System for configuring, automating and controlling the test and repair of printed circuit boards

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A perspective view illustrating various functional modules of the test system 10 according to the present invention is provided in FIG.
1.
Depending upon the complexity and type of circuit or PCB being tested it may be necessary to use multiple test stages.
It may also be necessary to use various combinations of test stages in different sequences to reliably locate the faults which might be present therein.
As can be seen, the system 10 can include such multiple test stages, for example, stages 11a and 11b.
The test stages 11 can be identical, or they can be of different types, e.
g.
functional, in-circuit, combinational, special device or component testers, bare board testers, etc.
Such testors and the computer controllers employed operate them are commercially available and therefor are not described in detail herein.
Although FIG.
1 illustrates two test stages 11, the present invention is not intended to be limited to this number nor to the descriptions provided above.
Conveyor means are provided to load and unload such PCBs and other transportable components from the test and/or repair stages and to transport such components there between.
The conveyor means of the present invention employs plug together, modular conveyor units which are specifically adapted to afford flexibility in the configuration of the test system 10.
Conveyor unit 12 is a linear conveyor which moves components in two directions, i.
e.
, towards as well as away from a stage.
It should be noted that such forwards and backwards motion is not commonly found in typical automated production lines which generally transport the items under process in one common direction.
A more complex motion is however required to enable conveyor unit 12 to be utilized to transport components both into as well as out of a test stage 11, as is included in the present invention.
To afford an even more flexible test and repair system, a conveyor unit 13 is provided incorporating the capability for the rotational movement of the components in addition to linear movement