Surface mount assembly system with integral label feeder

Abstract

The present invention is a method and apparatus conveying a roll of liner stock bearing removably adhered components such as labels. The liner is pulled through the feeder by a capstan drive having opposed fluted nip rollers driven by a stepper motor. Advance of the stepper motor is controlled by a programmable electronic controller. The linered labels are led through a tensioner and around an acute-angle peeler edge which separates the labels from the liner. The peeling action advances a label onto a platform comprising a bed of rollers having an inherently low-adherence surface. Preferably the rollers are undercut to form circumferential ridges and reduce the surface area in contact with the label adhesive and to minimize adherence thereto. When peeling of a label is completed, the label has been advanced onto the roller bed to precisely the proper location for acquisition by a pick-and-place machine. The presence of a label on the platform is confirmed by a sensor that signals the controller to stop further liner advance. The signal also serves to reset the feeder for advance of the next label after the first label is picked from the roller bed.

Description

[0001] This application is a continuation of, and claims priority from, U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 722,619 filed, Nov. 26, 2003, now allowed, Which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09 / 550,030, filed Apr. 14, 2000, which is continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09 / 028,790 filed on Feb. 24, 1998, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. [0002] This invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for feeding adhesive-backed components in a surface mount assembly system. More particularly, the invention is an apparatus and method for peeling and feeding labels and other thin components, including automatically peeling labels and similar components from liner stock and presenting them sequentially on a non-adherable platform for acquisition, on a non-adhesive side by a vacuum-operated, pick-and-place robotic head. [0003] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. T...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, as will be appreciated, such additional steps are costly either in direct labor or as capital investments for automation.

A conventional tape feeder machine is neither suited nor adaptable to providing peeled labels ready for picking because a) it is not capable of peeling such a label from a continuous backing liner, b) a peeled label in presentation position for acquisition by a pick-and-place machine will adhere unacceptably to the tape, and c) the label must be positioned in a close-tolerance, consistent manner in order to allow for accurate retrieval and placement by the pick and place machine in the same manner as components are retrieved and placed.

Further, commonly available linered label stock is not perforated and thus cannot be advanced incrementally and reliably if simply substituted for the tape in a tape feeder machine.

Peeled labels may exhibit substantial curl, and thus the spatial location of such a label may not be precisely controlled.

Known lips of linered label printers, therefore, are inherently inadequate to meet the high-tolerance label positioning requirements of an automatic pick-and-place machine.

The techniques make it unnecessary to have manual label application or a dedicated label-feeding station.

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