FPC automatic detection equipment

Abstract

The invention discloses automatic FPC (Flexible Printed Circuit) detection equipment, which meets the requirement that good products and defective products detected by detection mechanisms are recycled by using trays, meanwhile, all the mechanisms are tightly connected, and the equipment occupies a small area. The detection equipment comprises a rack, a conveying mechanism, a testing mechanism and a transferring mechanism, on the top view of the rack, the detection equipment is provided with twelve square areas in total in a rectangular array mode, and the twelve square areas are sequentially numbered as twelve stations from a station A to a station L in the feeding and discharging direction of the detection equipment; the two ends of the stroke of a to-be-detected conveying unit of the conveying mechanism extend to a station B and a station E respectively, the two ends of the stroke of a non-defective product conveying unit extend to a station H and a station K respectively, and the two ends of the stroke of a defective product conveying unit extend to the station B and the station K respectively. Two ends of the stroke of a lower die of the testing mechanism respectively extend to a station D and a station G, and a station F and a station I; the transfer mechanism comprises a first mechanical arm used for adsorbing the tray and a second mechanical arm used for adsorbing the FPC product.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the field of FPC inspection technology, and specifically refers to an automatic FPC inspection device. Background Technology

[0002] FPC (Flexible Printed Circuit) is a circuit board made using a flexible substrate and is widely used in various electronic devices, such as smartphones and tablets. The purpose of quality inspection of FPCs is to ensure that the manufactured FPCs meet design requirements and usage standards. This includes checking the circuit's connectivity, insulation, and withstand voltage, as well as other relevant performance and parameters, to ensure the circuit board functions properly in electronic devices.

[0003] In existing FPC testing equipment, the tested FPC products are automatically separated into good and defective products during the testing process. Good products are collected in two separate containers (which can be boxes, baskets, etc.), and defective products are recycled. Typically, defective products are simply stacked in the containers without being trayed. However, since FPC products are made of metal, haphazard stacking can easily cause collisions and wear between the products due to rigid contact. Furthermore, because the FPC testing process itself has the potential for false positives, manufacturers may need to retest products deemed defective in subsequent processes. The aforementioned method of recycling defective products will cause good products that were mistakenly identified as "defective" to be damaged or destroyed before undergoing secondary testing, affecting the yield rate and wasting production resources.

[0004] In existing technologies, pallets are typically used at the unloading end of the testing equipment to receive and arrange good products. This requires corresponding pallet feeding, conveying, unloading, and tray-arranging mechanisms to complete the traying and retrieval of products that have passed inspection. If the same structural design is used to arrange and retrieve defective products (here, "defective" mainly refers to the inspection result, not the actual product quality) to solve the problem described above, at least two identical sets of mechanisms would be required. This would make the entire testing equipment bulky and cumbersome, and the production line formed by all processes of the testing equipment would be lengthy and occupy a large area, further increasing production costs. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The main objective of this invention is to provide an automatic FPC inspection device that solves the problems existing in the prior art. While satisfying the requirement of using pallets to collect both good and defective products detected by the inspection mechanism, the device optimizes the structural design, making the various mechanisms of the inspection device closely connected, improving production efficiency, and taking up less space.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the solution of the present invention is: An automatic FPC testing device includes a frame, and a conveying mechanism, a testing mechanism, and a transfer mechanism mounted on the frame; The horizontal axis of the upper surface of the frame is defined as the X-axis, the vertical axis as the Y-axis, and the vertical axis perpendicular to the upper surface of the frame as the Z-axis. In the top view of the frame, the detection device is arranged in a rectangular array with three horizontal rows and four vertical columns, totaling twelve square areas. Taking the left side as the starting point of the horizontal row, the twelve square areas are numbered sequentially as station A to station L along the feeding and discharging direction of the detection device. The conveying mechanism is arranged along the Y-axis in its length direction; in the Z-axis direction, the conveying mechanism includes at least two layers of conveying units that move along the Y-axis, one above the other, and the conveying units are used to convey pallets, which are carriers for FPC products; the upper conveying unit includes a conveying unit for products to be inspected and a conveying unit for good products, and the lower conveying unit includes a conveying unit for defective products; the two ends of the stroke of the conveying unit for products to be inspected extend to station B and station E, respectively; the two ends of the stroke of the conveying unit for good products extend to station H and station K, respectively; and the two ends of the stroke of the conveying unit for defective products extend to station B and station K, respectively. The test mechanism is provided on both sides of the conveying mechanism. The test mechanism includes a lower mold that moves along the Y-axis and an upper mold that moves along the Z-axis. When the upper mold and the lower mold are closed, FPC detection is achieved. The stroke ends of the two lower molds extend to station D and station G, and station F and station I, respectively. The upper mold is located between the stroke ends of the lower molds. The conveying mechanism is equipped with the transfer mechanism at both ends of its axial direction. The transfer mechanism includes a first robotic arm that moves along the X-axis and is movable along the Z-axis, and a second robotic arm that moves along the X-axis and is movable along the Z-axis. The first robotic arm is used to pick up a pallet, and the second robotic arm is used to pick up FPC products. The stroke ends of the two first robotic arms extend to station A and station C, station J and station L, respectively, and the stroke ends of the two second robotic arms extend to station D and station F, station G and station I, respectively.

