Inline multi-sided screen printing equipment and screen printing method

Abstract

This invention discloses a linear multi-sided screen printing equipment and method, including a frame. Along the X-axis, the frame is sequentially arranged a feeding and conveying unit, a feeding robot, a cleaning unit, multiple screen printing units, an unloading robot, and an unloading and conveying unit. The cleaning unit includes a clamping and rotating mechanism, a Y-axis linear cleaning module, and a plasma cleaning mechanism for multi-sided plasma cleaning of the workpiece. Multiple screen printing units are arranged sequentially along the X-axis. Each unit integrates screen printing, hot air drying, AOI inspection, and sorting / unloading functions. Adjacent screen printing units are connected via a screen printing feeding mechanism that picks up materials from the unloading platform of the preceding unit, achieving linear flow of workpieces. This invention achieves fully automated multi-sided screen printing, effectively improving production efficiency and yield by screen printing and inspecting each surface to remove defective products, combined with a dual-station parallel design. Furthermore, the standardized modular design allows for flexible expansion along the X-axis according to the number of screen printing surfaces.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of screen printing technology, specifically to a linear multi-sided screen printing device and screen printing method. Background Technology

[0002] Screen printing, as a mature printing technology, is widely used in the electronics, optics, and glass industries for printing graphics on product surfaces. For example, in the production of optical components such as prisms, it is often necessary to print high-precision patterns or ink layers on multiple surfaces.

[0003] In existing multi-sided screen printing production, the following are the main operating modes: One approach involves using a single, independent screen printing machine, coupled with manual or semi-automatic loading, unloading, and flipping fixtures. The operator first places the workpiece on the screen printing platform to print one side, then removes the workpiece, manually flips it, or transfers it to the drying or inspection process, before re-clamping it for printing the next side. This method results in a fragmented process, with multiple clamping operations making it difficult to guarantee positioning accuracy and printing consistency. Furthermore, it requires high manual intervention, leading to low production efficiency and failing to meet the demands of high-volume, high-quality production.

[0004] Another approach is to adopt an "island-style" or "unit-style" automated layout, which connects multiple independent screen printing machines, dryers, and inspection machines in series via robotic arms or conveyor belts. While this layout achieves automation, each functional unit is independent, resulting in a large equipment footprint, complex and time-consuming workpiece transfer paths between different units, and limited overall cycle time. More importantly, once such a production line is built, the number of screen-printed surfaces it can process is essentially fixed. When processing products with a larger number of surfaces is required, a large-scale redesign and modification of the entire production line is often necessary, leading to poor equipment flexibility and high upgrade costs.

[0005] Furthermore, in existing automated screen printing production lines, the integration of processes such as online drying and quality inspection after screen printing, as well as the flipping of qualified products and online rejection of defective products, is not high. These processes often need to be handled offline or in batches, which further affects the real-time control of production efficiency and yield.

[0006] Therefore, there is an urgent need for a multi-faceted screen printing device and method that is compact, efficient, easily expandable, and highly integrated to solve the problems existing in the above-mentioned prior art. Summary of the Invention

[0007] To address the shortcomings of existing technologies, this invention provides a linear multi-sided screen printing device and screen printing method.

[0008] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention employs the following technical solution: This invention provides a linear multi-sided screen printing device, including a frame, on which a feeding conveyor unit, a feeding robot, a cleaning unit, multiple sets of screen printing units, a discharging robot, and a discharging conveyor unit are sequentially arranged along the X-axis. The feeding and conveying unit is used to transport the etch tray loaded with the workpiece to be screen printed to the feeding station, and to transport the empty etch tray to the first stacking station for stacking. The cleaning unit includes a clamping and rotating mechanism, a cleaning Y-axis linear module, and a plasma cleaning mechanism. The loading robot is used to load the workpiece to be screen-printed from the extraction tray at the loading station onto the clamping and rotating mechanism. The clamping and rotating mechanism is used to clamp the workpiece to be screen-printed and control its rotation. The cleaning Y-axis linear module is used to drive the clamping and rotating mechanism to move along the Y-axis direction. The plasma cleaning mechanism is located above the cleaning Y-axis linear module and is used to perform plasma cleaning on the workpiece to be screen-printed on the clamping and rotating mechanism. Multiple sets of screen printing units are arranged sequentially along the X-axis direction for sequentially screen printing multiple surfaces of the workpiece to be screen printed; each set of screen printing units includes a screen printing feeding mechanism, a screen printing platform, a vision alignment mechanism, a screen printing execution mechanism, a surface drying detection feeding mechanism, a surface drying detection platform, a hot air blowing mechanism, an AOI detection mechanism, a sorting and flipping unloading mechanism, a buffer platform, and an unloading platform; The screen printing loading mechanism is used to load the workpiece onto the screen printing platform; wherein, the screen printing loading mechanism of the first group of screen printing units is used to pick up the workpiece from the clamping and rotating mechanism of the cleaning unit, and the screen printing loading mechanism of the remaining groups of screen printing units is used to pick up the workpiece from the unloading platform of the previous group of screen printing units. The screen printing platform is used to carry the workpiece to be screen printed, and works with the vision alignment mechanism to perform visual alignment of the workpiece to be screen printed in the X-axis, Y-axis and angular directions, and then moves the visually aligned workpiece to be screen printed to the bottom of the screen printing execution mechanism. The vision alignment mechanism is used to photograph the workpiece to be screen printed on the screen printing platform, and control the screen printing platform to perform alignment of the workpiece to be screen printed in the X-axis, Y-axis and angular directions according to the photographing results. The screen printing actuator is used to perform screen printing on the workpiece to be screen printed; The surface drying detection and loading mechanism is used to load the workpiece that has completed the current surface screen printing from the screen printing platform to the surface drying detection platform; The surface drying detection platform is used to carry the workpiece that has completed the current surface screen printing and drive it to pass sequentially along the Y-axis through the hot air blowing mechanism and the AOI detection mechanism. The hot air blowing mechanism and the AOI inspection mechanism are arranged above the surface drying inspection platform and sequentially along the Y-axis conveying direction. The hot air blowing mechanism is used to perform hot air surface drying treatment on the ink after screen printing, and the AOI inspection mechanism is used to inspect the size and appearance of the ink after hot air surface drying treatment. The sorting and flipping unloading mechanism is used to transport workpieces that have completed AOI inspection to a buffer platform or unloading platform. The sorting and unloading mechanism includes a sorting X-axis module, a sorting Z-axis module, a flipping chuck, and a defective product suction nozzle group. The sorting Z-axis module is located at the output end of the sorting X-axis module, and the flipping chuck and the defective product suction nozzle group are located at the output end of the sorting Z-axis module. The caching platform includes a cache Y-axis linear module, and a defective product carrier and a cache carrier disposed at the output end of the cache Y-axis linear module; The unloading platform includes an unloading Y-axis linear module and a good product carrier disposed at the output end of the unloading Y-axis linear module; Workpieces that are deemed good by the AOI inspection mechanism are gripped and flipped by the flipping chuck so that the next surface of the workpiece to be screen-printed is in a state where it can be screen-printed by the screen-printing execution mechanism of the next set of screen-printing units, and then released to the good product carrier or the buffer carrier; workpieces that are deemed defective by the AOI inspection mechanism are picked up by the defective product suction nozzle group and released to the defective product carrier. The unloading robot is used to load the finished workpieces screen-printed by the last group of screen printing units into the unloading tray at the unloading station; The feeding and conveying unit is used to transport the empty extraction tray to the feeding station, and to transport the extraction tray loaded with the good workpiece to the second stacking station for stacking.

[0009] Furthermore, the feeding and conveying unit includes a conveying track, and a tray feeding mechanism and a tray receiving mechanism disposed at both ends of the conveying track; The conveying track extends along the Y-axis and includes multiple sets of conveying mechanisms arranged sequentially along the Y-axis. Each set of conveying mechanisms includes two sets of synchronous conveying belts arranged opposite to each other and spaced apart, as well as a conveying drive mechanism that drives the two sets of synchronous conveying belts to run synchronously. The structure of the tray feeding mechanism and the tray receiving mechanism is the same, both including a frame base, two feeding mechanisms, and a lifting mechanism. The frame base is set on the frame and above the two sets of conveyor belts. The two feeding mechanisms are arranged opposite each other on the two side frames of the frame base. Each feeding mechanism includes a feeding plate slidably set on the frame and a feeding cylinder for driving the feeding plate to move. The lifting mechanism is located below the frame base and includes a lifting plate and a lifting drive mechanism for driving the lifting plate to rise and fall. The lifting plate can pass through the gap between the two sets of conveyor belts and the holes in the frame base under the drive of the lifting drive mechanism to lift the tray at the position of the frame base. The structure of the unloading conveyor unit is the same as that of the loading conveyor unit.

[0010] Furthermore, the clamping and rotating mechanism includes two sets of rotating seats arranged opposite each other and a rotating drive mechanism that drives the two sets of rotating seats to rotate synchronously. The rotating seats are provided with limiting grooves adapted to the workpiece, and a spring column is provided on at least one of the rotating seats. The elastic force of the spring column is directed toward the other rotating seat, which is used to provide elastic preload when clamping the workpiece.

[0011] Furthermore, the screen printing feeding mechanism includes a buffer single-head suction assembly and a screen printing feeding X-axis transfer module that drives the buffer single-head suction assembly to move along the X-axis direction; the buffer single-head suction assembly includes a screen printing feeding support base, a screen printing feeding lifting mechanism disposed on the screen printing feeding support base, and a set of first suction nozzles disposed at the output end of the screen printing feeding lifting mechanism; the screen printing feeding lifting mechanism includes a screen printing feeding motor, a cam, a screen printing feeding slider, and a cam connecting rod; the cam is disposed on the output shaft of the screen printing feeding motor; the screen printing feeding slider is slidably disposed on the screen printing feeding support base in the vertical direction; the first suction nozzles are disposed on the screen printing feeding slider; the two ends of the cam connecting rod are rotatably connected to the cam and the screen printing feeding slider, respectively; the screen printing feeding motor drives the cam to rotate, so as to drive the screen printing feeding slider and the first suction nozzles to reciprocate and lift in the vertical direction through the cam connecting rod.

[0012] Furthermore, the screen printing platform includes an alignment platform, a fixture disposed on the alignment platform, a rotary platform R-axis module that drives the alignment platform to rotate along the Z-axis direction, a platform X-axis module that drives the alignment platform to move along the X-axis direction, and a platform Y-axis module that drives the alignment platform to move along the Y-axis direction.

[0013] Furthermore, the screen printing platform has two sets arranged parallel to each other along the X-axis direction within each set of screen printing units.

[0014] Furthermore, the visual alignment mechanism includes a camera assembly and visual Y-axis slides, visual X-axis slides, and visual Z-axis slides for calibrating the position of the camera assembly. The camera assembly includes a camera, a lens barrel, and a light source. Specifically, the visual alignment mechanism includes a visual support beam, a visual Y-axis slide slidably disposed on the visual support beam, a visual X-axis slide slidably disposed on the visual Y-axis slide, a visual Z-axis slide slidably disposed on the visual X-axis slide, and a camera assembly disposed on the visual Z-axis slide. The visual Y-axis slide, the visual X-axis slide, and the visual Z-axis slide are used to calibrate the position of the camera assembly, and the camera assembly includes a camera, a lens barrel, and a light source.

