A rack-mounted board handler

Abstract

The application provides a rack-mounted plate receiving and releasing machine and belongs to the technical field of PCB processing equipment. The rack-mounted plate receiving and releasing machine comprises an inlet conveying line and an outlet conveying line parallel to the inlet conveying line, the end of the inlet conveying line is connected with the head of the outlet conveying line through a transverse conveying line, further comprises a six-axis robot and an inlet plate conveying line, and the middle part of the outlet conveying line is provided with a plate inserting mechanism. The six-axis robot can take the PCB on the inlet plate conveying line to the plate inserting mechanism one by one, and the plate inserting mechanism can insert the PCB into the rack on the outlet conveying line. The rack-mounted plate receiving and releasing machine has the advantages of automatically completing the receiving and releasing of the PCB.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the technical field of PCB board processing equipment, and relates to a rack-type board take-up and unload machine. Background Technology

[0002] In the PCB manufacturing process, there are several special processes where products cannot be directly stacked or touched. They must be inserted individually into a special frame. Currently, the entire industry mainly uses manual labor to insert PCBs into the frame, which is labor-intensive and poses significant quality risks. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The purpose of this invention is to address the aforementioned problems in existing technologies by providing a rack-type plate take-up and take-down machine. The technical problem to be solved by this invention is how to achieve automatic plate take-up and take-down.

[0004] The objective of this invention can be achieved through the following technical solution: a rack-type board receiving and unloading machine, characterized in that it includes an infeed conveyor line and an outfeed conveyor line parallel to the infeed conveyor line, wherein the end of the infeed conveyor line and the beginning of the outfeed conveyor line are connected by a transverse conveyor line; it also includes a six-axis robot and an infeed conveyor line, wherein an insertion mechanism is provided in the middle of the outfeed conveyor line, and the six-axis robot can pick up PCB boards one by one from the infeed conveyor line and place them into the insertion mechanism, and the insertion mechanism inserts the PCB boards into the rack on the outfeed conveyor line.

[0005] Furthermore, the material rack includes a base plate, several guide rods fixed on the base plate, two width limiting plates slidably connected to the guide rods, and a width adjusting screw. The inner side of the width limiting plate has a slot, the width adjusting screw is rotatably connected to the base plate, each of the two width limiting plates has a threaded sleeve, and the width adjusting screw has two threaded segments with opposite helical directions.

[0006] Furthermore, the transverse conveyor line includes a guide platform, a positioning seat slidably connected to the guide platform, and a connecting conveyor belt disposed on the positioning seat. The connecting conveyor belt can connect to the end of the feed conveyor line or the beginning of the discharge conveyor line.

[0007] Furthermore, a magnetic coupling clutch is provided on the positioning seat. The magnetic coupling clutch is connected to a power source that can drive the magnetic coupling clutch to rotate. The magnetic coupling clutch includes a rotating shaft rotatably connected to the positioning seat. The end of the rotating shaft has a coupling disk. The end face of the coupling disk has a plurality of electromagnetic adsorption elements distributed in a scattered manner. The end of the width adjusting screw has a clutch disk adapted to the coupling disk. The clutch disk has iron adsorption elements distributed in a scattered manner.

[0008] Furthermore, the insertion plate mechanism includes a base and two insertion plate units located on both sides of the base. Each insertion plate unit includes a timing belt, a vertical guide rail mounted on the base, a limiting plate fixed on the timing belt, and several sliding plates slidably connected to the vertical guide rail. Each sliding plate is equipped with a pneumatic gripper, and the upper end of each sliding plate has a limiting arm with a strong magnetic adsorption head. The limiting plate has magnetic positioning blocks adapted to each strong magnetic adsorption head. The base has a limiting head that limits the vertical movement of the lowest sliding plate on the vertical guide rail. The relative positions of two adjacent limiting arms are such that when the higher sliding plate moves vertically relative to the lower sliding plate on the vertical guide rail, the higher sliding plate is limited by the lower sliding plate, causing the corresponding strong magnetic adsorption head to disengage from the magnetic positioning block.

[0009] Furthermore, the spacing between the two insert units is adjustable.

[0010] Furthermore, the insert unit has three sliding plates.

[0011] Furthermore, the first end of the feeding conveyor line has a feeding vehicle, and the end of the discharging conveyor line has a discharging vehicle.

