Competencies

Selective soldering

mta robotics competencies trace its origins to the watch-making industry in Switzerland over 50 years ago. We are a leader in robotic soldering because our rich history stems from a culture of precision and reliability. We started making soldering robots in the mid-‘80s. Our product development engineers leverage this culture to design machines that meet stringent uptime requirements.

Volumetric and contacless dispensing

Volumetric dispensing systems are mechanically engineered and numerically controlled to ensure precise handling of both the volume and rate of material dispensed. Unlike time-pressure systems, which can fluctuate due to variables such as temperature, viscosity, air volume and system pressure, volumetric systems offer consistent accuracy. For demanding applications, high-precision contactless micro dispensing solutions provide a reliable alternative.

Optical inspection

As a specialist in soldering and dispensing, mta offers 3D or 2D optical inspection (AOI) solutions, including AI vision solutions. Both of these systems provide very efficient quality control when included as part of a turnkey package. Particularly, three-dimensional image analysis provides access to a wide range of tools necessary to evaluate complex shapes.

Leader in selective soldering

mta robotics traces its origins to the watch-making industry in Switzerland over 50 years ago. We are a leader in robotic soldering because our rich history stems from a culture of precision and reliability. We started making soldering robots in the mid-‘80s.

Our product development engineers leverage this culture to design machines that meet stringent uptime requirements. They design machines flexible enough to fulfill a wide range of applications. Then, they standardize the designs to keep costs down.

Similarly, our process development engineers have tested tens of thousands of solder joints on nearly every product imaginable. They use this wealth of experience to select technologies and develop processes optimized to provide the highest quality and solder joints and maximum yield.

Machine design

Customers have a wide range of production requirements. High-volume customers need inline machine cells. Hi-mix customer need a highly flexible platform. Budget-oriented customers might opt for semi-automated table-top robots. System integrators frequently install our robots inside their enclosure or mount our soldering head on their robot. mta has several standardized robot platforms suited to fulfill each of these production requirements.

Each of these platforms can be outfitted with several of our standardized soldering heads. For example, electric vehicle wire terminals can be very large while high-speed communication components can be very small. Plastic assemblies are sensitive to heat, whereas heavy copper boards require a lot of heat. Lap joints might require contact to help hold the wire in place, conversely direct contact can dislodge other components. Therefore, our engineers developed heads that employ four soldering technologies:

Iron
Laser
Induction
Microflame

This combination of standard robot platforms and soldering technologies provides a broad range of solutions built from standard components. Of course, we design everything, so we can easily modify our technology when customers need a special solution.

Machine design

Process development

Solder joints have many characteristics: copper layers, ground planes, joining methods, pad sizes, pre-tinning, pin size, through-hole gap and the list goes on. These characteristics affect how joints solder and these characteristics frequently change from joint to joint. Our process engineers evaluate and adjust multiple variables at each joint: preheat time, wire feed time, wire feed speed, wire pullback distance, wetting time, etc. As a result, every solder joint is individually optimized for quality and troughput.

Our process development engineers have an extensive range of equipment in their soldering laboratory. They begin very new application by selecting the proper technology and testing the feasibility on the customers’ parts. Once they prove the process is proven, we send customers a report with valuable data such as process time, quality, video and photos. Whenever possible, our quotations include a process guarantee ensuring the process. Therefore, our customers select equipment based on actual results and have confidence it will function in production as well as it did in our lab. When the new machine is ready, our process engineers optimize the solder process. Finally, we invite the customer to the Factory Acceptance Test prior to delivery.

mta leverages over 50 years of skill, culture and experience to be the leader in robotic soldering.

High-precision volumetric dispensing

Volumetric dispensing systems are both mechanically defined and numerically controlled to precisely control the volume and rate of material dispensed. This is different from time-pressure systems in which the dose volume can fluctuate depending on many variables such temperature, viscosity, time i.e. pot life, air volume and system pressures.

mta offers two primary technologies for volumetric dispensing, reciprocating piston pumps and continuous flow progressive cavity pumps. Between the two technologies, we can provide solutions for a broad range of materials; mono- or two-component materials, in a variety of dispensing processes including adhesive bonding, sealing, potting and conformal coating.

Reciprocating piston pump volumetric dispensing

The piston pump has a charging stroke in which material moves into the pump (illustration 2) and a dosing stroke in which material is metered out (illustration 4). Between charging and dosing, the piston rotates to open and close the corresponding ports (illustrations 1 and 3). The dose stroke is numerically controlled making the volume and flow rate extremely accurate and repeatable. After leaving the piston pump, the material can proceed directly to a dispensing needle or a mixing chamber. Read below for more information on the dynamic mixing chamber.

The metering pumps are made of low-wear ceramic material. Several bore sizes are available to provide a range of volumes. The smallest version can dispense volumes as low as 0.1mm³ with high precision and repeatability. Dispensing heads that use reciprocating pumps include:

Mono/two-component numerical volumetric dispenser (NVD/NBD)
Mini mono/two-component numerical volumetric dispenser (mini-NVD/ mini-NBD)

The primary limitation of reciprocating pumps is they cannot continuously dose shots larger than the volume of the pump cavity. This is one reason we also offer continuous-flow progressive cavity pumps.