[0015] Furthermore, the screen printing actuator includes a screen printing stencil, a screen printing stencil Z-axis, a screen printing X-axis module, a squeegee assembly, an ink return assembly, and a cleaning and ink guiding mechanism; The Z-axis of the screen printing stencil is used to drive the screen printing stencil to move up and down, including: The upper support base and the lower support base for screen printing are fixedly mounted on the frame; The screen printing roller screw has its two ends rotatably mounted on the upper screen printing support and the lower screen printing support, respectively; A screen printing servo motor is fixedly mounted on the lower support base for screen printing, and the output shaft of the screen printing servo motor is connected to the lead screw of the screen printing roller. A screen printing optical axis is disposed between the upper screen printing support and the lower screen printing support; The lower screen printing lifting seat is located between the upper screen printing support seat and the lower screen printing support seat. The lower screen printing lifting seat is provided with a screen printing bushing adapted to the screen printing optical axis. The lower screen printing lifting seat is threadedly connected to the screen printing roller screw. A screen printing guide slide rail extends vertically, and the bottom end of the screen printing guide slide rail is fixedly mounted on the screen printing lower lifting seat. A screen printing slider is fixedly mounted on the screen printing support base, and the screen printing slider is slidably connected to the screen printing guide rail; A screen printing lifting seat is located at the top of the screen printing guide slide rail, and the screen printing stencil is located on the screen printing lifting seat; The squeegee assembly and the ink return assembly are located at the output end of the screen printing X-axis module and are driven by the screen printing X-axis module to move along the X-axis direction. The squeegee assembly is used to scrape and press the ink on the screen printing stencil, and the ink return assembly is used to repaint the ink back onto the surface of the screen printing stencil. The cleaning ink guiding mechanism is located below the screen printing stencil and includes a pull-out mechanism mounted on the screen printing lifting seat, and a film winding assembly, a film winding motor, an encoder, and a damper located at the output end of the pull-out mechanism. The film winding assembly includes a feed roll and a take-up roll spaced apart and spanning the screen printing area of ​​the screen printing stencil. Unused cleaning film is wound on the feed roll, and the free end of the cleaning film is wound on the take-up roll. The film winding motor is drivenly connected to the take-up roll and is used to drive the take-up roll to rotate. The damper is located on the feed roll and is used to provide winding resistance to the feed roll. The encoder is used to detect the winding position of the feed roll.

[0016] Furthermore, the surface drying detection platform is arranged in parallel with two sets; the surface drying detection loading mechanism includes a buffered double-head suction assembly and a surface drying detection loading X-axis transfer module that drives the buffered double-head suction assembly to move along the X-axis direction; the buffered double-head suction assembly includes a surface drying detection loading support seat disposed at the output end of the surface drying detection loading X-axis transfer module, a surface drying detection loading lifting mechanism disposed on the surface drying detection loading support seat, and two sets of second suction nozzles disposed at the output end of the surface drying detection loading lifting mechanism; the surface drying detection loading lifting mechanism includes a surface drying detection loading motor, a drive rod, a first connecting rod, and a second connecting rod, the center of the drive rod being aligned with the surface drying detection platform. The output shaft of the feed motor is connected, and the first end of the first connecting rod and the first end of the second connecting rod are rotatably connected to the two ends of the drive rod, respectively. The second end of the first connecting rod is slidably mounted on the surface dryness detection feed support in the vertical direction through the first surface dryness detection feed slider, and the second end of the second connecting rod is slidably mounted on the surface dryness detection feed support in the vertical direction through the second surface dryness detection feed slider. Two sets of second suction nozzles are respectively mounted on the first surface dryness detection feed slider and the second surface dryness detection feed slider. The surface dryness detection feed motor drives the drive rod to rotate, so as to drive the two sets of second suction nozzles to alternately rise and fall through the first connecting rod and the second connecting rod.

[0017] Furthermore, the flipping chuck includes two sets of clamping seats arranged opposite each other, a spacing adjustment mechanism for controlling the movement of the two sets of clamping seats alternately or toward each other, several sets of flipping seats rotatably arranged on the clamping seats, and a flipping motor for driving the flipping seats to rotate.

[0018] The present invention also provides a method for inline multi-sided screen printing, applied to the aforementioned inline multi-sided screen printing equipment, comprising the following steps: The feeding and conveying process involves the feeding and conveying unit transporting the tray containing the workpiece to be screen printed to the feeding station. Workpiece loading steps: The loading robot loads the workpieces to be screen printed from the extraction tray at the loading station onto the clamping and rotating mechanism of the cleaning unit; Cleaning steps: The clamping and rotating mechanism clamps the workpiece to be screen-printed and controls its rotation. The cleaning Y-axis linear module drives the clamping and rotating mechanism to move along the Y-axis to the cleaning station. The plasma cleaning mechanism performs plasma cleaning on the workpiece to be screen-printed on the clamping and rotating mechanism. After one side is cleaned, the clamping and rotating mechanism drives the workpiece to rotate and flip, so that the other side to be cleaned faces the plasma cleaning mechanism. The plasma cleaning mechanism continues to clean this side until all sides of the workpiece to be screen-printed are cleaned. After cleaning, the cleaning Y-axis linear module moves the workpiece to the material pick-up position of the first group of screen-printing units. First screen printing step: The screen printing feeding mechanism of the first group of screen printing units picks up the workpiece from the picking position and feeds it to the screen printing platform. The screen printing platform, in conjunction with the vision alignment mechanism, performs visual alignment of the workpiece in the X-axis, Y-axis and angular directions, and moves the visually aligned workpiece to the bottom of the screen printing execution mechanism for the first screen printing. First post-processing step: The surface drying detection loading mechanism loads the workpiece with the first screen printing completed from the screen printing platform to the surface drying detection platform. The surface drying detection platform drives the workpiece to pass through the hot air blowing mechanism and AOI detection mechanism in sequence along the Y-axis direction to perform hot air surface drying and optical detection. First sorting step: After the AOI inspection mechanism completes the AOI inspection of the workpiece, the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism 47 performs sorting according to the inspection results of the AOI inspection mechanism: If the AOI inspection shows that the workpiece is good, the flipping chuck of the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism picks up the good workpiece and flips it so that the next screen printing surface of the workpiece is in a state that can be screen printed by the screen printing execution mechanism of the next set of screen printing units. Then, it is released to the good product carrier or the buffer carrier to wait for the next set of screen printing units to pick up the material for the next screen printing. If the AOI inspection shows that the workpiece is defective, the defective product suction nozzle group of the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism transfers the defective product to the defective product carrier.

[0019] Preferably, the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism performs sorting based on the AOI detection results and the downstream process status. Specifically: If the AOI inspection result is qualified and the downstream process is normal, the flip chuck picks up the good workpiece and drives it to flip so that the next surface to be screen-printed on the good workpiece is in a state where it can be screen-printed by the screen-printing execution mechanism of the next set of screen-printing units (e.g., so that the next surface to be screen-printed is facing upward and in a horizontal state). The good workpiece is then transferred and released onto the good workpiece carrier on the unloading platform to wait for the next set of screen-printing units to pick up the material for screen-printing the next side. If the AOI inspection result is qualified and the downstream process is paused, the flip chuck picks up the good workpiece and drives it to flip so that the next surface to be screen-printed on the good workpiece is in a state where it can be screen-printed by the screen-printing execution mechanism of the next set of screen-printing units (e.g., so that the next surface to be screen-printed is facing upward and in a horizontal state). The good workpiece is then transferred and released onto the buffer carrier on the buffer platform for temporary storage. If the AOI inspection result is unqualified, the defective product suction nozzle group directly picks up the workpiece and transfers it to the defective product carrier.

[0020] Subsequent screen printing steps: The screen printing feeding mechanism of each subsequent screen printing unit takes the material from the unloading platform of the previous screen printing unit, and repeats the visual alignment, current face screen printing, hot air surface drying treatment, AOI inspection and sorting in sequence until the screen printing of all faces to be printed is completed. Unloading step: The unloading conveyor unit transports the empty extraction tray to the unloading station, and the unloading robot loads the good workpieces (good workpieces on the unloading station) that have been screen-printed by the last set of screen printing units into the extraction tray of the unloading station. Material feeding and conveying steps: After the extraction tray is full of good workpieces, the material feeding and conveying unit conveys the extraction tray containing good workpieces to the second stacking position for stacking.

[0021] Compared with the prior art, the advantages of this invention are as follows: This invention adopts a "linear" layout, in which multiple standardized screen printing units are arranged closely along the X-axis according to the number of surfaces to be screen printed. After the workpiece has completed the printing, drying, inspection and flipping of the previous surface, it can flow directly into the next unit along the straight line for subsequent surface printing. The entire flow path is the shortest and there is no redundant back-and-forth movement. At the same time, each screen printing unit uses dual screen printing platforms working alternately, and the surface dryness detection and feeding mechanism has dual heads that can pick up and put down materials without interruption. This greatly reduces auxiliary time, realizes efficient connection between processes, and significantly improves the overall production cycle time.

[0022] This invention integrates multiple processes, including plasma cleaning, high-precision visual alignment and leveling, online hot air drying, and AOI inspection, into one unit. Before screen printing, all surfaces to be printed undergo online plasma cleaning to ensure ink adhesion. During screen printing, a visual alignment platform precisely levels each workpiece along the X, Y axes, and angles, ensuring consistent printing positions. After printing, online hot air drying and AOI inspection are performed sequentially for real-time quality assessment, and a sorting mechanism automatically separates good and defective products, effectively preventing defective products from flowing into downstream processes. This multi-dimensional approach ensures high consistency of the final product.

[0023] Each screen printing unit in this invention is a fully functional standardized module. When product upgrades require increasing the number of screen printing surfaces, such as upgrading from double-sided screen printing to three-sided or four-sided screen printing, it is only necessary to directly install the corresponding number of standard screen printing units adjacent to the existing screen printing units and the material feeding and conveying units, and expand the control system. This modular expansion method is simple, fast, and low-cost, without requiring the overhaul of the original layout and equipment, giving the production line extremely strong flexible production capabilities and enabling it to quickly respond to the production needs of multiple varieties and variable surface numbers.

[0024] This invention highly integrates the entire process of tray feeding, automatic feeding, plasma cleaning, screen printing, drying, detection, flipping sorting, and stacking unloading into one machine. In particular, the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism with flipping function can intelligently and automatically flip good products to connect to the next screen printing side based on AOI detection results, or directly reject defective products. The entire production process, from feeding to unloading and stacking finished products, is completed in one go, minimizing manual intervention and realizing true full-process automation and intelligent production. Attached Figure Description

[0025] Appendix Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the inline multi-sided screen printing equipment of the present invention.

[0026] Appendix Figure 2 This is a structural schematic diagram of the feeding and conveying unit and the feeding robot of the present invention.

[0027] Appendix Figure 3 This is one of the structural schematic diagrams of the feeding conveyor unit and the unloading conveyor unit of the present invention.

[0028] Appendix Figure 4 This is the second structural schematic diagram of the feeding conveyor unit and the unloading conveyor unit of the present invention.

[0029] Appendix Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the loading robot and its structure according to the present invention.

[0030] Appendix Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the cleaning unit of the present invention.

[0031] Appendix Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the clamping and rotating mechanism of the present invention.

[0032] Appendix Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the screen printing unit of the present invention.

[0033] Appendix Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the screen printing feeding mechanism and the surface drying detection feeding mechanism of the present invention.

[0034] Appendix Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of the buffer single-head suction component structure of the present invention.

[0035] Appendix Figure 11 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the buffer dual-head suction assembly of the present invention.

[0036] Appendix Figure 12 This is one of the positional structural diagrams of the screen printing platform, vision alignment mechanism, and screen printing execution mechanism of the present invention.

[0037] Appendix Figure 13 This is the second schematic diagram showing the positional structure of the screen printing platform, vision alignment mechanism, and screen printing execution mechanism of the present invention.

[0038] Appendix Figure 14 This is a schematic diagram of the screen printing platform of the present invention.

[0039] Appendix Figure 15 This is one of the structural schematic diagrams of the visual alignment mechanism of the present invention.

[0040] Appendix Figure 16 This is the second schematic diagram of the visual alignment mechanism of the present invention.

[0041] Appendix Figure 17 This is a three-dimensional structural diagram of the screen printing actuator of the present invention.

[0042] Appendix Figure 18 This is a schematic diagram of the planar structure of the screen printing actuator of the present invention.

[0043] Appendix Figure 19 This is a three-dimensional structural diagram of the Z-axis of the screen printing stencil of the present invention.

[0044] Appendix Figure 20 This is a schematic diagram of the planar structure of the screen printing stencil along the Z-axis of the present invention.

[0045] Appendix Figure 21 This is one of the structural schematic diagrams of the doctor blade assembly and ink return assembly of the present invention.

[0046] Appendix Figure 22 This is the second structural schematic diagram of the doctor blade assembly and ink return assembly of the present invention.