[0012] The working process of this insert-type board take-up and take-down machine is as follows:

[0013] Board feeding: The feeding vehicle carries the material rack to the beginning of the feeding conveyor line. The feeding conveyor line sends the material rack into the beginning of the transverse conveyor line. On the transverse conveyor line, the width of the material rack is adjusted. The width adjustment data comes from CCD detection. The CCD detects the size of the PCB board entering the board feeding conveyor line. At the same time, the data obtained from the detection is also used to adjust the spacing between the two board insertion units.

[0014] Insertion: Before insertion, the widened material rack enters the discharge conveyor line from the end of the transverse conveyor line. During insertion, the suction cup unit on the six-axis robot picks up the PCB board from the infeed conveyor line and places it at the insertion mechanism by adsorbing the PCB board surface. The pneumatic gripper on the insertion mechanism holds the edge of the PCB board and inserts it into the material rack on the discharge conveyor line. After each board is inserted, the discharge conveyor line moves the material rack forward by one insertion interval until the material rack is full. The full material rack flows out from the discharge conveyor line and is picked up and transferred by the discharge vehicle. A new empty material rack enters the insertion station. This cycle is repeated to complete the insertion.

[0015] This insert-type PCB loading and unloading machine has the following five major functions: 1. No slapping or positioning action, eliminating quality problems caused by slapping actions in high-end, high-quality PCB manufacturing; 2. A six-axis robot mimics manual edge gripping and insertion. Due to the varying thickness (0.3-4mm) and dimensions (350-750mm) of PCBs, and the presence of a layer of wet oil on the PCB surface, inserting thin boards is extremely difficult. To address this, we adopted a segmented, synchronous lowering frame structure design that mimics manual edge gripping, effectively solving the problems of wet oil and thin board insertion, achieving stability and high efficiency; 3. Automatic frame width adjustment. During continuous production, the dimensions of PCBs vary greatly. The unloading equipment must be able to automatically adjust the frame width in real time to avoid production line jams and sudden stops. To address this, we designed an online real-time adaptive width adjustment function using a separate magnetic clutch, allowing for automatic adjustment without contacting the frame. 4. Multi-rack automatic circulation: One rack can hold 15-25 PCB boards. The production line speed is about 8-10 boards per minute. Based on this calculation, a rack needs to be changed every 1-2 minutes. Therefore, the board receiving machine must have a multi-rack automatic circulation function. Otherwise, manual intervention is required to change the rack every 1-2 minutes. We adopt a 4-rack automatic circulation + automatic width adjustment design, which effectively solves the problem of frequent frame changes. 5. High temperature resistance of the frame: When facing wet oil board process, the frame needs to load P0B boards into the oven at a temperature of 160-180 degrees. Under such circumstances, the width adjustment mechanism and magnetic coupling mechanism of the rack are very difficult. We have overcome this difficulty and avoided the use of electrical components on the rack. It can adapt to the high temperature environment and effectively solve this problem. It is stable and efficient, and can adjust the width and enter the high temperature oven. 6. This equipment can achieve intelligent automation without manual intervention through CCD detection, six-axis robot, automatic rack adjustment, and automatic suction cup adjustment.

[0016] The two most important designs in this scheme are the contactless width adjustment of the material rack and the multi-point clamping plate insertion mechanism. The contactless width adjustment is achieved through a magnetic coupling mechanism. The contactless width adjustment works as follows: when the material rack is fully inside the transverse conveyor line, the clutch plate on the width adjustment leakage inductor is directly aligned with the coupling plate on the positioning seat. The electromagnetic adsorption component on the coupling plate is energized, completing the contactless connection between the coupling plate and the clutch plate. The coupling plate is driven to rotate by the power source, which in turn drives the width adjustment screw to rotate, thereby adjusting the distance between the two width limiting plates, i.e., adjusting the width of the insertion plate.

[0017] The specific process of the multi-point clamping insert is as follows: In the initial state, all slides are in a high position. The strong magnetic adsorption heads on the limit plate and the magnetic positioning blocks on the upper limit arm of the slide are in an adsorption state. After the pneumatic grippers on the slide clamp the PCB board, the synchronous belt controls the limit plate to move down, and each slide moves down synchronously. When the bottom slide moves to the point where it abuts against the limit head, the bottom slide can no longer move down, and the corresponding strong magnetic adsorption head disengages from the magnetic positioning block. The pneumatic grippers on this slide release the PCB board and then remain stationary, while the other slides continue to move down. When the stationary slide restricts the movement of the upper limit arm, the lower slide continues to move down. When the slide plate is inserted, the corresponding strong magnetic adsorption head disengages from the magnetic positioning block, and the pneumatic gripper on the second slide plate also releases the PCB board. The second slide plate also stops. Following this logic, when all slide plates stop, the PCB board completes the insertion action. The synchronous belt reverses, pushing all slide plates back to their initial state. This cycle repeats to complete the insertion operation of all PCB boards. This method can achieve multi-point clamping, especially in the insertion operation of thin boards, where the position of the PCB board is precise. In contrast, traditional methods usually clamp only one edge of the PCB board, which can easily lead to misalignment, wobbling, or misalignment during insertion, resulting in damage. Attached Figure Description

[0018] Figure 1 This is a top view of a plug-in type take-up and take-down board machine.

