Automated cleaning of electronic components
Environmental and operator safety concerns are leading to the elimination of trichloroethylene (TCE) and chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) solvents in electronic component cleaning processes that remove rosin flux, organic and inorganic contamination, and particulates. Present processes depend heavily on these solvents for manual spray cleaning of small components and subassemblies. Use of alternative solvent systems can lead to longer processing times and reduced quality. Automated spray cleaning can improve the quality of the cleaning process, thus enabling the productive use of environmentally conscious materials, while minimizing personnel exposure to hazardous materials. In addition, the use of robotic and automated systems can reduce the manual handling of parts that necessitates additional cleaning. We describe the development of a prototype robotic system for cleaning electronic components in a spray cleaning workcell. An important feature of the prototype system is the capability to generate the robot paths and motions automatically from the CAD models of the part to be cleaned, and to embed cleaning process knowledge into the automatically programmed operations.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 10136268
- Report Number(s):
- SAND--94-0519C; CONF-940599--1; ON: DE94008742; BR: GB0103012
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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