System for mounting components on boards

Abstract

A component mounting apparatus includes two board transfer devices each for transferring boards, at least one component supply device for supplying plural kinds of components to be mounted on the boards, and a component placing device including at least one component placing head for picking up the supplied components to mount the picked-up components on the boards and at least one head moving mechanism for moving the at least one component placing head in at least two directions parallel to a surface of the board. The apparatus also includes a controller that operates one component placing head to mount components alternately on two boards transferred by the two board transfer devices to respective component mounting positions and operates two component placing heads to mount components in parallel on two boards transferred by the two boards transfer devices to the respective component mounting positions.

1 . A component mounting apparatus comprising:
 two board transfer devices each configured to transfer boards;   at least one component supply device configured to supply plural kinds of components to be mounted on the boards;   a component placing device including at least one component placing head configured to pick up components supplied from the at least one component supply device to mount the picked-up components on the boards and at least one head moving mechanism configured to move the at least one component placing head in at least two directions parallel to a surface of the board; and   a controller that is configured so that when the component placing device is provided with one component placing head, the component placing device operates the one component placing head to mount components alternately on two boards transferred by the two board transfer devices to respective component mounting positions and that when the component placing device is provided with two component placing heads, the component placing device operates the two component placing heads to mount components in parallel on two boards transferred by the two boards transfer devices to the respective component mounting positions.   
     
     
         2 . The component mounting apparatus as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein:
 the two board transfer devices are conveyors of linear transfer type arranged in parallel relation with each other; and   the at least one component supply device comprises a plurality of component supply devices arranged at outsides of the respective board transfer devices.   
     
     
         3 . The component mounting apparatus as set forth in  claim 2 , wherein each of the board transfer devices is adjustable to alter a width thereof in a direction perpendicular to the transfer direction. 
     
     
         4 . The component mounting apparatus as set forth in  claim 3 , wherein:
 the at least one component placing head comprises a single component placing head; and   the controller is configured to control the single component placing head to mount components picked up from the components supply devices alternately on two boards transferred by the two board transfer devices to the respective component mounting positions.   
     
     
         5 . The component mounting apparatus as set forth in  claim 4 , wherein the controller is configured to control the single component placing head to mount components picked up from the components supply devices, on the two boards at the same mounting frequency. 
     
     
         6 . The component mounting apparatus as set forth in  claim 4 , wherein the controller is configured to control the single component placing head to mount the components picked up from the component supply devices, on the two boards alternately at different mounting frequencies. 
     
     
         7 . The component mounting apparatus as set forth in  claim 3 , wherein:
 the at least one component placing head comprises two component placing heads;   the at least one head moving mechanism comprises two head moving mechanisms that are able to move the two component placing heads respectively independently; and   the controller is configured to control the two component placing heads to mount components in parallel relation on two boards transferred by the two board transfer devices to the respective component mounting positions.   
     
     
         8 . The component mounting apparatus as set forth in  claim 7 , wherein the controller is configured to control one of the two component placing heads to perform the component mountings mainly on one of the two boards and the other of the two component placing heads to perform the component mountings mainly on the other of the two boards.