[0019] Figure 2 This is a 3D view of a plug-in type take-up and take-down board machine.

[0020] Figure 3 This is a structural diagram of the insert-type plate take-up and take-down machine after the outer protective plate has been removed.

[0021] Figure 4 This is a structural diagram showing the lateral conveyor line in conjunction with the material rack.

[0022] Figure 5 This is a structural diagram of the material rack.

[0023] Figure 6 This is a three-dimensional structural diagram of the insertion plate mechanism.

[0024] Figure 7 This is a side view of the front insertion plate mechanism.

[0025] Figure 8 This is a side view of the insert plate mechanism after the insert plate is inserted.

[0026] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the principle of a magnetic coupling clutch.

[0027] In the diagram, 11. Feed conveyor line; 12. Discharge conveyor line; 13. Six-axis robot; 14. Plate feeding conveyor line; 2. Lateral conveyor line; 21. Guide table; 22. Positioning seat; 23. Connecting conveyor belt; 24. Rotary shaft; 25. Coupling disc; 26. Electromagnetic adsorption component; 27. Clutch disc; 28. Iron adsorption component; 3. Plate insertion mechanism; 31. Synchronous belt; 32. Vertical guide rail; 33. Slide plate; 34. Pneumatic gripper; 35. Limiting arm; 36. Strong magnetic adsorption head; 37. Magnetic positioning block; 38. Limiting head; 4. Material rack; 41. Base plate; 42. Guide rod; 43. Width limiting plate; 44. Width adjusting screw; 51. Feed vehicle; 52. Discharge vehicle. Detailed Implementation

[0028] The following are specific embodiments of the present invention, which are described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

[0029] like Figures 1-9 As shown, the insert-type board take-up and unload machine includes an infeed conveyor line 11 and an outfeed conveyor line 12 parallel to the infeed conveyor line 11. The end of the infeed conveyor line 11 and the beginning of the outfeed conveyor line 12 are connected by a transverse conveyor line 2. It also includes a six-axis robot 13 and an infeed conveyor line 14. An insert mechanism 3 is provided in the middle of the outfeed conveyor line 12. The six-axis robot 13 can pick up the PCB boards one by one from the infeed conveyor line 14 and put them into the insert mechanism 3. The insert mechanism 3 then inserts the PCB boards into the rack 4 on the outfeed conveyor line 12.

[0030] The material rack 4 includes a base plate 41, several guide rods 42 fixed on the base plate 41, two width limiting plates 43 slidably connected to the guide rods 42, and a width adjusting screw 44. The inner side of the width limiting plate 43 has a slot, and the width adjusting screw 44 is rotatably connected to the base plate 41. Each of the two width limiting plates 43 has a threaded sleeve, and the width adjusting screw 44 has two threaded segments with opposite helical directions.

[0031] The transverse conveyor line 2 includes a guide table 21, a positioning seat 22 slidably connected to the guide table 21, and a connecting conveyor belt 23 set on the positioning seat 22. The connecting conveyor belt 23 can connect to the end of the feed conveyor line 11 or the beginning of the discharge conveyor line 12.

[0032] A magnetic coupling clutch is provided on the positioning seat 22. The magnetic coupling clutch is connected to a power source that can drive the magnetic coupling clutch to rotate. The magnetic coupling clutch includes a rotating shaft 24 rotatably connected to the positioning seat 22. The end of the rotating shaft 24 has a coupling disk 25. The end face of the coupling disk 25 has a plurality of electromagnetic adsorption elements 26 distributed in a scattered manner. The end of the width adjusting screw 44 has a clutch disk 27 adapted to the coupling disk 25. The clutch disk 27 has iron adsorption elements 28 distributed in a scattered manner.

