Flexible rotary magazine device and method of operation thereof

Abstract

A flexible rotary material taking disc device and its working method, which relates to electronic component mounting, is arranged on a material receiving machine and cooperates with a material disc rack on a chip mounter, comprising a rack, the bottom of the rack is mounted on an AGV trolley, the lower part of the rack is provided with a flexible rotary picking rod and a picking rod driving mechanism for driving the flexible rotary picking rod to pick up the material disc, the flexible rotary picking rod extends to below the material disc of the material disc rack on the chip mounter, the upper part of the picking rod driving mechanism is vertically provided with a flexible deflection shaft, the flexible deflection shaft is freely axially rotated, the outer side of the flexible deflection shaft is provided with a flexible deflection rod, one end of the flexible deflection rod is fixed with the flexible deflection shaft, the other end extends to the flexible rotary picking rod, the flexible deflection rod is fixedly connected with the picking rod driving mechanism, and a matched working method is used to accurately and quickly take out the material disc on the material disc rack and place it on the material loading machine through the steps of trolley fixed-point parking, picking rod receiving, picking rod hooking and material disc positioning, so that the processing efficiency is high and the automation degree is high.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the field of surface mount technology, and particularly relates to the surface mount technology of electronic components. Specifically, it relates to a device and process for moving a tray from a tray rack to a receiving machine. Background Technology

[0002] Carrier tape is a strip-shaped product used in electronic component mounting. It has a specific thickness and features evenly spaced cavities for holding electronic components and positioning holes for indexing. After production, carrier tape is stored and transported wrapped around trays. These trays are typically stored in tray racks when not in use. The tray racks include a base plate and side plates, with open sides for easy storage and retrieval of trays. Trays are stored vertically, and adjacent trays are separated by flexible partitions. The tray racks are arranged side-by-side. During storage and retrieval, an AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) carrying a receiving machine stops at a designated point. A flexible rotating tray-retrieving device extends into the tray rack track to retrieve the tray into the equipment. After receiving the tray, a feeding lever returns it to the tray rack.

[0003] In the past, conventional technology involved AGVs transporting pallet racks to the loading machine, where workers manually removed the pallets and placed them in their corresponding positions on the machine. This manual operation suffered from poor stability and low efficiency, increasingly failing to meet demands. Later, a pallet-retrieving device was introduced to remove the pallets from the racks and move them to their designated positions on the loading machine. However, this approach has several drawbacks. First, the AGV's positioning may not perfectly align with the pallet-retrieving device. Second, even with high tracking accuracy, the pallets may not be centered on the rack. These issues significantly complicate the pallet-retrieving operation, hindering the accurate and rapid removal of pallets from the racks and their placement on the loading machine. Summary of the Invention

[0004] To address the shortcomings of existing technologies, this invention proposes a flexible rotating material handling device and its working method, which accurately and quickly removes the material tray from the material tray rack and places it on the loading machine.

[0005] The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is achieved through the following technical solution:

[0006] A flexible rotating material picker device is installed on a receiving machine and cooperates with a material tray rack on a pick-and-place machine. The device includes a frame, the bottom of which is mounted on an AGV trolley. A flexible rotating picker and a picker drive mechanism are provided at the lower part of the frame. The flexible rotating picker extends below the material tray on the pick-and-place machine's material tray rack. A flexible sway shaft is vertically installed above the picker drive mechanism, allowing free axial rotation. A flexible sway rod is installed outside the flexible sway shaft, with one end fixed to the sway shaft and the other end extending towards the flexible rotating picker. The flexible sway rod is fixedly connected to the picker drive mechanism.

[0007] In this invention, the boom drive mechanism includes a horizontally arranged guide rail and a guide rod. The guide rail is fixedly arranged on the lower side of the flexible deflector rod. The guide rod is driven by a power source and moves freely horizontally within the guide rail. One end of the guide rod is configured as a driven rack, with the teeth of the driven rack located on its upper side. Correspondingly, the proximal end of the flexible rotating boom is provided with a driven gear that meshes with the driven rack. The driven gear is mounted on the flexible deflector rod through a gear shaft. The rotation of the flexible rotating boom is driven by the cooperation between the driven rack and the driven gear.

