Component mounting method and component mounting device

A component mounting method includes: detecting feeder ID information of a parts feeder, which individually specifies a parts feeder, after a second parts feeder is attached to an attaching position of the feeder base having a feeder address, and confirming whether the second parts feeder is the same as a first parts feeder which was attached to and then detached from the attaching position; and calculating an attaching/detaching time from detachment of the first parts feeder to attachment of the second parts feeder if it is confirmed that the second parts feeder is the same as the first parts feeder. If the calculated attaching/detaching time is a given time or shorter, the mounting work is performed without performing a component checking operation which determines whether a kind of an electronic component accommodated in the second parts feeder is proper.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

An aspect of the present invention relates to a component mounting method and a component mounting device for performing a mounting work in which an electronic component is picked up from a parts feeder attached to a feeder base of a component supply unit and is mounted on a board.

2. Background Art

In the component mounting device used for manufacturing an electronic board, a mounting work is repeatedly performed. In the mounting work, an electronic component is picked up from a parts feeder and is mounted on the board. An example of a parts feeder is a tape feeder attachable to a feeder base of a component supply unit. In the component supply unit, when new components are supplied or a kind of the component is changed, a work for attaching and detaching the tape feeder is performed as required. When the component attaching and detaching work is performed, a component checking operation is usually performed. In the component checking operation, an attached position of the tape feeder and the kind of the electronic component as an object to be fed is recognized in order to prevent the tape feeder from being erroneously set (for example, see JP-A-2000-068697).

JP-A-2000-068697 describes a component exchange work is performed when the components run out. In the component exchange work, a parts feeder to be exchanged in which the components run out is identified and reported to an operator. The operator who receives the report reads barcodes provided in the parts feeder to be exchanged and a parts feeder of exchanging components by a barcode reader and performs the component exchange work only when item numbers of both the components correspond to each other. Thus, a wrong exchange of the parts feeder can be advantageously prevented.

SUMMARY

However, in the usual technique including the above-described related art, since the component checking operation is always required when the tape feeder is attached to the feeder base, below-described disadvantages arise. In a component mounting line, there is a case in which the tape feeder is detached and a new tape feeder is then attached due to a changeover of kinds of the product or a running out of the components. There is also a case in which the tape feeder already attached is temporarily detached from the feeder base owing to various reasons in the course of a production. For example, when a mistake in suction of the component occurs in a specific tape feeder during the production, an operation in which the tape feeder is pulled out from the feeder base is performed to visually check whether there is an abnormality in a component sucking position at a leading end. After the check, the tape feeder is reattached to the same attached position on the feeder base.

In this case, since a component supply reel set in the tape feeder is not replaced by a different component supply reel, the components do not essentially need to be checked. However, in the usual technique, the component checking operation is required irrespective of a reason of detachment of the parts feeder such as the tape feeder. Thus, even when the parts feeder is temporarily detached, an operator is forced to perform a complicated work. Consequently, a working efficiency is caused to be deteriorated.

