As component size and spacing become increasingly compressed in the manufacturing of printed circuit boards, the need for precise component placement becomes critical.  High speed also is required to drive components placement rate in highly price competitive markets.

The Challenge

Surface Mount Technology (SMT) revolutionized the printed circuit board industry by replacing insertion components and wave soldering with smaller, less expensive surface mount components and reflow soldering.  As component size and spacing become increasingly compressed, the need for precise component placement becomes critical.  High speed also is required to drive components per hour (>50K cph) in highly price competitive markets like memory manufacturing.  Small and extremely fast rotary and linear motion axes need precise and reliable position feedback.

The Solution

A pioneering pick-and-place manufacturer selected the MicroE ChipEncoder and M1500H kit encoders for their rotary and linear axes respectively.  The remarkably small 7mmx11mm ChipEncoder was paired with a tiny rotary grating to properly orient SMT components with high precision and speed.  The Mercury 1500 encoders were paired with custom length linear scales to control the placement nozzle z-axis providing excellent performance for the price.  Both encoders feature industry leading alignment tolerances for ease of installation and in-the-head interpolation to eliminate the cost of external electronics.

The Benefit

In this application, the CE300-40 ChipEncoder was paired with a 15mm rotary grating and is capable of providing greater than 30 arc-sec precision at a speed in excess of 21 thousand revolutions per minute.  Its small BGA package size and overall system height easily integrated onto the customer’s PCB.

The M1500H encoder was paired with custom length linear gratings and provides 0.5µm resolution at a speed of up to 7.2 meters per second.  The M1500H features a small die-cast sensor head and robust, double shielded cable.

Both encoders are equipped with 40x interpolation built directly into the sensor head electronics enabling a very low profile interface to the customer’s motion control platform.

Specifications

ProductsCE300-40; M1500H-40
Sensor Dimensions7.0 x 11.0 x 3.1mm (CE300); 20.6 x 12.7 x 8.4mm (M1500)
InterfaceDigital A-quad-B with index
Grating Period40 microns (CE300); 20 microns (M1500)
System Resolution40,960 counts per revolution (CE300); 5 to 0.5 microns (M1500)
Maximum Speed14.4 m/sec (CE300); 7.2 m/sec (M1500)
Sensor Weight0.4 grams (CE300); 2.7 grams (M1500)
Travel RequiredVarious linear and rotary