EQUIPMENT SELECTION, INTEGRATION AND INTERFACING OF A ROBOTIC PCBA COMPONENT REWORK CELL

Defects are still common in printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) tech nology despite all the improvements made, and rework of PCBA is inevit able and performed manually in PCBA manufacturing floors since the cos t of each component and the PCB itself may be hundreds of pounds. On t he contrary, a lack of international effort for the early development of fully automated rework equipment has been hindered due to high cost predictions and complex process requirements. Therefore, there is a g rowing need for automated rework, Since the requirement is to automate manual rework using an industrial robot, choosing appropriate hardwar e and suitable methods is very important to meet the economic and ulti mate rework requirements. Hence, a robotic rework cell has been develo ped as part of a robotic assembly cell where much of the required equi pment is already present to meet the economic concerns. This paper ill ustrates the importance of rework tool selection for a successful deve lopment. It therefore presents the required techniques and the chosen tooling. After the introduction of the tooling, integration of tools a nd interfacing of control equipment are presented. Finally it describe s the layout of the cell and concludes with recommendations and future studies with regard to chosen tooling and automation requirements. (C ) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved