New component inspection technology from General Scanning

Citation

(1999), "New component inspection technology from General Scanning", Soldering & Surface Mount Technology, Vol. 11 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ssmt.1999.21911aad.016

New component inspection technology from General Scanning

New component inspection technology from General Scanning

Keywords General Scanning, Inspection

The SMT Products Group of General Scanning Inc. has announced the development of its new component placement inspection (CPI) capability for the SMT industry (Plate 3). General Scanning's CPI provides high speed access to critical data to help ensure not only the correct placement of components, but also ­ through the use of patented 3-D technology ­ the quality of solder joints to be produced. CPI software can be run in-line at line speeds on the existing Model 8100 and 8200 inspection system hardware platforms.

Plate 3 Component placement inspection

The product uses a combination of proprietary new software algorithms and 3-D laser inspection ­ rather than conventional CCD camera technology ­ to provide extremely fast and robust inspection of a wide variety of parts, including leaded and chip devices as well as odd-shaped components, rotated devices, and clear or nearly transparent bodies. In addition to inspecting X and Y position and rotation, missing components and the polarity of devices can be detected.

V4.3 software enhances performance of solder paste inspection system

The SMT Products Group has also announced the introduction of an important upgrade for its solder paste inspection customers. Version 4.3 of the solder paste inspection software for SMT 8100 and 8200 inspection systems provides performance enhancements which reduce program set-up time, decrease cycle time, and further increase accuracy. The upgrade includes the addition of a 200MHz CPU, an 8GB tape drive, and raises system memory to 64MB RAM.

Program set-up time is decreased through a new software template rotation capability, which allows one template to be used at 0, 90, 180, or 270 degree rotations. This eliminates the need to create and use separate template files for each rotation. In addition, increased flexibility and reduced set-up time are achieved via the new "intelligent adaptive learn" (IAL) capability (Plate 4). IAL improves on the existing adaptive learn feature and offers an alternative to manual set-up by obtaining set-up information through scanning a golden board. Finally, a distribution analysis tool automatically reviews calibration box set-up and flags specific areas that need attention.

Plate 4 The new IAL feature provides new functionality and an easy-to-use interface

During operation, an overall processing speed improvement reduces cycle time by about 10 percent. The V4.3 software also improves registration accuracy and repeatability through enhancements in fiducial sizing algorithms.

For more information about General Scanning, visit the company on the Internet at www.genscan.com.

For more information, contact: Michele Willis, General Scanning Inc., 1650 N. Voyager Avenue, Simi Valley, CA 93063, USA. Tel: +1 (805) 522-8439; Fax: +1 (805) 578-5249; E-mail: mwillis@genscan.com