[0033] The insertion plate mechanism 3 includes a base and two insertion plate units located on both sides of the base. Each insertion plate unit includes a timing belt 31, a vertical guide rail 32 mounted on the base, a limiting plate fixed to the timing belt 31, and several sliding plates 33 slidably connected to the vertical guide rail 32. Each sliding plate 33 is equipped with a pneumatic gripper 34. The upper end of each sliding plate 33 has a limiting arm 35 with a strong magnetic adsorption head 36. The limiting plate has a magnetic positioning block 37 adapted to each strong magnetic adsorption head 36. The base has a limiting head 38 that limits the vertical movement of the lowest sliding plate 33 on the vertical guide rail 32. The relative positions of two adjacent limiting arms 35 are such that when the higher sliding plate 33 moves up and down relative to the lower sliding plate 33 on the vertical rail, the higher sliding plate 33 is limited by the lower sliding plate 33, causing the corresponding strong magnetic adsorption head 36 to disengage from the magnetic positioning block 37.

[0034] The spacing between the two insert units is adjustable, that is, the spacing between the two insert units can be adjusted by a screw.

[0035] There are three slide plates 33 on the insert unit.

[0036] The first end of the feeding conveyor line 11 has a feeding vehicle 51, and the end of the discharging conveyor line 12 has a discharging vehicle 52.

[0037] The working process of this insert-type board take-up and take-down machine is as follows:

[0038] Board feeding: The feeding vehicle 51 carries the material rack 4 to the beginning of the feeding conveyor line 11. The feeding conveyor line 11 sends the material rack 4 into the beginning of the transverse conveyor line 2. On the transverse conveyor line 2, the width of the material rack 4 is adjusted. The width adjustment data comes from CCD detection. The CCD detects the size of the PCB board entering the board feeding conveyor line 14. At the same time, the data obtained from the detection is also used to adjust the spacing between the two board insertion units.

[0039] Insertion: Before insertion, the widened material rack 4 enters the discharge conveyor line 12 from the end of the transverse conveyor line 2. During insertion, the suction cup unit on the six-axis robot 13 picks up the PCB board from the board feeding conveyor line 14 and places it at the insertion mechanism 3 by adsorbing the PCB board surface. The pneumatic gripper 34 on the insertion mechanism 3 holds the edge of the PCB board and inserts it into the material rack 4 on the discharge conveyor line 12. After each board is inserted, the discharge conveyor line 12 moves the material rack 4 forward by one insertion interval until the material rack 4 is full. The full material rack 4 flows out from the discharge conveyor line 12 and is picked up and transferred by the discharge vehicle 52. The new empty material rack 4 enters the insertion station. This cycle is repeated to complete the insertion.

[0040] The two most important designs in this scheme are the contactless width adjustment of the material rack 4 and the multi-point clamping plate insertion mechanism 3. The contactless width adjustment is achieved through a magnetic coupling mechanism. The contactless width adjustment works as follows: when the material rack 4 is fully inserted into the transverse conveyor line 2, the clutch plate 27 on the width adjustment leakage inductor is directly aligned with the coupling plate 25 on the positioning seat 22. The electromagnetic adsorption component 26 on the coupling plate 25 is energized, completing the contactless connection between the coupling plate 25 and the clutch plate 27. The coupling plate 25 is driven to rotate by the power source, which drives the width adjustment screw 44 to rotate, thereby adjusting the distance between the two width limiting plates 43, that is, adjusting the width of the insertion plate.

[0041] The specific process of the multi-point clamping insert is as follows: In the initial state, all slide plates 33 are in a high position. The strong magnetic adsorption heads 36 on the limiting plate and the magnetic positioning blocks 37 on the upper limit arm 35 of the slide plate 33 are in an adsorption state. After the pneumatic grippers 34 on the slide plate 33 clamp the PCB board, the synchronous belt 31 controls the limiting plate to move down, and each slide plate 33 moves down synchronously. When the bottom slide plate 33 moves to the point where it abuts against the limiting head 38, the bottom slide plate 33 can no longer move down, and the corresponding strong magnetic adsorption head 36 disengages from the magnetic positioning block 37. The pneumatic grippers 34 on this slide plate 33 releases the PCB board and then remains stationary, while the other slide plates 33 continue to move down. When the slide plate 33 restricts the slide plate 33 on it, the corresponding strong magnetic adsorption head 36 disengages from the magnetic positioning block 37, and the pneumatic gripper 34 on the second slide plate 33 also releases the PCB board. The second slide plate 33 also stops. Following this logic, when all slide plates 33 stop, the PCB board completes the insertion action. The synchronous belt 31 reverses and pushes all slide plates 33 back to the initial state. This cycle is repeated to complete the insertion operation of all PCB boards. This method can achieve multi-point clamping, especially in the insertion operation of thin boards, where the position of the PCB board is accurate. In contrast, the traditional method usually clamps only one edge of the PCB board, and the PCB board is easily misaligned, shakes, or is misaligned and damaged during insertion.