An object of an aspect of the present invention is to provide a component mounting method and a component mounting device which can reduce a working load and improve a working efficiency when a parts feeder is temporarily detached.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting method for performing a mounting work in which an electronic component is picked up from a parts feeder attached to a feeder base of a component supply unit and is mounted on a board, the component mounting method including: detecting feeder ID information of a parts feeder, which individually specifies a parts feeder, after a second parts feeder is attached to an attaching position of the feeder base having a feeder address, and confirming whether the second parts feeder is the same as a first parts feeder which was attached to and then detached from the attaching position having the same feeder address during the mounting work; and calculating an attaching/detaching time from detachment of the first parts feeder to attachment of the second parts feeder if it is confirmed that the second parts feeder is the same as the first parts feeder, wherein if the calculated attaching/detaching time is a given time or shorter, the mounting work is performed without performing a component checking operation which determines whether a kind of an electronic component accommodated in the second parts feeder is proper.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting device for performing a mounting work in which an electronic component is picked up from a parts feeder attached to a feeder base of a component supply unit and is mounted on a board, the component mounting device including: a component mounting mechanism which performs the mounting work; a feeder ID information confirming unit which detects feeder ID information, which individually specifies a parts feeder, after a second parts feeder is attached to an attaching position of the feeder base having a feeder address, and which confirms whether the second parts feeder is the same as a first parts feeder which was attached to and then detached from the attaching position having the same feeder address during the mounting work; an attaching/detaching time calculating unit which calculates an attaching/detaching time from detachment of the first parts feeder to attachment of the second parts feeder if the feeder ID information confirming unit confirms that the second parts feeder is the same as the first parts feeder; and a control unit which controls the component mounting mechanism, the feeder ID information confirming unit and the attaching/detaching time calculating unit, wherein if the calculated attaching/detaching time is a given time or shorter, the control unit controls the component mounting mechanism to perform the mounting work without performing a component checking operation which determines whether a kind of an electronic component accommodated in the second parts feeder is proper.

According to aspects of the present invention, for example, in a feeder temporarily detaching operation in which the parts feeder is temporarily detached from the feeder base and reattached to the same attached position while the mounting operation is performed, after the parts feeder is attached again to the feeder base, the feeder ID information which individually specifies the parts feeder is detected to confirm whether the reattached (second) parts feeder is the same as the prior (first) parts feeder which was attached to and detached from the feeder base. When it is confirmed that the reattached parts feeder is the same as the prior parts feeder, an attaching/detaching time from the detachment of the prior (first) parts feeder to the reattachment of the reattached (second) parts feeder is calculated. If the calculated attaching/detaching time is a given time or shorter, the mounting operation is performed without the component checking operation for determining whether the kind of the electronic component accommodated in the parts feeder is correct. Consequently, an execution of an unnecessary component checking operation is eliminated, and a working load can be reduced and a working efficiency can be improved in the temporary detachment of the parts feeder.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Initially, with reference toFIG. 1, a component mounting system will be described. InFIG. 1, the component mounting system1has a function which mounts electronic component on a board to manufacture a mounting board. The component mounting system1includes a component mounting line formed by connecting devices as follows: a printing device M1, component mounting devices M2to M4and a reflow device M5. The devices are connected by a communication network2such that an entire system is controlled by a host system3. Further, the host system3includes a wireless receiver4which receives an input signal wirelessly transmitted from a portable terminal device such as a barcode reader.

The printing device M1screen-prints paste type solder on electrodes for connecting the electronic component formed on the board. Each of the component mounting devices M2to M4picks up the electronic component from a component supply unit by a mounting head, and moves and mounts the electronic component to a mounting position of the board on which the solder is printed. After that, the board on which the component is mounted is fed to the reflow device M5to connect the electronic component mounted on the board to the board by the solder so that the mounting board is manufactured.

With reference toFIGS. 2A and 2B, the component mounting devices M2to M4and a structure of the component supply unit provided in each of the component mounting devices M2to M4will be described. As shown inFIG. 2A, each of the component mounting devices M2to M4includes a main body5. In an end portion in a direction X (a board conveying direction) of the main body5, an opening portion5afor inputting the board is provided. In the main body5, a board conveying mechanism6is provided. The board conveying mechanism6includes a pair of conveyors extending in the direction X and penetrating through the opening portion5a.

In the main body5, component mounting mechanisms7A and7B are arranged at both sides of the board conveying mechanism6. Each of the component mounting mechanisms7A and7B includes the mounting head (not shown) which picks up the electronic component from the component supply unit8, moves and mounts the electronic component on the board which is input through the opening portion5aand positioned and held. An outer side surface of the component mounting mechanisms7A and7B serves as an operating side surfaces for operating the component mounting devices M2to M4. In the operating side surface, the component supply unit8for supplying the component and the operating panel15for inputting an operation are provided. Further, on an upper surface of the main body5, a display lamp14upstands. The display lamp14is lighted and displayed for informing an operator.

