Patent Application
20100024618
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority of the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-198157, filed on Jul. 31, 2008, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The embodiment discussed herein is related to a dust collecting mechanism and a substrate cutting apparatus and, more particularly, to a dust collecting mechanism for sucking up and collecting dust generated by a machining apparatus and to a substrate cutting apparatus provided with the dust collecting mechanism.
A printed substrate cutting apparatus for cutting a composite printed substrate mounted with predetermined electronic components into a plurality of printed substrates is well known.
A printed substrate cutting apparatus generally secures a composite printed substrate thereto and cuts it along predetermined cutting lines by using a cutter or the like into printed substrates. The cutting dust generated at the time of cutting is removed from on and around the printed substrate by a sucking force or the like generated by a sucking apparatus.
A conventional substrate cutting apparatus 50 is illustrated in
The dust collecting mechanism 4 includes a main body 5 having a suction fan (not illustrated) incorporated therein as a sucking force generating mechanism, a tubular suction pipe 7 connected at one end to the main body 5 and provided at the other end with a suction section (a funnel-like duct collection nozzle) 6, and a dust collecting tray 10 for storing the collected dust. The suction section 6 is installed on the back side (opposed to the mounting surface of the substrate 2) of the fixed unit 9.
While a substrate 2 is being cut, dust 8 generated by the cutting is sucked with the activated fan into the suction section 6 through dust discharge holes 9a provided in the fixed unit 9, and sent to the main body 5 through the suction pipe 7. Then the dust 8 is trapped with a filter or the like (not illustrated) before being collected and stored in a dust collection tray 10.
However, in the conventional substrate cutting apparatus 50 having the above structure, a substrate 2 (a pallet having a substrate 2 placed thereon in this case) having been subjected to the cutting process cannot be removed from the fixed unit 9 unless the sucking force being exerted on the substrate 2 through the suction section and the dust discharge holes 9a is terminated. This is because a sucking force of approximately 2 kPa is exerted on the substrate 2. To terminate the sucking force, it is conceivable to turn off the sucking force generating mechanism (namely, a suction fan) that generates the sucking force every time an attempt to remove the substrate 2 is made. However, even after being turned off, the suction fan continues to run due to its inertial force for a short while (for example, several tens of seconds to several minutes) during which the sucking force remains. As a result, the substrate (pallet) 2 cannot be removed until the suction fan becomes slow enough to produce almost no sucking force, which results in a significant loss of time in manufacturing processes.
According to an aspect of the invention, this dust collecting mechanism is a dust collecting mechanism that sucks up and collects dust generated by a machining apparatus, including a suction section for sucking up the dust by exerting sucking force on a workpiece, a sucking force generating mechanism for generating sucking force to be exerted on the suction section, and a suction pipe communicating between the suction section and the sucking force generating mechanism, wherein the suction pipe includes an opening section penetrating through the inside and the outside thereof and a shutter mechanism for opening and closing the opening section, and wherein the pressure inside the suction pipe can be switched between an atmospheric pressure state and an sucking force generating state by causing the shutter mechanism to open or close the opening section while sucking force is generated inside the suction pipe by operating the sucking force generating mechanism.
The object and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the claims. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.
An embodiment will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
A substrate cutting apparatus 1 according to this embodiment is illustrated in
The substrate cutting apparatus 1 cuts a planar printed substrate (hereinafter referred to as “substrate”) 2 removably mounted on a fixed unit 9 along predetermined cutting lines with a cutter (router bit) 3 provided thereon so as to be arbitrarily movable in a plane substantially parallel to a workpiece or a substrate 2 and having a blade formed at the edge of a rotating shaft thereof. The substrate cutting apparatus 50 is provided with a dust collecting mechanism 4 for sucking up and collecting the dust (cutting dust) generated on and around the cutting line in the substrate 2. Typically, the substrate 2 is placed on a pallet (not illustrated) and removably mounted on the fixed unit 9 together with the pallet.
The dust collecting mechanism 4 includes a main body 5 having a suction fan (not illustrated) incorporated therein as a sucking force generating mechanism, a tubular suction pipe 7 connected at one end to the main body 5 and provided at the other end with a suction section (a funnel-like duct collection nozzle) 6, and a dust collecting tray 10 for storing the collected dust. The suction section 6 is installed on the back side (opposed to the mounting surface of the substrate 2) of the fixed unit 9.
While a substrate 2 is being cut, dust 8 generated by the cutting is sucked with the activated fan into the suction section 6 through dust discharge holes 9a provided in the fixed unit 9, and sent to the main body 5 through the suction pipe 7. Then the dust 8 is trapped with a filter or the like (not illustrated) before being collected and stored in a dust collection tray 10.
The substrate cutting apparatus 1 according to this embodiment is characterized by an opening section 11 extending from the inside to the outside of the suction pipe 7 as well as a shutter mechanism 12 for opening or closing the opening section 11. As illustrated in
The structure of the shutter mechanism 12 will now be described below with reference to the perspective view in
The shutter mechanism 12 according to this embodiment includes a planar slide plate 13 for opening or closing the opening section 11 in a sliding manner and an actuator 14 for sliding the slide plate 13.
