PCB component fitting in the bat of an eyelid

SYNCHROFLEX^® GEN III is part of the Speed Mounter² drive

Speed Mounter from IPTE Germany.

The 12 position rotary head of the special component fitting system SpeedMounter² requires less than 2 seconds to fit and clinch an electronic component quickly and precisely on a PCB. The Speed Mounter² owes its speed and precision above all to the polyurethane timing belts SYNCHROFLEX and BRECO from Mulco. The SpeedMounter² operating with an impressive repetitive precision of 25μm / 4 sigma, was developed and produced by one of the world wide leading specialist for factory automation in the electrical engineering industry, IPTE Germany GmbH, Nuremberg (Heroldsberg). The company is an affiliate of the IPTE NV, Genk / Belgium.

Its heart: The rotary head

9 Speed Mounter² operate around the clock in three shifts at the Augsburg based IT manufacturer Fujitsu-Siemens. Stefan Lorenz, Unit Manager Odd Form Placement of IPTE in Nuremberg (Heroldsberg) shows the heart of the compact, only 166 cm long and 230 cm high high-tech machine: the rotary head driven by a polyurethane timing belt SYNCHROFLEX GEN III 16 AT 10/1100. „The objective was to combine the flexibility of manual fitting with the requirements of modern production“, explains Stefan Lorenz. Up to 12 different grippers, from the mechanical parallel gripper, the vacuum suction gripper through to special gripper versions, are available to handle the most varied components. Stefan Lorenz: „They allow to process practically all special components in automated equipping, from the transformer to the wired resistor.“

Competency in development pays off

Stefan Lorenz and Reinhold Michl.

Red timing belt power for a compact high-performance drive.

The Mulco partner Roth GmbH + Co. KG from Nuremberg was closely integrated in the development of the rotary head drives for precise and reproducible fitting electronic components as well as in the drive design for PCB transport. Part of the technical fieldforce, Reinhold Michl is responsible for IPTE GmbH and explains the special features of the timing belt drives in the Speed Mounter². „The rotary head is inclined at a 45° angle to be able to operate efficiently. The point of rotation is thereby shifted to the middle axis to simplify the control of the head.” IPTE-Manager Stefan Lorenz adds: „Where high equipment forces are encountered, this arrangement allows us to directly induce the load transmission into the system without a lever.“

System solution wanted

The high performance timing belts SYNCHROFLEX GEN III installed in the Speed Mounter system play out their full strength, especially in the rotary head’s drive: exceptional abrasion resistance paired with higher stiffness, with the constructional space unchanged, less elongation and, last but not least, power transmission increased by up to 25 % compared to a standard timing belt. The aluminium pulleys also supplied by Mulco are drastically weight reduced to achieve the lowest possible mass inertia. The PCBs are transported by a high-precision timing belt BRECO 10 T 5/2930 – V arranged in an Omega pattern.

Precise and fast: PCB transport system equipped with BRECO 10 T5 / 2930–V in an Omega pattern.

The SpeedMounter² includes a powerful feeder pallet supplying the components. Stefan Lorenz: „IPTE feeders are a joint development by the Genk and Heroldsberg sites“. Everything ensues from one source: design, mechanical engineering and production, the controls as well as integration in an existing component fitting system”. The IPTE development team implemented their many years of experience in component feeding in the development of the Feeder models. A high degree of reliability results in a technical availability of the Feeders reaching more than 99 percent.

Quality available world wide

This own high quality claim in combination with the reliability and service close to the customer by the Mulco partner Roth made IPTE reach out for the polyurethane timing belt, the pulleys, tensioners and return rollers produced by the Mulco Group. “For an international company as IPTE, technical consulting and quality count among the important arguments at the same level as internationality and world wide availability of the components”, explains Stefan Lorenz referring to the service claim of IPTE to their sub-suppliers. The regional vicinity of the Mulco partner providing technical consultation and design support fits in with the company’s developers ideas, together with the innovative strength of the Mulco Group. The interactive service „Mulco belt-pilot“ provided by Mulco-Europe EWIV in the Internet also offers valuable help to the designers.

Hanover, September 2006
Mulco-Europe EWIV