In the component supply unit8, a carriage9is detachably set. Tape feeders12serving as a plurality of parts feeders are attachable in parallel to the carriage9. The parts feeder may be a feeder having a compatibility of attachment with the tape feeder12, such as a bulk feeder or a tube feeder. In the carriage9, a plurality of reels10are set. In the real10, a carrier tape11is wound and accommodated. The carrier tape11holds electronic components as objects to be mounted. In the component supply unit8, when the components are expected to run out in any of the tape feeders12during an operation of the device, the display lamp14is turned on to inform the operator that the components are expected to run out. The operator who receives the information performs a reel exchange work. In the reel exchange work, the reel10in which the components run out of stock is exchanged for a new reel10for the tape feeder12which is informed that the components are expected to run out of stock.

FIG. 2Bshows the carriage9set in the component supply unit8, and an arranged state of the tape feeders12attached to the carriage9and an arranged state of the reels10which supply the carrier tapes11to the tape feeders12. On a feeder base9aprovided in an upper surface of the carriage9, a plurality of slots for attaching the tape feeders12are arranged in parallel, and the tape feeders12are set in parallel in accordance with feeder addresses which indicate previously allocated positions of the slots. The carriage9includes reel mounting positions9bsuch that one reel10is mountable to correspond to each of the tape feeders12.

A feeder main body12aof each of the tape feeders12includes: a tape feed mechanism which feeds the carrier tape11pitch by pitch; and a feeder control unit (not shown) which controls the tape feed mechanism. On an upper surface of the feeder main body12a, an operating portion13(seeFIG. 3) is provided. The operating portion13allows various operations such as a tape feeding operation. The feeder control stores therein a feeder ID which individually specifies the tape feeder12. When tape feeder12is attached to the feeder base9a, the feeder ID of the tape feeder12is detected. Accordingly, the attached tape feeder12can be specified for each of the feeder addresses.

When the tape feeder12is attached to the carriage9at the time of a changeover of kind of product or a supply of the new component, since the plurality of tape feeders12are adjacently arranged at narrow pitches, an error in setting in which the adjacent tape feeders12are taken as one for another and attached by mistake may occur. In the present exemplary embodiment, in order to reduce the occurrence of such an error in setting as much as possible, a barcode label as an identification mark which identify the kind of the component is stuck to the reel10as described below. When the tape feeder12is attached to the carriage9or when the reel10is replaced by a new reel, a result of the identification marks read by the operator using a barcode reader16is compared with previously stored data of the kind of the component. Accordingly, the error in setting is suppressed as much as possible.

FIG. 3shows a function of the tape feeder12and a reading operation of the barcode label serving as the identification mark in the component supply unit8. When the tape feeder12is attached to the carriage9or when the reel10is replaced by a new reel due to the changeover of the kind of the product or the supply of the new component, the carrier tape11is pulled out from the reel10mounted on the reel mounting position9band set to the tape feeder12. The barcode label L showing the kind of the component accommodated in the reel is stuck to the reel10.

When the tape feeder12is attached to the carriage9or when the reel10is replaced by another reel, the above-described barcode label L is read by the barcode reader16. The read result is transmitted to the host system3through the wireless receiver4. Further, a checking process is performed by the component mounting devices M2to M4to which the signal is transmitted from the host system3to determine whether it is proper to perform a feeder attaching operation or a reel setting operation.

With reference toFIG. 4, a control system of each of the component mounting devices M2to M4will be described. InFIG. 4, a control unit20is an arithmetic processor having a CPU function to execute processing programs stored in a storing unit21so as to control the units described below. In a control process, the control unit20refers to various kinds of data such as mounting data21a, feeder arrangement data21band component kind data21cstored in the storing unit21.

