Assembly - January 2009 - (Page 71) “Delta-type robots are best suited for cell and wafer handling, over-thebelt conveyor tracking, high-speed pick and place, and panel assembly. SCARAs are best suited for compact applications, such as stringing and heavier payload applications. Larger six-axis roots are best suited for panel handling operations, due to their dexterity and heavy payload panels or modules,” Sachania says. Along these same lines, EPSON’s Yett says he has been involved in a number of applications in which SCARA robots have been used for soldering cell strings with the help of vision guidance to ensure correct alignment. He says larger six-axis robots can then be used to pick up and By implementing machine vision, assemblers can reduce their fixturing, inspection and programming costs. Photo courtesy EPSON Robots to bring shorter processing times, lower costs, higher throughput, higher quality, major reduction in medical claims, scrape, and market comparativeness,” says Adept’s Sachania. “In recent years most manufacturers that have invested in this technology have done so with great success. The essential factor has been the integration of image processing and robot control into one logical unit. Each function can access all the data it needs from other functions at any time and in the space of a few milliseconds…The complex and inflexible communication protocols required by most external systems are virtually eliminated.” The Right Robot In terms of specific robot types, faster machines with limited mobility, like SCARAs and Cartesian systems, tend to be used to manipulate cells and wafers, while larger, more flexible sixaxis machines are used to assemble and manipulate competed modules. Another robot type that is well suited to wafer handling is the parallel kinematic, or delta robot. Equipped with machine vision, these super-fast machines can be especially effective at picking randomly oriented wafers from a moving conveyor and then placing them in an array. www.assemblymag.com January 2009 / ASSE M B LY 71 http://www.sealantequipment.com http://www.sealantequipment.com http://www.assemblymag.com
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