[0047] Appendix Figure 23 This is a schematic diagram of the cleaning ink guiding mechanism of the present invention.

[0048] Appendix Figure 24 This is one of the structural schematic diagrams of the surface drying detection platform of the present invention.

[0049] Appendix Figure 25 This is the second schematic diagram of the surface drying detection platform of the present invention.

[0050] Appendix Figure 26 This is a schematic diagram of the surface drying detection Y-axis linear module of the present invention.

[0051] Appendix Figure 27 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the hot air blowing mechanism of the present invention.

[0052] Appendix Figure 28 This is one of the structural schematic diagrams of the AOI detection mechanism of the present invention.

[0053] Appendix Figure 29 This is the second schematic diagram of the AOI detection mechanism of the present invention.

[0054] Appendix Figure 30 This is a schematic diagram of the sorting and flipping feeding mechanism of the present invention.

[0055] Appendix Figure 31 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the flipping chuck of the present invention.

[0056] Appendix Figure 32 This is a schematic diagram of the caching platform of the present invention.

[0057] Appendix Figure 33 This is a schematic diagram of the material feeding platform of the present invention.

[0058] Appendix Figure 34 This is a schematic diagram of the material feeding and conveying unit and the material feeding robot of the present invention.

[0059] The labels shown in the attached diagram: 1. Feeding and conveying unit; 11. Conveying track; 111. Conveying mechanism; 1111. Conveying synchronous belt; 1112. Drive motor; 1113. Transmission shaft; 1114. Conveying pulley; 1115. Conveying drive pulley; 1116. Conveying driven pulley; 1117. Transmission synchronous belt; 12. Distributing feeding mechanism; 121. Frame base; 1211. Stand; 1212. "∟" shaped partition plate; 122. Distributing mechanism; 1221. Distributing plate; 1222. Distributing cylinder; 123. Lifting mechanism; 1231. Lifting plate; 1232. Lifting drive mechanism; 13. Stacking and receiving mechanism; 2. Loading robot; 3. Cleaning unit; 31. Clamping and rotating mechanism; 311. Rotating seat; 3111. Limiting groove; 3112. Spring column; 3113. Rotating shaft; 312. Rotating drive mechanism; 3121. Rotating drive motor; 3122. Rotating shaft; 3123. First synchronous belt; 3124. Second synchronous belt; 313. Rotating support seat; 32. Cleaning Y-axis linear module; 33. Plasma cleaning mechanism; 4. Screen printing unit; 41. Screen printing feeding mechanism; 411. Buffer single-head suction assembly; 4111. Screen printing feeding support base; 4112. Screen printing feeding motor; 4113. Cam; 4114. Screen printing feeding slider; 4115. Cam connecting rod; 4116. First suction nozzle assembly; 412. Screen printing feeding X-axis transfer module; 42. Screen printing platform; 421. Alignment platform; 422. Rotary platform R-axis module; 423. Platform X-axis module; 424. Platform Y-axis module; 425. Fixture; 43. Vision alignment mechanism; 431. Vision support beam; 432. Vision Y-axis slide; 433. Vision X-axis slide; 434. Vision Z-axis slide; 435. Camera assembly; 4351. Camera; 4352. Lens barrel; 4353. Light source; 44. Screen printing actuator; 441. Screen printing stencil; 442. Screen printing stencil Z-axis; 4421. Upper screen printing support; 4422. Lower screen printing support; 4423. Screen printing roller lead screw; 4424. Screen printing servo motor; 4425. Screen printing optical axis; 4426. Lower screen printing lifting seat; 4427. Screen printing guide rail; 4428. Screen printing slider; 4429. Upper screen printing lifting seat; 443. Screen printing X-axis module; 444. Squeegee assembly; 445. Ink return assembly; 446. Cleaning and ink guiding mechanism; 4461. Pull-out plate; 4462. Pull-out drive mechanism; 4463. Unloading roll; 4464. Rewind roll; 4465. Film winding motor; 4466. Damper; 4467. Encoder; 45. Surface dryness detection and feeding mechanism; 451. Buffered dual-head suction assembly; 4511. Surface dryness detection and feeding support base; 4512. Surface dryness detection and feeding motor; 4513. Drive rod; 4514. First connecting rod; 4515. Second connecting rod; 4516. First surface dryness detection and feeding slider; 4517. Second surface dryness detection and feeding slider; 4518. Second suction nozzle assembly; 452. Surface dryness detection and feeding X-axis transfer module; 46. ​​Surface drying inspection platform; 461. Surface drying inspection Y-axis linear module; 462. Hot air blowing mechanism; 463. AOI inspection mechanism; 4631. Inspection X-axis module; 4632. Inspection Z-axis module; 4633. AOI vision inspection head; 47. Sorting and flipping unloading mechanism; 471. Sorting X-axis module; 472. Sorting Z-axis module; 473. Flipping chuck; 474. Defective product suction nozzle assembly; 48. Caching platform; 481. Caching Y-axis linear module; 482. Defective product carrier; 483. Caching carrier; 49. Unloading platform; 491. Unloading Y-axis linear module; 492. Good product carrier; 5. Unloading robot; 6. Material feeding and conveying unit; 7. Workpiece; 8. Extract plate. Detailed Implementation

[0060] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals in the drawings represent the same components. It should be noted that the described embodiments are only some, not all, of the embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the described embodiments of the present invention without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0061] Unless otherwise defined, the technical or scientific terms used herein shall have the ordinary meaning as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention pertains. Terms such as “comprising” or “including” mean that an element or object preceding the word encompasses the elements or objects listed following the word and their equivalents, without excluding other elements or objects. Terms such as “connected” or “linked” are not limited to physical or mechanical connections, but may include electrical connections, whether direct or indirect.

[0062] It should be noted that, in this invention, to facilitate the description of the relative positional relationships and movement directions between the components, mutually perpendicular X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis directions are defined. The X-axis direction refers to the length direction of the frame, i.e., the sequential arrangement direction of multiple screen printing units, and also the main transport direction of the workpiece to be screen printed during multi-sided screen printing; the Y-axis direction refers to the width direction of the frame, perpendicular to the X-axis direction in the horizontal plane; and the Z-axis direction refers to the vertical direction, i.e., the direction perpendicular to the horizontal plane. These direction definitions are based on the typical placement and operating perspective of the equipment and should not be construed as limiting the invention. Example

[0063] like Figure 1As shown, the present invention provides a linear multi-sided screen printing device, including a frame, on which a feeding conveying unit 1, a feeding robot 2, a cleaning unit 3, multiple sets of screen printing units 4, a discharging robot 5, and a discharging conveying unit 6 are arranged.

[0064] It should be noted that, in this invention, the term "linear arrangement" specifically refers to a layout in which multiple sets of screen printing units 4, corresponding to the number of screen printing surfaces of the workpiece 7 to be screen printed, are arranged in a straight line adjacent to each other along the X-axis. This layout allows the workpiece 7 to flow directly into the next set of screen printing units 4 for screen printing on the next surface after completing the current screen printing, drying, and inspection.

[0065] like Figure 2-4 The diagram shows the structure of the feeding and conveying unit 1. The feeding and conveying unit 1 is used to convey the extraction tray 8 loaded with the workpiece 7 to the feeding station, and to convey the empty extraction tray 8 to the first stacking position for stacking, so as to realize the automatic tray feeding of the full extraction tray and the automatic stacking and recycling of the empty extraction tray.

[0066] In one possible implementation, the feeding and conveying unit 1 includes a conveying track 11, and a tray feeding mechanism 12 and a tray receiving mechanism 13 disposed at both ends of the conveying track 11. The conveying track 11 extends along the Y-axis and includes multiple sets of conveying mechanisms 111 arranged sequentially along the Y-axis. Each set of conveying mechanisms 111 includes two sets of synchronous conveying belts 1111 arranged opposite to each other and spaced apart, and a conveying drive mechanism for driving the two sets of synchronous conveying belts 1111 to run synchronously.

[0067] Specifically, the conveying drive mechanism includes a drive motor 1112 and a transmission shaft 1113 disposed between the two sets of conveying synchronous belts 1111. The drive motor 1112 is connected to the transmission shaft 1113. Both ends of the transmission shaft 1113 are respectively connected to corresponding conveyor pulleys 1114 disposed on the two sets of conveying synchronous belts 1111. After passing through the conveyor pulleys 1114, both ends of the transmission shaft 1113 are rotatably mounted on the frame via bearings. A conveying drive pulley 1115 is disposed on the output shaft of the drive motor 1112 via a coupling. A conveying driven pulley 1116 is disposed on the transmission shaft 1113. The conveying drive pulley 1115 and the conveying driven pulley 1116 are connected by a transmission synchronous belt 1117. Thus, the drive motor 1112 drives the transmission shaft 1113 to rotate through the conveying drive pulley 1115, the transmission synchronous belt 1117, and the conveying driven pulley 1116, thereby driving the conveying pulleys 1114 of the two sets of conveying synchronous belts 1111 to rotate synchronously, so as to realize the synchronous operation of the two sets of conveying synchronous belts 1111.

[0068] The tray feeding mechanism 12 and the tray receiving mechanism 13 have the same structure, both including a frame base 121, two distributing mechanisms 122, and a lifting mechanism 123. The frame base 121 is mounted on the frame and located above the two sets of conveyor belts 1111. The two distributing mechanisms 122 are arranged opposite each other on the two side frames of the frame base 121. Each distributing mechanism 122 includes a distributing plate 1221 slidably mounted on the frame and a distributing cylinder 1222 for driving the distributing plate 1221 to move. The lifting mechanism 123 is located below the frame base 121 and includes a lifting plate 1231 and a lifting drive mechanism 1232 for driving the lifting plate 1231 to rise and fall. The lifting drive mechanism 1232 can be a cylinder. The lifting plate 1231 can pass through the gap between the two sets of conveyor timing belts 1111 and the holes of the frame base 121 under the drive of the lifting drive mechanism 1232, so as to lift the extraction plate 8 at the position of the frame base 121.

[0069] Preferably, four uprights 1211 are vertically arranged at the four corners of the frame base 121, forming a rectangular arrangement to accommodate the stacked extraction trays 8. Each upright 1211 includes two mutually perpendicular vertical plates to form a "∟" shaped cross-section. The inner corners of the four uprights 1211 correspond to each other, jointly limiting and guiding the four corners of the extraction trays 8, ensuring the positional accuracy and stability of the extraction trays 8 during lifting and stacking. More preferably, a "∟" shaped partition plate 1212 is provided on the outer periphery of the frame base 121 to further enhance the protection of the extraction trays 8.

[0070] Preferably, the bottom sides of the extraction tray 8 are provided with slots that are adapted to the material distribution plate 1221, so as to facilitate the insertion of the material distribution plate 1221 and not affect the stacking of the extraction trays 8.

[0071] The process of dividing and loading the fully loaded extraction tray 8 is as follows: In the previous process, the fully loaded extraction trays 8 can be stacked to the tray feeding mechanism 12 of the feeding and conveying unit 1 manually or by a robot. First, the lifting mechanism 123 at the tray feeding mechanism 12 is activated, and the lifting drive mechanism 1232 drives the lifting plate 1231 to rise, passing through the gap between the two sets of conveyor synchronous belts 1111 and the holes in the frame base 121, until it touches the bottommost fully loaded extraction tray 8, where the lifting plate 1231 supports the stack of extraction trays 8; then, the distributing plate 1221 of the distributing mechanism 122 retracts under the drive of the distributing cylinder 1222, releasing the support for the bottommost fully loaded extraction tray 8; immediately afterward, the lifting drive mechanism 1232 drives... The lifting plate 1231 descends by the thickness of one extraction tray 8, causing the stack of fully loaded extraction trays 8 to descend synchronously with the lifting plate 1231. Subsequently, the distribution plate 1221, driven by the distribution cylinder 1222, extends and inserts into the bottom of the penultimate layer of extraction trays 8, providing support for the remaining stacked extraction trays 8. Then, the lifting drive mechanism 1232 drives the lifting plate 1231 to continue descending and resetting, until the bottommost extraction tray 8 finally lands smoothly on the two sets of synchronous conveyor belts 1111 of the conveyor track 11, and the lifting plate 1231 disengages from the extraction tray 8. At this point, a fully loaded extraction tray 8 is successfully separated and placed on the conveyor track 11. Finally, the conveyor drive mechanism drives the two sets of synchronous conveyor belts 1111 to run synchronously, smoothly conveying the fully loaded extraction tray 8 along the Y-axis to the loading station, awaiting retrieval by the loading robot 2.

