LED lighting is a booming industry with a number of companies entering into manufacturing. These companies would do well to know the type of manufacturing equipment needed in this industry, the selection parameters for such equipment and the latest launches in this category
By Sneha Ambastha
LED manufacturing is slowly gathering pace, as the requirement for these lighting products is increasing each day. Government policies, initiatives by the concerned industries and public awareness are the major factors contributing to the growing demand. This increase in demand and the subsidies provided by the Indian government are encouraging companies to set up their own manufacturing plants to make low cost LED products.
Production requirements
It is important to understand the production procedure of LED lights to find out the type of manufacturing equipment that would be required.
The raw materials used in LED lights are semiconductors, reflectors, holders and the housings. Except for the semiconductors, all the other parts are manufactured in India and are easily available. In fact, many of the light manufacturers themselves make the housings or the holders of the lights as well. The semiconductors, on the other hand, are sourced from other countries at different prices. These semiconductors include both the LEDs and other devices like the resistors, capacitors, etc, used in the drivers. The new LED lights have inbuilt drivers.
Most of the work involved in the manufacture of LED lights is that of assembly.
Large assembly lines that include pick-and-place machines, dispensing machines, reflow ovens or selective soldering machines and inspection machines are used in LED light production. First, the semiconductors are assembled on the PCB with the help of board handling equipment, pick-and-place machines and the dispenser used in the assembly line. Then, the components on the board are checked by the inspection machine to find out if they have been placed correctly. The assembled board is then placed in the light housing along with the holders and the reflectors. Inspection is carried out at each step to make sure that any faulty lights are eliminated.
The use of SMT equipment in assembly lines reduces the time and labour costs, while increasing productivity and efficiency.
Technologies at hand
The SMT equipment used to manufacture LED lights is also used for other semiconductor devices. An understanding of the following broad trends is important to select the right equipment.
Automatic warpage detection. During the soldering process, the PCBs are passed through zones of high pressure and temperature. This, at times, leads to distortion of the boards, making them non-functional or visually unacceptable. The new SMT machines are capable of automatically identifying and eliminating such boards.
Built-in cameras. The SMT equipment now comes with automatic cameras that help identify if the components have been correctly placed and assembled on the board. These cameras eliminate the requirement for optical inspection equipment in the PCB assembly for drivers.
Rank management system. Equipment that has built-in software to rank the LEDs on the basis of their lumens, irrespective of their dimensions, is called an LED rank management system. These systems help the equipment to populate specific LEDs in different products without any complexity in set up.
Smart feeder. Smart feeders make the work convenient and increase productivity by automating the splicing process. Although the process of part reel placement is normally performed by hand, these feeders are applicable to reels with a small number of parts.
Low operational costs. The use of a vacuum pump reduces air consumption by less than 50Nl/min, thus reducing the operation costs.
Multi-functional mounters. These mounters are used to produce LED assembly as well as driver cards in order to reduce the cost of investment involved in getting multiple mounters for multiple tasks.
Points to consider…
Before buying any SMT manufacturing equipment, it is recommended that buyers consider the following points to ensure good productivity:
- The equipment should be vision centric as it not just places LEDs, but also SMD components for driver PCBs.
- It should have a stable and robust platform.
- It should have absolute accuracy and repeatability of the parts in motion. For example, Yamaha is pegged at 50 micron absolute accuracy and 25 micron repeatability at a 3 Sigma control limit.
- It should be multi-functional so that it can assemble LEDs as well as driver boards.
- The board size, component handling capability, feeder bank capacity and component mounting speed of the machine are other factors that one should check on.
New products in this category
Here are some SMT manufacturing equipment launched in the last one year that are used in the LED light manufacturing space.
Model: iPulse M20, Manufacturer: Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd
M20 is the latest launch in the series of iPulse assembly equipment from Yamaha. It has a three-dimensional placement function, whereby component mounting and solder paste dispensing can be performed alternately. This all-in-one assembly system also has a removable tray station with a changeable tray feeder.