More specifically, the opening section 11, namely a pipe diverging from the suction pipe 7 is connected at one end thereof to a main body 15 of the shutter mechanism 12. The main body 15 is provided with a plate penetrating hole 16 through which the slide plate 13 can penetrate. The slide plate 13 slides inside the plate penetrating hole 16 (in the direction indicated by an arrow in
As illustrated in
Then, to produce a sucking force for substrate cutting (or for dust collecting), the actuator (air cylinder) 14 is caused to retract the piston 14a, as illustrated in
A numeral 24 depicts a guide section for guiding the coupling section 19 so as to provide a linear motion.
The above structure allows the shutter mechanism 12 to instantly open or close the opening section 11 while the sucking force generating mechanism is operated to generate sucking force inside the suction pipe 7. Accordingly, the pressure inside the suction pipe 7 can be instantly switched between the atmospheric pressure state and the sucking force generating state. In other words, the sucking force exerted on the substrate 2 can be instantly terminated without suspending the sucking force generating mechanism, thereby significantly reducing the time required to install or remove the substrate 2.
It is conceivable to configure the controller 21 to comprehensively perform control of a cutter (router bit) 3 in the substrate cutting apparatus 1, control of carrying in and out of a substrate 2 (pallet), and control of the sucking force generating mechanism in addition to control of the shutter mechanism 12, thereby attaining an automated substrate cutting process.
In contrast, it is conceivable to configure the controller 21 to include a manual operation switch (not illustrated), thereby allowing the shutter mechanism 12 to be manually controlled.
The slide plate 13 is formed of stainless steel because of its high resistance to wear and corrosion. The plate penetrating hole 16 is designed so as to penetrate through the main body 15, in order to prevent faulty operation due to the accumulation of dust 8.
The shutter mechanism 12 may use various types of structures for opening or closing the opening section 11, other than the slide plate type above, such as a butterfly valve or the like.
Since a sucking force of approximately 2 kPa acts on the inside of the suction pipe 7 or the opening section 11, as described above, the slide plate 13 of the shutter mechanism 12 is in strong sliding contact with the main body (plate penetrating hole 16) while moving in a sliding manner, which poses the problem of wear.
In order to solve the problem, an auxiliary opening 17 extending from the inside to the outside of the suction pipe 7 as well as an auxiliary lid 18 for opening or closing the auxiliary opening 17, which characterizes this embodiment, is provided in the suction pipe 7 at a position subject to a pressure change resulting from the opening or closing of the opening section 11.
More specifically, as illustrated in
With this arrangement, when the slide plate 13 begins to slide to cause the opening section 11 to move toward an opened state from a fully closed state, the auxiliary opening 17 is switched to an opened state. In other words, when the slide plate 13 slightly slides toward the opened state from the fully closed state, the auxiliary opening 17 completes a switch to the opened state.
With this arrangement, until immediately before the slide plate 13 slides to cause the opened opening section 11 to be fully closed, or immediately after slide plate 13 begins to slide to cause the fully closed opening section 11 to be opened, the sucking force exerted on the inside of the suction pipe 7 decreases due to the opened auxiliary opening 17, thereby preventing wear resulting from the sliding motion of the slide plate 13. The fully closed opening section 11 causes the auxiliary lid 18 to fully close the auxiliary opening 17, providing air tightness which allows the sucking force inside the suction pipe 7 to act on the substrate 2. No limitations are placed on the opening area of the auxiliary opening 17. However, if the auxiliary opening 17 has a greater opening area than the opening section 11, only the auxiliary opening 17 suffices for purposes described above, which eliminates the necessity for the opening section 11. Taking into consideration the fact that the auxiliary opening 17 is a component for creating the above effect, it is preferable that the auxiliary opening 17 is formed to have a smaller opening area than the opening section 11. This eliminates the necessity for the actuator 14 to have more power than required, leading to a reduction in size of the apparatus and a reduction in part cost.
In addition, as illustrated in
More specifically, as illustrated in
This arrangement allows the slide plate 13 to smoothly slide to open/close the opening section 11 and also strengthens its contact with the opening section 11, namely adhesion to the open end of the opening section 11 in the plate penetrating hole 16.
Furthermore, in this embodiment the slide plate 13 is slightly movable (several millimeters) in the direction (indicated by an arrow “Y” in
As described above, a dust collecting mechanism according to this embodiment and the substrate cutting apparatus 1 provided with the same can instantly switch between the atmospheric pressure state and the sucking force generating state, the sucking force or the pressure inside a suction pipe to be exerted on the substrate 2 for collecting dust (cutting dust) generated at the time of cutting the substrate 2. Accordingly, the substrate cutting apparatus 1 can instantly terminate the sucking force acting on the substrate 2 for installation or removal of the substrate 2 without suspending the sucking force generating mechanism, thereby significantly reducing the time required to install or remove the substrate 2.
Also, the substrate cutting apparatus 1 can solve the problem of wear resulting from sliding in the shutter mechanism since it can provide the above-described effect without suspending the sucking force generating mechanism.
The substrate cutting apparatus 1 for cutting a composite printed substrate into a plurality of printed substrates is described above as one embodiment. However, needless to say, in addition to such an apparatus, the present technique can be applied to a dust collection mechanism for collecting and storing dust (cutting dust) generated by a machining apparatus for cutting resin or metallic materials.
All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions, nor does the organization of such examples in the specification relate to a showing of the superiority and inferiority of the invention. Although the embodiment(s) of the present inventions have been described in detail, it should be understood that the various changes, substitutions, and alterations could be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-198157 | Jul 2008 | JP | national |
