Silk Screen Printing of Solar Wafers with Origa Electromechanical Linear Actuator



https://www.parker-origa.com/2010-08-Tamponcolor.9417.0.html?&L=1

Application of the Electromechanical Linear Actuator OSP-E BHD of Parker Hannifin’s Origa Division Europe in a Tamponcolor (Neu-Isenburg, Germany) Silk Screen Printing Machine for Solar Wafers.

A leading German printing technology company is using the latest linear drive products from Parker Origa for the precise and repeatable positioning of wafers in its latest and highly innovative systems used in the manufacture of solar panels. In particular, Neu-Isenburg based Tamponcolor TC Druckmaschinen GmbH chose Parker Origa’s OSP-E BHD special purpose electric linear drives as part of a precision transport mechanism for moving and positioning each wafer during the printing process.

Tamponcolor TC Druckmaschinen GmbH has been manufacturing advanced pad and screen printing machines for over 30 years and specialises in producing dedicated solutions for customers in demanding industrial applications, especially in the rapidly growing solar panel sector.

Key to the successful operation of the company’s wafer printing machines is the accuracy with which each wafer is positioned during the print process. Tamponcolor achieve this by using toothed belt-driven linear drives from Parker Origa.

The wafers to be printed with conductive aluminium paste are first inserted into a holder directly mounted onto the carrier of a Parker Origa linear drive. An initial feed motion then places the wafer into a camera station, where high contrast LED lighting allows the position and alignment of each wafer to be referenced.

This data is recorded by the camera and immediately analysed before being forwarded via a controller to the printing station. The next feed motion of the linear drive then positions the wafer precisely beneath the screen printing station. The printing head is automatically adjusted to match the exact wafer orientation, by means of three additional servo-driven axes that are positioned using the reference data supplied from the camera system. In addition, the drive system has been designed to allow the complete print station to be raised for routine maintenance.

After application of the aluminium paste, the wafer is conveyed back to the camera station for quality control purposes. A comparison with the original reference image is used to confirm that the printed wafer is within the target parameters, before the linear drive conveys the wafer back to its starting position for manual removal.

Parker Origa’s OSP-E BHD electromechanical linear drives play a vital role throughout the imaging and subsequent printing operations, delivering exceptional levels of accuracy and repeatability.

Each drive incorporates a toothed belt design with integrated recirculating ball bearing guides and hardened steel rack. Combined, these features provide high levels of operating speed, force and load capacity, with almost zero backlash. In addition, a purpose designed planetary gearbox in the drive cap housing, plus the ease with which the OSP-E BDH can be connected to higher level sensing, feedback and control systems makes it simple for engineers to install and configure each drive unit.

Overall, the Parker Origa linear drives have enabled Tamponcolor TC Druckmaschinen GmbH to design and manufacture extremely efficient and cost effective machine systems that meet the demanding requirements of its customers in a technically complex sector of industry. In particular, the Parker drives have provided a level of precision and repeatability that would have been difficult to achieve using competing technologies, at similar cost and with the same minimal maintenance requirements.

www.parker-origa.com
www.tamponcolor.de

© (2011) ROCHUS BINDNER


Post time: Jun-12-2017
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