[0008] Furthermore, the rotation angle of the flexible rotating boom is 0°-130°.

[0009] Furthermore, the power source is a lever-driven stepper motor, on which a drive gear is fixedly mounted. The other end of the guide rod is configured as a drive rack, which meshes with the drive gear. The lever-driven stepper motor is positioned below the flexible yaw shaft and swings synchronously with the flexible yaw rod.

[0010] Furthermore, the near end of the flexible rotating rod is provided with a rod deflector, one end of which is integrated with the driven gear, and the other end is provided with a rod deflector shaft. The end of the flexible rotating rod is sleeved on the rod deflector shaft and swings freely horizontally.

[0011] Furthermore, the connection between the flexible sway bar and the flexible rotating lever is configured as a groove, including two extensions extending outward along the sides on the left and right sides. The driven gear is located between the two extensions, and the two ends of the driven gear shaft are respectively connected to the two extensions. The proximal end of the flexible rotating lever is located between the two extensions, and the extensions constrain the swing angle of the flexible rotating lever.

[0012] In this invention, the far end of the flexible rotating lifting rod is also provided with a conical stop, which makes it easy to center the material tray when the tray is lifted and fall into the tray track, and can also effectively prevent the tray from rolling back and falling.

[0013] In this invention, a tray limiting mechanism is provided above the lifting rod driving mechanism, including two tray positioning plates. The two tray positioning plates are fixedly connected to the deflector rod fixing member and the flexible deflector rod, and are arranged in a V-shape with the opening facing obliquely upward, consistent with the opening direction of the receiving machine. After the tray enters the receiving machine, it is constrained by the two tray positioning plates and rolls to the working position of the receiving machine.

[0014] In this invention, the receiving machine is equipped with a material tray lever, which is located inside the material tray receiving position of the receiving machine. The material tray lever rotates around its upper end, and a material tray lever drive cylinder is hinged to the upper end of the material tray lever. The rotation of the material tray lever is driven by the extension and retraction of the material tray lever drive cylinder.

[0015] The flexible rotary feeding disc device based on the above structure operates by the following steps:

[0016] S1: AGV trolley fixed-point stop: The AGV trolley carrying the receiving machine stops at the corresponding material rack track position of the chip mounter that needs to receive materials, according to the design of the central control machine.

[0017] S2: Cantilever support: The flexible rotating cantilever extends into the material tray inside the tray frame. At this time, with the support of the cantilever swing shaft and the swing shaft, the flexible rotating cantilever adapts to the position of the material tray, so that the flexible rotating cantilever extends into the carrier track at the bottom of the material tray inside the tray frame.

[0018] S3: Hooking up the pick: The pick drive stepper motor drives the active rack, which drives the guide rod away from the pick drive stepper motor, causing the driven rack to drive the driven gear to rotate, which in turn drives the flexible rotating pick and the pick deflector to rotate upward, picking up the tray in the tray rack of the pick and place machine, so that it rolls or slides along the flexible rotating pick towards the tray rack;

[0019] S4: Material tray in place: As the flexible rotating boom rotates, the material tray moves toward the receiving machine. When the flexible rotating boom rotates to nearly 90°, the material tray slides into the material tray positioning plate of the receiving machine.

[0020] S5: Tray Storage: After receiving the material, the flexible rotating pick-up bar extends into the corresponding track inside the tray frame again. The pick-up bar drives the stepper motor to drive the active rack, which in turn drives the guide rod to retract. The driven rack drives the driven gear to rotate, which in turn drives the flexible rotating pick-up bar to rotate and fall down. The tray is sent out by the feeding lever and moves along the flexible rotating pick-up bar into the tray frame.

