Constructionofcomponenttapesforradialplacementmachines

With agreatvariationofproducts,PCBassemblingmachinesmustbereconfiguredoften,butatthe same timetheefficiencyoftheassemblyprocessshouldbekepthigh.InthispaperweconsiderPCB assemblymachinesofthe radial type, whichareusedformanufacturingrobustelectronicsdevices.In this machinetypethecomponentsarebroughttotheassemblypointbythemeansofasingle componenttape,andaroboticarmplacesthemontoabarePCBoneatatime.Thecomponenttapeis constructedon-linebyaseparatefeederunit(sequencer)composedofasetofslotsstoringcomponent reels ofvarioustypes.Whiletheinsertionofcomponentstothetapedoesnotnormallydelaytheir placementsonthePCB,certain(broad)componentsdelaytheprocessingduetotheoperationprinciple of thesequencer,thusincreasingthemanufacturingtime.Westudytheproblemofassigning componentstothesequencerinsuchawaythattapeconstructiondelayisminimized,giveaninteger programmingformulationoftheproblem,andpresentanoptimizationalgorithmtoreducethe componentinsertiontimecausedbyslowcomponents.Theresultsofthisoptimizationalgorithmshow considerableimprovementagainstasimplefeederassignment,incaseoftapeinstancescontaining repeatingsequencesofcomponents.