ASMPT SMT Solutions, an expert in integrated hardware and software solutions for the electronics manufacturing industry, presents a new system for the demand-oriented and continuously monitored management of SMT placement nozzles.

With this factory-encompassing solution, SIPLACE placement machines, an automated nozzle cleaning and inspection system as well as an asset and maintenance management application work closely together in an intelligent production network.

Operators can see at all times where individual nozzles are located, how many placement processes they have executed, their maintenance status, their errors and error rates, when their last check was performed, and whether they are currently being blocked.

Smart nozzles that can be tracked

To clearly evaluate and track the condition of each nozzle, ASMPT equips its “smart nozzles” with their own RFID tags and individual IDs.

For each nozzle that the placement head picks up, the machine automatically reads the unique nozzle ID and transmits it to ASMPT’s Factory Equipment Center asset and maintenance management software, which creates a record that gets updated over the entire life cycle of the respective nozzle.

SIPLACE placement machine: Continuously update status data

During the placement process, SIPLACE placement machines continuously record the number of placement processes and conduct optical nozzle inspections to immediately detect and remove damaged nozzles from the process.

In the event of contamination or when defined maintenance thresholds are exceeded, the machine blocks the nozzle for the entire factory.

Factory Equipment Center software: Collect data and instruct operators

All status and event data gets transmitted to the Factory Equipment Center software, where it is fully documented in each nozzle’s data set.

Based on the data provided by the SIPLACE placement machines, the Factory Equipment Center software instructs operators to remove magazines with nozzles requiring maintenance and replace them with new magazines.

Smart Nozzle Station: Clean and inspect nozzles

The removed magazines are then taken to the Smart Nozzle Station, an intelligent cleaning and inspection system, where the nozzles are cleaned exclusively with water and ultrasound before undergoing a final inspection.

The automated Smart Nozzle Station is an integral part of an end-to-end, closed-loop nozzle management system.

If a nozzle is deemed suitable for production after the cleaning process, it is marked as deployable. The Smart Nozzle Station automatically replaces damaged or worn nozzles with nozzles from an integrated depot to make sure that each magazine leaving the station is fully deployable again.

The Smart Nozzle Station processes up to 20 magazines holding smart nozzles as well as conventional nozzles from the 4xxx, 6xxx or 20xx series. The cleaning and inspection cycle takes 20 seconds per nozzle on average, and the integrated depot has room for up to 120 new nozzles. Since the cleaning process does not involve any solvents, no special measures are needed to dispose of the accumulated wastewater.

Closing the loop in nozzle management

The Smart Nozzle Station reports the updated status data back to the Factory Equipment Center software, which releases the nozzles or keeps them blocked, depending on the results. This closes the maintenance loop.

The closed-loop nozzle management system can also be used with cleaning and inspection systems from other vendors, provided that their nozzle condition data is transferred to the Factory Equipment Center application.

In this way, ASMPT supports its end-to-end, manufacturer-independent intelligent factory concept down to the smallest detail – including the placement nozzles.