[0072] The stacking and recycling process of empty extraction tray 8: After all the workpieces 7 in the extraction tray 8 at the feeding station are removed, the conveying track 11 continues to run, and the empty extraction tray 8 is conveyed forward along the Y-axis to the stacking and receiving mechanism 13 (i.e., the first stacking position) for stacking. After the empty extraction tray 8 arrives, the lifting mechanism 123 of the stacking and receiving mechanism 13 starts to operate. The lifting drive mechanism 1232 drives the lifting plate 1231 to rise until it contacts the empty extraction tray 8 on the conveying track 11. The distributing plate 1221 retracts under the drive of the distributing cylinder 1222. The lifting drive mechanism 1232 drives the lifting plate 1231 to continue to rise, so as to lift all the empty extraction trays 8. When the bottom empty extraction tray 8 rises to the position of the distributing plate 1221, the distributing plate 1221 extends and resets under the drive of the distributing cylinder 1222, so as to insert into the bottom or slot of the bottom empty extraction tray 8, supporting the empty extraction tray 8 from below, so that it is stably suspended and supported at the position of the stacking and receiving mechanism 13. Finally, the lifting drive mechanism 1232 drives the lifting plate 1231 to descend and reset, passing through the gap of the frame base 121 and the gap of the conveying synchronous belt 1111 and falling back to the initial position. At this point, the stacking process for one empty extraction tray 8 is complete. Subsequent empty extraction trays 8 will repeat the above lifting and stacking process, gradually forming a stack.

[0073] like Figure 5The diagram shows the structure of the loading robot 2. The loading robot 2 is used to load the workpiece 7 to be screen-printed from the extraction tray 8 at the loading station onto the clamping and rotating mechanism 31 of the cleaning unit 3. The loading robot 2 adopts a multi-axis linkage robot, such as a four-axis or five-axis linkage robot, which can achieve rapid and precise handling of the workpiece 7.

[0074] like Figure 6 , Figure 7 The diagram shows the structure of the cleaning unit 3. The cleaning unit 3 includes a clamping and rotating mechanism 31, a cleaning Y-axis linear module 32, and a plasma cleaning mechanism 33. The clamping and rotating mechanism 31 clamps the workpiece 7 to be screen-printed and controls its rotation. The cleaning Y-axis linear module 32 drives the clamping and rotating mechanism 31 to move along the Y-axis. The plasma cleaning mechanism 33 is located above the cleaning Y-axis linear module 32 and is used to perform plasma cleaning on the workpiece 7 to be screen-printed on the clamping and rotating mechanism 31. The cleaning Y-axis linear module 32 can also move the cleaned workpiece 7 to the picking position of the adjacent screen-printing unit 4.

[0075] In one possible implementation, such as Figure 7 As shown, the clamping and rotating mechanism 31 includes two sets of rotating seats 311 arranged opposite each other, and a rotating drive mechanism 312 that drives the two sets of rotating seats 311 to rotate synchronously. Each rotating seat 311 has a limiting groove 3111 adapted to the workpiece 7. At least one rotating seat 311 is provided with a spring post 3112. The elastic force of the spring post 3112 is directed towards the other rotating seat 311, providing elastic preload when clamping the workpiece 7. This prevents damage to the workpiece 7 and ensures stability during rotation, avoiding loosening or displacement. Specifically, the spring post 3112 includes two sleeved sleeves and a spring disposed between them. When clamping the workpiece 7, the spring post 3112 abuts against the end of the workpiece 7, providing elastic preload through the compression of the internal spring.

[0076] The cleaning Y-axis linear module 32 can be a lead screw type linear module or a synchronous belt type linear module in the prior art. The clamping and rotating mechanism 31 is fixedly installed on the slide of the lead screw type linear module or the synchronous belt type linear module. The cleaning Y-axis linear module 32 drives the slide to reciprocate along the Y-axis direction, so as to drive the clamping and rotating mechanism 31 to move along the Y-axis direction to the area below the plasma cleaning mechanism 33 for cleaning, and to move the cleaned workpiece to the material picking position of the first set of screen printing units 4.

[0077] Specifically, a rotating support 313 is provided on the output end (slide of a lead screw type linear module or a synchronous belt type linear module) of the cleaning Y-axis linear module. Two sets of rotating seats 311 are rotatably mounted on the two side support ears of the rotating support 313 via rotating shafts 3113. The rotary drive mechanism 312 includes a rotary drive motor 3121 and a rotating shaft 3122 rotatably mounted between the two side support ears of the rotating support 313. The output shaft of the rotary drive motor 3121 is drivenly connected to the rotating shaft 3122, and the two ends of the rotating shaft 3122 are drivenly connected to the rotating shafts 3113 of the two sets of rotating seats 311, respectively, to drive the two sets of rotating seats 311 to rotate synchronously. More specifically, the output shaft of the rotary drive motor 3121 and the rotating shaft 3122 are drivenly connected via a first synchronous belt 3123. The two ends of the rotating shaft 3122 are drivenly connected to the rotating shafts 3113 of the two sets of rotating seats 311 via a second synchronous belt 3124.

[0078] During the cleaning process, the cleaning Y-axis linear module 32 drives the clamping and rotating mechanism 31 to move along the Y-axis to the cleaning station. The plasma cleaning mechanism 33 performs plasma cleaning on the workpiece 7 to be screen-printed on the clamping and rotating mechanism 31. After one side is cleaned, the clamping and rotating mechanism 31 drives the workpiece 7 to rotate and flip, so that the other side to be cleaned faces upwards. The plasma cleaning mechanism 33 continues to clean this side until all sides of the workpiece 7 to be screen-printed have been plasma-cleaned. After cleaning, the cleaning Y-axis linear module 32 moves the cleaned workpiece 7 to the material handling position of the first group of screen-printing units 4.

[0079] like Figures 8-22 The diagram shown is a structural schematic of the screen printing unit 4.

[0080] Multiple sets of screen printing units 4 are arranged sequentially along the X-axis, used to sequentially screen print on multiple surfaces of the workpiece 7. The specific number of screen printing units 4 is determined according to the number of screen printing surfaces of the workpiece 7. For example... Figure 1 As shown, if screen printing is required on two sides of workpiece 7 (such as a prism), two sets of screen printing units 4 are arranged sequentially along the X-axis; similarly, if screen printing is required on three sides of workpiece 7, three sets of screen printing units 4 are arranged sequentially along the X-axis; if screen printing is required on four sides, three sets of screen printing units 4 are arranged sequentially along the X-axis, and so on. Each set of screen printing units 4 is a standardized functional module that can be flexibly spliced ​​and expanded along the X-axis.

[0081] like Figure 8As shown, each screen printing unit 4 includes a screen printing feeding mechanism 41, a screen printing platform 42, a vision alignment mechanism 43, a screen printing execution mechanism 44, a surface drying detection feeding mechanism 45, a surface drying detection platform 46, a hot air blowing mechanism 462, an AOI detection mechanism 463, a sorting and flipping unloading mechanism 47, a buffer platform 47, and an unloading platform 49. The following provides a detailed description of each component.

[0082] like Figure 9 , Figure 10 The diagram shown is a schematic diagram of the screen printing feeding mechanism 41.

[0083] The screen printing loading mechanism 41 is used to load the workpiece 7 onto the screen printing platform 42. Specifically, the screen printing loading mechanism 41 of the first group of screen printing units 4 is used to pick up the workpiece from the clamping and rotating mechanism 31 of the cleaning unit 3, while the screen printing loading mechanisms 41 of the remaining groups of screen printing units 4 are used to pick up the workpiece from the unloading platform 49 of the preceding group of screen printing units 4, so that the qualified workpiece 7 can be transferred along the X-axis from the preceding group of screen printing units 4 to the following group of screen printing units 4 for the next side of screen printing.

[0084] Specifically, the screen printing loading mechanism 41 of the first group of screen printing units 4 (such as the A-side screen printing unit of a prism) takes the workpiece (prism) from the clamping and rotating mechanism 31; the screen printing loading mechanism 41 of the second group of screen printing units 4 (such as the B-side screen printing unit of a prism) takes the workpiece (prism) from the unloading platform 49 of the first group of screen printing units 4; the screen printing loading mechanism 41 of the third group of screen printing units 4 (such as the C-side screen printing unit of a prism) takes the workpiece (prism) from the unloading platform 49 of the second group of screen printing units 4, and so on. Except for the first screen printing unit 4, the screen printing loading mechanisms 41 of the other first screen printing units 4 all take the workpiece from the unloading platform 49 of the previous group of screen printing units 4.

[0085] like Figure 10 As shown, the screen printing feeding mechanism 41 includes a buffer single-head suction assembly 411 and a screen printing feeding X-axis transfer module 412 that drives the buffer single-head suction assembly 411 to move along the X-axis direction.

[0086] The buffer single-head suction assembly 411 includes a screen printing feeding support base 4111, a screen printing feeding lifting mechanism disposed on the screen printing feeding support base 4111, and a set of first suction nozzles 4116 disposed at the output end of the screen printing feeding lifting mechanism. The screen printing feeding lifting mechanism includes a screen printing feeding motor 4112, a cam 4113, a screen printing feeding slider 4114, and a cam connecting rod 4115. The cam 4113 is mounted on the output shaft of the screen printing feeding motor 4112. The screen printing feeding slider 4114 is slidably mounted on the screen printing feeding support 4111 along a slide rail in the vertical direction. The first suction nozzle group 4116 is mounted on the screen printing feeding slider 4114 and may include multiple vacuum suction nozzles. The two ends of the cam connecting rod 4115 are rotatably connected to the cam 4113 and the screen printing feeding slider 4114, respectively. The rotational connection axis between the cam connecting rod 4115 and the cam 4113 is offset from the output shaft of the screen printing feeding motor 4112. The screen printing feeding motor 4112 drives the cam 4113 to rotate, so as to drive the screen printing feeding slider 4114 and the first suction nozzle group 4116 to reciprocate in the vertical direction through the cam connecting rod 4115, thereby realizing the picking and placing of workpiece 7.

[0087] The screen printing feeding X-axis transfer module 412 can be a lead screw type linear module or a synchronous belt type linear module in the prior art. The screen printing feeding support base 4111 of the buffer single-head suction component 411 is set on the slide of the lead screw type linear module or the synchronous belt type linear module. Under the action of the screen printing feeding X-axis transfer module 412, the buffer single-head suction component 411 moves back and forth along the X-axis direction with the slide to realize the material picking and placing operation.

[0088] like Figures 12-14 The diagram shown is a structural schematic of the screen printing platform 42 and the screen printing actuator 44.

[0089] like Figure 14 As shown, the screen printing platform 42 is used to carry the workpiece 7 to be screen printed, and cooperates with the vision alignment mechanism 43 to perform visual alignment of the workpiece 7 to be screen printed in the X-axis, Y-axis and angular directions, and moves the visually aligned workpiece 7 to be screen printed below the screen printing execution mechanism 44.

[0090] The screen printing platform 42 includes an alignment platform 421, a fixture 425 mounted on the alignment platform 421, a rotary platform R-axis module 422 that drives the alignment platform 421 to rotate along the Z-axis, a platform X-axis module 423 that drives the alignment platform 421 to move along the X-axis, and a platform Y-axis module 424 that drives the alignment platform 421 to move along the Y-axis. Specifically, the alignment platform 421 is located at the output end of the rotary platform R-axis module 422, the rotary platform R-axis module 422 is located at the output end of the platform X-axis module 423, and the platform X-axis module 423 is located at the output end of the platform Y-axis module 424. The fixture 425 is used to precisely fix the workpiece 7 to be screen printed. The screen printing platform 42 has XYR leveling function, which can perform fine adjustments on the workpiece 7 by X-axis translation, Y-axis translation, and rotation around the Z-axis to ensure screen printing position accuracy.

