PCB Tech - PCB "Automation Equipment + Industrial Robot Operation"

PCB work is technology-intensive and capital-intensive work, but it is still labor-intensive work. Many automation equipment requires manual operation and assembly line operations. A medium-planned PCB company has thousands of employees. Following the industrial transfer and promotion, the implementation of the new labor contract law, the increase in the cost of urban living brought about by changes in the economic structure, and the difficulty and mobility of the post-80s and 90s employees, PCB manufacturers are facing more and more severe challenges. The challenge of labor shortages and rising labor costs, and the resulting impact on production plans, product quality, and profitability. At the same time, with the advancement of robot functions and the decline in prices, replacing the traditional "automation equipment + manual operation" circuit board production method with "automation equipment + industrial robot operation" will become the trend of PCB work transformation.

Representative use cases of robots

1. Six-axis multi-joint robot is used for AOI inspection process

Traditional AOI scanning machines rely on manual loading, turning and unloading. One person guards the two machines and repeats monotonous actions every day. Moreover, the newly manufactured circuit boards will also announce pungent odors to the human body. Bringing certain damage, the infrared light announced by the AOI scanning machine is also an invisible killer. We use a six-axis multi-joint robot instead of workers to take care of the loading, flipping and unloading of the two AOIs. Each shift can end the retracting and unloading of more than 700 PCB hard boards, and the summed power can reach 1 min (in the meantime Including AOI machine scan time).

If the loading and unloading transportation line that cooperates with the retractable board machine can be further connected to the AGV for fixed line transfer, the fully automated circuit board production of the up and down process can be completed.

2. SCARA robot is used for circuit board coil inspection process

At present, there are only a handful of testing equipment for multi-layer board coil short circuit detection on the market. Most of the testing equipment relies on manual labor. PCBs with large apertures are manually placed on the testing equipment and then opened for testing. PCBs with small apertures The board needs to manually hold the device (probe) to test each coil. We can use SCARA robots to complete the loading and unloading and positioning of collaborative inspection equipment, and complete the one-time inspection of all coils of large-aperture boards; for small-aperture boards, we use SCARA equipment to perform end-fixed probes and visual positioning, Use the probe to detect each coil, our equipment also effectively avoids the false detection due to the small or large diameter of the coil during manual operation. Compared with manual operation, it can obviously travel to detect and measure power, and avoid quality problems caused by missed inspection.

3. DELTA robot is used in the cartoning process of small circuit board products

For circuit board production, the existing FPC trays are manually picked up one by one and placed in the blister tray. Because the FPC is soft and thin, it is inconvenient to pick up, so the power will be greatly reduced. Delta800 plus a set of vision system The qualified ones can be picked from the messy FPC pile and then placed in the blister tray according to the requirements, which is not inferior to manual. His speed can reach 60 pieces per minute, which can completely replace manual sorting and loading.

The advantages of industrial robots working on PCBs instead of manual circuit board production are the same as those of car work and other manufacturing industries. Industrial robots working on PCBs instead of manual labor bring many advantages to enterprises.

1. Reduce labor, speed up the work cycle, and move the work power. The robot can complete high-speed repetitive operations, which can be much higher than the manual work cycle, and then bring about a large increase in work power and a reduction in labor costs and processing costs.

2. The accuracy of marching operations and the quality of marching products. The robot can use programming and vision systems to achieve accurate positioning and repeatability, effectively improving the quality of products.

3. Avoid potential threats to workers' health and safety from the working environment, and save investment in environmental safety.

4. Reduce power and quality drops and accident rates caused by repeated and monotonous processes on workers' conditions.

5. Optimize the work process and reduce the work space.

6. Effectively reduce the material consumption rate.

7. It can work continuously for 24 hours and work in a dark light environment.

8. It can make the manufacturing process flexible. In the future, PCB work will show more and more small-batch orders. The use of industrial robots can greatly increase the flexibility of production and complete the fast delivery of orders.

9. The advancement of brand image and promise. The use of industrial robots has allowed PCB manufacturers to further advance their automation level, and promote the advancement of product quality, production power, cost control, and responsiveness, and advance the overall competitiveness of manufacturers in the work world.

Application prospects of industrial robots in PCB work

Now the application of industrial robots in PCB work is still in its infancy, and there are still many problems that need to be solved. Many working lines of PCB work are non-standard products. In the process of robot use, they must be constrained by the existing working space and the original equipment ability. Faced with the influence of different PCB board material elements, it is necessary to consider the use of various sensors. The intelligentization of marching robots must also consider training a group of employees who can operate and maintain robots for manufacturers.

The application of industrial robots in PCB work in the future will show the following trends:

1. From single station or single line application to multi-line application. It is difficult for existing PCB companies to fully introduce robots to complete automated production and need to invest a lot of funds for transformation, but they can carry out step-by-step transformations on qualified single stations and single lines, and gradually expand the application plan after obtaining obvious results.

2. From the application of simple robots to the application in combination with other intelligent equipment such as AGV. Most of the material transfer between the existing production lines is manual operation, and the orderly transfer of the finished materials can be distributed and implemented by the combination of robots and AGVs.

3. The existing PCB factories are mainly used for partial applications, and the construction of the new factory will be planned as a whole, and the application of robots and AGVs will be directly imported.

4. The combination of industrial robots and the Internet of Things will make the manufacturing process more intelligent and flexible.