The mounting data21aindicate data of the kind of the electronic component to be mounted and/or a coordinate of a mounting position of the board and is stored for each kind of board as an object to be manufactured. The feeder arrangement data21bindicate data which specify an arrangement of the parts feeder such as the tape feeder12in the component supply unit8, namely, data containing the feeder address specifying a mounting position of the tape feeder12on the feeder base9aof the carriage9in association with the feeder ID serving as identifying information for specifying each tape feeder12. The component kind data21cindicate data which specify the kind of the component to be fed from the feeder address for each feeder address in the tape feeder12.

A feeder ID detecting unit22detects the feeder ID of the tape feeder12attached to the feeder base9ain the component supply unit8. Namely, when the tape feeder12is attached to the feeder base9a, the feeder ID stored in the feeder control unit of the tape feeder12is read by the feeder ID detecting unit22. In a feeder temporarily detaching operation in which the tape feeder12which was attached to the feeder base9ais temporarily detached and attached again to the same attaching position having the same feeder address while a mounting operation is performed, a feeder ID information confirming unit23confirms whether the tape feeder12before the detachment is the same as the tape feeder12after the detachment. In other words, after the tape feeder12is reattached, the feeder ID detecting unit22detects the feeder ID which individually specifies the tape feeder12to confirm whether the reattached tape feeder12is the same as the prior tape feeder12.

When the feeder ID information confirming unit23confirms that the reattached tape feeder12is the same as the prior tape feeder12, an attaching/detaching time calculating unit24performs a calculation to obtain an attaching/detaching time from the detachment of the tape feeder12to the reattachment of the tape feeder12. Namely, the attaching/detaching time calculating unit24records a time when the tape feeder12is detached and a time when the tape feeder12is attached again by a timer25to calculate the attaching/detaching time in accordance with a difference between these times. The attaching/detaching time may be calculated in accordance with a timer value obtained by turning on the timer when the tape feeder12is detached and turning of the timer when the tape feeder12is reattached.

A component checking process unit26compares the kind of the component obtained by reading the barcode label L using the barcode reader16with the component kind data21cstored in the storing unit21with reference to the data. Thus, the component checking process unit26performs a process which checks whether the reel10as an object to be checked is a regular reel10to be set to the tape feeder12attached to the feeder address.

In the present exemplary embodiment, when the attaching/detaching time calculated by the attaching/detaching time calculating unit24is a previously set given time or shorter, the control unit20controls the component mounting mechanisms7A and7B to perform the mounting operations without performing a component checking operation to determine whether the kind of the electronic component accommodated in the tape feeder12is correct. Here, the given time is set, for example, to a time during which it is supposed to be practically impossible to complete an exchange work of the reel10in the tape feeder12. That is, when the attaching/detaching time falls within the given time which is set as described above, it can be determined that there is no possibility that the reel10is exchanged for a new reel in the tape feeder12.

Now, with reference toFIG. 5, a feeder temporarily detaching process in a mounting operation of the component by the component mounting system1will be described below. In the feeder temporarily detaching process, one tape feeder12which was attached to the feeder base9ais temporarily detached during the mounting operation for the purpose of confirming whether there is an abnormality when a suction error occurs at the time of picking up the component, and then, attached again to the same attaching position having the same feeder address in a component mounting method for performing the component mounting work in which the electronic component is picked up from the tape feeder12attached to the feeder base9aof the component supply unit8and which is mounted on the board.

As shown inFIG. 5, the tape feeder12(prior tape feeder) is temporarily detached owing to the above-described reason or the like (ST1). Then, after a prescribed process is performed, the detached tape feeder12is attached again to the same attaching position (ST2). After the tape feeder12is reattached, the feeder ID detecting unit22detects feeder ID information which individually specifies the tape feeder12, and confirms whether the feeder ID of the reattached tape feeder12is the same as the feeder ID of the tape prior feeder12which was attached and then detached (a feeder ID information confirming process) (ST3).