[0091] More specifically, the rotating platform R-axis module 422 includes a rotating R-axis alignment motor 4221 and a rotating platform 4222. The output shaft of the rotating R-axis alignment motor 4221 is provided with a first bevel gear, and the rotating platform 4222 is provided with an alignment shaft extending along the Z-axis direction. The alignment shaft is provided with a second bevel gear that meshes with the first bevel gear. The rotating R-axis alignment motor 4221 drives the alignment shaft to rotate, thereby driving the rotating platform 4222 to rotate, thus causing the alignment platform 421 to rotate along the Z-axis direction.

[0092] The platform X-axis module 423 is a lead screw type linear module or a synchronous belt type linear module in the prior art. The rotary platform R-axis module 422 is disposed on the slide of the lead screw type linear module or the synchronous belt type linear module. Under the action of the platform X-axis module 423, the rotary platform R-axis module 422 and the alignment platform 421 reciprocate along the X-axis direction with the slide.

[0093] The platform Y-axis module 424 is a lead screw type linear module or a synchronous belt type linear module in the prior art. The platform X-axis module 423 is set on the slide of the lead screw type linear module or the synchronous belt type linear module. Under the action of the platform Y-axis module 424, the platform X-axis module 423, the rotary platform R-axis module 422, and the alignment platform 421 reciprocate along the Y-axis direction with the slide to move between the loading / unloading station and the screen printing station.

[0094] To further improve screen printing efficiency, two sets of screen printing platforms 42 are arranged parallel to each other along the X-axis in each set of screen printing units 4. The two sets of screen printing platforms 42 can alternately enter the screen printing station and the loading and unloading station. While the workpiece 7 on one platform is being screen printed, the other platform completes the unloading of the already printed workpiece 7 and the loading and visual alignment of the workpiece 7 to be printed, thus realizing the continuity of screen printing operations.

[0095] like Figure 15 , Figure 16 The diagram shown is a structural schematic of the visual alignment mechanism 43.

[0096] The vision alignment mechanism 43 is used to photograph the workpiece 7 to be screen printed on the screen printing platform 42, and control the screen printing platform 42 to perform alignment of the workpiece 7 to be screen printed in the X-axis, Y-axis and angular directions according to the photographing results.

[0097] The visual alignment mechanism 43 includes a camera assembly 435 and a visual Y-axis slide 432, a visual X-axis slide 433, and a visual Z-axis slide 434 for calibrating the position of the camera assembly 435. Specifically, the visual alignment mechanism 43 includes a visual support beam 431, a visual Y-axis slide 432 slidably disposed on the visual support beam 431, a visual X-axis slide 433 slidably disposed on the visual Y-axis slide 432, a visual Z-axis slide 434 slidably disposed on the visual X-axis slide 433, and a camera assembly 435 disposed on the visual Z-axis slide 434.

[0098] The vision Y-axis slide 432, vision X-axis slide 433, and vision Z-axis slide 434 are all manually adjustable slides, used to adjust the position of the camera assembly 435 along the Y-axis, X-axis, and Z-axis directions, respectively, for initial position calibration of the camera assembly 435 during equipment debugging. Each slide can be fixed in place by screws after adjustment to the target position. The camera assembly 435 includes a camera 4351, a lens barrel 4352, and a light source 4353, used for high-precision imaging and positioning of the workpiece 7 on the screen printing platform 42, capturing precise alignment marks on the workpiece 7, and feeding back position offset data to the alignment platform 421 for alignment compensation.

[0099] like Figure 12 , Figure 13 , Figures 17-22 The diagram shown is a schematic representation of the screen printing actuator 44. The screen printing actuator 44 is used to perform screen printing on the workpiece 7 to be screen printed.

[0100] The screen printing actuator 44 includes a screen printing stencil 441, a screen printing stencil Z-axis 442, a screen printing X-axis module 443, a squeegee assembly 444, an ink return assembly 445, and a cleaning and ink guiding mechanism 446.

[0101] like Figures 17-20As shown, the Z-axis 442 of the screen printing stencil is used to drive the screen printing stencil 441 to rise and fall, and includes: an upper screen printing support 4421 and a lower screen printing support 4422, which are fixedly mounted on the frame; a screen printing roller screw 4423, whose two ends are respectively rotatably mounted on the upper screen printing support 4421 and the lower screen printing support 4422; a screen printing servo motor 4424, which is fixedly mounted on the lower screen printing support 4422, and the output shaft of the screen printing servo motor 4424 is connected to the screen printing roller screw 4423; a screen printing optical shaft 4425, which is disposed between the upper screen printing support 4421 and the lower screen printing support 4422; and a lower screen printing lifting seat 4426, which is located between the upper screen printing support 4421 and the lower screen printing support 4422. Between the support bases 4422, the lower screen printing lifting base 4426 is provided with a screen printing bushing adapted to the screen printing optical axis 4425, and the lower screen printing lifting base 4426 is threadedly connected to the screen printing roller screw 4423; the screen printing guide slide rail 4427 extends vertically, and the bottom end of the screen printing guide slide rail 4427 is fixedly set on the lower screen printing lifting base 4426; the screen printing slider 4428 is fixedly set on the upper screen printing support base 4421, and the screen printing slider 4428 is slidably connected to the screen printing guide slide rail 4427; the upper screen printing lifting base 4429 is set at the top of the screen printing guide slide rail 4427, and the screen printing stencil 441 and the cleaning ink guiding mechanism 446 are set on the upper screen printing lifting base 4429. The screen printing servo motor 4424 drives the screen printing roller screw 4423 to rotate, thereby driving the lower screen printing lifting seat 4426 to rise and fall along the screen printing optical axis 4425. In turn, the screen printing guide slide rail 4427 drives the upper screen printing lifting seat 4429, the screen printing stencil 441, and the cleaning ink guiding mechanism 446 to rise and fall, ensuring the precise consistency of the contact distance between the screen printing stencil 441 and the workpiece 7.

[0102] like Figure 21 , Figure 22 The diagram shows the structure of the squeegee assembly 444 and the ink return assembly 445. The squeegee assembly 444 and the ink return assembly 445 are located at the output end of the screen printing X-axis module 443 and are driven by the screen printing X-axis module 443 to move along the X-axis direction. The squeegee assembly 444 is used to scrape and press the ink on the screen printing stencil 441 to transfer the ink through the stencil pattern to the surface of the workpiece 7; the ink return assembly 445 is used to repaint the ink onto the surface of the screen printing stencil 441.

[0103] Specifically, the screen printing X-axis module 443 is a lead screw type linear module or a synchronous belt type linear module in the prior art. The squeegee assembly 444 and the ink return assembly 445 are disposed on the slide of the lead screw type linear module or the synchronous belt type linear module. Under the action of the screen printing X-axis module 443, the squeegee assembly 444 and the ink return assembly 445 reciprocate along the X-axis direction with the slide to reciprocate on the screen printing stencil 441. The squeegee assembly 444 and the ink return assembly 445 respectively adopt conventional screen printing squeegee and ink return blade structures in the art, and also include structures such as cylinders for controlling the lifting and lowering of the screen printing squeegee and ink return blade structures. Their specific configuration will not be described in detail here.

[0104] like Figure 23 The diagram shows a schematic of the cleaning ink guiding mechanism 446. The cleaning ink guiding mechanism 446 is located below the screen printing stencil 441 and is used to perform online cleaning of the back of the screen printing stencil 441 after screen printing to remove leaked or residual ink, prevent mesh clogging, and ensure the clarity and consistency of the printed pattern.

[0105] The cleaning ink guiding mechanism 446 is disposed below the screen printing stencil 441, and includes a pull-out mechanism disposed on the screen printing lifting seat 4429, and a film winding assembly, a film winding motor 4465, a damper 4466, and an encoder 4467 disposed at the output end of the pull-out mechanism. The film winding assembly includes a feed roll 4463 and a take-up roll 4464 spaced apart and spanning the screen printing area of ​​the screen printing stencil. Unused cleaning film is wound on the feed roll 4463, and the free end of the cleaning film is wound on the take-up roll 4464. The film winding motor 4465 is drivenly connected to the take-up roll 4464 and is used to drive the take-up roll 4464 to rotate. The damper 4466 is disposed on the feed roll 4463 and is used to provide winding resistance for the feed roll 4463. The encoder 4467 is used to detect the winding position of the feed roll 4463, thereby accurately controlling the film feeding length.

[0106] Specifically, the pull-out mechanism includes a pull-out plate 4461 slidably mounted on the lifting seat 4429 on the screen printing plate, and a pull-out drive mechanism 4462 that drives the pull-out plate 4461 to translate along the Y-axis. The pull-out drive mechanism 4462 can be a cylinder, a lead screw type linear module, or a synchronous belt type linear module, etc. Under the action of the pull-out drive mechanism 4462, the pull-out plate 4461 moves along the Y-axis, thereby driving the entire component mounted on it to translate along the Y-axis.

[0107] When screen printing is required on the workpiece, under the action of the pull-out drive mechanism 4462, the pull-out plate 4461 drives the film roll assembly and other components to move to a position away from the screen printing stencil 441, so that the workpiece can be moved to the underside of the screen printing stencil 441 for screen printing. When the screen printing operation is completed and the screen printing stencil 441 needs to be cleaned, the pull-out drive mechanism 4462 causes the pull plate 4461 to move the film winding assembly and other components to the underside of the screen printing stencil 441, aligning the cleaning film with the screen printing area of ​​the stencil 441. Then, the film winding motor 4465 starts, driving the take-up roll 4464 to rotate, pulling out a predetermined length of cleaning film from the unwind roll 4463. This new cleaning film must completely cover the screen printing area of ​​the stencil. Next, a vacuum adsorption device can be used to adsorb and fix the cleaning film under the screen printing stencil 441. Then, the ink return blade of the ink return assembly 445 scrapes the residual ink on the screen printing stencil 441 onto the cleaning film, completing the cleaning process. During this process, the damper 4466 applies a stable damping force to the unwind roll 4463 to ensure film tension; the encoder 4467 detects the rotation of the unwind roll 4463 in real time to ensure precise control of the film length.

[0108] like Figure 9 , Figure 11 The diagram shown is a structural schematic of the surface drying detection and loading mechanism 45. The surface drying detection and loading mechanism 45 is used to load the workpiece 7, which has completed the current surface screen printing, from the screen printing platform 42 to the surface drying detection platform 46.

[0109] The surface dryness inspection and loading mechanism 45 includes a buffered double-head suction assembly 451 and a surface dryness inspection and loading X-axis transfer module 452 that drives the buffered double-head suction assembly 451 to move along the X-axis direction. The buffered double-head suction assembly 451 can adapt to the workpiece picking and placing actions of the dual-station surface dryness inspection platform 46, thereby improving work efficiency.

[0110] The surface dryness detection and loading X-axis transfer module 452 is a lead screw type linear module or a synchronous belt type linear module in the prior art. The buffered double-head suction component 451 is disposed on the slide of the lead screw type linear module or the synchronous belt type linear module. Under the action of the surface dryness detection and loading X-axis transfer module 452, the buffered double-head suction component 451 moves back and forth along the X-axis direction with the slide to move between the screen printing platform 42 and the surface dryness detection platform 46.

[0111] The buffer dual-head suction assembly 451 includes a surface dryness detection and feeding support 4511, a surface dryness detection and feeding lifting mechanism disposed on the surface dryness detection and feeding support 4511, and two sets of second suction nozzles 4518 disposed at the output end of the surface dryness detection and feeding lifting mechanism. The surface dryness detection feeding lifting mechanism includes a surface dryness detection feeding motor 4512, a drive rod 4513, a first connecting rod 4514, and a second connecting rod 4515. The center of the drive rod 4513 is connected to the output shaft of the surface dryness detection feeding motor 4512. The first end of the first connecting rod 4514 and the first end of the second connecting rod 4515 are rotatably connected to the two ends of the drive rod 4513, respectively. The second end of the first connecting rod 4514 is slidably mounted on the surface dryness detection feeding support 4511 in a vertical direction via a first surface dryness detection feeding slider 4516. The second end of the second connecting rod 4515 is slidably mounted on the surface dryness detection feeding support 4511 in a vertical direction via a second surface dryness detection feeding slider 4517. Two sets of second suction nozzles 4518 are respectively mounted on the first surface dryness detection feeding slider 4516 and the second surface dryness detection feeding slider 4517. The surface dryness detection and feeding motor 4512 drives the drive rod 4513 to rotate, so as to drive the two sets of second suction nozzles 4518 to alternately rise and fall through the first connecting rod 4514 and the second connecting rod 4515, thereby realizing dual-station material handling and greatly improving the transfer speed.