[0007] The testing equipment has the following workstations: station A has a stack of trays carrying products to be inspected; station B has a stack of trays carrying defective products; station C has a stack of trays carrying products that have been removed from inspection; station J has a stack of trays carrying good products; station K has a stack of trays for recycling defective products; and station L has a stack of trays for recycling good products.

[0008] The conveying mechanism includes three layers of conveying units, wherein there are two conveying units for inspection and two conveying units for good products, arranged in parallel vertically; the conveying unit for defective products is located on the bottom layer.

[0009] The conveying mechanism also includes a return conveying unit; the two ends of the return conveying unit extend to station B and station E respectively, and the return conveying unit is located at the height between the inspection conveying unit and the defective product conveying unit.

[0010] The conveying mechanism is equipped with a pair of baffles at the corresponding workstation E, and the distance between the baffles is less than the width of the pallet.

[0011] The testing mechanism includes a mounting base fixed relative to the frame, a guide rail for sliding engagement of the lower mold on the mounting base, and a bracket for mounting the upper mold.

[0012] The lower mold includes a front section and a rear section distributed along the Y-axis, and the lower surface of the upper mold is provided with a number of suction cups for vacuum suction of FPC products.

[0013] The transfer mechanism includes a suspension bracket fixed relative to the frame. Slide rails are provided on both sides of the X-axis on the upper surface of the suspension bracket. A sliding bracket is slidably fitted on each slide rail. The first robotic arm and the second robotic arm with Z-axis movement function are respectively installed on the sliding brackets on both sides.

[0014] The testing equipment also includes a support mechanism, and each of workstations A, B, C, J, K and L is provided with one of the support mechanisms; the support mechanism includes a lifting platform for supporting the pallet, and a Z-axis drive device for driving the lifting platform to move along the Z-axis.

[0015] Preferably, the supporting mechanism includes a fixed seat fixed relative to the frame, a movable seat disposed above the fixed seat, and two sets of slide rails disposed on the left and right sides of the movable seat along the Y-axis direction; the Z-axis driving device is a stepper motor, which is fixed to the lower surface of the fixed seat and is connected to the movable seat via a screw; the lifting platform slides with the movable seat through the slide rails, and a handle is provided on its lower surface.

[0016] Preferably, the fixed seat and the movable seat are provided with a plurality of pairs of guide sleeves and guide rods at their relative positions.

[0017] Preferably, the end of the conveying mechanism is provided with a fixed frame fixed above the work station K, the height of the fixed frame is higher than the defective product conveying unit, and the lower surface of the fixed frame is provided with a plurality of suction nozzles for adsorbing the tray.

[0018] By adopting the above technical solution, the present invention can achieve the following technical effects: (1) The present invention has two testing mechanisms that can perform FPC testing simultaneously, and together with independently operating inspection conveying unit, good product conveying unit, first robotic arm and second robotic arm, so that each process is closely connected and the testing efficiency is doubled.

[0019] (2) The conveying unit to be inspected and the good product conveying unit of the conveying mechanism are located at the same height, and operate independently without interfering with each other, so as to achieve a closer and smoother connection between the various processes of the inspection equipment and further improve the inspection efficiency. At the same time, the defective product conveying unit of the conveying mechanism travels back and forth between station B and station K, completes the defective product receiving and tray placement, and enters station B for stacking after the tray is full, and then returns to station K to add a tray for recycling defective products, thus completing the cyclic operation of defective product tray placement.