[0021] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following advantages:

[0022] The flexible rotating boom and the oscillating shaft of this application work together to effectively improve the range of the flexible rotating boom in capturing the material tray, and can to a certain extent ignore the deviation caused by the AGV car's parking accuracy and the position and angle deviation of the material tray on the material rack.

[0023] The overall structure of this application swings horizontally around the yaw axis, which allows the application to neutralize and accommodate deviations while constraining the range of motion of the overall structure and maintaining its stability.

[0024] This application places the heavy power source directly below the yaw shaft, reducing the weight burden on the freely swinging flexible rotating boom and flexible yaw rod, improving their sensitivity to free swing, enabling them to react promptly when recognizing the material tray, and also improving the service life of the structure.

[0025] The flexible rotating boom of this application is provided with a boom deflector at its near end. While driving the flexible rotating boom to swing horizontally, the boom deflector also constrains the swing range through the two extensions of the flexible deflector, thereby improving the stability of the boom deflector shaft when it drives the flexible rotating boom and the material tray to lift, reducing wear, and increasing service life.

[0026] The working method of this application is carried out automatically or based on certain feedback conditions, with a high degree of unmanned and automated operation.

[0027] Therefore, this invention has a novel concept and ingenious design, accurately and quickly removing the material trays from the tray rack and placing them on the loading machine, resulting in high processing efficiency and a high degree of automation. Attached Figure Description

[0028] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention;

[0029] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the flexible yaw shaft structure of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the connection structure between the flexible rotating boom and the flexible swaying boom of the present invention;

[0031] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the state before the flexible rotating lever of the present invention hooks up the material tray;

[0032] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the state after the flexible rotating lever of the present invention hooks up the material tray.

[0033] In the diagram: 1. Receiving machine; 2. Placement machine; 3. Tray frame; 4. Tray; 5. Flexible yaw shaft; 6. Yaw shaft fixing component; 7. Yaw rod limiting component; 8. Yaw rod fixing component; 9. Flexible yaw rod; 10. Picking rod drive stepper motor; 11. Drive gear; 12. Drive rack; 13. Guide rod; 14. Guide rail; 15. Driven rack; 16. Driven gear; 17. Picking rod yaw component; 18. Picking rod yaw shaft; 19. Flexible rotating picking rod; 20. Extension; 21. Frame; 22. Feeding lever; 23. Feeding lever drive cylinder; 24. Conical stop. Implementation

[0034] The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific preferred embodiments, but this does not limit the scope of protection of the present invention. Example

[0035] A flexible rotating material receiving disc device is installed on the receiving machine 1, such as... Figure 1 As shown, the tray rack 3, which cooperates with the material receiving tray 4 on the pick-and-place machine 2, includes a frame 21. A flexible rotating boom 19 and a boom drive mechanism are provided at the lower part of the frame 21. A flexible yaw shaft 5 is provided above the boom drive mechanism. Figure 2 In the middle, the flexible yaw shaft 5 is vertically set, and bearings are sleeved at both ends. The outer ring of the bearing is fixed to the yaw shaft fixing part 6. The yaw shaft fixing part 6 is fixedly connected to the frame 21. The middle part of the flexible yaw shaft 5 is connected to the yaw rod fixing part 8. One end of the yaw rod fixing part 8 is fixedly connected to the flexible yaw shaft 5, so that the yaw rod fixing part 8 can swing freely in the horizontal direction with the flexible yaw shaft 5 as the center. The other end of the yaw rod fixing part 8 is connected to the flexible yaw rod 9. The two sides of the yaw rod fixing part 8 are respectively provided with yaw rod limiting parts 7. The yaw rod limiting parts 7 are respectively fixedly set on both sides of the yaw shaft fixing part 6 to constrain the horizontal swing angle of the yaw rod fixing part 8.

