Screen printer, component mounting line, and screen printing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10112269-B2
Application number	US-201414490843-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 19, 2014
Priority date	Oct 1, 2013
Publication date	Oct 30, 2018
Grant date	Oct 30, 2018

Abstract

A screen printer includes: a substrate holder that holds a substrate; a mask to be contacted with the substrate; an imaging device that images the substrate; an elevation mechanism that moves up the substrate holder at a below-mask-position below the mask based on a result of the imaging to contact the substrate with the mask; a horizontal moving mechanism that moves the substrate holder between the below-mask-position and a retreat position retreated in a horizontal direction from the below-mask-position; a printing head that moves on the mask contacted with the substrate and prints a paste on the substrate via the mask; and a mask cleaner that cleans a lower surface of the mask with the substrate separated from the mask by the elevation mechanism. The imaging of the substrate and the cleaning of the mask are performed with the substrate holder positioned at the retreat position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A screen printing method comprising:
holding a first substrate by a substrate holder placed on a base;
moving an imaging device in a horizontal direction of a mask and the first substrate, and imaging the first substrate held by the substrate holder by the imaging device;
contacting the first substrate held by the substrate holder with the mask before a printing by moving the substrate holder up at a below-mask-position below the mask before the printing based on a result of the imaging of the first substrate;
moving a printing head on the mask to print a paste on the first substrate; and
moving a mask cleaner under the mask after the printing within a moving range of the mask cleaner and cleaning a lower surface of the mask after the printing by the mask cleaner with the first substrate being separated from the mask after the printing,
wherein an imaging of a second substrate is performed when the substrate holder is positioned at an initial position between a feeding conveyor and a discharge conveyor and in line with the conveyors away from the below-mask-position outside the moving range of the mask cleaner in the horizontal direction, while simultaneously, the cleaning of the mask after the printing is performed when the substrate holder holding the second substrate is positioned at the initial position.

2. The screen printing method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the imaging of the second substrate and the cleaning of the mask are performed in parallel while the substrate holder is positioned at the initial position.

3. The screen printing method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the imaging of the first substrate is performed by the imaging device positioned at a first height between a lower surface of the mask and an upper surface of the first substrate, the imaging of the second substrate is performed by the imaging device positioned at the first height between the lower surface of the mask and an upper surface of the second substrate, and the cleaning of the mask is performed by the mask cleaner positioned at a second height between the lower surface of the mask and the upper surface of the first or second substrate, and
the imaging of the second substrate and the cleaning of the mask are concurrently performed.

4. The screen printing method according to claim 3 ,
wherein viewed from a direction parallel to the lower surface of the mask, the first height and the second height are at a same height from the base.

5. The screen printing method according to claim 3 ,
wherein the imaging of the second substrate is performed without waiting for the cleaning of the mask and the cleaning of the mask is performed without waiting for the imaging of the second substrate.

Assignees

• Panasonic Corp
• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Mantani Masayuki
• Murakami Toshiyuki

Classifications

• B41F15/26

  for articles with flat surfaces · CPC title

• B41P2235/242

  Unwinding the cleaning cloth · CPC title

• B41P2235/244

  Rewinding the cleaning cloth · CPC title

• B23K3/0638

  for viscous material feeding, e.g. solder paste feeding (B23K3/0623 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B41P2215/114

  with means for displacing the article · CPC title