[0020] (3) The functional design of workstations A to C and K to L in this invention is reasonable. Workstations J and B, which are used to recycle good and defective products, are distributed at the discharge end and feed end of the equipment, making them less likely to be confused. Workstations K and L are provided with trays for recycling defective and good products, respectively, so that different types of trays are used to recycle products of different qualities. This can accommodate the problem of different types of shipping trays and defective product trays, and meet the needs of some customers. At the same time, since the FPC products judged as good and defective products have independent trays for carrying, the FPC products can be placed on their respective trays without contacting each other. No matter what the test results are, the quality of the FPC products themselves will not be affected, avoiding secondary damage caused by random stacking after false detection. This improves the yield rate of each batch of FPC products and avoids the waste of production materials.

[0021] (4) The twelve workstations A to L of the present invention are combined with a unique rectangular array design, which enables the various processes of the testing equipment to be closely connected without causing a long production line. The overall rectangular shape occupies a small area, making efficient use of factory space. Attached Figure Description

[0022] Figure 1 This is a perspective view of the overall structure of a specific embodiment of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 2 This is a partial three-dimensional structure of a specific embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 (Hidden shell).

[0024] Figure 3 This is a partial three-dimensional structure of a specific embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 .

[0025] Figure 4 This is a partial structural front view of a specific embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] Figure 5 This is a partial structural side view of a specific embodiment of the present invention.

[0027] Figure 6 This is a partial structural rear view of a specific embodiment of the present invention.

[0028] Figure 7 This is a partial top view of a specific embodiment of the present invention.

[0029] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the workstation distribution according to a specific embodiment of the present invention.

[0030] Figure 9 The conveying mechanism in a specific embodiment of the present invention is three-dimensional. Figure 1 .

[0031] Figure 10 The conveying mechanism in a specific embodiment of the present invention is three-dimensional. Figure 2 .

[0032] Figure 11 This is a front view of the conveying mechanism according to a specific embodiment of the present invention.

[0033] Figure 12 This is a rear view of the conveying mechanism according to a specific embodiment of the present invention.

[0034] Figure 13 This is a cross-sectional view of the conveying mechanism according to a specific embodiment of the present invention.

[0035] Figure 14 This is a perspective view of the detection mechanism according to a specific embodiment of the present invention.

[0036] Figure 15 The transfer mechanism of a specific embodiment of the present invention is three-dimensional. Figure 1 .

[0037] Figure 16 The transfer mechanism of a specific embodiment of the present invention is three-dimensional. Figure 2 .

[0038] Figure 17 This is a perspective view of the support mechanism according to a specific embodiment of the present invention.

[0039] Figure 18 This is a schematic diagram of the workflow of a specific embodiment of the present invention.

[0040] Explanation of icon numbers: 1-Rack; 2-Conveying mechanism; 21, 21'-Inspection conveying unit; 22, 22'-Good product conveying unit; 23-Defective product conveying unit; 24-Return conveying unit; 25-Baffle; 3, 3' - Testing mechanism; 31, 31' - Lower mold; 31a - Front section; 31b - Rear section; 32, 32' - Upper mold; 33 - Mounting base; 34 - Guide rail; 35 - Bracket; 4, 4' - Transfer mechanism; 41, 41' - First robotic arm; 42, 42' - Second robotic arm; 43 - Suspension bracket; 44, 44' - Slide rail; 45, 45' - Sliding bracket; 5-Supporting mechanism; 51-Lifting platform; 511-Handle; 52-Z-axis drive device; 53-Fixed seat; 54-Modible seat; 55-Slide rail assembly; 56-Screw; 57-Guide sleeve; 58-Guide rod; 6-Fixed bracket; 61-Mouthpiece; 7-Outer casing; 71-Feed window; 8-Operating mechanism; a-Tray. Detailed Implementation

[0041] To further explain the technical solution of the present invention, the present invention will be described in detail below through specific embodiments.

