AOI module for mounting processes and THT assembly

THT assembly and many other mounting processes are still not fully automated due to economical reasons. As a result, such work is usually carried out manually by appropriately qualified employees. Compared to automated processes, however, the risk of faults in manual assembly, such as THT printed circuit boards, is much higher. Monotonous work in particular can easily lead to fatigue and the resulting careless mistakes.

The ideal solution for direct and immediate fault detection in such manual processes would be a high-resolution, automatic optical inspection system directly at the assembly station. At the same time, the system should be completely subordinate to the conditions of the assembly process.

The problems for the realization of such a system are obvious. High resolutions with large image areas are usually achieved by scanning or stop-and-go camera systems.

The open mounting environment results in changing lighting conditions. This poses an extreme challenge to the image processing algorithms, which must provide reliable inspection with reproducible results despite the unfavorable conditions.