Electronic part transport device and inspection apparatus using the same

Abstract

An electronic part transport device includes a transport medium having a plurality of lines of cavities. The lines are concentric with respect to the rotation axis. A driving device rotationally drives the transport medium. A supply device separately supplies a plurality of randomly introduced electronic parts one by one. A delivery device feeds the electronic parts separately supplied by the supply device into the cavities of the transport medium. A removal device takes the electronic parts out of the cavities of the transport medium.

Description

[0001] This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09 / 899,222 filed Jul. 6, 2001, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to a transport device for separately transporting, one by one, small electronic parts, such as chip-type capacitors and to an inspection apparatus using the transport device. [0004] 2. Description of the Related Art [0005] In recent years, there is an increase in the number of requests for characteristic-discriminating apparatuses for electronic parts. The characteristic-discriminating apparatus is needed to inspect various characteristics by a single apparatus. In order to meet such a request, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2-195272 proposes a characteristic measuring apparatus which includes a movable table with a plurality of retaining holes for passing and holding electronic parts so that both ends ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014] The parts feeder is formed of, for example, a combination of a bowl feeder and a linear feeder. The same number of parts feeders as the number of the cavity lines of the transport medium may be arranged. The separating means may be disposed at the distal end of each of the parts feeders. Alternatively, the same number of linear feeders (aligning paths) as the number of cavity lines of the transport medium may be connected to a single bowl feeder. The separating means may be disposed at the distal end of each of the linear feeders. By providing a stopping means for temporarily stopping the movement of the second part of the parts conveyed in an aligned state, only the leading part can be easily separated.

[0016] In this case, the electronic parts aligned by the parts feeder are individually held in the recesses of the distributing rotor, and are thereby separated one by one. By simultaneously feeding the same number of electronic components, of the electronic parts held in the recesses of the distributing rotor, as the number of cavity lines of the transport medium by the delivery means, an efficient reception is possible. Since a single parts feeder will do in this case, the entire device can be decreased in size, and the cost can be reduced.

[0018] In this case, since the feeding disk serves as both the parts feeder and the separating mechanism, the size and cost of the device are further reduced. Moreover, since there is no need to provide a vibration source such as provided in the parts feeder, quietness is ensured. Thus, there is little adverse effect due to noise during the characteristic measurement.

[0020] When a discharge section of the supply means is circular, since the cavities of the transport medium are arranged in an arc form, when a plurality of electronic parts are simultaneously fed into the cavities, they are prone to fall off therebetween. Accordingly, by respectively guiding the electronic parts separately supplied by the supply means into the cavities in the lines of the transport medium by using the transfer chute having a plurality of guide paths, the electronic parts can be prevented from falling off or from being delayed, and can be reliably fed into the cavities.

[0023] In this case, the same number of electronic parts as the number of the cavity lines can be simultaneously processed, and this easily speeds up the processing. By reducing the receiving space where the electronic parts are fed into the transport medium, the inspection area on the transport medium can be maximized.

[0026] It is preferable that the measuring terminals are contacted simultaneously with the electronic parts held in the cavities in the lines. For example, when the transport medium has four concentric lines of cavities, by taking a characteristic measurement with measuring terminals contacted simultaneously with four electronic parts, the measuring time per electronic part can be increased to four times the conventional measuring time (when one line of cavities are provided). This makes it possible to achieve an inspection apparatus suitable for insulation resistance measurement for capacitors or the like which needs a long measuring time.

Problems solved by technology

For some recently improved electronic parts such as chip-type capacitors, however, the capacitance has been increased, and the measuring time (time for measuring insulation resistance) tends to be longer than prior capacitors.

When characteristic discrimination is performed for these electronic parts, which need a long measuring time, if only one line of retaining holes is formed in the movable table, as described above, the number of electronic parts that can be processed in a certain time is limited, and an improvement of throughput cannot be expected.

This limits the working area necessary for characteristic discrimination.

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