Connector Inspection System

Develop a system to test, inspect, and package a 60 pin header assembly at a TAKT time of 4 seconds.  This system shall integrate into the customer manufacturing and verify the product meets the engineering specifications.  These include electrical continuity and isolation, removing foreign debris, non-contact pin height and true position measurement, laser mark with 2D barcode, verify 2D barcode, package products into trays, and support 30-minute unattended operation.   

This opportunity presented G2 Technologies with several challenges starting with conveying the product at the 4 second TAKT time while maintaining tight positional tolerance at each station.  The position repeatability at each station was critical for pin engagement required for electrical test as well to measuring each pin for true position and height.  In addition, the system must laser mark the part with a 2D barcode and place good parts in a packaging tray.  

The solution developed incorporated a multi-station design philosophy to accommodate the fast TAKT time and the number of operations required.  The first station is where the handoff occurred between the upstream equipment and the G2 Technologies system.

The next station is the mode selection station where a barcode scanner will determine the mode of operation for the system.  The customer has the ability to introduce “test units” to verify the system will catch defect types periodically during a shift.  Once the operation mode was determined, the product moves to the cleaning station where pulsating air is applied to the product to remove foreign debris.

At the electrical test, the system will engage up to 180 pins onto the mate and board side of the connector.  Once engaged, the system will perform a dielectric withstand test to verify electrical isolation is present from pin to all adjacent pins.  Next a resistance test is performed on all pin pairs which verifies the electrical path is with tolerance.

The next stations are used to scan the part to determine pin height and position.  Due to the fast system TAKT time, it was necessary to divide the scanning field of view into smaller sections in order to meet the cycle time.  Each mate interface will be scanned in both directions which will eliminate the shadow effect produced by the connector walls.  Pin height and true position measurements for each mate side pin are calculated based its location to the datum on the mate interface. The board side interface is scanned at one station and the pin height and true position measurements are calculated based on the boards side datums.   

The system will index the product to the laser mark station where if the product successfully completes all tests, the system will mark the part with a 2D date code.  If a failure was detected at any of the previous, a failure code will be marked on the part which indicates the type of failure detected.  If the part fails, will be moved to a locked reject conveyor.  A good part will be indexed to the packaging station.

The system incorporates a packaging system which incorporates an input que to hold up to 20 blank trays and an output que of 10.  Access doors are provided at both que locations so that operators can service the system will trays are processed in the main system area.