Carrier Tray Clamping Mechanism for Electronic Component Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need for an efficient method to post-process multiple electronic components after fabrication, particularly to align and securely hold them during various operations such as testing, marking, and burn-in processes without causing damage.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a carrier with align fixtures and a clamping mechanism that temporarily enlarges receptacles to receive electronic components, aligns them, and then reduces the receptacle size to securely hold them in place within the carrier, allowing for efficient processing in a post-processing machine.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If electronic components are handled using traditional pick and place methods, then individual components can be processed, but manufacturing cycle time increases and device lead damage occurs
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple electronic components are kept together on a single carrier tray throughout the entire post-processing sequence, merging what would traditionally be separate handle operations into one unified processing step. The carrier tray serves as a common platform that maintains component positions while allowing batch processing through alignment, testing, and other operations without intermediate pick-and-place steps.
Solution Approach 2:
Components are pre-positioned on the carrier tray before processing begins, with alignment fixtures and clamping mechanisms prepared in advance to secure them. The carrier tray and alignment fixtures are configured beforehand to accommodate the specific component layout, eliminating the need for real-time positioning adjustments during processing.
2Manufacturing precision
If components are securely clamped in receptacles, then alignment precision improves, but the complexity of the clamping mechanism increases
Solution Approach 1:
The clamping mechanism is divided into modular alignment fixtures, each with independent clamping elements that can be individually actuated. Each fixture segment handles specific receptacles or component groups, allowing localized adjustment and simplifying the overall control system while maintaining high alignment precision across the entire carrier tray.
Solution Approach 2:
The clamping mechanism employs dynamic elements such as spring-loaded fingers or pneumatically actuated clamps that can automatically adjust to component variations. These dynamic clamping elements provide consistent holding force while accommodating minor dimensional tolerances, achieving precise alignment without requiring complex rigid positioning systems.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of post-processing a plurality of electronic components in a post-processing machine after fabrication of the electronic components including providing a carrier with align fixtures, which align fixtures have a clamping mechanism, actuating the clamping mechanism to enlarge a size of receptacles, each of the receptacles is assigned to one of the align fixtures and the enlarged receptacles are larger than the electronic components to be received, positioning the electronic components in the receptacles of the align fixtures, actuating the clamping mechanism to reduce a size of the receptacles so that the electronic components are aligned within the receptacles of the carrier, placing the carrier in the post processing machine, and subjecting the electronic components to operations of the post-processing machine while the electronic components maintain in aligned positions in the receptacles of the carrier.