[0042] refer to Figures 1 to 18 As shown, the present invention discloses an automatic FPC testing device, including a frame 1, and a conveying mechanism 2, a testing mechanism 3 and a transfer mechanism 4 installed on the frame 1; See Figure 2 Define the horizontal axis of the upper surface of rack 1 as the X-axis, the vertical axis as the Y-axis, and the vertical axis perpendicular to the upper surface of rack 1 as the Z-axis; see [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 8 In the top view of frame 1, the testing equipment is arranged in a rectangular array with three horizontal rows and four vertical columns, totaling twelve square areas; taking the left side as the starting point of the horizontal row, the twelve square areas are numbered sequentially as station A to station L along the feeding and discharging direction of the testing equipment. The length of conveyor 2 is set along the Y-axis; see [link / reference] Figures 9 to 13 In the Z-axis direction, the conveying mechanism 2 includes at least two layers of conveying units that move along the Y-axis. These conveying units are used to convey pallets a, which are carriers for FPC products. The upper conveying unit includes a conveying unit 21 for products to be inspected and a conveying unit 22 for good products. The lower conveying unit includes a conveying unit 23 for defective products. (See also...) Figure 8 The stroke ends of the conveying unit 21 to be inspected extend to station B and station E respectively; the stroke ends of the conveying unit 22 to be good products extend to station H and station K respectively; and the stroke ends of the conveying unit 23 to be defective products extend to station B and station K respectively. Testing mechanisms 3 are provided on both sides of the axial direction of the conveying mechanism 2. In this embodiment, the left and right testing mechanisms are distinguished by the designations 3 and 3'; see [link to documentation]. Figure 14 Taking the test mechanism 3 on the left as an example, the test mechanism 3 includes a lower mold 31 that moves along the Y-axis and an upper mold 32 that moves along the Z-axis. FPC testing is achieved when the upper mold 32 and the lower mold 31 are closed. (See also...) Figure 8The stroke ends of the two lower dies 31 and 31' extend to station D and station G, station F and station I respectively, and the upper dies 32 and 32' are located between the stroke ends of the lower dies 31 and 31'. Both ends of the conveying mechanism 2 are equipped with transfer mechanisms 4. In this embodiment, the upper and lower transfer mechanisms 4 are distinguished by the designations 4 and 4'; see [link to previous section]. Figure 15 and Figure 16 Taking the transfer mechanism 4 at the feeding end of the testing equipment as an example, the transfer mechanism 4 includes a first robotic arm 41 that moves along the X-axis and is movable along the Z-axis, and a second robotic arm 42 that moves along the X-axis and is movable along the Z-axis. The first robotic arm 41 is used to pick up the tray a, and the second robotic arm 42 is used to pick up the FPC product; see also Figure 8 The stroke ends of the two first robotic arms 41 and 41' extend to station A and station C, station J and station L respectively, and the stroke ends of the two second robotic arms 42 and 42' extend to station D and station F, station G and station I respectively. In this setup, station A has a stack of pallets carrying products to be inspected; station B has a stack of pallets carrying defective products; station C has a stack of pallets carrying empty pallets (products to be inspected that have been removed); station J has a stack of pallets carrying good products; station K has a stack of pallets used for recycling defective products; and station L has a stack of pallets used for recycling good products.

[0043] Through the above solution, the present invention can achieve the following technical effects: (1) The present invention has two testing mechanisms 3 that can perform FPC testing simultaneously, which, together with the independently operating inspection conveying unit 21, good product conveying unit 22, first robotic arm 41 and second robotic arm 42, make the process closely connected and the testing efficiency doubled.

[0044] (2) The inspection conveying unit 21 and the good product conveying unit 22 of the conveying mechanism 2 are located at the same height, operate independently and do not interfere with each other, so that the connection between the various processes of the inspection equipment is closer and smoother, and the inspection efficiency is further improved. At the same time, the defective product conveying unit 23 travels back and forth between station B and station K, completes the defective product receiving and tray placement, and enters station B for stacking after the tray is full, and then returns to station K to add a tray for recycling defective products, thus completing the cyclic operation of defective product tray placement.

