Patent ID: 7318516

Claim:
A substrate transfer apparatus for a component mounting machine, for transferring a substrate to a mounting station in which components are mounted onto the substrate and transferring the substrate from the mounting station, the apparatus comprising: a mounting-waiting station for making the substrate to be transferred to the mounting station wait before the mounting station; a substrate discharge-waiting station for making the substrate, after being transferred from the mounting station, wait before a following station; wherein transfer of a mount-less substrate from the mounting-waiting station to the mounting station, and transfer of a mounted substrate, for which mounting has been done in the mounting station, from the mounting station to the substrate discharge-waiting station are performed simultaneously; and wherein a detector is provided at the substrate discharge-waiting station to detect when a plurality of substrates have been transferred into the substrate discharge-waiting station as part of the same transfer, the detector including a substrate-arrival detecting sensor configured to detect the transfer of the mounted substrate to the discharge-waiting station and a substrate-continuity detecting sensor provided upstream of the substrate-arrival detecting sensor, the substrate-continuity detecting sensor being located at a position so as to detect when a following substrate, which immediately follows the transferred mounted substrate, has been transferred simultaneously with the transferred mounted substrate, to the discharge-waiting station.