[0036] The lever drive mechanism includes a horizontally arranged guide rail 14 and a guide rod 13. The guide rail 14 is fixedly arranged on the lower side of the flexible sway bar 9. One end of the guide rod 13 is set as an active rack 12, with the teeth of the active rack 12 located on its lower side. Correspondingly, a lever drive stepper motor 10 is arranged below the flexible sway bar 5. The lever drive stepper motor 10 is fixedly connected to the sway bar fixing member 8 and swings freely in the horizontal direction. An active gear 11 is fixedly arranged on the motor shaft of the lever drive stepper motor 10, and the active gear 11 meshes with the active rack 12.

[0037] The other end of the guide rod 13 is configured as a driven rack 15, with the teeth of the driven rack 15 located on its upper side. Figure 3In the design, a flexible sway bar 9 is horizontally positioned, with its proximal end fixedly connected to a sway bar fixing member 8. The distal end of the flexible sway bar 9 is groove-shaped, including two extensions 20 extending outward along the sides. A driven gear 16 meshing with a driven rack 15 is provided between the two extensions 20. The two ends of the gear shaft of the driven gear 16 are respectively connected to the two extensions 20. A sway bar 17 is integrally formed with the driven gear 16. One end of the sway bar 17 is set as the driven gear 16, with teeth on the driven gear 16 distributed from 0° to 130°, so that the rotation angle of the driven gear 16 is 0° to 130°. The other end of the sway bar 17 is provided with a sway bar pivot shaft 18. The proximal end of the flexible rotating sway bar 19 is sleeved on the sway bar pivot shaft 18 and swings freely horizontally. Its end head is located between the two extensions 20, and the extensions 20 constrain the swing angle of the flexible rotating sway bar 19. A conical stop 24 is also provided at the far end of the flexible rotating boom 19.

[0038] The receiving machine is equipped with a material tray lever 22, which is located inside the receiving machine where the material tray 4 is received. The material tray lever 22 rotates around its upper end. The upper end of the material tray lever 22 is hinged to a material tray lever drive cylinder 23. The rotation of the material tray lever 22 is driven by the extension and retraction of the material tray lever drive cylinder 23. When the material tray lever drive cylinder 23 retracts, it drives the material tray lever 22 to rotate around its upper end, thereby pushing the material tray 4 outward. Example

[0039] A flexible rotating material receiving tray device is installed on a receiving machine 1 and cooperates with the material tray frame 3 of the receiving tray 4 on a pick-and-place machine 2. It includes a frame 21, with a flexible rotating lifting rod 19 and a lifting rod drive mechanism at the lower part of the frame 21. A flexible swaying shaft 5 is installed above the lifting rod drive mechanism. The flexible swaying shaft 5 is vertically arranged, with bearings sleeved at both ends. The outer rings of the bearings are fixed to a swaying shaft fixing member 6. The swaying shaft fixing member 6 is fixedly connected to the frame 21. A swaying rod fixing member 8 is connected to the middle of the flexible swaying shaft 5. One end of the swaying rod fixing member 8 is fixedly connected to the flexible swaying shaft 5, allowing the swaying rod fixing member 8 to swing freely horizontally around the flexible swaying shaft 5. The other end of the swaying rod fixing member 8 is connected to a flexible swaying rod 9. Swaying rod limiting members 7 are respectively provided on both sides of the swaying rod fixing member 8, and are fixedly installed on both sides of the swaying shaft fixing member 6 to constrain the horizontal swing angle of the swaying rod fixing member 8.

