Abstract: This pick and place device and method for arranging components on a printed circuit board utilizes a placement head having an articulated, compliant tip for facilitating proper alignment of the component lead plane on the substrate, for example, in a fine pitch component placement machine where extreme accuracy must be achieved in matching the component leads to the circuit land pattern. In general, the articulating tip is fitted within a cavity or opening in the lower end of a spindle. Compressed air may be introduced into the cavity generating an air bearing, thus causing the articulating tip to comply with the upper surface of the component, or else the weight of the tip itself can be used to create the desired compliance. A vacuum force is then created within said opening sufficient to pick-up the component once the compressed air has been turned off. Various configurations of the articulating tip and various methods of air and/or vacuum application are provided.

Abstract: The invention comprises an extended input system by which additional component supply stations are located out of reach of the pick and place heads of a machine for handling surface mountable components and are selectively addressable by a supply shuttle which fetches individual components and delivers each component selectively to a test pocket or a utility pocket of a transfer assembly, from which the components are retrievable by a pick and place head of the onserter. In a preferred embodiment, the transfer assembly provides a second shuttle on which the utility and test pockets are mounted for movement back and forth between the supply shuttle unload station to a pick-up station of the head, and the component testing occurs during transit of the transfer shuttle.

Abstract: A feeder mechanism for a pick-and-place machine with an adjustable shutter mechanism is disclosed. The components are contained within pockets formed in a reeled tape. The shutter mechanism includes a pair of spring blades that cover the pocket, but are spread apart by the vacuum tip when the spindle is lowered. In this way, the shutter can maintain the component in the proper position for pick-up while allowing the vacuum spindle to access the component, which, in turn, maintains proper attitude of component while the blades are retracted.

Abstract: Advanced digital motion control is a multi-axis incremental position control system which includes a digital processor and memory, servo motor actuator with tachometer feedback, velocity servo power amplifier, position feedback device, position feedback signal converter, and digital to analog converter. The processor provides digital time reference feedback control of motion profiling and positioning of the mechanical load for multi-axis simultaneously without sacrificing update feedback rate control. The read time code execution time is compact and speed efficient optimizing control of multi-axis high speed/high accuracy servo systems in a space and cost effective method.

Abstract: The device flips substrates or passes them through without flipping, selectively, and the substrate can enter either end and exit either end of the device, as desired depending on how it is assembled. The spacing between channels which restrain opposite edges of the substrate is adjustable so as to accommodate different widths. The channels are separate from, but cooperable with, feed wheels which extend into the channels and engage the board when the channels are not moved out of alignment with the feed plane, e.g., when the flipping action is not taking place. During flipping, one end of each channel is raised above the feed plane, while the other end is moved substantially parallel to the feed plane so as to eliminate interference with an undercarriage or anything else below the feed plane of the device.

Abstract: A linear axis (cantilevered beam) is longitudinally displaceable relative to its support which, in turn, is displaceable laterally along an overhead frame so as to provide X-Y positioning for pick and place spindles and similar tools which are attached to the beam. A particular structural combination for accomplishing this involves a low inertia servomotor driving a speed reducer which, in turn, directly drives a short endless timing belt which, in turn, intermeshes with and drives a toothed rack in order to provide reliable, with zero backlash, high accuracy X-Y positioning of the tools. Features of the structural arrangement allow the use of component parts requiring much less precision, and thus much less cost, of manufacture than prior art, zero backlash, linear axis positioning systems.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a feeder cassette for feeding electronic components into a component processing unit. The cassette includes an assembly body having a plurality of slots formed on opposing interior sides thereof to form channels within the assembly body. The channels are designed to receive a plurality of components therein, preferably in pre-packed flat tubes. A leaf spring having a button projecting from the distal end of each of the fingers of the leaf spring permits only the components from a desired "activated" channel to be released. The cassette is indexed forwardly until all of the components have been released from each of the channels sequentially. The buttons of the spring fingers also serve to hold the components within the cassette if the cassette is withdrawn from the feeder unit at any time prior to fully emptying the tubes.

Abstract: The present device is directed to a nozzle tip for the head of a pick and place device for arranging electronic components as desired on a substrate. The tip permits both first and second vacuum areas to be selectively generated, thus facilitating the pick-up of components of widely varying sizes and shapes with a single tip.

Abstract: A cassette-like supply and peel assembly of a tape feeder, comprising the support and guide for an electrical component supply tape and the mechanism for peeling a cover from the tape, is removably interconnectable with a drive assembly which provides motive power to the peeler and stepwise feeding of the tape. The length of the feeding steps is adjustable according to the center-to-center distances between components, which can vary from tape to tape. An operator can adjust the step length from the rear of the feeder by varying one limit of a stroking length of the feeder.

Abstract: A turret assembly is movable in X and Y and a turret of the assembly is rotatable to position a selected one of a plurality of spindles at a transfer station of the turret. The selected spindle is telescopic to pick a component from a supply point and to place the component at a placement point on a circuit board or the like. An assembly for squaring, centering, orienting, and/or testing a component being held by another spindle of the turret is actuated generally concurrently with extending of the selected spindle. Alternatively, the spindle at the transfer station may be retained in the retracted position during actuation of the squaring assembly. Much time is saved by loading components on the plurality of the spindles of the turret at one or more supply stations and then placing all of these components without the need for transferring back and forth between the supply and P.C. board.

