EP-4735358-A1 - PRECISE CONVEYOR

EP4735358A1EP 4735358 A1EP4735358 A1EP 4735358A1EP-4735358-A1

Abstract

A transferring-positioning device for conveying a plate-type-article comprises at least a pair of the spaced apart positioning transporters defining a transferring-positioning path therebetween. Each positioning transporter comprises an endless-rotating carrier, a linearly arranged plurality of the rotating positioning-transferring drivers having a rotational axis perpendicular to the conveyance path each, each positioning-transferring driver comprising axially bottom-up arranged: (i) a driving means configured for engaging with an inner side of the carrier, and (ii) a positioning-transferring roller of the given diameter and rotation surface of the respective angle texturing. The rotating positioning-transferring drivers and endless rotating carriers belonging to opposite positioning transporters are arranged such that side edges of the plate¬ type workpiece when placed onto top sides of the carriers-means are in frictional contact therewith and with the rotation surfaces of the positioning-transferring rollers. The side edges of the plate-type workpiece, being in frictional contact with the rotation surface with respective angle texturing, slide to the top sides of the carriers-means, whereby preventing the conveyance deviations of the plate-type workpiece in the transferring-positioning path.

Inventors

TUGUSHEV, Marat
TORJMAN, Niyya

Assignees

Torjman, Niyya

Dates

Publication Date: 20260506
Application Date: 20240623

Claims (5)

1. A transferring -positioning device for conveying a plate-type workpiece, and comprising at least a pair of spaced-apart positioning transporters defining a transferringpositioning path therebetween; each positioning transporter comprises: a. an endless rotating carrier, said carrier determined by the thickness, rotating axis perpendicular to said transferringpositioning path, driven inner side and outer side relative to said rotating axis, top side and bottom side applicable for plate-type workpiece carrying relative to said transferring-positioning path; b. a plurality of the rotating positioning -transferring drivers arranged in linear pattern along said transferring -positioning path, wherein each with rotating axis perpendicular to said transferring-positioning path, and comprising axially bottom-up arranged: i. a driving means engaging with said inner side of said endless rotating carrier to drive thereof; ii. a positioning-transferring roller of the given diameter and rotation surface of respective angle texturing, therein said rotating positioning-transferring drivers and endless rotating carriers belonging to opposite positioning transporters are arranged such that side edges of said plate-type workpiece when placed onto top sides of said carriers are in frictional contact therewith and with said rotation surfaces of said positioning-transferring rollers; said side edges of said plate-type workpiece, being in said frictional contact with said rotation surface with respective angle texturing, slide to said top sides of said carriers, whereby preventing the conveyance deviations of said plate-type workpiece in said transferringpositioning path.
2. The transferring-positioning device according to claim 1, wherein said endless rotating carrier selected from the group consisting of a flat transmission belt, a polygonal cross- section transmission belt, a one-side timing belt, a double-side timing belt, and any combination thereof.
3. The transferring -positioning device according to claim 1, wherein said endless rotating carrier selected from the group consisting of a roller chains and any combination thereof.
4. The conveying device according to claim 3, wherein pins defining top and bottom sides of said roller chain, are pair-wise covered by end-caps for leveling said plate-type workpieces in said transferring-positioning path.
5. The transferring-positioning device according to claim 1, wherein each of said spacedapart positioning transporters comprises an endless rotating clamping belt being in friction engagement with said rotation surface of respective angle texturing of said positioning-transferring rollers, and axially arranged with said carrier, therein said side edges of said conveyed plate-type-workpiece are placeable within a gap between said carrier and clamping belt; said endless rotating clamping belt, being in said frictional engagement with said rotation surface of respective angle texturing of said positioning-transferring rollers, slides to said side-edges of said plate-type workpiece conveyed on said top sides of said carrier, whereby preventing the conveyance deviations of said plate-type workpiece in said transferringpositioning path.

Description

Precise conveyor FIELD OF INVENTION The present invention relates to a conveyor for precisely positioning plate -type -workpieces such as at least printed circuit boards during the conveying thereof in production lines. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Nowadays, the known conveyors for conveying plate-type-articles, particularly, printed circuit boards (PCB) typically comprise a pair of spaced-apart linear guides each having an endless rotating carrier-means. The plate-type-workpieces are conveyed within the path defined by the aforesaid spaced-apart linear guides. Usually, the endless rotating carrier-means constitutes a transmission belt or a roller chain driven by rotating driving means such as pulleys or sprockets. These carrier-means are determined by the engineering parameters: the rotation axis, thickness, the opposite inner side and outer side, and the relative top side and bottom side. In accordance to prior art only inner side and outer side are applied for conveyance. The transmission belts or chains are mounted on pulleys or sprockets for driving by the inner side; the outer side is applied for disposing thereon the conveying workpieces; as inner side as outer side are applied for tension of the carrier-means. The prior art conveyance design defines the parallelism of the rotating axis of the known carrier-means and conveyance plane. It should be noted that parallelism of the conveying plane and rotating axes of pulleys or sprockets defines a conceptual positioning problem because of runout of the belt or chain caused by indispensable pulley/sprocket wobbling. Therefore, during performing accurate operations such as laser marking, PCB assembling, automated optical inspection, the conveyor is stopped, and the workpiece is clamped. The movement continues after performing the accurate operation. US4874081 discloses a device for transferring printed circuit boards, comprising: a pair of spaced apart, endless roller chains each guided by a guide rail to define a printed circuit board transferring path therebetween; a plurality of support members fixed to said chains for movement therewith and each adapted to support thereon a side edge portion of a printed circuit board, so that the printed circuit board can be transferred along said path with opposite side edge portions thereof being supported on the support members; a clamp plate member pivotally mounted on each of said support members and adapted to move between a close position where said clamp plate member is engageable with an upper surface of the side edge portion of the printed circuit board supported on the support members and an open position where said clamp plate member is incapable of engaging with the printed circuit board; means provided on each of said support members for urging the corresponding clamp plate member to rotate so that the clamp plate member is normally maintained in the open position; and engaging plates fixed to each of said guide rails and having a lower surface engageable with upper surfaces of the clamp plate members to maintain the clamp plate members in the close positions, whereby the printed circuit board supported on the supporting members is clamped between the supporting members and the clamp plate members during the engagement of the clamp plate members with the engaging plates. US7281623 discloses a transport system for conveying articles along conveyance paths including straight, curvilinear, and horizontal, inclined and declined conveyance sections. The articles are conveyed between a pair of vertical belts while being supported by protrusions extending from the vertical belts. The vertical belts are guided using a multiplicity of vertical rollers that are configurable into straight, curvilinear and dynamically changing conveyance sections. Multiple conveyance sections can be joined end to end to transport articles over complex paths and over long distances. The articles conveyed may include semiconductor wafers. The plate-type-workpieces conveying is the functionally simple task nested in more complex task where the conveyor structure cannot be allowed to become too complex. This is because in a typical applications, the conveyor will be repeated many times. The cost of each additional element in terms of money and space is therefore multiplied many times. It is therefore no simple matter to identify those functions that are sufficiently useful to justify their incorporation into the conveyor. It is similarly no simple matter to implement those functions so that their incorporation is not realized at too high a cost. In short, for nowadays and future PCB assembling with mini-and-micro components, 3-5 micrometers photolithography of the silicon plates for ASIC chips the present design of the conveyors is too expensive and sophisticated. Therefore, there is a long-felt and unmet need to provide a precise conveyor configured for preventing the conveyance deviations of plate-type-articles in conveyance path.