1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chip mounter, and more particularly to a method for recognizing corners of an angular component such as a square component in the chip mounter to be mounted on the printed circuit board (PCB).
2. Prior Art
In general, PCBs are boards on which several electronic components are integrated. The dense wiring of the electronic components on the PCBs can be accomplished through a printing method. Recently, single pattern PCBs are being miniaturized with high density double faces or multiple layers so that the single patten PCBs can be manufactured in large quantities at one time. Moreover, an industrial robot equipped with an apparatus which can perform a sight function that is highly adaptable and efficient has been proposed.
A chip mounter includes an image recognition device constituted by a cognitive camera, an image signal processor, and a microprocessor. The chip mounter recognizes a posting of chip components which adhere to a nozzle and controls corners and an angle of the chip components at the next station according to the recognition result. In order to exactly recognize and correct the location and the angle of the square component 104 which adhere to the nozzle, the chip mounter controls the image recognition device to take a picture with respect to an image of the square component 104. The chip mounter judges a posting of chip components through the image thereof and corrects the chip component to an accurate posture by using the judged posting thereof. Accordingly, an operation for recognizing the posting of the chip components which are adherent to the nozzle should be performed. A performance of the chip mounter is influenced by how precisely and quickly the recognition process is performed. If the recognition operation is carried out in an abnormal state, the chip mounter cannot mount the chip components at the corresponding position by component data which are stored therein, resulting in a deterioration of the quality of the produced goods.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,869 issued to Timothy R. Pryor et al. discloses a method and apparatus for electro-optically determining dimension, location, and altitude of objects. A first embodiment of the method and apparatus describes optical triangulation based coordinate measurement of complex surfaces, such as gear teeth and turbine blades. Another embodiment provides highly useful sensors for robot guidance and related purposes. However, the patent of Timothy R. Pryor et al. does not disclose a method for recognizing corners of a square component.