[0112] like Figures 25-29 The diagram shown is a structural schematic of the surface drying detection platform 46, the hot air blowing mechanism 462, and the AOI detection mechanism 463. Figure 25 , Figure 26 The diagram shown is a structural schematic of the surface drying detection platform 46.

[0113] The surface drying inspection platform 46 is used to carry the workpiece that has completed screen printing on the current surface and drive it to pass sequentially along the Y-axis through the hot air blowing mechanism 462 and the AOI inspection mechanism 463. The surface drying inspection platform 46 includes a platform for carrying the workpiece and a surface drying inspection Y-axis linear module 461 for driving the platform to move along the Y-axis. The surface drying inspection Y-axis linear module 461 is a lead screw type linear module or a synchronous belt type linear module in the prior art. The platform for carrying the workpiece is mounted on the slide of the lead screw type linear module or the synchronous belt type linear module. Under the action of the surface drying inspection Y-axis linear module 461, the platform reciprocates along the Y-axis with the slide, thereby driving the workpiece on the platform to pass sequentially along the Y-axis through the hot air blowing mechanism 462 and the AOI inspection mechanism 463. Preferably, two sets of surface drying inspection Y-axis linear modules 461 are arranged in parallel.

[0114] like Figure 25As shown, the hot air blowing mechanism 462 and the AOI detection mechanism 463 are arranged above the surface drying detection Y-axis linear module 461 and are arranged sequentially along the Y-axis conveying direction.

[0115] As described Figure 27 The diagram shown is a structural schematic of the hot air blowing mechanism 462. The hot air blowing mechanism 462 is used to perform hot air surface drying treatment on the ink after screen printing, allowing the ink surface to quickly solidify and set.

[0116] like Figure 28 , Figure 29 The diagram shown is a structural schematic of the AOI inspection mechanism 463. The AOI inspection mechanism 463 is used to inspect the size and appearance of the ink after hot air surface drying. It performs high-precision scanning of the printed pattern on the surface of the workpiece 7 to detect the size and appearance of the ink and outputs a pass or fail inspection result.

[0117] Specifically, the AOI inspection mechanism 463 includes an X-axis inspection module 4631, a Z-axis inspection module 4632, and an AOI visual inspection head 4633. The AOI visual inspection head 4633 includes a camera, a lens, and a light source.

[0118] The detection X-axis module 4631 is a lead screw type linear module or a synchronous belt type linear module in the prior art. The detection Z-axis module 4632 is disposed on the slide of the lead screw type linear module or the synchronous belt type linear module. Under the action of the detection X-axis module 4631, the detection Z-axis module 4632 reciprocates along the X-axis direction with the slide.

[0119] The detection Z-axis module 4632 is a cylinder, lead screw, or synchronous belt linear module in the prior art. The AOI vision inspection head 4633 is mounted on the telescopic rod of the cylinder or the slide of the lead screw / synchronous belt linear module. Under the action of the detection Z-axis module 4632, the AOI vision inspection head 4633 moves up and down along the Z-axis with the slide to adjust the distance between the AOI vision inspection head 4633 and the workpiece.

[0120] like Figure 30 , Figure 31 The diagram shows a structural schematic of the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism 47. The sorting and flipping unloading mechanism 47 is used to transport the workpiece 7 that has completed AOI inspection to the buffer platform 47 or the unloading platform 49. The sorting and flipping unloading mechanism 47 includes a sorting X-axis module 471, a sorting Z-axis module 472, a flipping chuck 743, and a defective product suction nozzle assembly 494. The sorting Z-axis module 472 is located at the output end of the sorting X-axis module 471, and the flipping chuck 743 and the defective product suction nozzle assembly 494 are located at the output end of the sorting Z-axis module 472.

[0121] The sorting X-axis module 471 drives the sorting Z-axis module 472 to move along the X-axis direction. The sorting Z-axis module 472 drives the flipping chuck 743 and the defective product suction nozzle assembly 494 to move up and down along the Z-axis direction. Thus, the flipping chuck 743 and the defective product suction nozzle assembly 494 can move synchronously in the X-axis and Z-axis directions under the drive of the sorting X-axis module 471 and the sorting Z-axis module 472, so as to transfer good and defective workpieces separately between the surface drying detection platform 46, the buffer platform 47 and the unloading platform 49. The flipping chuck 743 is used to clamp the good workpiece and flip it at a certain angle so that the next surface to be screen-printed on the workpiece is in a state that can be screen-printed by the screen-printing execution mechanism of the next set of screen-printing units. Then, the good workpiece is released onto the good product carrier 782 or the buffer carrier 483 to facilitate the screen-printing of the next surface. Alternatively, once all surfaces of the workpiece requiring screen printing have been screen printed, the chuck 743 can be flipped to pick up good workpieces and rotated to a uniform loading state for easy collection and storage. The defective product suction nozzle assembly 494 picks up defective products and releases them directly onto the defective product carrier 492 without flipping, reducing processes and improving efficiency.

[0122] Specifically, the sorting X-axis module 471 is a lead screw type linear module or a synchronous belt type linear module in the prior art. The sorting Z-axis module 472 is disposed on the slide of the lead screw type linear module or the synchronous belt type linear module. Under the action of the sorting X-axis module 471, the sorting Z-axis module 472 drives the flipping chuck 743 and the defective product suction nozzle assembly 494 to reciprocate along the X-axis direction with the slide, so as to move between the surface drying detection platform 46, the buffer platform 47, and the unloading platform 49. The sorting Z-axis module 472 is a lead screw type linear module or a synchronous belt type linear module in the prior art. The flipping chuck 743 and the defective product suction nozzle assembly 494 are disposed on the slide of the lead screw type linear module or the synchronous belt type linear module. Under the action of the sorting Z-axis module 472, the flipping chuck 743 and the defective product suction nozzle assembly 494 reciprocate up and down along the Z-axis direction with the slide. When it is necessary to clamp the workpiece 7, the flipping chuck 743 or the defective product suction nozzle group 494 first descends to the material picking height to clamp the workpiece, and after clamping, it rises to a certain height to facilitate obstacle avoidance and transportation. After reaching the target position, it descends to the release height to release the workpiece.

[0123] In one specific implementation, such as Figure 31As shown, the flipping chuck 473 includes two sets of clamping seats 4731 arranged opposite each other, a spacing adjustment mechanism 4732 for controlling the movement of the two sets of clamping seats 4731 in opposite directions or towards each other, a plurality of flipping seats 4733 rotatably arranged on the clamping seats 4731, and a flipping motor 4734 for driving the flipping seats 4733 to rotate. The flipping seats 4733 on the two sets of clamping seats 4731 are arranged opposite each other to achieve clamping of workpieces. Vacuum nozzles 4735 may also be provided on the flipping seats 4733. Preferably, each set of clamping seats 4731 has two sets of flipping seats 4733, and the two sets of flipping seats 4733 on the same clamping seat 4731 are connected by transmission. Specifically, the two sets of flipping seats 4733 on the same clamping seat 4731 are connected to the output shaft of the flipping motor 4734 by a synchronous belt drive to realize that the flipping chuck 743 can drive the synchronous flipping of two workpieces.

[0124] like Figure 32 The diagram shows a schematic of the buffer platform 47. The buffer platform 47 includes a buffer Y-axis linear module 481, and a defective product carrier 492 and a buffer carrier 483 mounted on the buffer Y-axis linear module 481. The buffer Y-axis linear module 481 drives the defective product carrier 492 and the buffer carrier 483 to move along the Y-axis, facilitating the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism 47 to transfer the workpiece 7 to the corresponding carrier. The buffer carrier 483 is mainly used to activate the buffer function when the downstream machine is paused, to temporarily store good workpieces. The defective product carrier 492 is used to place workpieces that fail inspection.

[0125] The buffer Y-axis linear module 481 is a lead screw type linear module or a synchronous belt type linear module in the prior art. The lead screw type linear module or synchronous belt type linear module is provided with a main carrier on the slide. The defective product carrier 492 and the buffer carrier 483 are provided on the main carrier. Under the action of the buffer Y-axis linear module 481, the defective product carrier 492 and the buffer carrier 483 move back and forth along the Y-axis direction with the slide to move to the unloading position of the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism 47.

[0126] like Figure 33 The diagram shows a schematic of the unloading platform 49. The unloading platform 49 includes an unloading Y-axis linear module 491 and a good-product carrier 492 mounted on the unloading Y-axis linear module 491. The good-product carrier 492 can have multiple workpiece placement slots, such as two, three, or more. The unloading Y-axis linear module 491 drives the good-product carrier 492 to move along the Y-axis direction, facilitating the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism 47 to transfer good-product workpieces to the good-product carrier 492, and facilitating the screen printing loading mechanism 41 of the next screen printing unit 4 to retrieve workpieces from the good-product carrier 492.

[0127] The unloading Y-axis linear module 491 is a lead screw type linear module or a synchronous belt type linear module in the prior art. The good product carrier 492 is set on the slide of the lead screw type linear module or the synchronous belt type linear module. Under the action of the unloading Y-axis linear module 491, the good product carrier 492 moves back and forth along the Y-axis direction with the slide to move to the unloading position of the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism 47, and to the picking position of the screen printing loading mechanism 41 of the next set of screen printing units 4.

[0128] Workpieces that are deemed good by the AOI inspection mechanism 463 are gripped and flipped by the flipping chuck 473 so that the next surface of the workpiece to be screen-printed is in a state where it can be screen-printed by the screen-printing execution mechanism 44 of the next set of screen-printing units 4, and then released to the good product carrier 492 or the buffer carrier 483; workpieces that are deemed defective by the AOI inspection mechanism 463 are picked up by the defective product suction nozzle group and released to the defective product carrier 482.

[0129] Preferably, the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism performs sorting based on AOI inspection results and downstream process conditions. More specifically: If the downstream process is normal and the workpiece is detected as good by the AOI inspection mechanism 463, the flipping chuck 473 will pick up and flip the workpiece so that the next surface to be screen printed is in a state that can be screen printed by the screen printing execution mechanism 44 of the next set of screen printing units 4 (such as making the next surface to be screen printed face up and in a horizontal state). Under the action of the sorting X-axis module 471, the workpiece is moved to the unloading platform 49 and released to the good product carrier 492 so that the next set of screen printing units can directly screen print the next side after picking up the material. When the downstream process is paused, the good workpiece that has been detected as good by the AOI inspection mechanism 463 is picked up and flipped by the flipping chuck 473 so that the next screen printing surface of the workpiece is in a state that can be screen printed by the screen printing execution mechanism 44 of the next set of screen printing units 4 (such as making the next screen printing surface face up and in a horizontal state). Under the action of the sorting X-axis module 471, it is moved to the buffer platform 48 and released to the buffer carrier 483 to temporarily store the good workpiece. After the downstream process is normal, it is moved to the unloading platform 49. After the workpieces detected as defective by the AOI inspection mechanism 463 are picked up by the defective product suction nozzle group 494, they do not need to be flipped. Under the action of the sorting X-axis module 471, they are moved to the defective product carrier 482 and then released into the defective product carrier 482.

[0130] like Figure 5The diagram shows the structure of the unloading robot 5. The unloading robot 5 is used to load the finished workpieces (such as the finished workpiece 7 on the finished product carrier 492) completed by the last set of screen printing units 4 into the unloading tray 8. The structure of the unloading robot 5 is the same as that of the loading robot 2, employing a multi-axis linkage robot to achieve rapid and precise handling of the workpiece 7.