Key features:
- Has a wide range of component handling capabilities with a high feeder capacity
- Has a new multi-scan camera to capture images at a maximum speed of about 3000mm/s
- Has three types of head variations to manage the standard board thickness and component height
- Has an increased form-handling capability
- Comes with a co-planarity sensor that inspects and detects defective components before placement
- Has a multi-conveyor system that quickly adapts to production changes with minimal operator activity
- Capable of one pass mounting for 1200mm long LED tubelights
- Is electrically driven with intelligent feeders
Key specifications:
- Maximum board size: 1480mm x 510mm
- Applicable components: 01005 – 120mm x 90mm, BGA, CSP, connector, etc.
- Maximum component height: 30mm (standard)
- Feeder capacity: 8mm tape conversion
- Machine width: 1750mm
USP: Super flexible, multi-purpose machine
Contact details: global.yamaha-motor.com
Indian distributor: Trans Technology India Pvt Ltd, Amit Madan, Ph: +91-9810449898, amit@trans-tec.com, www.trans-tec.com
Model: SM482 Plus, Manufacturer: Samsung Techwin, Korea
Samsung’s SM482 Plus series is capable of handling longer LEDs and larger PCBs as compared to other equipment of the same class, the company claims. It can be used both as an LED mounter and a normal flexible mounter. It supports a polygon recognition algorithm and provides an optimum solution when used with odd-shaped parts. All the machines in this series have similar hardware and software to maximise productivity and continuity for future expansions.
Key features:
- Has smart feeders for auto loading and auto splicing
- Is compatible with SM pneumatic feeders
- Capable of checking the directions of LEDs during placement
- Allows integrated use of 0603/2P/4P
- Can automatically align the pickup position between feeders and improve the simultaneous pickup rate
- Is capable of setting the supply speeds of various parts to improve the stability of the part supply
- Has an automatic feeding pitch recognition feature
- Is electrically driven with intelligent feeders
Key specifications:
- Maximum PCB size: 1200mm x 510mm
- Applicable components (standard): 0603 ~ 22mm IC, connector (lead pitch 0.5mm), ~ 17mm BGA, CSP (ball pitch 0.75mm)
- Maximum component height: 15mm
- Feeder capacity: 120ea / 112ea (docking cart)
- Machine width: 1680mm
USP: Requires minimum training of operators and involves very low maintenance costs
Contact details: Pradeep Tandon, Ph: +91-9810001345, tandon@samsung.com, www.samsung-smt.com
Indian branch: Samsung C&T India Pvt Ltd
Model: EMS EAGLE 2015, Brand: EMS, Manufacturer: EMS Technologies Pvt Ltd
Launched in 2015, EAGLE is a pick-and-place machine made available at a fixed price of ₹ 600,000. It has been developed on Japanese technology, with many parts like the feeders imported from Japan. It has an accurate placement accuracy with a very low discarding percentage. This is a ‘Made in India’ product.
Key features:
- Twin head placement machine capable of handling all standard chip packages
- Can be programmed to pick two components simultaneously and place them individually
- Has five stepper motors and dives to avoid any component from being dropped, and to provide optimum speed and reliability to the machine
- Capable of angular placement because of the continuous 360 degree rotation of the heads
Key specifications:
- Placement speed (max): 4500CPH
- Placement accuracy: 0.08mm
- Component size: 0603 chip and above, LEDs 3014 to 6035, SOICs, QFPs , PLCC
with lead pitch of 50mil - PCB size: 400mm x 300mm
- Feeder capacity: 27 feeders of 8mm, expandable up to 54mm
- Power supply: 230V, 50Hz
- Overall dimensions (mm): 700mm (D) x 650mm (W) x 460mm (H)
USP: First pick-and-place machine manufactured in India
Contact details: Ph: 020-32501000, contact@emstonline.com, www.emstonline.com
India branch: EMST Marketing Pvt Ltd
