Solder inspection system offers high magnification for accurate inspections

Manufacturing / Production Technology, Hardware & Services

Production/manufacturing equipment suppliers & service providers

25 February 2004 Manufacturing / Production Technology, Hardware & Services

Incorporating the versatile Windows 2000 interface, Omron's VT-WIN II PCB solder inspection system can be used either in-line or off-line, for rapid, accurate identification of a variety of circuit board assembly defects. A zoom lens allows multiple magnifications down to 10 microns per pixel. According to the company, the VT-WIN II's magnification is the highest in the industry, allowing it to accurately inspect 0201 components. In addition, with its high speed digital camera and high speed motion control, it is also one of the fastest inspection systems around - and twice as fast as the previous VT-WIN model.

Figure 1. The VT-WIN II offers advances in solder inspection, component fault detection and process speed that gives manufacturers a competitive edge in productivity, waste reduction and quality control

Major improvements with VT-WIN II are: angled-view inspection to detect lifted leads on gullwing devices and heel fillets on SOJ and PLCC devices; industry-leading algorithms to accurately inspect lead-free solder; four times the inspection area and twice the speed; automatic colour extraction tool and other teaching aid functions dramatically reduce setup time.

First introduced in 1996, the original VT-WIN revolutionised in-line PCB inspection with a patented Colour Highlight System and colour image processing. Omron's VT-WIN II handles a variety of PCB styles, increasing production flexibility. The Colour Highlight System enables instant, consistently accurate recognition of solder quality, wettability and correct component placement. Accuracy is also enhanced through the system's position self-adjustment function. This function enables the system to automatically adjust solder land size inspection area allowing simplified programming of varying land sizes.

Figure 2. Omron’s Colour Highlight System projects red, green and blue light onto the PCB at different angles. The camera captures these reflected colours, producing a two-dimensional image that conveys three-dimensional information that allows the VT-WIN II to detect minute flaws that would commonly be missed

The Colour Highlight System uses a multicolour LED light source to project red, green and blue light onto the PCB at different angles. The camera captures these colours as they reflect off the board's surface, producing a two-dimensional image that conveys three-dimensional information. This image allows the VT-WIN II to detect minute flaws that would ordinarily be missed. Compared to gray-scale inspection methods, where solder fillet image settings are defined with numerical values for brightness and contrast, this process is significantly easier, reduces errors due to misinterpretation of data or colours, and ultimately reduces start-up time.

Another aspect of the VT-WIN II's functionality is its optical character recognition (OCR) capability, in which it distinguishes correct component values, thus preventing incorrect assemblies. The system also has advanced algorithms that enable proper inspection of leading technology processes such as lead-free solder. The software, which is programmed via CAD placement data, incorporates intelligent algorithms to reduce operator programming time. Omron's graphical user interface allows parameter settings to be defined via a 'point-and-click method' rather than requiring numerical values to be entered.

For more information contact Hawker Richardson, 011 792 2766.

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Solder inspection system offers high magnification for accurate inspections

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