[0131] like Figure 34 , Figure 4 The diagram shows the structure of the unloading conveying unit 6. The unloading conveying unit 6 is used to convey empty extraction trays 8 to the unloading station, so that the unloading robot 5 can load the good workpieces 7 onto the extraction trays 8. After the tray is full, the unloading conveying unit 6 continues to convey the extraction trays 8 along the Y-axis direction to convey the trays 8 loaded with the good workpieces 7 to the second stacking position for stacking. The structure of the unloading conveying unit 6 is the same as that of the loading conveying unit 1, also including a conveying track 11, and a tray feeding mechanism 12 and a tray receiving mechanism 13 disposed at both ends of the conveying track 11.

[0132] In the unloading and conveying unit 6, the tray feeding mechanism 12 is used to temporarily store the empty extraction trays 8 stacked in a stack shape and separate the bottom empty extraction trays one by one and place them on the conveying track 11. The conveying track 11 transports the empty extraction trays along the Y-axis to the unloading station, waiting for the unloading robot 5 to load the good workpieces into the empty extraction trays. After the trays are full of good workpieces, the conveying track 11 continues to transport the full extraction trays loaded with good workpieces at the unloading station forward along the Y-axis to the second stacking position. The tray receiving mechanism 13 of the unloading and conveying unit 6 is used to lift and stack the full extraction trays 8 loaded with good workpieces 7 upwards one by one into a stack. Example

[0133] This embodiment provides a linear multi-sided screen printing method, applied to the aforementioned linear multi-sided screen printing equipment, including the following steps: S1. Loading and Conveying Step: The loading and conveying unit transports the etch trays loaded with workpieces to be screen-printed to the loading station. Specifically, the tray feeding mechanism of the loading and conveying unit separates the fully loaded etch trays stacked in a stack shape, places them on the conveying track, and the conveying track transports the fully loaded etch trays to the loading station along the Y-axis.

[0134] S2. Workpiece loading step: The loading robot loads the workpiece to be screen printed in the extraction tray at the loading station onto the clamping and rotating mechanism 31 of the cleaning unit.

[0135] S3. Cleaning Steps: The clamping and rotating mechanism 31 of the cleaning unit clamps the workpiece to be screen-printed and controls its rotation. The cleaning Y-axis linear module 32 drives the clamping and rotating mechanism 31 to move along the Y-axis to the cleaning station. The plasma cleaning mechanism 33 performs plasma cleaning on the workpiece to be screen-printed on the clamping and rotating mechanism 31. After one side is cleaned, the clamping and rotating mechanism 31 drives the workpiece to rotate and flip, so that the other side to be cleaned faces the plasma cleaning mechanism. The plasma cleaning mechanism 33 continues to clean this side until all sides of the workpiece to be screen-printed have been plasma-cleaned. After cleaning, the cleaning Y-axis linear module 32 moves the workpiece to the pick-up position of the first group of screen-printing units adjacent to it.

[0136] S4. First-side screen printing step: The screen printing feeding mechanism 41 of the first group of screen printing units picks up the material from the material picking position and feeds it onto the screen printing platform 42. The screen printing platform 42, in conjunction with the vision alignment mechanism 43, performs visual alignment of the workpiece along the X-axis, Y-axis, and angular directions, and moves the visually aligned workpiece below the screen printing execution mechanism 44, whereby the screen printing execution mechanism 44 performs screen printing on the first side of the workpiece.

[0137] S5. First-side post-processing step: The surface drying detection and loading mechanism 45 loads the workpiece with the first-side screen printing completed from the screen printing platform 42 to the surface drying detection platform 46. The surface drying detection platform 46 drives the workpiece to pass through the hot air blowing mechanism 462 and the AOI detection mechanism 463 in sequence along the Y-axis direction, and performs hot air surface drying and optical detection respectively.

[0138] S6. First sorting step: After AOI inspection is completed, the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism 47 performs sorting based on the inspection results of the AOI inspection mechanism: If the AOI inspection shows that the workpiece is a good product, the flipping chuck 473 of the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism 47 will pick up the good product workpiece and flip it so that the next surface to be screen printed is in a state that can be screen printed by the screen printing execution mechanism 44 of the next set of screen printing units 4. Then, it will be released to the good product carrier 492 or the buffer carrier 483 to wait for the next set of screen printing units 4 to pick up the material for the next side of screen printing. If the AOI detection identifies the workpiece as defective, the defective workpiece is transferred to the defective carrier 482 by the defective nozzle group 474 of the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism 47.

[0139] Preferably, after AOI inspection is completed, the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism 47 performs sorting based on the inspection results of the AOI inspection mechanism and the situation of downstream processes: If the downstream process is normal and the AOI inspection shows that the workpiece is good, the flipping chuck 473 of the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism 47 will pick up the good workpiece and flip it so that the next surface to be screen printed on the workpiece is in a state that can be screen printed by the screen printing execution mechanism 44 of the next set of screen printing units 4 (such as making the next surface to be screen printed face up and in a horizontal state). Under the action of the sorting X-axis module 471, it will move to the unloading platform 49 and be released to the good product carrier 492 so that the next set of screen printing units can directly screen print the next surface after picking up the material. When the downstream process is paused and the AOI inspection shows the workpiece as good, the flipping chuck 473 of the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism 47 picks up the good workpiece and flips it so that the next surface to be screen-printed on the workpiece is in a state that can be screen-printed by the screen-printing execution mechanism 44 of the next set of screen-printing units 4 (e.g., so that the next surface to be screen-printed is facing upward and in a horizontal state). Under the action of the sorting X-axis module 471, it is moved to the buffer platform 48 and released to the buffer carrier 483 to temporarily store the good workpiece. After the downstream process is normal, it is moved to the unloading platform 49. AOI inspection identifies defective workpieces as defective. The defective workpiece suction nozzle assembly 474 of the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism 47 transfers the defective workpiece to the defective carrier 482. After the defective workpiece is picked up by the defective nozzle assembly 47, it does not need to be flipped. Under the action of the sorting X-axis module 471, it moves to the defective carrier 482 and is then released into the defective carrier 482. This defective workpiece will not enter the subsequent screen printing unit 4, thereby reducing processes and improving efficiency.

[0140] S7. Subsequent screen printing steps: The screen printing feeding mechanism 41 of each subsequent screen printing unit takes material from the unloading station (good product carrier 492) of the previous screen printing unit, and sequentially repeats visual alignment, current face screen printing, hot air surface drying treatment, optical inspection and sorting until all the surfaces to be printed are screen printed. S8. Unloading step: The unloading conveying unit 6 transports the empty extraction tray to the unloading station, and the unloading robot loads the good workpieces (such as the good workpieces on the good workpiece carrier 492) that have been screen-printed by the last set of screen printing units into the extraction tray of the unloading station. S9. Material feeding and conveying step: After the extraction tray is full of good workpieces, the material feeding and conveying unit 6 conveys the full extraction tray to the second stacking position, where the stacking tray receiving mechanism stacks the trays and waits for subsequent output. Example

[0141] This embodiment 3 uses double-sided screen printing as an example for illustration.

[0142] When screen printing is required on two sides of the workpiece 7, two sets of screen printing units 4 are arranged sequentially along the X-axis direction on the frame, namely the first set of screen printing units 4a and the second set of screen printing units 4b.

[0143] The first screen printing unit 4a performs screen printing, drying, inspection, and sorting on the first side of the workpiece 7. Qualified workpieces are flipped and placed on the good product carrier 492 of the first screen printing unit 4a. The screen printing feeding mechanism 41 of the second screen printing unit 4b picks up the workpiece from the good product carrier 492 and performs screen printing on the second side of the workpiece 7. After the second side screen printing is completed and passes inspection, the unloading robot 5 loads the finished workpiece into the unloading tray 8 at the unloading station.

[0144] If the first side fails the inspection, the workpiece is transferred to the defective product carrier 492 and will not enter the second silkscreen unit 4b; if the first side passes the inspection but the second silkscreen unit 4b cannot accept it temporarily, the workpiece can be temporarily stored in the buffer carrier 483. Example

[0145] This embodiment uses multi-sided screen printing extension as an example for illustration.

[0146] When the workpiece 7 to be screen-printed needs to be screen-printed on more sides, such as three sides, four sides or more sides, one or more sets of standardized screen-printing units 4 can be directly added adjacent to the end of the existing vertical main line after the screen-printing unit 4 along the X-axis direction, and the control system can be expanded accordingly.

[0147] The specific expansion method is as follows: the screen printing feeding mechanism 41 of the latter group of screen printing units 4 picks up materials from the good product carrier 492 of the former group of screen printing units 4, and repeatedly performs the process cycle of visual alignment, screen printing on the current face, hot air surface drying treatment, optical inspection and sorting, until the screen printing of all faces to be printed is completed. The workpiece on the good product carrier 492 of the last group of screen printing units 4 is the finished product that has passed the inspection on all faces, and is finally unloaded by the unloading robot 5.

[0148] This modular expansion method allows for rapid and economical upgrades, giving the equipment extremely strong flexible production capabilities and enabling it to quickly respond to production demands for multiple varieties and varying numbers of products.

[0149] Those skilled in the art should understand that the specific embodiments described above are merely examples and not limitations. Various modifications, combinations, partial combinations, and substitutions can be made to the embodiments of the present invention according to design requirements and other factors, as long as they are within the scope of the appended claims or their equivalents, and thus fall within the scope of the rights to be protected by the present invention.

Claims

1. A linear multi-sided screen printing machine, comprising a frame, characterized in that, The frame is sequentially equipped with a feeding conveyor unit, a feeding robot, a cleaning unit, multiple sets of screen printing units, a discharging robot, and a discharging conveyor unit along the X-axis. The feeding and conveying unit is used to transport the etch tray loaded with the workpiece to be screen printed to the feeding station, and to transport the empty etch tray to the first stacking station for stacking. The cleaning unit includes a clamping and rotating mechanism, a cleaning Y-axis linear module, and a plasma cleaning mechanism. The loading robot is used to load the workpiece to be screen-printed from the extraction tray at the loading station onto the clamping and rotating mechanism. The clamping and rotating mechanism is used to clamp the workpiece to be screen-printed and control its rotation. The cleaning Y-axis linear module is used to drive the clamping and rotating mechanism to move along the Y-axis direction. The plasma cleaning mechanism is located above the cleaning Y-axis linear module and is used to perform plasma cleaning on the workpiece to be screen-printed on the clamping and rotating mechanism. Multiple sets of screen printing units are arranged sequentially along the X-axis direction for sequentially screen printing multiple surfaces of the workpiece to be screen printed; each set of screen printing units includes a screen printing feeding mechanism, a screen printing platform, a vision alignment mechanism, a screen printing execution mechanism, a surface drying detection feeding mechanism, a surface drying detection platform, a hot air blowing mechanism, an AOI detection mechanism, a sorting and flipping unloading mechanism, a buffer platform, and an unloading platform; The screen printing loading mechanism is used to load the workpiece onto the screen printing platform; wherein, the screen printing loading mechanism of the first group of screen printing units is used to pick up the workpiece from the clamping and rotating mechanism of the cleaning unit, and the screen printing loading mechanism of the remaining groups of screen printing units is used to pick up the workpiece from the unloading platform of the previous group of screen printing units. The screen printing platform is used to carry the workpiece to be screen printed, and works with the vision alignment mechanism to perform visual alignment of the workpiece to be screen printed in the X-axis, Y-axis and angular directions, and then moves the visually aligned workpiece to be screen printed to the bottom of the screen printing execution mechanism. The vision alignment mechanism is used to photograph the workpiece to be screen printed on the screen printing platform, and control the screen printing platform to perform alignment of the workpiece to be screen printed in the X-axis, Y-axis and angular directions according to the photographing results. The screen printing actuator is used to perform screen printing on the workpiece to be screen printed; The surface drying detection and loading mechanism is used to load the workpiece that has completed the current surface screen printing from the screen printing platform to the surface drying detection platform; The surface drying detection platform is used to carry the workpiece that has completed the current surface screen printing and drive it to pass sequentially along the Y-axis through the hot air blowing mechanism and the AOI detection mechanism. The hot air blowing mechanism and the AOI inspection mechanism are arranged above the surface drying inspection platform and sequentially along the Y-axis conveying direction. The hot air blowing mechanism is used to perform hot air surface drying treatment on the ink after screen printing, and the AOI inspection mechanism is used to inspect the size and appearance of the ink after hot air surface drying treatment. The sorting and flipping unloading mechanism is used to transport workpieces that have completed AOI inspection to a buffer platform or unloading platform. The sorting and unloading mechanism includes a sorting X-axis module, a sorting Z-axis module, a flipping chuck, and a defective product suction nozzle group. The sorting Z-axis module is located at the output end of the sorting X-axis module, and the flipping chuck and the defective product suction nozzle group are located at the output end of the sorting Z-axis module. The caching platform includes a cache Y-axis linear module, and a defective product carrier and a cache carrier disposed at the output end of the cache Y-axis linear module; The unloading platform includes an unloading Y-axis linear module and a good product carrier disposed at the output end of the unloading Y-axis linear module; Workpieces that are deemed good by the AOI inspection mechanism are gripped and flipped by the flipping chuck so that the next surface of the workpiece to be screen-printed is in a state where it can be screen-printed by the screen-printing execution mechanism of the next set of screen-printing units, and then released to the good product carrier or the buffer carrier; workpieces that are deemed defective by the AOI inspection mechanism are picked up by the defective product suction nozzle group and released to the defective product carrier. The unloading robot is used to load the finished workpieces screen-printed by the last group of screen printing units into the unloading tray at the unloading station; The feeding and conveying unit is used to transport the empty extraction tray to the feeding station, and to transport the extraction tray loaded with the good workpiece to the second stacking station for stacking.

