New servo-electric presses eliminate risk of damage during advanced PCB assembly

Citation

(2001), "New servo-electric presses eliminate risk of damage during advanced PCB assembly", Assembly Automation, Vol. 21 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/aa.2001.03321aad.004

New servo-electric presses eliminate risk of damage during advanced PCB assembly

New servo-electric presses eliminate risk of damage during advanced PCB assembly

Keywords: Printed circuit boards, Assembly

Designed for precise control of pressfit techniques, Tyco Electronics' new family of seating presses will deliver many significant benefits, including the elimination of "slamming".

A new family of servo-electric seating presses, specifically designed to service the entire spectrum of compliant pin applications, has been introduced by Tyco Electronics. Offering extremely high levels of control and monitoring, the presses will, for the first time, virtually eliminate the risk of damage to expensive PCBs – such as backplanes – conventionally associated with pressfit assembly techniques.

Consisting of both fully- and semi-automatic machines, all presses in the new ASG range feature servomotors controlled by a PC running advanced proprietary PQM (Process Quality Monitoring) software (see Plate 4). This provides an extremely precise control capability, enabling almost real-time (sub-3 millisecond sample time) adjustment of force and monitoring of height. This means that the press can instantly respond to the sudden changes of force which are typical during connector insertion, thereby eliminating the "slamming" effect notorious in press fit applications for causing board damage. Backplane PCBs can cost thousands – and sometimes tens of thousands – of dollars.

Plate 4 An ASG press in action now available from Tyco Electronics

The PQM system also uses SPC (Statistical Profile Control), so it can determine trends and report back, in real time, on process performance. For example, it will track and record minimum and maximum force per pin, assuring the insertion forces remain within the design parameters. Other benefits of the ASG PQM approach include a completely automatic set-up – because the process is entirely data-driven, there are no mechanical adjustments whatsoever. The press can also be connected to the factory network, via its PC. This means that a manufacturer with several assembly lines can have high levels of fault-tolerance and a uniform process – if one press goes off-line, another can be quickly and easily switched in. With bar code serial number entry the press also provides 100 per cent tractability of process data for each connector.

The new ASG presses also address the issue of flexibility – or lack of it – of most seating presses. Conventionally, for each make of connector used in a process, a sub-contractor needs a dedicated press. This is because a given connector manufacturer's press is designed and supported primarily for its own connectors. This however, is not the case with the ASG presses which can be used with connectors of all major brands.