[0045] (3) The functional design of workstations A to C and K to L in this invention is reasonable. Workstations J and B, which are used to recycle good and defective products, are distributed at the discharge end and feed end of the equipment, making them less likely to be confused. Workstations K and L are provided with trays for recycling defective and good products, respectively, so that different types of trays are used to recycle products of different qualities. This can accommodate the problem of different types of shipping trays and defective product trays, and meet the needs of some customers. At the same time, since each FPC product judged as good or defective has an independent tray a for carrying, the FPC products can be placed on their respective trays a without contacting each other. No matter what the test results are, the quality of the FPC products themselves will not be affected, avoiding secondary damage caused by random stacking after false detection. This improves the yield rate of each batch of FPC products and avoids the waste of production materials.

[0046] (4) The twelve workstations A to L of this invention are combined with a unique rectangular array design, which allows the various processes of the testing equipment to be closely connected without causing a long production line. The overall rectangular shape makes the equipment occupy a small area and effectively utilizes the factory space.

[0047] The following illustrates specific embodiments of the present invention.

[0048] See Figures 9 to 13 In this embodiment, the conveying mechanism 2 includes three layers of conveying units. Two of each of the inspection conveying units 21 and the good product conveying units 22 are arranged vertically and parallel to each other, i.e., two layers of inspection conveying units 21 and 21', and two layers of good product conveying units 22 and 22'. The defective product conveying unit 23 is located at the bottom layer. Therefore, alternating movement can be achieved between the two layers of inspection conveying units 21 and 21' and between the two layers of good product conveying units 22 and 22' to accelerate the loading / unloading process. Combined with the two inspection mechanisms 3, this further improves inspection efficiency.

[0049] See Figures 9 to 13The aforementioned conveying mechanism 2 also includes a return conveying unit 24. The two ends of the travel of the return conveying unit 24 extend to station B and station E respectively, and the return conveying unit 24 is located at the height between the inspection conveying unit 21 and the defective product conveying unit 23. After the additional return conveying unit 24 is set up, when the FPC products to be tested conveyed to station D and station F fail to pass the CCD detection of the corresponding detection mechanisms 3 and 3' (the function that the FPC detection device should have, used to determine whether the FPC products placed on the lower mold are in place, so as to ensure the accuracy of the detection), the abnormal FPC products to be tested can be placed on an independent pallet (since the CCD cannot identify whether the product is good or defective, it cannot be placed in the same pallet as the defective products, but can only be placed in a separate pallet according to the matrix distribution without overlap) and returned to station B for stacking, to be processed later, so as to avoid the abnormal FPC products to be tested causing the detection process to report errors or be interrupted; at the same time, the return conveying unit 24 is located above the defective product conveying unit 23, which is convenient for the defective product conveying unit 23 to supply empty pallets.

[0050] The aforementioned conveying mechanism 2 is equipped with a pair of baffles 25 at the corresponding work station E. The distance between the baffles 25 is less than the width of the pallet a. When an empty pallet is conveyed to work station E, it can prevent the second robotic arm from sucking up the empty pallet and sending it to work stations D and F.

[0051] It should be noted that the above conveying units can be any form of conveying device in the prior art, as long as they can meet the above-mentioned stroke and height designs and ensure that the empty pallet a or the pallet carrying FPC products moves into place between each workstation. This invention does not limit the specific structure of the conveying mechanism 2. For ease of understanding, please refer to the following description provided in this invention. Figures 9 to 13 The aforementioned conveying unit can be composed of a carrier plate for carrying pallet a. The carrier plate can be designed with a structure to position pallet a and prevent pallet a from shaking during the conveying process. At the same time, the carrier plate slides with the base of the conveying mechanism 2 through a slide rail and is driven by a motor, belt and other accessories. If necessary, the position of each carrier plate can also be detected, that is, several sensors can be set to detect whether the carrier plate has moved into place, so as to automate and make it intelligent.

[0052] See Figure 14 Taking the testing mechanism 3 on the left as an example, the testing mechanism 3 includes a mounting base 33 fixed relative to the frame 1. The mounting base 33 is provided with a guide rail 34 for sliding engagement of the lower mold 31, and a bracket 35 for mounting the upper mold 32 is fixedly provided. The lower mold 31 can be driven by accessories such as a motor and belt. In this embodiment, the two upper molds 32 and 32' are located at the middle positions of station D and station G, and station F and station I, respectively.