2. The inline multi-sided screen printing equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that, The feeding and conveying unit includes a conveying track, and a tray feeding mechanism and a tray receiving mechanism disposed at both ends of the conveying track; The conveying track extends along the Y-axis and includes multiple sets of conveying mechanisms arranged sequentially along the Y-axis. Each set of conveying mechanisms includes two sets of synchronous conveying belts arranged opposite to each other and spaced apart, as well as a conveying drive mechanism that drives the two sets of synchronous conveying belts to run synchronously. The structure of the tray feeding mechanism and the tray receiving mechanism is the same, both including a frame base, two feeding mechanisms, and a lifting mechanism. The frame base is set on the frame and above the two sets of conveyor belts. The two feeding mechanisms are arranged opposite each other on the two side frames of the frame base. Each feeding mechanism includes a feeding plate slidably set on the frame and a feeding cylinder for driving the feeding plate to move. The lifting mechanism is located below the frame base and includes a lifting plate and a lifting drive mechanism for driving the lifting plate to rise and fall. The lifting plate can pass through the gap between the two sets of conveyor belts and the holes in the frame base under the drive of the lifting drive mechanism to lift the tray at the position of the frame base. The structure of the unloading conveyor unit is the same as that of the loading conveyor unit.

3. The inline multi-sided screen printing equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that, The clamping and rotating mechanism includes two sets of rotating seats arranged opposite each other and a rotating drive mechanism that drives the two sets of rotating seats to rotate synchronously. Each rotating seat is provided with a limiting groove adapted to the workpiece. At least one of the rotating seats is provided with a spring column. The elastic force of the spring column is directed toward the other rotating seat, which is used to provide elastic preload when clamping the workpiece.

4. The inline multi-sided screen printing equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that, The screen printing feeding mechanism includes a buffer single-head suction assembly and a screen printing feeding X-axis transfer module that drives the buffer single-head suction assembly to move along the X-axis direction. The buffer single-head suction assembly includes a screen printing feeding support base, a screen printing feeding lifting mechanism disposed on the screen printing feeding support base, and a set of first suction nozzles disposed at the output end of the screen printing feeding lifting mechanism. The screen printing feeding lifting mechanism includes a screen printing feeding motor, a cam, a screen printing feeding slider, and a cam connecting rod. The cam is disposed on the output shaft of the screen printing feeding motor. The screen printing feeding slider is slidably disposed on the screen printing feeding support base in the vertical direction. The first suction nozzles are disposed on the screen printing feeding slider. The two ends of the cam connecting rod are rotatably connected to the cam and the screen printing feeding slider, respectively. The screen printing feeding motor drives the cam to rotate, so as to drive the screen printing feeding slider and the first suction nozzles to reciprocate and lift in the vertical direction through the cam connecting rod.

5. The inline multi-sided screen printing equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that, The screen printing platform includes an alignment platform, a fixture disposed on the alignment platform, a rotary platform R-axis module that drives the alignment platform to rotate along the Z-axis direction, a platform X-axis module that drives the alignment platform to move along the X-axis direction, and a platform Y-axis module that drives the alignment platform to move along the Y-axis direction. And / or the screen printing platforms are arranged in two sets parallel to each other along the X-axis direction within each set of screen printing units.

6. The inline multi-sided screen printing equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that, The visual alignment mechanism includes a camera assembly and a visual Y-axis slide, a visual X-axis slide, and a visual Z-axis slide for calibrating the position of the camera assembly. The camera assembly includes a camera, a lens barrel, and a light source.

7. The inline multi-sided screen printing equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that, The screen printing actuator includes a screen printing stencil, a screen printing stencil Z-axis, a screen printing X-axis module, a squeegee assembly, an ink return assembly, and a cleaning and ink guiding mechanism; The Z-axis of the screen printing stencil is used to drive the screen printing stencil to move up and down, including: The upper support base and the lower support base for screen printing are fixedly mounted on the frame; The screen printing roller screw has its two ends rotatably mounted on the upper screen printing support and the lower screen printing support, respectively; A screen printing servo motor is fixedly mounted on the lower support base for screen printing, and the output shaft of the screen printing servo motor is connected to the lead screw of the screen printing roller. A screen printing optical axis is disposed between the upper screen printing support and the lower screen printing support; The lower screen printing lifting seat is located between the upper screen printing support seat and the lower screen printing support seat. The lower screen printing lifting seat is provided with a screen printing bushing adapted to the screen printing optical axis. The lower screen printing lifting seat is threadedly connected to the screen printing roller screw. A screen printing guide slide rail extends vertically, and the bottom end of the screen printing guide slide rail is fixedly mounted on the screen printing lower lifting seat. A screen printing slider is fixedly mounted on the screen printing support base, and the screen printing slider is slidably connected to the screen printing guide rail; A screen printing lifting seat is located at the top of the screen printing guide slide rail, and the screen printing stencil and the cleaning ink guiding mechanism are located on the screen printing lifting seat. The squeegee assembly and the ink return assembly are located at the output end of the screen printing X-axis module and are driven by the screen printing X-axis module to move along the X-axis direction. The squeegee assembly is used to scrape and press the ink on the screen printing stencil, and the ink return assembly is used to repaint the ink back onto the surface of the screen printing stencil. The cleaning ink guiding mechanism is located below the screen printing stencil and includes a pull-out mechanism mounted on the screen printing lifting seat, and a film winding assembly, a film winding motor, an encoder, and a damper located at the output end of the pull-out mechanism. The film winding assembly includes a feed roll and a take-up roll spaced apart and spanning the screen printing area of ​​the screen printing stencil. Unused cleaning film is wound on the feed roll, and the free end of the cleaning film is wound on the take-up roll. The film winding motor is drivenly connected to the take-up roll and is used to drive the take-up roll to rotate. The damper is located on the feed roll and is used to provide winding resistance to the feed roll. The encoder is used to detect the winding position of the feed roll.

8. The inline multi-sided screen printing equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that, The surface dryness detection platform is arranged in parallel with two sets; the surface dryness detection loading mechanism includes a buffered double-head suction assembly and a surface dryness detection loading X-axis transfer module that drives the buffered double-head suction assembly to move along the X-axis direction; the buffered double-head suction assembly includes a surface dryness detection loading support base disposed at the output end of the surface dryness detection loading X-axis transfer module, a surface dryness detection loading lifting mechanism disposed on the surface dryness detection loading support base, and two sets of second suction nozzles disposed at the output end of the surface dryness detection loading lifting mechanism; the surface dryness detection loading lifting mechanism includes a surface dryness detection loading motor, a drive rod, a first connecting rod, and a second connecting rod, the center of the drive rod being connected to the surface dryness detection loading motor. The output shaft of the machine is connected, and the first end of the first connecting rod and the first end of the second connecting rod are rotatably connected to the two ends of the drive rod, respectively. The second end of the first connecting rod is slidably mounted on the surface dryness detection and feeding support in the vertical direction through the first surface dryness detection and feeding slider, and the second end of the second connecting rod is slidably mounted on the surface dryness detection and feeding support in the vertical direction through the second surface dryness detection and feeding slider. Two sets of second suction nozzles are respectively mounted on the first surface dryness detection and feeding slider and the second surface dryness detection and feeding slider. The surface dryness detection and feeding motor drives the drive rod to rotate, so as to drive the two sets of second suction nozzles to alternately rise and fall through the first connecting rod and the second connecting rod.

9. The inline multi-sided screen printing equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that, The flipping chuck includes two sets of clamping seats arranged opposite each other, a spacing adjustment mechanism for controlling the movement of the two sets of clamping seats alternately or toward each other, several sets of flipping seats rotatably arranged on the clamping seats, and a flipping motor for driving the flipping seats to rotate.

10. A method for inline multi-sided screen printing, applied to the inline multi-sided screen printing equipment according to any one of claims 1-9, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: The feeding and conveying process involves the feeding and conveying unit transporting the tray containing the workpiece to be screen printed to the feeding station. Workpiece loading steps: The loading robot loads the workpieces to be screen printed from the extraction tray at the loading station onto the clamping and rotating mechanism of the cleaning unit; Cleaning steps: The clamping and rotating mechanism clamps the workpiece to be screen-printed and controls its rotation. The cleaning Y-axis linear module drives the clamping and rotating mechanism to move along the Y-axis to the cleaning station. The plasma cleaning mechanism performs plasma cleaning on the workpiece to be screen-printed on the clamping and rotating mechanism. After cleaning, the cleaning Y-axis linear module moves the workpiece to the pick-up position of the first set of screen-printing units adjacent to it. First screen printing step: The screen printing feeding mechanism of the first group of screen printing units picks up the workpiece from the picking position and feeds it to the screen printing platform. The screen printing platform, in conjunction with the vision alignment mechanism, performs visual alignment of the workpiece in the X-axis, Y-axis and angular directions, and moves the visually aligned workpiece to the bottom of the screen printing execution mechanism for the first screen printing. First post-processing step: The surface drying detection loading mechanism loads the workpiece with the first screen printing completed from the screen printing platform to the surface drying detection platform. The surface drying detection platform drives the workpiece to pass through the hot air blowing mechanism and AOI detection mechanism in sequence along the Y-axis direction to perform hot air surface drying and optical detection. First sorting step: After AOI inspection, the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism 47 performs sorting according to the inspection results of the AOI inspection mechanism: If the AOI inspection shows a good workpiece, the flipping chuck of the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism picks up the good workpiece and flips it so that the next screen printing surface of the workpiece is in a state that can be screen printed by the screen printing execution mechanism of the next set of screen printing units. Then, it is released to the good product carrier or the buffer carrier to wait for the next set of screen printing units to pick up the material for the next screen printing. If the AOI inspection shows a defective workpiece, the defective product suction nozzle group of the sorting and flipping unloading mechanism transfers the defective workpiece to the defective product carrier. Subsequent screen printing steps: The screen printing feeding mechanism of each subsequent screen printing unit takes material from the unloading platform of the previous screen printing unit, and sequentially repeats the visual alignment, current face screen printing, hot air surface drying treatment, optical inspection and sorting until the screen printing of all faces to be printed is completed. Unloading steps: The unloading conveyor unit transports the empty extraction tray to the unloading station, and the unloading robot loads the finished workpieces screen-printed by the last set of screen printing units into the extraction tray at the unloading station; Material feeding and conveying steps: After the extraction tray is full of good workpieces, the material feeding and conveying unit conveys the extraction tray containing good workpieces to the second stacking position for stacking.

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