As technology continues to develop, lenses are no longer for cameras only, but are widely applied in a variety of daily products such as phones, computers, and televisions. Some medical appliances and lab equipment are also commonly integrated with lenses. To meet the multiple product demand and the fine requirements of camera lens assembly, Delta recently provided a smartphone camera lens assembly solution that brought a high-precision and high-efficiency automatic lens assembly line to a Korean smartphone manufacturer.
Since the traditional smartphone lens assembly line relies heavily on manual processing, electronic product manufacturers constantly face challenges such as higher labor costs, unstable product quality, inflexible production lines, long processing times, and more. With these issues, traditional lines can no longer satisfy the current production trend of short commodity cycles, small-volume & large-variety orders, and frequent changes on production lines. To surmount these challenges, manufacturers are starting to implement automation equipment to their processing line and replace laborers with industrial robots, reducing time and labor cost and enhancing production flexibility and product quality.
To meet these requirements, Delta's smartphone camera lens assembly solution employs Delta's SCARA Robot DRS40L Series as well as a machine vision system with one-time upper and lower fly capture technology to effectively position and record 60 sets of lenses and 5 sets of stickers to improve accuracy and efficiency of inspection and achieve excellent production performance. Besides providing high-precision and speedy lens assembly, the solution also helps our customer reduce labor costs and achieve optimized performance.
During the process, the feeding mechanism first sends stickers to the suction position. The machine vision system then performs an upper fly capture to acquire the positions of 60 lenses. Afterwards, the SCARA robot picks up 5 sets of stickers at once on the tray to assist lower fly capture obtain their positions. By using the information from the vision positioning and the calculated compensation value, the robot then moves and precisely assembles the 5 sets of stickers onto the lenses to complete the high-precision operation. In addition, the solution not only applies to camera lens assembly, but also assists our customer in attaching insulation stickers to mobile phone power parts, offering an automatic processing line with higher flexibility.
The solution adopts Delta SCARA Robot DRS40L Series that features compliance control functions without sensors and offers excellent speed linearity, verticality and repeatability. Utilizing a vision calibration program to automatically set up a tool coordinate system for 5 suction nozzles, the DRS40L Series can pick up and place stickers onto lenses and keep the accuracy of discharge within ±0.1mm, while effectively reducing the defect rate. With the single unit design that is integrated with robot controller, motion controller, and servo drive, which dynamically compensates the non-linear terms of the robot motion, the Robot Controller DCS Series enhances the motion control performance and meets the high-speed and high-precision requirements of camera lens assembly.
In actual applications, Delta's smartphone camera lens assembly solution brings the following benefits to our customers:
• High-end SCARA Robot achieves low defect rate and high flexibility: With the smooth motion and high repeatability of the DRS40L Series and the integration of machine vision system, the solution reduces defect rates and maintains neat and consistent production quality. Additionally, the adopted DROE software provides a simple graphical programming environment and languages with shorter commands for quick and easy robotic programming. The system can also integrate real-time data and signals of peripheral devices to configure the user-defined interface, offering flexible switching production between multiple products and stickers.
• Excellent fly capture positioning for high-precision and time-saving production: Compared to regular pinpoint capture, the double fly capture can continuously position 60 sets of lens and 5 sets of stickers, and send data to the SCARA robot to complete the assembly quickly and precisely. It only takes 2 minutes for the system to automatically locate coordinates for the vision camera, saving much time for manual positioning.
• Delta's smart automation products offer a complete and professional processing solution: The solution utilizes Delta's automation products to set up a production line that is highly synchronized, stable, and flexible. It also effectively integrates with the customer's original mechanism and processing line, providing a professional, reliable, industry-leading application.
Delta's smartphone camera lens assembly solution builds a flexible, highly efficient, and high-precision assembly line with the high-end SCARA robot and a fast and fine machine vision system for our customer. Our solution not only optimizes the quality, efficiency, and flexibility of the production, but also helps reduce labor and time costs. Delta continues to provide complete solutions for all types of applications to elevate our customers' competitiveness and ensure a brighter future together.