Dispensing solder paste and pick & place LED modules on a 3D substrate (3D MID) can be quite challenging, as shown in vid. 1. There, a needle dispenser is used to dispense the solder paste out of a standard syringe. While the needle dispenser only moves in vertical z-direction the substrate is moved to the precise position. This movement is conducted via a 3D substrate handling unit, which fixes the substrate with vacuum and moves it along and around several axis. This allows the needle dispenser reaching nearly every point on the substrate from its vertical mounting.
After the dispensing process the vision system of the machine finds the teached in parts, which has to be applied on the substrate. A pick & place process transfers the parts from the waffle pack to the substrate. When the process has been completed, a laser soldering process follows in order to mechanically fix and applying electrical contact. Here a infrared soldering laser has been used. The process is monitored by the built-in vision system of the laser soldering head.
The main challenge in assembling parts on a 3D MID substrate is the fixation of the parts during the movement of the substrate. In complicated structures a glue is applied prior to the pick & place process providing a first fixation of the parts before the laser soldering process.
The full process has been cunducted using standard components of the OurPlant family by Häcker Automation GmbH.