[0042] It should be noted that the feeding conveyor line 11, discharging conveyor line 12, transverse conveyor line 2, and plate feeding conveyor line 14, etc., use the method of horizontally conveying objects, which is common practice in the industry. They can be conveyed through belt structure, roller structure, or other methods that are compatible with the conveyed objects. They will not be elaborated here, but are clearly shown in the attached drawings of the instruction manual.

[0043] The specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the spirit of the invention. Those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains may make various modifications or additions to the described specific embodiments or use similar methods to substitute them, without departing from the spirit of the invention or exceeding the scope defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A plug-in type plate take-up and take-down machine, characterized in that, It includes an infeed conveyor line (11) and an outfeed conveyor line (12) parallel to the infeed conveyor line (11). The end of the infeed conveyor line (11) and the beginning of the outfeed conveyor line (12) are connected by a transverse conveyor line (2). It also includes a six-axis robot (13) and an infeed conveyor line (14). An insert mechanism (3) is provided in the middle of the outfeed conveyor line (12). The six-axis robot (13) can pick up the PCB boards one by one from the infeed conveyor line (14) and put them into the insert mechanism (3). The insert mechanism (3) inserts the PCB boards into the rack (4) on the outfeed conveyor line (12). The insert plate mechanism (3) includes a base and two insert plate units located on both sides of the base. Each insert plate unit includes a timing belt (31), a vertical guide rail (32) mounted on the base, a limiting plate fixed on the timing belt (31), and several sliding plates (33) slidably connected to the vertical guide rail (32). The sliding plates (33) are equipped with pneumatic grippers (34). The upper end of the sliding plate (33) has a limiting arm (35), and the limiting arm (35) has a strong magnetic adsorption head (36). The base has a magnetic positioning block (37) adapted to each strong magnetic adsorption head (36), and a limiting head (38) on the base restricts the vertical movement of the lowest sliding plate (33) on the vertical guide rail (32); the relative position of two adjacent limiting arms (35) is: when the sliding plate (33) at the higher position moves up and down on the vertical rail relative to the sliding plate (33) at the lower position, the sliding plate (33) at the higher position is limited by the sliding plate (33) at the lower position, causing the corresponding strong magnetic adsorption head (36) to disengage from the magnetic positioning block (37).

2. The insert-type take-up and drop-off board machine according to claim 1, characterized in that, The material rack (4) includes a base plate (41), several guide rods (42) fixed on the base plate (41), two width limiting plates (43) slidably connected to the guide rods (42), and a width adjusting screw (44). The inner side of the width limiting plate (43) has a slot. The width adjusting screw (44) is rotatably connected to the base plate (41). Each of the two width limiting plates (43) has a threaded sleeve. The width adjusting screw (44) has two threaded segments with opposite helical directions.

3. The insert-type take-up and drop-off board machine according to claim 2, characterized in that, The transverse conveyor line (2) includes a guide table (21), a positioning seat (22) slidably connected to the guide table (21), and a connecting conveyor belt (23) set on the positioning seat (22). The connecting conveyor belt (23) can connect to the end of the feed conveyor line (11) or the beginning of the discharge conveyor line (12).

4. The insert-type take-up and drop-off board machine according to claim 3, characterized in that, A magnetic coupling clutch is provided on the positioning seat (22). The magnetic coupling clutch is connected to a power source that can drive the magnetic coupling clutch to rotate. The magnetic coupling clutch includes a rotating shaft (24) rotatably connected to the positioning seat (22). The end of the rotating shaft (24) has a coupling disk (25). The end face of the coupling disk (25) has a plurality of electromagnetic adsorption elements (26) distributed in a scattered manner. The end of the width adjusting screw (44) has a clutch disk (27) adapted to the coupling disk (25). The clutch disk (27) has iron adsorption elements (28) distributed in a scattered manner.

5. The insert-type plate take-up and take-down machine according to claim 4, characterized in that, The spacing between the two insert units is adjustable.

6. The insert-type take-up and drop-off board machine according to claim 4, characterized in that, The insert unit has three slide plates (33).

7. The insert-type plate take-up and take-down machine according to claim 1, characterized in that, The feed conveyor line (11) has a feed vehicle (51) at the beginning and a discharge vehicle (52) at the end of the discharge conveyor line (12).

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