An Inspection System for Measuring Feeding Accuracy of Tape Feeders

A tape feeder of a SMD(Surface Mount Device) mounter is a device that sequentially feeds electronic components on a tape reel to the pick-up system of the mounter. As components are getting much smaller, feeding accuracy of a feeder becomes one of the most important factors for successful component pick-up. Therefore, it is critical to keep the feeding accuracy to a specified level in the assembly and production of tape feeders. This paper describes a tape feeder inspection system that was developed to automatically measure and inspect feeding accuracy using machine vision. It consists of a feeder base, an image acquisition system, and a personal computer. The image acquisition system is composed of CCD cameras with lens, LED illumination systems, and a frame grabber inside the PC. This system loads up to six feeders at a time and inspects them automatically and sequentially. The inspection software was implemented using Visual C++on Windows NT with easily usable GUI. Using this system, we can automatically measure and inspect the quality of all feeders in production process by analyzing the measurement results statistically.

테이프 피더의 부품공급 정밀도 측정을 위한 검사 시스템