[0040] Unlike Embodiment 1, a tray limiting mechanism is provided above the lifting rod drive mechanism, including two tray positioning plates. The two tray positioning plates are fixedly connected to the eccentric rod fixing member 8 and the flexible eccentric rod 9, arranged in a V-shape, with the opening facing obliquely upward, consistent with the opening direction of the receiving machine 1. After the tray 4 enters the receiving machine 1, it is constrained by the two tray positioning plates and rolls to the working position of the receiving machine 1. Example

[0041] A flexible rotating pick-up tray device is installed on a receiving machine 1 and cooperates with the tray frame 3 of the receiving tray 4 on a pick-and-place machine 2. It includes a frame 21, and a flexible rotating pick-up rod 19 and a flexible deflecting rod 9 are provided at the lower part of the frame 21. The distal end of the flexible deflecting rod 9 is configured as a groove and includes two extensions 20 extending outward along the sides. Unlike embodiment 1, the two extensions 20 are extended outward at a certain angle. A driven gear 16 is provided in the two extensions 20. The two ends of the gear shaft of the driven gear 16 are respectively connected to the two extensions 20. The proximal end of the flexible rotating pick-up rod 19 is integrated with the driven gear 16. Example

[0042] A method for operating a flexible rotary material handling device, based on the flexible rotary material handling device described in Embodiment 1, specifically includes the following steps:

[0043] S1: AGV trolley fixed-point stop: The AGV trolley carrying the receiving machine stops at the corresponding material rack track position of the chip mounter that needs to receive materials, according to the design of the central control machine.

[0044] S2: Hook Support: The flexible rotating hook 19 extends into the material tray 4 inside the material tray frame 3. At this time, supported by the hook yaw shaft 18 and the yaw shaft, the flexible rotating hook 19 adapts to the position of the material tray 4, so that the flexible rotating hook 19 extends into the carrier track below the material tray 4 inside the material tray frame 3, such as... Figure 4 As shown;

[0045] S3: Hooking up the pick: The pick drive stepper motor 10 drives the active rack 12, which drives the guide rod 13 away from the pick drive stepper motor 10, so that the driven rack 15 drives the driven gear 16 to rotate, which in turn drives the flexible rotating pick 19 and the pick 17 to rotate upward, picking up the material tray 4 in the material tray frame 3 of the pick and place machine 2, so that it rolls or slides along the flexible rotating pick 19 towards the material tray frame 3;

[0046] S4: Material tray 4 in place: As the flexible rotating boom 19 rotates, the material tray 4 moves toward the receiving machine 1. When the flexible rotating boom 19 rotates to nearly 90°, the material tray 4 slides into the material tray positioning plate of the receiving machine.

[0047] S5: Material tray 4 storage: After receiving the material, the flexible rotating pick rod 19 extends into the corresponding track in the material tray frame 3 again. The pick rod drives the stepper motor 10 to drive the active rack 12, which drives the guide rod 13 to retract. The driven rack 15 drives the driven gear 16 to rotate, which in turn drives the flexible rotating pick rod 19 to rotate and fall. The material tray 4 is sent out by the feeding lever 22 and moves along the flexible rotating pick rod 19 into the material tray frame 3.

[0048] In summary, based on the above structure and working process, it can be seen that the flexible rotating material picking device and its working method described in this invention are novel in concept and ingenious in design. They accurately and quickly pick up the material trays from the tray rack and place them on the loading machine, resulting in high processing efficiency and a high degree of automation.

