Nordson Corporation

Advanjet

Asymptotic Technologies, Inc.

Graco Minnesota Inc.

Robert L Ciardella

Alec J Babiarz

Duong T La

Horatio Quinones

Erik A Fiske

Carlos E Bouras

Wai Ching Bessie Chin

Alan Ray Lewis

Thomas L Ratledge

Philip P Maiorca

Christopher L Giusti

Kenneth S Espenschied

Todd S Weston

Floriana Suriawidjaja

Nicholas Anthony Barendt

James Everett Cooper, Jr

Patrick R Jenkins

Raymond Andrew Merritt

Naoya Ian Nagano

Joe Sherman

Ron Abernathy

James C Smith

Mark S Meier

Stanley Cruz Aguilar

Ronald N Abernathy

Phillip P Maiorca

John L Christofferson

Phil Maiorca

This invention concerns a method and apparatus for dispensing minute quantities of fluids and more particularly rapidly dispensing highly precise and repeatable, minute amounts of viscous fluids in a non-contact manner. An impacting element is impacted against a hardened insert on a flexible diaphragm to deflect the insert into a jetting chamber and against an outlet orifice in the jetting chamber. The movement of the diaphragm and insert force viscous fluid in the chamber through the outlet orifice and the impact jets that fluid from the outlet orifice, with the impact force being adjusted to jet the fluid from the orifice in a single drop.

Control method and apparatus for dispensing high-quality drops of high-viscosity materials

A viscous material noncontact jetting system has a jetting dispenser mounted for relative motion with respect to a surface. A control is operable to cause the jetting dispenser to jet a viscous material droplet that is applied to the surface as a viscous material dot. A device, such as a camera or weigh scale, is connected to the control and provides a feedback signal representing a size-related physical characteristic of the dot applied to the surface. The size-related physical characteristics of subsequently applied dots is controlled by heating and cooling, or adjusting a piston stroke in the jetting dispenser, in response to the size-related physical characteristic feedback. Dispensed material volume control and velocity offset compensation are also provided.

Viscous material noncontact jetting system

This invention concerns a method and apparatus for dispensing minute quantities of highly viscous material from a jetting needle when an expelling mechanism is activated using a nozzle plate with a jetting chamber having a top formed by a diaphragm and a bottom in fluid communication with a jetting needle. Fluid enters the chamber from an inlet channel and is jetted from the chamber by deforming the diaphragm to block the channel and expel a drop of fluid from the needle. A diaphragm driven metering chamber and/or reservoir chamber can optionally be used provide fluid to the jetting chamber.

Viscous non-contact jetting method and apparatus

Control method and apparatus for dispensing high-quality drops of high-viscosity material

Apparatus and methods for dispensing small amounts of a viscous material onto a workpiece. The narrow-profile dispensing apparatus includes a fluid chamber, a nozzle, and a valve seat disk representing individual components that are removable from a main body of the dispensing apparatus for cleaning and/or replacement. The nozzle is coupled with the fluid chamber by a heat transfer body that may be cooled by, for example, a cooling fluid routed through an air pathway defined in the heat transfer body. The main body of the dispensing apparatus may be cooled by air exhausted from an air cavity of a pneumatic actuator regulating the movement of a needle to control the flow of viscous material in the dispensing apparatus.

Apparatus and method for dispensing discrete amounts of viscous material

A chamber that communicates with a viscous material reservoir has a flexible resilient diaphragm which forms an exterior wall thereof. An impact mechanism, which may comprise a solenoid actuated hammer, applies a predetermined momentum to the diaphragm for rapidly metering a predetermined minute blob of the viscous material from the chamber through a nozzle. The reservoir is pressurized with gas to force the viscous material into the chamber to refill the same. The chamber is heated to control the viscosity of the material. Dispensing rates in excess of four blobs per second can be achieved. Variations in the height of the nozzle from the surface of the workpiece are not critical to uniform rapid dispensing. An alternate embodiment eliminates the diaphragm and instead rapidly retracts a nozzle relative to a fluid feed conduit to eject very small blobs of viscous material. A strain gauge detects refill of the chamber inside the nozzle and sends a signal to control refill logic circuitry. A fiber optic droplet detector is utilized to correct dispensing defects.

Apparatus for rapid dispensing of minute quantities of viscous material

A computer controlled method for high speed viscous fluid dispensing includes the steps of providing a dot generator and moving the dot generator along at least X and Y axes. The dot generator is controlled to repeatedly eject jets of viscous fluid that break away from the dot generator as a result of their forward momentum and fly to the surface of an adjacent substrate to create dots. The method may further comprise the step of monitoring the size and location of the dots through a vision system. The method may further comprise the steps of assigning dot sizes to specific components based on user specifications or a component library. The method may further comprise the step of optimizing the dot placement paths by aligning the in-line points of dot formation.

Computer controlled method for dispensing viscous fluid

A computer controlled system for high speed surface mount adhesive placement in circuit board production includes a dot generator supported for motion along the X, Y and Z axes. The dot generator ejects a jet of viscous adhesive that breaks away from the nozzle of the dot generator as a result of its own forward momentum. The system includes an automatic circuit board conveyor with adjustable width and pneumatically operated lift and lock mechanisms. The system runs through a self-diagnostic set-up procedure and dot calibration routine. Dot size and location are monitored through a video camera and vision circuit. A computer interfaces with the vision circuit and with motion, dot generator and conveyor controllers so that the system can operate in a high volume production assembly line. Application programs are executed by the system computer typically utilizing CAD data from a disk or a computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) controller. The system automatically assigns dot sizes to specific components based on user specifications or a component library. Dot placement paths are optimized by aligning the in-line points.

Computer controlled viscous fluid dispensing system

Method for rapid dispensing of minute quantities of viscous material

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Rancho Santa Fe, CA, United States of America

Robert L Ciardella