[0053] The lower mold 31 includes a front section 31a and a rear section 31b distributed along the Y-axis (the section closer to the infeed end is the front, and the section closer to the discharge end is the rear). The lower surface of the upper mold 32 is provided with several suction cups for vacuum suction of FPC products. When the rear section 31b of the lower mold 31 is below the upper mold 32, its front section 31a is located at station D / F, and the FPC to be inspected is sent to the front section 31a of the lower mold 31. When the front section 31a of the lower mold 31 is below the upper mold 32, its rear section 31b is located at station G / I, and the inspected product can be removed. In the mold opening stage after inspection, the upper mold 32 can directly pick up and lift the product, transferring it from the front section 31a of the lower mold 31 to the rear section 31b, thereby saving material unloading cycle time and significantly improving inspection efficiency.

[0054] See Figure 15 and Figure 16 Taking the transfer mechanism 4 at the feed end of the testing equipment as an example, the transfer mechanism 4 includes a suspension bracket 43 fixed relative to the frame 1. Slide rails 44 and 44' are provided on both sides of the X-axis of the upper surface of the suspension bracket 43. A sliding bracket 45 and 45' are slidably fitted on each of the slide rails 44 and 44'. A first robotic arm 41 and a second robotic arm 42 with Z-axis movement function are respectively installed on the sliding brackets 45 and 45' on both sides. In this embodiment, the lower surfaces of the first robotic arm 41 and the second robotic arm 42 are provided with several suction cups for adsorbing the tray a or FPC products. At least two sets of second robotic arms 42 are installed on the sliding brackets 45', and at least two sets of lower molds 31 and upper molds 32 are set in conjunction with the testing mechanism 3. For FPC products with small areas, multiple FPC products can be tested simultaneously in one testing mechanism 3, improving testing efficiency. The sliding brackets 45 and 45' can be driven by a lead screw motor.

[0055] The present invention also includes Figure 17 The supporting mechanism 5 shown is provided at each of workstations A, B, C, J, K, and L. The supporting mechanism 5 includes a lifting platform 51 for supporting pallet a, and a Z-axis drive device 52 for driving the lifting platform 51 to move along the Z-axis. Thus, the Z-axis movable lifting platform 51 in the supporting mechanism 5 can cooperate with the Z-axis movement of the first robotic arms 41 and 41' to quickly and accurately change the height of pallet a, reducing the Z-axis travel of the first robotic arms 41 and 41', thereby accelerating the movement rate of the first robotic arms 41 and 41', ultimately improving the connection efficiency and inspection efficiency between processes. Furthermore, the Z-axis movement of the lifting platform 51 can change the height of pallet a, allowing more pallets a to be stacked at each workstation, eliminating the need for workers to frequently pick up and place pallets a at the inlet and outlet of the inspection equipment.

[0056] Furthermore, the aforementioned support mechanism 5 includes a fixed seat 53 fixed relative to the frame 1, a movable seat 54 disposed above the fixed seat 53, and two sets of slide rails 55 disposed on the left and right sides of the movable seat 54 along the Y-axis direction; the Z-axis drive device 52 is a stepper motor, which is fixed to the lower surface of the fixed seat 53 and connected to the movable seat 54 via a screw 56; the lifting platform 51 slides with the movable seat 54 via the slide rails 55, and its lower surface is provided with a handle 511, which allows workers to pull out the lifting platform 51 to perform actions such as replenishing or removing trays, thus avoiding putting their hands under the transfer mechanism 4.

[0057] Secondly, several pairs of guide sleeves 57 and guide rods 58 are provided at the relative positions of the fixed seat 53 and the movable seat 54 to guide the Z-axis movement of the movable seat 54.

[0058] In addition, see Figures 9 to 13 The end of the aforementioned conveying mechanism 2 is provided with a fixed frame 6 fixed above the workstation K. The height of the fixed frame 6 is higher than that of the defective product conveying unit 23, and the lower surface of the fixed frame 6 is provided with several suction nozzles 61 for adsorbing the tray a. After the support mechanism 5 is set at the workstation K, a fixed frame 6 and several suction nozzles 61 are fixed above it. When the Z-axis drive device 52 lifts the lifting platform 51, the uppermost empty tray can be directly sucked up by the fixed frame 6. When the defective product conveying unit 23 moves to the lower part of the fixed frame 6, the empty tray is placed on the defective product conveying unit 23. As a result, the movement of the first robotic arm 41' at the discharge end of the inspection equipment can be reduced, making its movement less and facilitating quick connection with the unloading movement of the inspection mechanisms 3 and 3'. In this embodiment, the aforementioned fixed frame 6 is at the same height as the aforementioned return conveying unit 24.

