NTN develops "High Speed SMD Feeder for Ultra-small Parts"

Realizes high-speed transportation of ultra-small parts NTN Corporation (hereafter, NTN) has developed the “High Speed SMD Feeder for Ultra-small Parts,” the parts feeder that is capable of aligned transportation up to 12,000 ultra-small parts a minute, which is twice as fast as NTN's conventional products. High-speed transportation is a key requirement for parts feeders in order to improve productivity. The recent increase in smartphones and tablets as well as wearable devices has resulted in parts such as SMD*1 becoming much smaller very quickly. Yet generating the high-frequency vibrations required for high-speed transportation of such ultra-small parts reliably remained an extremely difficult issue. The newly developed “High Speed SMD Feeder for Ultra-small Parts” uses a new vibration unit structure that reduces recoil from the vibration of transportation mechanism. As a result, this generates stable, high-frequency vibrations which allow high-speed aligned transportation and feeding of ultra-small parts. It also uses NTN's proprietary Monodrive Two-way Feeder (MD2 Feeder)*2 technology, which enables stable transportation in two directions, “forward” and “reverse,” with a single linear feeder. This improves performance while also helping to keep the unit space efficient with a similar installation space. NTN will begin selling the developed product from April 2017 to contribute to higher productivity of devices mounted with ultra-small parts such as SMDs. The developed product will also be exhibited at the 2016 China International Industry Fair that to be held in Shanghai, China from November 1 to 5, 2016. SMD: Surface Mount Device. An electrical component that can be soldered and mounted onto the surface of a PCB. Development of the “Monodrive Two-way Feeder with Hopper Feed Function” press release (November 22, 2013) http://www.ntnglobal.com/en/news/new_products/news201300103.html Features (1) High-speed transportation of ultra-small parts Double the speed of NTN's conventional products at 12,000 units/minute* * For parts in the shape of a cube with 0.2 mm × 0.2 mm × 0.4 mm sides (2) Contributes to space efficiency Better performance in the same installation space Example of applications Taping and inspection equipment for surface mount devices (SMD)