Abstract: A top cover is peeled from a component supply tape by passing the cover around a guide surface and in a peeling direction generally reverse to the feeding direction of the supply tape while moving the guide surface in the peeling direction in order to minimize the tension necessary to accomplish the peeling.

Abstract: An adjustable width chain conveyor is disclosed. The conveyor includes angled supports having inclined slide portions on which the chain can slide inwardly or outwardly to accommodate variations in the effective width of products or to compensate for misalignment of conveyor components as the conveyor wears, beyond the tolerance permitted by the product support surface area. A cover is provided to prevent the chain from tipping off of the conveyor.

Abstract: A component supply tape is stepped to present each pocket at a component pick-up area, and a top cover of the tape is peeled back so that each pocket is opened in turn. A shutter is positioned over the pick-up area prior to tape movement so that the pocket is covered by the shutter as the top cover is peeled from the substrate. After each indexing step, the shutter is actuated to uncover the opened pocket which is situated at the pick-up area for retrieval by the vacuum nozzle of a pick-and-place head. By the improved method and apparatus of the instant invention, the pick and place head is provided with a finger for opening the shutter of the feeder while the vacuum nozzle is advanced along a normal to the pick-up surface of the component, so as to minimize the period of time that the component is uncovered.

Abstract: Presence, absence, and adequacy of length of component leads are detectable by engaging each lead with a corresponding interposer and monitoring the amount of displacement of each interposer or plunger in response to the lead. Each plunger is provided with an optic fiber for guiding and directing a light beam from a transmitter to a receiver of a sensor when a lead is missing or too short. The lead engaging portion of the plunger is interchangeable to accommodate different lengths of leads and heights of cut and clinch anvils. For DIP components, each half of the inventive device receives all of the leads on one side of the component, with an individual piston for each lead. Thus, mirror image devices may be used for oppositely spaced rows of leads of a DIP, with the spacing between the mirrored halves of the device being adjustable according to the center-to-center (CTC) spacing between leads on opposite sides of the component body.

Abstract: The invention is directed to a method and apparatus for providing an auxiliary feedback of the position of a pick and place spindle during multi-image repositioning of the spindle at the inspection station, wherein the auxiliary feedback is sufficiently precise to meet lead inspection requirements which are not met by the existing encoder. The auxiliary feedback is achieved by attaching a mapping plate with very accurately spaced reference marks onto the pick and place head and by mounting a second sufficiently precise camera adjacent the inspection station so that at least one reference mark or fiducial of the mapping plate is always in the field of view of the second camera while the component is at the inspection station.

Abstract: The present invention involves a method and apparatus for sequencing leadless and leaded surface mountable components, feeding them directly from a sequencer to chip placement heads, and placing them at selected locations on a circuit board. The chip carriers of an endless chain conveyor carry each component of the sequence of components to a chip placement head. Direct supply from a sequencer having the chip carriers and a series of individual programmably controlled dispenser heads provides for quick and flexible variation of the input sequence without manual intervention. A plurality of the chip placement heads are mounted on a turret assembly to facilitate continuous unloading of the chip carriers and orienting, centering, and squaring of the components prior to placement on a circuit board.

Abstract: The invention involves non-contact sensing of a selected location on a substrate at which material is to be deposited, and positioning of a material depositing tip a preferred distance from this location on the substrate according to such sensing and in preparation for the depositing. Preferably, the tip is advanced to a preferred spacing between it and the substrate, without overshooting the spacing and without contacting the substrate, in preparation for depositing.

Abstract: In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, solder masking material is pressurized by means of a fluid pump to approximately 250 psi and high speed valve is used to turn the flow on and off rapidly in order that small "shots" of fluid are propelled from a tip, through the air, to selected portions of a circuit board. The selected areas of the circuit board to be masked are situated oppositely from the tip , as by a XY positioning system for the tip and/or the circuit board. The drops of masking material, which form upon impinging of the shots onto the circuit board, may be varied in volume and diameter. Where needed, a continuous bead of masking material may be formed on the circuit board by spacing the dots sufficiently close together.

Abstract: Electronic components, such as resistors with bodies of different lengths and axially protruding leads, are fed along a feed path and between a pair of rotating members. Each rotating member has fingers that are flexed away from the feed path for reception of the component bodies between cooperating fingers of the rotating members, after which these fingers close onto the bodies to center them on the feed path.An opposed pair of the flexible fingers, one from each rotating member, retain each component in a centered condition along the feed path until corresponding leads of consecutive components are taped together at a subsequent taping station to form a ladder-like belt of components.

Abstract: The invention is directed to a method and apparatus for handling a component having a body and one or more members protruding therefrom, such that the protruding members are put in proper, mating registration with corresponding holes of a substrate or the like. The components are handled during transport and insertion by gripping of the bodies thereof, and the method and apparatus of the invention compensates for any offset in X, Y, and .theta. between the profile of the body and a particular pattern or location of the protruding members relative to the profile of the body.