[0059] The invention also includes a housing 7, which covers the top of the frame 1 and is provided with a feed window 71 and a discharge window (the opposite side of the feed window 71, not shown in the figure). The feed window 71 is opposite to stations A, B, and C, and the discharge window is opposite to stations J, K, and L.

[0060] Furthermore, the present invention also includes an operating mechanism 8 installed on the surface of the housing 7, so that workers can perform operations such as data retrieval and parameter setting.

[0061] See Figure 18 and combined Figures 1 to 17 The workflow of this invention is as follows: 1. Initialize the testing equipment.

[0062] 2. The pallet a, which carries the FPC product to be tested, is placed on the support mechanism 5 of the corresponding station by a person or other equipment at station A.

[0063] 3. The first robotic arm 41 picks up the uppermost pallet a and moves it to station B, placing it on the inspection conveyor units 21 and 21'. Then, the inspection conveyor units 21 and 21' move the pallet a to station E. The second robotic arm 42 then removes the FPC product to be tested from the pallet a and places it on the lower mold 31 and 31' of station D or station F. When the pallet a on the inspection conveyor units 21 and 21' is empty, it returns to station B, and the first robotic arm 41 unloads the empty pallet onto the support mechanism 5 of station C.

[0064] 4. At this time, the inspection mechanisms 3 and 3' will perform CCD recognition to check whether the FPC product to be tested on the lower molds 31 and 31' is placed in the correct position. If the recognition result is abnormal, the second robotic arm 42 will remove it and move it to station E to place it on tray a on the return conveyor unit 24. Figure 18 The route is indicated by the points, segments, and lines; if the recognition result is normal, the process continues.

[0065] 5. The front section 31a of the lower molds 31 and 31' moves to the lower molds 32 and 32', and the molds are closed for FPC inspection, and the inspection results are judged. After the inspection, the upper molds 32 and 32' separate from the lower molds 31 and 31' and pick up the product. As the lower molds 31 and 31' move, the product is placed in the rear section 31b of the lower molds 31 and 31', so that the inspected product can be moved to station G or station I.

[0066] 6. The second robotic arm 42' removes the tested FPC product and, based on different test results, performs the following steps: 6.1 When the inspection result is good, the second robotic arm 42' places the good FPC onto the tray a on the good product conveying unit 22, 22'; when the tray a is full, the good product conveying unit 22, 22' moves it to station K, and then the first robotic arm 41' unloads it onto the support mechanism 5 at station J.

[0067] 6.2 When the inspection result is defective, the second robotic arm 42' places the defective FPC on the tray a on the defective product conveying unit 23; when the tray a is full, the defective product conveying unit 23 moves it to station B, and then the return conveying unit 24 unloads it onto the support mechanism 5 of station B.

[0068] 7. Once pallet a has been stacked to a certain height, a certain number of pallets a shall be removed manually or by other equipment from workstations B and J.

[0069] Obviously, in the above process, when a mechanism interferes with the movement of the robotic arm in the Z-axis direction (i.e., the up and down direction), it is necessary to avoid it.

