Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
PCB DELIVERY APPARATUS PCB TESTING SYSTEM EMPLOYING THE SAME |
| Document Number: |
20100253362 |
| Publication Date: |
October 7, 2010 |
| Appl. No: |
12/582806 |
| Application Filed: |
October 21, 2009 |
| Abstract: |
A printed circuit board (PCB) testing system includes two gear groups, a pair of transmission belts and a driver. The pair of transmission belts geared onto and driven by the two gear groups is parallel and respectively perpendicular to the PCB transmission guideway so as to define a PCB accommodation space therebetween. Each transmission belt includes a plurality of projections. The two gear groups are rotated synchronously and inversely. During operation, the projections on the pair of transmission belts, facing the PCB accommodation space, move down, the projections move away from each other and to the bottom of the corresponding transmission belts, and a PCB supported by the pair of projections drops onto the PCB transmission guideway. |
| Inventors: |
TAN, GUI (Shenzhen City, CN); CHANG, YEN-PIN (Tu-Cheng, TW); XIA, FENG-YING (Shenzhen City, CN); ZHOU, JIAN-HUA (Shenzhen City, CN); LI, PENG-XU (Shenzhen City, CN) |
| Assignees: |
HONG FU JIN PRECISION INDUSTRY (ShenZhen)CO., LTD. (Shenzhen City, TW), HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO., LTD. (Tu-Cheng, TW) |
| Claim: |
1. A printed circuit board (PCB) delivery apparatus, to deliver a plurality of PCBs to a PCB transmission guideway, the PCB delivery apparatus comprising: two gear groups, located on two opposite sides of the PCB transmission guideway, each of the two gear groups comprising a master gear; a pair of transmission belts, geared onto and driven by the two gear groups, wherein the pair of transmission belts are respectively perpendicular to the PCB transmission guideway and define a PCB accommodation space therebetween suitable to receive the plurality of PCBs, and wherein each transmission belt comprises a plurality of projections, located on an outer surface of the transmission belt, and the projections of the pair of the transmission belts are horizontal and correspondingly opposite to support the PCBs thereon; and a driver, to rotate the two master gears of the two gear groups synchronously and inversely; wherein when the projections supporting one of the plurality of PCBs approach the PCB transmission guideway, the projections move away from each other, such that the PCB supported thereon drops onto the PCB transmission guideway. |
| Claim: |
2. The PCB delivery apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the projections on each of the transmission belts are uniformly spaced from each other. |
| Claim: |
3. The PCB delivery apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein a distance between the pair of transmission belts is adjustable corresponding to a width of the PCB transmission guideway. |
| Claim: |
4. The PCB delivery apparatus as claimed in claim 3, further comprising at least one sensor located below the pair of transmission belts to detect one of the plurality of PCBs dropping, and subsequently issuing a notification to a control unit; wherein in response to receiving the notification, the control unit directs the driver to stop driving the master gears; and wherein in response to the dropping PCB being conveyed onward to a next station, the control unit directs the driver to continue to drive the two master gears. |
| Claim: |
5. The PCB delivery apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the driver comprises: a step motor, comprising a gear shaft; two common gears, to coaxially drive the two master gears, respectively; a mediation gear; and a belt, reeled on the gear shaft, the two common gears, the mediation gear, to drive the two common gears to rotate in different directions. |
| Claim: |
6. A PCB testing system, comprising: a PCB transmission guideway; and a PCB delivery apparatus, delivering PCBs to the PCB transmission guideway, the PCB delivery apparatus comprising: two gear groups, located on two opposite sides of the PCB transmission guideway, each of the two gear groups comprising a master gear; a pair of transmission belts, geared onto and driven by the two gear groups, wherein the pair of transmission belts is respectively perpendicular to the PCB transmission guideway so as to define a PCB accommodation space therebetween suitable to receive the PCBs, and wherein each transmission belt comprises a plurality of projections, located on an outer surface of the transmission belt, the projections of the pair of the transmission belts being horizontal and correspondingly opposite to support the PCBs thereon; and a driver, to rotate the two master gears of the two gear groups synchronously and inversely; wherein when the projections supporting one of the plurality of PCBs approach the PCB transmission guideway, the projections move away from each other, such that the PCB supported thereon drops onto the PCB transmission guideway. |
| Claim: |
7. The PCB testing system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the projections on each of the transmission belts are uniformly spaced from each other. |
| Claim: |
8. The PCB testing system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the PCB transmission guideway comprises a pair of guides parallel to each other, a plurality of rollers mounted on opposite inner sides of the pair of guides, at least one pair of feed belts mounted on the plurality of rollers, and at least one motor driving the at least one pair of feed belts on the plurality of rollers. |
| Claim: |
9. The PCB testing system as claimed in claim 8, wherein two opposite edges of the PCBs are supported on the at least one pair of feed belts during conveyance, and a distance between the pair of guides is substantially greater than that between the opposite edges of the PCBs. |
| Claim: |
10. The PCB testing system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the distance between the pair of guides is adjustable corresponding to a width of the PCB transmission guideway to convey PCBs of different sizes. |
| Claim: |
11. The PCB testing system as claimed in claim 10, further comprising at least one sensor located below the pair of transmission belts to detect a PCB dropping, and subsequently issuing a notification to a control unit; wherein in response to receiving the notification, the control unit directs the driver to stop driving the master gears; and wherein in response to the dropping PCB being conveyed onward to a next station, the control unit directs the driver to continue to drive the two master gears. |
| Claim: |
12. The PCB testing system as claimed in claim 11, further comprising one or more brackets fixed on the pair of guides, and the at least one sensor installed on the bracket. |
| Claim: |
13. The PCB testing system as claimed in claim 6, further comprising a testing apparatus, located on a next station to the first station of the PCB transmission guideway to position and test the PCBs fed by the PCB delivery apparatus. |
| Claim: |
14. The PCB testing system as claimed in claim 13, wherein the testing apparatus comprises a front positioning cylinder, an upper positioning cylinder, a side positioning cylinder and a lower positioning cylinder; wherein when one of the PCBs is conveyed to the testing apparatus, the front positioning cylinder drives a front positioning block to move down and contact the PCB, the side positioning cylinder drives a side positioning block to contact the PCB, and the upper positioning cylinder and the lower positioning cylinder drive an upper positioning plate and a lower positioning plate respectively to move and contact the PCB, which is thereby positioned; wherein one or both of the upper and lower positioning plates comprises test interfaces, and when positioning the PCB, the test interfaces connect to the PCB. |
| Claim: |
15. The PCB testing system as claimed in claim 14, further comprising a control unit, used to control the testing apparatus to position and test the PCBs, wherein the PCBs having acceptable test results are conveyed to the next station, and if the PCBs fail testing, the control unit issues a notification to retrieve the failed PCB. |
| Claim: |
16. The PCB testing system as claimed in claim 15, further comprising a stop mechanism electrically connected to the control unit, wherein when the control unit receives the notification, the stop mechanism receives a control signal from the control unit to stop progress of the failed PCB. |
| Claim: |
17. The PCB testing system as claimed in claim 16, further comprising at least one sensor located on the base near the testing apparatus, electrically connected to and communicating with the control unit; wherein when the at least one sensor detects a PCB received in the testing apparatus, the control unit directs the testing apparatus to begin operation. |
| Claim: |
18. The PCB testing system as claimed in claim 17, further comprising one or more brackets fixed on the pair of guides to bear the at least one sensor thereon. |
| Current U.S. Class: |
324/537 |
| Current International Class: |
01; 01; 06; 02 |
| Accession Number: |
edspap.20100253362 |
| Database: |
USPTO Patent Applications |
