The system enables the easier use of cyanoacrylate adhesives in high-precision robotic manufacturing to bond automotive and electronics product parts with complex shapes and geometries.
The team presented a new progressive cavity pump, with a dispensing rotor that oscillates between each dose of adhesive applied to prevent rapid curing inside the pump, and a stator made from a mechanically robust polymer that is said not to absorb, discolour or change any property of the adhesive.
The pump, developed in partnership with ViscoTec, a high-precision equipment manufacturer, is suitable for both mono- and bi-compartment dosing systems and is considered far more reliable than existing dispensing systems, even for very narrow beads of glue.
The pump’s improved performance was demonstrated with Bostik’s Born2Bond cyanoacrylates and UV curable cyanoacrylates, including formulated (methyl CA, ethyl CA, methoxy CA, butyl CA, etc.), ‘high viscosity’ or ‘gels’, and even when dispensing beads of 0.3mm wide or less.
Engineers can now be confident cyanoacrylates can be used in progressive cavity pumps on robotic production lines to bond products such as miniature hearing aids, mobile phones, or earbuds full of semiconductors, micro regulators, microphones, microchips, and other electronic components. The oscillating action of the pump, which prevents curing during application, also limits the need for purging of polymerized adhesive, destruction of stators, and ultimately eliminates waste during production.
The ViscoTec Pump System also consists of a three-axis robot with a ViscoTec drive unit and a control unit. During the presentation, the Born2Bond R&D team also revealed that Bostik has developed proprietary software to enable the new system to be used in a wide range of robotic manufacturing systems. Robots are typically used to control the production process's volume, speed, and accuracy. The new software controls the flow rates and actions of adhesive dispensers, for example, oscillating when in standby and dosing actions. It also translates these complex digital commands into analogue signals for the robots to synchronise their actions with the progressive cavity pump.
Jean-François Chartrel, Born2Bond global market R&D leader & head of EMEA TCS, led the in-adhesives presentation with Peter Kraushofer, technical support manager.
Chartrel says that the new progressive cavity pump will “help engineers increase the accuracy, speed, and reliability of production, ultimately increasing production output and the sustainability of manufacturing processes.”
Kraushofer adds that this is a fundamental step forward in expanding the use of instant adhesives, with all the benefits they bring, in the high-precision, robotic manufacturing of electronic goods. “The new ViscoTec Pump System … is designed to be compatible with many robotic production lines and to enable the future development of manufacturing engineering.”