[0070] The above embodiments and figures are not intended to limit the product form and style of the present invention. Any appropriate changes or modifications made by those skilled in the art should be considered as not departing from the patent scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An automatic FPC inspection device, characterized in that: It includes a frame, and a conveying mechanism, a testing mechanism, and a transfer mechanism mounted on the frame; The horizontal axis of the upper surface of the frame is defined as the X-axis, the vertical axis as the Y-axis, and the vertical axis perpendicular to the upper surface of the frame as the Z-axis. In the top view of the frame, the detection device is arranged in a rectangular array with three horizontal rows and four vertical columns, totaling twelve square areas. Taking the left side as the starting point of the horizontal row, the twelve square areas are numbered sequentially as station A to station L along the feeding and discharging direction of the detection device. The conveying mechanism is arranged along the Y-axis in its length direction; in the Z-axis direction, the conveying mechanism includes at least two layers of conveying units that move along the Y-axis, one above the other, and the conveying units are used to convey pallets, which are carriers for FPC products; the upper conveying unit includes a conveying unit for products to be inspected and a conveying unit for good products, and the lower conveying unit includes a conveying unit for defective products; the two ends of the stroke of the conveying unit for products to be inspected extend to station B and station E, respectively; the two ends of the stroke of the conveying unit for good products extend to station H and station K, respectively; and the two ends of the stroke of the conveying unit for defective products extend to station B and station K, respectively. The test mechanism is provided on both sides of the conveying mechanism. The test mechanism includes a lower mold that moves along the Y-axis and an upper mold that moves along the Z-axis. When the upper mold and the lower mold are closed, FPC detection is achieved. The stroke ends of the two lower molds extend to station D and station G, and station F and station I, respectively. The upper mold is located between the stroke ends of the lower molds. The conveying mechanism is equipped with the transfer mechanism at both ends of its axial direction. The transfer mechanism includes a first robotic arm that moves along the X-axis and is movable along the Z-axis, and a second robotic arm that moves along the X-axis and is movable along the Z-axis. The first robotic arm is used to pick up a pallet, and the second robotic arm is used to pick up FPC products. The stroke ends of the two first robotic arms extend to station A and station C, station J and station L, respectively, and the stroke ends of the two second robotic arms extend to station D and station F, station G and station I, respectively.

2. The FPC automatic inspection equipment as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The testing equipment has the following workstations: station A has a stack of trays carrying products to be inspected; station B has a stack of trays carrying defective products; station C has a stack of trays carrying products that have been removed from inspection; station J has a stack of trays carrying good products; station K has a stack of trays for recycling defective products; and station L has a stack of trays for recycling good products.

3. The FPC automatic inspection equipment as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The conveying mechanism includes three layers of conveying units, wherein there are two conveying units for inspection and two conveying units for good products, arranged in parallel vertically; the conveying unit for defective products is located on the bottom layer.

4. The FPC automatic inspection equipment as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The conveying mechanism also includes a return conveying unit; the two ends of the return conveying unit extend to station B and station E respectively, and the return conveying unit is located at the height between the inspection conveying unit and the defective product conveying unit.

5. The FPC automatic inspection equipment as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The conveying mechanism is equipped with a pair of baffles at the corresponding workstation E, and the distance between the baffles is less than the width of the pallet.

6. The FPC automatic inspection equipment as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The testing mechanism includes a mounting base fixed relative to the frame, a guide rail for sliding engagement of the lower mold on the mounting base, and a bracket for mounting the upper mold.

7. The FPC automatic inspection equipment as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The lower mold includes a front section and a rear section distributed along the Y-axis, and the lower surface of the upper mold is provided with a number of suction cups for vacuum suction of FPC products.

8. The FPC automatic inspection equipment as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The transfer mechanism includes a suspension bracket fixed relative to the frame. Slide rails are provided on both sides of the X-axis on the upper surface of the suspension bracket. A sliding bracket is slidably fitted on each slide rail. The first robotic arm and the second robotic arm with Z-axis movement function are respectively installed on the sliding brackets on both sides.

9. The FPC automatic inspection equipment as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The testing equipment also includes a support mechanism, and each of workstations A, B, C, J, K and L is provided with one of the support mechanisms; the support mechanism includes a lifting platform for supporting the pallet, and a Z-axis drive device for driving the lifting platform to move along the Z-axis.

10. The FPC automatic inspection device as described in claim 9, characterized in that: The supporting mechanism includes a fixed seat fixed relative to the frame, a movable seat disposed above the fixed seat, and two sets of slide rails disposed on the left and right sides of the movable seat along the Y-axis direction; the Z-axis drive device is a stepper motor, which is fixed to the lower surface of the fixed seat and is connected to the movable seat via a screw; the lifting platform slides with the movable seat through the slide rails, and a handle is provided on its lower surface.

11. The FPC automatic inspection device as described in claim 10, characterized in that: The fixed seat and the movable seat are provided with several pairs of guide sleeves and guide rods at their relative positions.

12. The FPC automatic inspection device as described in claim 9, characterized in that: The end of the conveying mechanism is provided with a fixed frame that is fixed above the work station K. The height of the fixed frame is higher than that of the defective product conveying unit, and the lower surface of the fixed frame is provided with several suction nozzles for adsorbing the tray.

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