Claims

1. A flexible rotary material handling device, characterized in that... : Installed on the receiving machine and cooperating with the tray rack for receiving trays on the pick-and-place machine, including a frame, with a flexible rotating lifting rod and a lifting rod drive mechanism at the lower part of the frame. The flexible rotating lifting rod extends to the bottom of the tray on the tray rack of the pick-and-place machine. A flexible yaw shaft is vertically installed above the lifting rod drive mechanism. The flexible yaw shaft can rotate freely axially. A flexible yaw rod is installed on the outside of the flexible yaw shaft. One end of the flexible yaw rod is fixed to the flexible yaw shaft, and the other end extends to the flexible rotating lifting rod. The flexible yaw rod is fixedly connected to the lifting rod drive mechanism. The boom drive mechanism includes a horizontally arranged guide rail and a guide rod. The guide rail is fixedly arranged on the lower side of the flexible deflector rod. The guide rod is driven by a power source and moves freely horizontally within the guide rail. One end of the guide rod is configured as a driven rack with the teeth of the driven rack located on its upper side. Correspondingly, the proximal end of the flexible rotating boom is provided with a driven gear that meshes with the driven rack. The driven gear is mounted on the flexible deflector rod through a gear shaft. The rotation of the flexible rotating boom is driven by the cooperation between the driven rack and the driven gear. The flexible rotating boom is provided with a boom deflector at its near end. One end of the boom deflector is integrated with the driven gear, and the other end is provided with a boom deflector shaft. The end of the flexible rotating boom is sleeved on the boom deflector shaft and swings freely horizontally. The far end of the flexible rotating boom is also provided with a conical stop. Above the lifting rod drive mechanism is a material tray limiting mechanism, which includes two material tray positioning plates. The two material tray positioning plates are fixedly connected to the deflector rod fixing component and the flexible deflector rod, and are arranged in a V-shape with the opening facing obliquely upward, consistent with the opening direction of the receiving machine.

2. The flexible rotary feeding disc device according to claim 1, characterized in that... The rotation angle of the flexible rotating boom is 0°-130°.

3. The flexible rotary feeding disc device according to claim 1, characterized in that... The power source is a lever-driven stepper motor. A drive gear is fixedly installed on the motor shaft of the lever-driven stepper motor. The other end of the guide rod is set as a drive rack, which meshes with the drive gear. The lever-driven stepper motor is located below the flexible oscillating shaft and swings synchronously with the flexible oscillating rod.

4. The flexible rotary feeding disc device according to claim 1, characterized in that... The connection between the flexible sway bar and the flexible rotating handle is designed as a groove, including two extensions extending outward along the sides on the left and right sides. The driven gear is located between the two extensions, and the two ends of the driven gear shaft are respectively connected to the two extensions. The proximal end of the flexible rotating handle is located between the two extensions.

5. The flexible rotary feeding disc device according to claim 1, characterized in that... The receiving machine is equipped with a material tray lever, which is located inside the material tray receiving position of the receiving machine. The material tray lever rotates around its upper end, and a material tray lever drive cylinder is hinged to the upper end of the material tray lever. The rotation of the material tray lever is driven by the extension and retraction of the material tray lever drive cylinder.

6. A method for operating a flexible rotary material handling device, based on the flexible rotary material handling device according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that... Includes the following steps: S1: AGV trolley fixed-point stopping: The AGV trolley carrying the receiving machine stops at the corresponding material rack track position of the chip mounter that needs to receive materials, according to the design of the central control machine; S2: Hook and Connect: The flexible rotating hook and connect extends towards the tray inside the tray frame. Supported by the hook and connect shafts, the flexible rotating hook and connect adapt to the position of the tray, allowing it to extend into the carrier track below the tray inside the tray frame. S3: Hook and Connect: The hook and connect drive stepper motor drives the active rack, causing the guide rod to move away from the hook and connect drive stepper motor. This causes the driven rack to rotate, which in turn causes the flexible rotating hook and connect shaft to rotate upwards, lifting the tray from the tray frame on the pick and place machine, allowing it to roll or slide along the flexible rotating hook and connect towards the tray frame. S4: Material tray in place: As the flexible rotating boom rotates, the material tray moves towards the receiving machine. When the flexible rotating boom rotates to nearly 90°, the material tray slides into the material tray positioning plate of the receiving machine; S5: Tray Storage: After receiving the material, the flexible rotating pick-up bar extends into the corresponding track inside the tray frame again. The pick-up bar drives the stepper motor to drive the active rack, which in turn drives the guide rod to retract. The driven rack drives the driven gear to rotate, which in turn drives the flexible rotating pick-up bar to rotate and fall down. The tray is sent out by the feeding lever and moves along the flexible rotating pick-up bar into the tray frame.

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