Method and apparatus for measuring the position of a series of contact pins and for positioning said series in a printed circuit board

摘要

The method and apparatus comprise a pick-up and insertion head (1) movable along a predetermined direction (Y-axis) between a pick-up area (3) provided for electronic components bearing an array of contact pins (6) and a printed circuit board (20), whereby during the movement of the pick-up and insertion head (1), having picked up a component provided with contact pins (6) from the pick-up area (3), between the pick-up area (3) and the printed circuit board (20), the position of the contact pins along the Y-axis are detected by means of a first laser beam (7) determining the actual position of each pin along said Y-axis as a first array of data, almost at the same time the position of the contact pins along the X-axis are detected by means of a second laser beam (13) determining the actual position of each pin along the X-axis as a second array of data; by means of said two arrays of data, the mean center position of each pin can subsequently be computed and compared with the normal allowable center position thereof, subsequently, a correction can be applied on the position of the head (1) bearing the component (2) provided with the contact pins (6) before said contact pins (6) are inserted in corresponding holes (5) in the printed circuit board (20).