SMT component feeder

11 May 2011 Manufacturing / Production Technology, Hardware & Services

Essemtec premiered its new Cobra Feeder, a new type of SMT component feeder, at the recent SMT exhibition in Nuremberg, Germany.

The double-8-mm feeder can reportedly increase the placement rate of the company’s Cobra and Paraquda pick-and-place machines by up to 25%.

The feeder only requires 20 mm of space on a feeder rack and is suitable for all components down to the smallest 01005s. It reliably handles paper and blister tapes and it allows tape splicing. A high-precision indexing wheel moves the component tape forward and enables indexing rates of 4 mm in just 60 ms.

The position of the wheel, as well as the tape, is measured directly on the indexing finger. Tolerances of the indexing wheel are registered and electronically compensated, which makes feeding more precise than other systems that rely on external signals, eg, from encoders.

A Cobra Feeder is intelligent, meaning that the pick-and-place machine automatically recognises the feeder and knows what component it holds. The feeder can even be replaced by another during production – the machine notices any changes. Because of a reference mark on each feeder, position deviations and mechanical tolerances are automatically compensated. This makes feeding and component positioning exact and reproducible enough that four components from four different feeders can be picked up simultaneously.

Feeder setup stations are available as an external system or as flexible modules installed on the machine. The feeder can be set up with a radio barcode reader. The intelligent feeder transmits the component type, the quantity and the availability to the database system. Each feeder features an integrated status indicator with LED, so that the operator can observe the status of all feeders at a glance. Each feeder slot is equipped with a feeding button to trigger indexing or to feed in tape and cover tape on setup.

To ensure continuous, jam-free operation, the Cobra Feeder features active retracting of the tape and cover tape. A tooth-wheel belt conveyor ensures that the tape waste is pulled to the back and fed out of the feeder. With this, the feeder can continuously operate without support, even with spliced tapes. Additionally, as an option, a cutter can be installed inside the feeder. Featuring programmable cutting length, it shreds tape and cover tape into small pieces that can be disposed of easily.

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