That is, whether the feeder ID of the reattached tape feeder12is the same as the feeder ID of the tape feeder12which is previously attached is determined by comparing the detected feeder ID with the feeder ID corresponding to the same feeder address in the feeder arrangement data21b(ST4). Here, when the detected feeder ID is the same as the feeder ID corresponding to the same feeder address, the attaching/detaching time is calculated from the detachment of the tape feeder12to the reattachment of the tape feeder12(an attaching/detaching time calculating process) (ST5). That is, the times when the (ST1) and (ST2) are performed are measured by the timer25to obtain the difference between these times and to calculate the attaching/detaching time by the attaching/detaching time calculating unit24.

Then, it is determined whether the attaching/detaching time falls within the given time which is set as described above (ST6). If the attaching/detaching time falls within the given time, it is determined that there is no possibility of the exchange of the reel10for a new reel, and the mounting operations by the component mounting mechanisms7A and7B are performed (ST8). In contrast, if the attaching/detaching time exceeds the given time in the step (ST6), or if it is determined that the feeder ID of the reattached tape feeder12is not the same as the feeder ID of the prior tape feeder12which was attached in the step (ST4), the component checking operation is performed (ST7).

In other words, if the feeder IDs are not identical to each other, it is determined that a different tape feeder12different from the prior tape feeder12is attached due to any cause. Thus, it is necessary to confirm whether the tape feeder12is a tape feeder to which a proper reel10is set. If the attaching/detaching time exceeds the given time, although the tape feeder12is the same as the prior tape feeder12which was attached, it is not possible to eliminate a possibility that the reel10is replaced by a new reel while the operator does not become aware thereof since the attaching/detaching time exceeds a time necessary for replacing the reel10by a new reel.

Therefore, in any of the above-described cases, the kind of the component obtained by reading the barcode label L by the barcode reader16is compared with the component kind data21cto check whether the kind of the component is a proper kind of component. If it is determined that the kind of the component is the proper kind of the component, the process proceeds to the step (ST8) to perform the mounting operations. In the (ST7), if it is determined that the kind of the component is not the proper kind of the component, the operator suitably decides that the reel10is replaced by a reel10of the proper kind of the component or the mounting operation is temporarily interrupted.

As described above, for the component mounting method and the component mounting device shown in the present exemplary embodiment, in the feeder temporarily detaching operation in which the component feeder12is temporarily detached from the feeder base and reattached to the same attaching position while the mounting operation is performed, after the tape feeder is attached again to the feeder base, the feeder ID information which individually specifies the tape feeder12is detected to confirm whether the reattached tape feeder12is the same as the prior tape feeder12which was attached to and then detached from the feeder base. If it is confirmed that the reattached tape feeder12is the same as the prior tape feeder12which was attached to and then detached from the feeder base, the attaching/detaching time from the detachment of the tape feeder12to the reattachment of the tape feeder12is calculated. If the calculated attaching/detaching time is the given time or shorter, the mounting operation is performed without performing the component checking operation for deciding whether the kind of the electronic component accommodated in the tape feeder12is correct. Since an execution of an unnecessary component checking operation is eliminated, a working load can be reduced and a working efficiency can be improved in the temporary detachment of the tape feeder12.

The above-described exemplary embodiment shows a structure example in which the feeder temporarily detaching process is performed by processing functions of the component mounting devices M2to M4in the component mounting system1. However, the component mounting method of the present invention is not limited to this structure. The host system3may have a processing function which performs the feeder temporarily detaching process. In this case, all or a part of processing functions of the storing unit21which stores the feeder arrangement data21band the component kind data21c, the feeder ID information confirming unit23, the attaching/detaching time calculating unit24and the component checking process unit26are provided in the host system3.

The component mounting method and the component mounting device of the present embodiment can effectively reduce a working load and improve a working efficiency when the parts feeder is temporarily detached, and are applicable to an electronic component mounting field of a type in which the component is fed by carrier tapes.