Reciprocating piston pump volumetric dispensing

Continous flow volumetric displacement

Continuous flow volumetric displacement pumps use a rotor with one or more helical windings that rotates eccentrically in an elastomer stator. The eccentric movement of the rotor creates a series of cavities that continuously push the material through the pump. The cavities’ complex geometry provides a consistent volume at any phase of rotation, so the flow does not pulsate.

The precise flow rate is directly controlled by the motor speed. This precision allows the continuous flow dispenser (CFD) to apply long beads with consistent diameters throughout complex contours. We designed the CFD to be mechanically and chemically compatible with a broad range of materials. It works with the following materials:

Low-viscosity materials
High-viscosity materials
Filled materials

The rotors, stators and pump housings are available in a range of materials, so we can find combinations suitable for various applications. We even offer inert materials for pharmaceutical and medical applications.

After leaving the continuous pump, the material can either proceed directly to a dispensing needle, static mixing tube or dynamic mixing chamber. Read below for more information on the dynamic mixing chamber.

Two-component material mixing

When applications require two-component materials, mta uses separate pumps for the resin and hardener components before mixing. This applies to the piston and continuous pumping technologies. Since we use individual pumps for each material, we can precisely control the mixing ratio with high repeatability. After the pumps meter the materials, the resin and hardener move separately into a dynamic mixing chamber. A rotating mixing blade mixes the materials inside the chamber. As with the pumps, the blade’s speed and number of rotations are also numerically controlled. This provides the correct number of folds without damaging the material.

Dynamically mixing the material provides two significant advantages over static mixing tubes. First, we can size the mixing chamber according to the shot size – not the number of folds. Hence, the chamber can be much smaller than static mixing tubes. Second, the reaction does not begin until the material is ready to be dosed maximizing the pot life.

As a result, very little residual material reacts between doses and the pot life is maximized. This means mta’s dynamic mixing systems can dose much smaller volumes of material than are possible with static mixing tubes.

Two-component material mixing

Contactless microdispensing

State-of-the-art perfecdos jet valve technology is used to dispense small fluid volumes onto substrates with high frequency and exceptional precision. With a repeatability rate exceeding 99% in terms of form factor and volume on the substrate, this system ensures unparalleled consistency in dispensing results.

This high level of precision enhances the stability of the entire production process and significantly improves the quality of the final products, making mta’s dispensing solutions a reliable choice for demanding applications.

Contactless dispensing solutions

mta’s contactless dispensing solutions stand out due to their exceptional versatility and performance. Featuring powerful dispensing valves, these systems excel in dispensing large quantities of very small, precise dots at high speed, making them ideal for the most demanding applications. They are compatible with a wide range of materials, from easy-to-jet greases to challenging substances such as highly filled epoxy glues and cyanoacrylates, often used in medical device production.

One of the key benefits of mta dispensing systems is their unmatched precision, even when working with extremely small amounts of material. For example, in the watchmaking and precision mechanics industries, mta microdispensing systems are used to apply synthetic precision oils to bearings in mechanical watches with exceptional accuracy.

The ability to dispense tiny, contact-free droplets of grease, oil or glue with precise control makes mta perfecdos jet valves the perfect solution for a wide range of applications across various industries.

PDos X1 perfecdos micro dispensing jet valves

mta’s perfecdos jet valves can dispense droplets as small as 300 µm, offering unparalleled precision for a wide range of materials:

Lacquers
Masking materials
Cyanoacrylates
Anaerobic glues
Silver-filled conductive expoxies
Solder paste
Grease and oil
Silicones and rubber

Contactless dispensing solutions

PDos X1 mta perfecdos micro dispensing jet valve

Optical inspection

Automated soldering optical inspection (AOI) for quality control becomes the main issue in all manufacturing processes to ensure effective functioning of the products and achieve the zero defect goal. However, most of the quality controls use a 2D camera and are limited to pattern or colors recognition, which is not sufficient for many applications and especially for solder joint quality.

As a specialist in selective soldering technologies, we developed a complete and very performant 3D inspection solution for quality controls, including AI vision solutions. We combine a 3D sensor with our mta well-proven platforms and MotionEditor software, using a cartesian 3-axis robot. This enlarges the possibilities to almost all kind of quality controls.

The main features of the soldering optical inspection system include:

Accurate and fast 3D image & 2D monochrome image acquisition at the same time
Wide range of 3D and 2D tools for all type of inspection
Pattern projection from 2 different directions providing minimal shadows influence
Control sequence and programming supply by our expert with dedicated HMI
Easy handling with a simple sequence of joint inspection related to vision recipes

5 benefits compared to traditional cameras

Reproduction of the solder joint in 3D.
Precise measure of the part.
Cross section and analysis of the profile.
Only one sensor instead of two or more cameras to analyze the solder’s meniscus.
Standard software for each application.