The application of cutting-edge simulation technologies in to the nozzle development process has enabled Metro Technologies to develop nozzle design solutions bespoke to their clients’ requirements. The same technology has enabled Metro Technologies to develop and test nozzle design innovations more quickly than allowed by physical testing alone, reducing time to market for placement solutions for new components, prototypes, and special order items.

At first sight the principle of using vacuum pressure and precision nozzles to enable component placement are basic and straightforward. On closer inspection there are five distinct stages to the placement process:

1. Picking (stable alignment of component on nozzle tip)
2. Holding (vacuum generation and sustained component holding force)
3. Transport (resistance to component rotation or displacement)
4. Placement (location of component without collision)
5. Release (stable alignment of component on circuit board)

Each stage must be executed repeatedly time after
time without failure due to:

1. Loss of accuracy
2. Component damage
3. Circuit board damage
4. Nozzle tip wear
5. Mechanical fatigue

Metro Technologies has the in-house engineering skills to understand the dynamics of each of the five stages of the placement process, affording unprecedented insights into the physical operation of each stage, which after all happen in a fraction of a second over a fraction of a millimetre! We can all see the effect of poor nozzle design, and many of us pay the price of this through low nozzle life or high placement failure rates. Only Metro Technologies has the technological capability to see the causes of these failures, and use this information to improve the quality and robustness of their nozzle designs.

Figure 1: Air flow pathlines coloured by temperature, showing flow trajectories and recirculations which could trap dust and other contaminants.

There are three main technologies applied by Metro Technologies in conjunction with physical testing and analysis programmes in partnership with leading machine manufacturers.

1. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
2. Nozzle-Component Dynamics (NCD)
3. Electrostatic Discharge (ESD)

Each of these state-of-the-art computerised technologies provide detailed insights to mechanisms which cannot be observed or measured, allowing rapid turnaround of new ideas, and enabling a pathway to innovation by answering the ‘what if I change this?’
questions. These technologies form an integral part of the overall development process, to deliver the high levels of performance required by their clients, and remove the guesswork from nozzle development, and allowing nozzle technology to take the progressive step from a being a black-art to being a precision science.