Development of an Automated Flexible Micro-Soldering Station

Author(s):  
Vinoth Venkatesan ◽  
David J. Cappelleri

This paper describes a flexible automated soldering system to handle meso and micro-scale soldering operations. The system is guided by a vision system and consists of two micromanipulators, an XY motion stage, and a solder pen with an automatic solder feeder. One micromanipulator is used to hold and position the solder pen and attached solder feeder in the workspace; the second micromanipulator is used to hold and position the wire(s) to be soldered on to a printed circuit board (PCB). After hardware and vision system calibration, the user can select point(s) from a real-time image of the workspace for the desired soldering operations to occur. The soldering process is then carried out automatically two different ways: 1. By servoing the XY motion stage with the PCB to position it under the soldering manipulator followed by the solder operation; or 2. By moving the soldering manipulator to the target soldering sites on the PCB that remain stationary. Experimental results for both scenarios are presented and discussed for soldering single and multiple wires at a time. This system provides a flexible manufacturing solution for operations that demand custom micro-soldering operations in a 2D plane.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioan Doroftei ◽  
Daniel Chirita ◽  
Ciprian Stamate ◽  
Stelian Cazan ◽  
Carlos Pascal ◽  
...  

Purpose The mass electronics sector is one of the most critical sources of waste, in terms of volume and content with dangerous effects on the environment. The purpose of this study is to provide an automated and accurate dismantling system that can improve the outcome of recycling. Design/methodology/approach Following a short introduction, the paper details the implementation layout and highlights the advantages of using a custom architecture for the automated dismantling of printed circuit board waste. Findings Currently, the amount of electronic waste is impressive while manual dismantling is a very common and non-efficient approach. Designing an automatic procedure that can be replicated, is one of the tasks for efficient electronic waste recovery. This paper proposes an automated dismantling system for the advanced recovery of particular waste materials from computer and telecommunications equipment. The automated dismantling architecture is built using a robotic system, a custom device and an eye-to-hand configuration for a stereo vision system. Originality/value The proposed approach is innovative because of its custom device design. The custom device is built using a programmable screwdriver combined with an innovative rotary dismantling tool. The dismantling torque can be tuned empirically.


2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 293-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao-Ching Ho ◽  
You-Min Chen ◽  
Po-Chieh Li

Background: In this study, a machine vision–based method was developed for automated in-process light-emitting diode chip mounting lines with position uncertainty. In order to place the tiny light-emitting diode chips on the pattern of a printed circuit board, a highly accurate mounting process is achieved with online feedback of the visual assistance. Methods: The system consists of a charge-coupled device camera, a six-axis robot arm, and a delta robot. The lighting system is a critical point for the in-process machine vision problem. Hence, designing the optimal lighting solution is one of the most difficult parts of a machine vision system, and several lighting techniques and experiments are examined in this study. In order to commence the mounting process, the light-emitting diode chip targets inside the camera field were identified and used to guide the delta robot to the grabbing zone based on the calibrated homography transformation. Efforts have been focused on the field of machine vision–based feature extraction of the chip pins and the holes on the printed circuit board. The correspondence of each other is determined by the position of the chip pins and the printed circuit board circuit pattern. The image acquisition is achieved directly online in real time. The image analysis algorithm must be sufficiently fast to follow the production rate. In order to compensate for the uncertainty of the light-emitting diode chip mounting process, a visual feedback strategy in conjunction with an uncertainty compensation strategy is employed. Results: Finally, the light-emitting diode chip was automatically grabbed and accurately placed at the desired positions. Conclusion: On-line and off-line experiments were conducted to investigate the performance of the vision system with respect to detecting and mounting light-emitting diode chips.


2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Klas Brinkfeldt ◽  
Göran Wetter ◽  
Andreas Lövberg ◽  
Per-Erik Tegehall ◽  
Dag Andersson ◽  
...  

