Essemtec Premiered New Pick-and-Place “Paraquda” at Productronica

Compared to other pick-and-place machines, the new Paraquda brings significant added values regarding precision, quality, flexibility, control and ergonomics. Essemtec, the Swiss manufacturer of production solutions for electronics, will premier its new machine in booth number A3.358 at the upcoming Productronica exhibition.

Paraquda's pick-and-place head can simultaneously hold and measure four components. The range of components is vast ― it spans from 01005 resistors up to 100 mm square components, which can be up to 25 mm in height. The minimum pitch is specified with 0.3 mm. The high-resolution fly-by vision system is equipped with the latest Cognex SMD image processing technology, thus can detect any kind of component, even odd-shaped parts.

The newly developed drive system optimizes the travel path of the head simultaneously in all three axes by means of real-time position tracking. This minimizes the travel distance, maximizing performance and ensuring high-speed placement precision. The high acceleration forces are compensated with advanced materials and well-optimized construction.

The Paraquda makes changeover extremely fast. All feeders are intelligent, they can be exchanged without stopping the machine and they feature a programmable pitch system. Up to 240 components can be installed in parallel; this enables fixed feeder set-ups that reduce the number of feeder changeovers. The high feeder capacity allows the Paraquda to assemble highly complex PCBs with a single feeder set-up. Thus, the Paraquda resets the state of the art in the assembly of small- to mid-size series.

The pick and place system also can replace dispensing machines. Up to two dispensing valves can be installed. Using these, Paraquda can dispense solder paste, glue or other media, for example. Jet, Piezoflow, screw type or time/pressure dispensing valves also are available.

Paraquda is the first machine to be equipped with Eplace, the new operation system from Essemtec . This operation system makes it easy to produce PCBs with the highest quality at the lowest cost. The intuitive graphical software only requires short training time because it actively prevents wrong user input. Eplace also offers an integrated quality management system that avoids set-up errors and costly repairs.

As an additional benefit, the system can be operated by touch screen. The screen position and angle can be set up for the user for the most agreeable operation. Paraquda sets new standards in both user friendliness and operation ergonomics.

Customers currently using FLX pick-and-place machines from Essemtec can reuse the existing feeders on the new platform as well. Therefore, if more production capacity is required in the future, the feeder investment is protected. Furthermore, Essemtec's trade-in program simplifies the upgrade to faster pick-and-place machines.