Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

Parker Hannifin Canada is part of the Electronics Control Division of Parker Hannifin Corporation. Parker Hannifin uses industrial robotic and automation systems for the assembly of electronic circuit boards, serving customers in the automotive, agricultural equipment and other industries. The company participated in the April 2015 lunch and learn seminar organized by the Aerospace and Manufacturing Technology Access Centre (TAC) at Red River College (RRC), which featured the role of high-speed imaging in monitoring and optimizing robotic welding processes. As a sequel to their participation at the event, the company and RRC's TAC team deliberated on the possibility of using high-speed visualization to determine the cause of robotic assembly problems encountered during manufacturing of electronic circuit boards at Parker Hannifin. At Parker Hannifin, hundreds of electronic components are assembled on the circuit boards by robotic systems in a matter of seconds. Occasionally, several defects are observed on the boards after inspection, which usually require lengthy rework or scrapping of the parts. Unfortunately, the root cause of the assembly defects eludes visual understanding due to the very high speed of the assembling robots. High-speed visualization at speeds significantly higher than that of the robots is required in order to understand how these defects occur. An opportunity for determining the cause of the problem using high-speed visualization will be of benefit to Parker Hannifin in designing and implementing a strategy for reducing the defects, thereby mitigating the requirement for lengthy rework and the cost of scrap. Aside from the benefits to Parker Hannifin, RRC's TAC team is looking forward to gaining new knowledge in the development of custom lighting for high-speed imaging for a non-welding application, which will be useful for future engagements with industry.