What production equipment is required for PCB assembly SMT production? What are their respective uses?

In the PCBA production process, a wide range of production equipment is required to assemble a circuit board. The processing capacity of a PCBA manufacturing plant is determined by the performance level of its production equipment. Shenzhen Honglijie will now provide an overview of the basic production equipment configuration in a PCBA factory.

The basic production equipment required for PCBA production includes solder paste printers, pick-and-place machines, reflow ovens, AOI inspection systems, component trimming machines, wave soldering machines, solder pots, board washers, ICT test fixtures, FCT test fixtures, and ageing test racks. Different-sized PCBA manufacturing plants may have varying configurations of production equipment.

1. Solder Paste Printer

Modern solder paste printers typically consist of components such as a board mounting unit, solder paste dispensing unit, printing unit, and PCB conveying unit. Its operating principle is as follows: first, the PCB to be printed is secured on the printing positioning table. Then, the printer's left and right scrapers dispense solder paste or red glue through a steel mesh stencil onto the corresponding pads. For PCBs with uniformly printed solder paste, they are conveyed via the conveying table to the pick-and-place machine for automatic component placement.

2. SMT Placement Machine

SMT Placement Machine: Also known as a ‘placement machine’ or ‘Surface Mount System’ (SMS), it is positioned after the solder paste printer in the production line. It is a production device that uses a moving placement head to accurately place surface-mount components onto PCB pads. Depending on placement accuracy and speed, it is typically classified into high-speed and general-speed types.

3. Reflow Soldering

Reflow soldering involves a heating circuit that heats air or nitrogen to a sufficiently high temperature and blows it onto a PCB board with components already attached, melting the solder on both sides of the components and bonding them to the main board. The advantages of this process include easy temperature control, prevention of oxidation during soldering, and easier control of production and processing costs.

4. AOI Inspection Equipment

AOI (Automatic Optical Inspection) is a production equipment that uses optical principles to detect common defects encountered in soldering production. AOI is a newly emerging testing technology that has developed rapidly, with many manufacturers now offering AOI testing equipment. During automatic inspection, the machine uses a camera to automatically scan the PCB, capture images, and compare the tested solder joints with qualified parameters in the database. After image processing, defects on the PCB are identified and displayed/marked on the screen or automatically labelled for repair personnel to address.

5. Component Lead Trimming Machine

Used for trimming and deforming leads of components with leads.

6. Wave soldering

Wave soldering involves directly exposing the soldering surface of a printed circuit board to high-temperature liquid solder to achieve the soldering objective. The high-temperature liquid solder maintains an inclined surface, and a special device causes the liquid solder to form wave-like patterns, hence the name ‘wave soldering.’ The primary material used is solder wire.

7. Soldering Pot

Generally, a soldering pot refers to a welding tool used in electronic component welding. It offers good consistency for welding discrete component PCBs, is easy to operate, fast, and highly efficient, making it an excellent tool for production and processing.

8. Board Washer

Used to clean PCBA boards, removing residues left after soldering.

9. ICT Test Fixture

ICT testing primarily uses test probes from the ICT test fixture to contact the test points laid out on the PCB, thereby detecting open circuits, short circuits, and the soldering status of all components on the PCBA.

10. FCT Test Fixture

FCT (Functional Test) refers to a testing method that provides a simulated operating environment (stimulation and load) for the test target board (UUT: Unit Under Test), enabling it to operate under various design conditions. This allows parameters from each state to be obtained to verify the functionality of the UUT. In simple terms, it involves applying appropriate stimulation to the UUT and measuring whether the output response meets the required specifications.

11. Ageing Test Fixture

The ageing test fixture enables batch testing of PCBA boards by simulating prolonged user operations to identify defective PCBA boards.

The above is an introduction to the production equipment required for PCBA manufacturing. For PCBA processing needs or further information, please contact Suntek Electronics Co. Ltd/BLSuntek Electronics Co. Ltd,Cambodia!