The increasing complexity of electronics in systems used in safety critical applications, such as self-driving vehicles, requires new methods to assure the hardware reliability of the electronic assemblies. Prognostics and health management (PHM) that uses a combination of data-driven and physics-of-failure models is a promising approach to avoid unexpected failures in the field. However, to enable PHM based partly on physics-of-failure models, sensor data that measure the relevant environment loads to which the electronics are subjected during its mission life are required. In this work, the feasibility to manufacture and use integrated sensors in the inner layers of a printed circuit board (PCB) as mission load indicators measuring impacts and vibrations has been investigated. A four-layered PCB was designed in which piezoelectric sensors based on polyvinylidenefluoride-co-trifluoroethylene (PVDF-TrFE) were printed on one of the laminate layers before the lamination process. Manufacturing of the PCB was followed by the assembly of components consisting of ball grid arrays (BGAs) and quad flat no-leads (QFN) packages in a standard production reflow soldering process. Tests to ensure that the functionality of the sensor material was unaffected by the soldering process were performed. Results showed a yield of approximately 30% of the sensors after the reflow soldering process. The yield was also dependent on sensor placement and possibly shape. Optimization of the sensor design and placement is expected to bring the yield to 50% or better. The sensors responded as expected to impact tests. Delamination areas were present in the test PCBs, which requires further investigation. The delamination does not seem to be due to the presence of embedded sensors alone but rather the result of a combination of several factors. The conclusion of this work is that it is feasible to embed piezoelectric sensors in the layers of a PCB.


2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Górecki ◽  
Przemysław Ptak ◽  
Barbara Dziurdzia

Purpose This paper presents the results of the investigations of LED modules soldered with the use of different soldering pastes. Design/methodology/approach The tested power LED modules are soldered using different solder pastes and soldering processes. Thermal parameters of the performed modules are tested using indirect electrical methods. The results of measurements obtained for different modules are compared and discussed. Findings It was shown that the soldering process visibly influences the results of measurements of optical and thermal parameters of LED modules. For example, values of thermal resistance of these modules and the efficiency of conversion of electrical energy into light differ between each other even by 15%. Practical implications The obtained results of investigations can be usable for designers of the assembly process of power LED modules. Originality/value This paper shows the investigations results in the area of effective assembly of power LEDs to the metal core printed circuit board (MCPCB) using different soldering pastes (REL22, REL61, LMPA-Q6, OM-5100, OM-338-PT, M8, OM-340, CVP-390). It was shown that the best thermal and optical properties of these modules are obtained for the OM5100 paste by Alpha Assembly.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yutian Yin ◽  
Hongda Zhou ◽  
Cai Chen ◽  
Yi Zheng ◽  
Hongqiao Shen ◽  
...  

Purpose The simulated temperature profile of the printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) during reflow soldering process deviates from the actual profile. To reduce this relative deviation, a new strategy based on the Kriging response surface and the Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) optimizing method is proposed. Design/methodology/approach The simulated temperature profile of the PCBA during reflow soldering process deviates from the actual profile. To reduce this relative deviation, a new strategy based on the Kriging response surface and the MOGA optimizing method is proposed. Findings Several critical influencing parameters such as temperature and the convective heat transfer coefficient of the specific temperature zones are selected as the correction parameters. The hyper Latins sampling method is implemented to distribute the design points, and the Kriging response surface model of the soldering process is constructed. The updated model is achieved and validated by the test. The relative derivation is reduced from the initial value of 43.4%–11.8% in terms of the time above the liquidus line. Originality/value A new strategy based on the Kriging response surface and the MOGA optimizing method is proposed.


2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 194-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helene Conseil ◽  
Morten Stendahl Jellesen ◽  
Rajan Ambat

Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to analyse typical printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) processed by reflow, wave or selective wave soldering for typical levels of process-related residues, resulting from a specific or combination of soldering processes. Typical solder flux residue distribution pattern, composition and concentration are profiled and reported. The effect of such contaminants on conformal coating was tested. Design/methodology/approach – Presence of localized flux residues was visualized using a commercial residue reliability assessment testing gel test and chemical structure was identified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, while the concentration was measured using ion chromatography, and the electrical properties of the extracts were determined by measuring the leak current using a twin platinum electrode set-up. Localized extraction of residue was carried out using a commercial critical contamination control extraction system. Findings – Results clearly show that the amount and distribution of flux residues are a function of the soldering process, and the level can be reduced by an appropriate cleaning. Selective soldering process generates significantly higher levels of residues compared to the wave and reflow process. For conformal coated PCBAs, the contamination levels generated from the tested wave and selective soldering process are found to be enough to generate blisters under exposure to high humidity levels. Originality/value – Although it is generally known that different soldering processes can introduce contamination on the PCBA surface, compromising its cleanliness, no systematic work is reported investigating the relative levels of residue introduced by various soldering processes and its effect on corrosion reliability.


2012 ◽  
Vol 132 (6) ◽  
pp. 404-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenichi Nakayama ◽  
Kenichi Kagoshima ◽  
Shigeki Takeda

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