DEK’s HawkEye is an automatic print-verification technology that operates at line beat rate. It assesses 100% of the boards and gives a rapid go/no-go indication for each. Faulty prints can now be automatically isolated in real time. But many manufacturers still rely on error-prone manual inspection. As a result of the design goals, HawkEye provides a simple go/no-go indication just like a human operator, but is more repeatable, and verifies all boards at the rate needed. The system is intended to complement DEK’s 2D-inspection system, providing a quantitative assessment of print quality, and also inspects the stencil. The verification routine rapidly scans the board as a series of stripes, and collects a tightly defined set of monochrome image data. Comparing these results with user-defined limits of acceptability, HawkEye quickly indicates whether the board can pass through to component placement or other downstream processing. The user can program inspection of only certain areas of a board, for example, where print deposit density may be particularly high. This allows the user to adjust the total verification cycle time if necessary. The system is available as an option on all new DEK printers as well as an upgrade in the field.
EPP EUROPE 423
