The present method and apparatus provide a possibility to remove components from a magazine, from a storage bin or the like, to transport these components to a workpiece and to put these components onto the workpiece or into it precisely at a preselected position. The component which has been picked-up by and is retained by the transportation member will usually not be in a exactly preselected position with regard to the gripping means of the transportation device, but will be more or less shifted and/or tilted with regard to a theoretical, nominal positioning axis. In order to determine the actual position of the component retained by the gripping means, the component is brought to a position scanning station during its transportation from the magazine or storage bin to the workpiece. The scanning station measures and records the actual position of the component, e.g. by scanning the shape of the component by means of laser beam scanning according to the reflection or shadowing technique, calculates any deviation and generates one or more correction signals. The latter ones are further processed in order to influence the transportation path of the component transportation device, the position of the workpiece or both of them, so that the component finally may be placed onto or into the workpiece exactly at the desired position.
The reference position is determined, by using a test piece, for optically detecting the orientation of a component such as a chip for use in placement apparatus such as a chip mounter. Light is emitted from a light source toward a light sensor to cast a shadow of the test piece onto the light sensor. A first position of an end of the shadow when the pick-up device rotates at a first angle, a second position of the other end of the shadow when the pick-up device rotates at a second angle, and a third position of either end of the shadow when the pick-up device rotates at a predetermined third angle, are detected on the light sensor. Accordingly, the positional relationship of the light source, the light sensor, and the pick-up device is determined as a reference position, based on the positional data.
A high speed high precision laser based alignment sensor system for use on surface mount component placement machines. A laser system is utilized to correctly align and position component parts which range between 0.02 inches and 2.0 inches in size. The laser sensor system consists of a laser light source which is passed through a collimating lens and then through an aperture to create a stripe of collimated laser light which is focused past the component being aligned to strike a multi-element CCD sensor array. The sensor system is mounted directly on the carrying mechanism for the surface mount component placement machine. During transit of the component between the bin of components and the circuit board upon which the component is to be placed, the component is rotated and the shadow which falls on the detector array is monitored. When the minimum width of shadow is detected, the correct angular orientation is determined, the average of the edges of the shadow when compared with the center of the quill determines the coordinate (X,Y) location of the component on the quill. Two alignments normally occur displaced by 90.degree.. Thereafter, the sensor sends correcting signals to the component placement machine to assure the correct angular orientation and the correct X,Y position for the component to be placed on the circuit board by the component placement machine.
An X-ray inspection system for manually or automatically performing digital fluoroscopy inspections and/or computed tomography inspections by X-ray examination of manufactured parts incorporates a computer system which automatically analyzes the inspected parts for flaws. The system includes apparatus for automatically positioning the parts in an X-ray machine for obtaining fluoroscopy and tomography views of the part and for acquiring data from the inspections at production rates. The system automatically identifies the location of rejectable flaws in the parts during the fluoroscopy scanning and subsequently identifies those locations for obtaining tomography scans, if the identified flaw location is questionable. The system can automatically reject parts containing flaws identified during the fluoroscopy inspections. This system operates in a real-time environment by providing analysis of one part while a subsequent part is being subjected to X-ray examination. The data obtained during each examination is archived and stored for tracking the part in further manufacturing processes.
A part incorporating system includes a plurality of visual sensors at a detecting station immediately upstream of an incorporating station and respectively detect the positions of reference points in the base material when the base material is supplied to the detecting station, a plurality of second visual sensors at the incorporating station and respectively detect the positions of the reference points when the base material is supplied to the incorporating station, an incorporating unit at the incorporating station to support the part so that the position of the part can be adjusted and which has a fastening device for incorporating the part in the base material, and a control means which calculates the position in which the part is to be incorporated in the base material and controls the incorporating unit to adjust the position of the part. The part incorporating position is basically calculated based on the positions of the referenc epoints detected by the second visual sensors, and when the values of the distances between the reference points detected by the second visual sensors differ from those detected by the first visual sensors by a predetermined value, then the part incorporating position is calculated on the basis of the detected positions of the reference points which provides the values of the distances between the reference points closer to the regular values.
A method of automatically carrying IC-chips, on a planar array of vacuum nozzles, to a variable target in a chip tester uses a set of laser distance sensors to align the vacuum nozzles with the target. Alignment occurs when certain combinations of distance and distance changes are sensed.
