 and the lower end surface of the plug 25 that closes the upper end of the chamber 22. .

The shoulder 23 is arranged so that when the gripping device is in the pick-up position for picking up parts of the minimum height to be handled,
The rod 18 is positioned such that the lower end surface 20 of the rod 18 is located at a sufficiently low level to engage the upper side of the body of the part.
This limits the downward displacement of the

A friction element 26 is arranged adjacent to the rod 18 and is pivotally connected to one arm 27 of a bellcrank lever, which bellcrank lever 28 is inserted into a recess 30 in the mount 11 by means of a horizontal pin 29. It is centrally supported. Friction element 26 is frictionally engageable with the side surface of rod 18 through an opening in the wall of hole 19. Bell crank lever 28
The other arm 31 of is brought into contact with the lower end of the piston 32,
This piston 32 is vertically slidable within a cylindrical chamber 33 of the mount 11. The hydraulic actuation means for actuating the grippers 9, 10 are such that the grippers are moved by compressed air to close the jaws 12,13 and moved by at least one spring to open the jaws. In this case, duct 3 is installed in mount 11.
4 to allow compressed air to be introduced into the upper end of the chamber 33 to allow the piston 32 to move downward, and to open the chamber 33 to the atmosphere at the lower end and to displace the piston 32 upward. Ru. The spring 35 connects the arm 31 of the bellcrank lever 28 to the piston 3.
2 and exerts a function of exerting a spring force on the piston 32 via the arm 31. The upper end of the chamber 33 is controlled by the grippers 9 and 1 by an appropriate control valve (not shown).
The compressed air source of the fluid pressure actuating means used to operate the air conditioner o can be selectively connected to the atmosphere. For this purpose, a control valve can be conveniently used to control the operation of the gripper. When compressed air is introduced from the upper end of the chamber 33, the piston 32 is displaced downward from the upper end position shown in FIG. 3, and the lever 28 is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. 3 against the spring force of the spring 35. As a result, the friction element 26 engages the port 18, as shown in FIG. 4, and prevents movement of the rod within the hole 19. This corresponds to the operating state of the locking device. On the other hand, when the upper end of the chamber 33 is again communicated with the atmosphere, the spring 35 rotates the lever 28 clockwise, releasing the friction element 26 from the rod 18 and displacing the piston 32 back to the upper end position within the chamber 33. . This corresponds to the inoperative position of the locking device.

When the gripping device is displaced downward into the pick-up position, the locking device is in the inoperative state shown in FIG. 3, and the rod 18 is freely slidable in the hole 19.

Therefore, although the displacement of the rod is limited when the lower end of the rod comes into contact with the part at the pick-up position, the gripper jaws 12. Continue downward displacement. closing the gripper jaws 12.13 in the pick-up position to grip the body of the part and at the same time actuating the locking device if the actuation of the locking device is controlled by a valve controlling the actuation of the grippers 9,10;
Friction element 26 is engaged with rod 18 to lock the rod in abutment position with the component shown in FIG. Set the device horizontally
After positioning the component on the board by moving it in the axial and Y-axis directions, the gripping device is moved towards the board to mount the part in position, during which movement the pins of the part are moved into the associated holes in the board. The force required to push the part into place is applied to the part via the rod 18 in the locked position. moreover,
The gripper jaws 12,13 are opened to release the part and the locking device is displaced back to the inoperative position to release the rod 18.

Instead of having the jaws 12,13 closed with compressed air and opened with a spring as in the example described above, the gripper 9 has an arrangement in which the jaws are closed with a spring and opened with compressed air,
10, the piston 32, chamber 33 and spring 35 can be modified in such a way that the friction element 26 of the locking device is actuated by the spring and released by compressed air. Furthermore, if the gripper is of the vacuum or hydraulic type, the locking device can also be of the vacuum or hydraulic type.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 are schematic diagrams of a known gripping device comprising a pair of gripper jaws having fixed stop means in the form of shoulders on the inner surface, and FIGS. 3 and 4 show a preferred embodiment of the invention. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the main parts of the gripping device according to the embodiment in an activated position and a non-activated position of the locking device, respectively. 3.8...Electronic component, 4...Component body, 5...Terminal bin, 9.10...Gripper, II...Mount, 12.13...Jaw, 14.15... Inside, 1
8... Rod, 19... Vertical hole, 21... Head, 22... Chamber, 23... Shoulder, 24.35... Spring, 25... Plug, 26...・
Friction element, 27. 31... Arm, 28... Bell crank lever, 29... Bin, 30... Recess, 3
2... Piston, 33... Chamber, 34... Duct. Fig, 2゜1V Fig, 4゜

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A gripping device for use in an assembly device for setting electronic and/or electrical components on a substrate, comprising a pair of grippers, each gripper having a gripper jaw, and at least one gripper applying fluid pressure to the other. The gripper is movable by actuating means and arranged to grip and release a part by opening and closing the jaws, further comprising stop means for cooperating with the part gripped between the gripper jaws, the stopper means is movable relative to the gripper jaws, and the direction of movement thereof is at least substantially coincident with the z-axis direction of movement of the gripping device when the gripping device is mounted on the assembly device;
biasing means for biasing said stopper means into a position of engagement with a component gripped between said gripper jaws; and biasing means actuated by hydraulically actuated means and engaging said stopper means; A gripping device comprising a locking means capable of locking the gripping device at any position within its movement range. 2. A gripping device according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises valve means for controlling the hydraulic actuating means for actuating the gripper and the hydraulic actuating means for actuating the locking means. gripping device. 3. 3. A gripping device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the stop means is axially movable within the gripping device and is spring-loaded into abutment with one end of a part gripped between the gripper jaws. A gripping device comprising a rod. 4. 4. A gripping device according to claim 3, characterized in that said locking means comprises a friction element engageable with a side surface of said rod.