Single-component thermal interface materials (TIMs), often used as gap fillers in electronics manufacturing, are highly viscous and abrasive, making them difficult to feed from the original packaging to the dispense valve. Facility air pressure and chunk pumps are commonly used to transfer these thick materials. However, these are not long-term solutions because the air pressure is often insufficient or the pump wears out faster, leading to premature failure. The FS-EP1 pail pump pushes material to the dispense valve using a closed-hydraulic system. Low shearing of the material ensures that highly conductive thermal gap fillers do not separate, and material properties remain unaffected. There are no moving parts in contact with the gap filler, and no moving parts outside the pump enclosure, not even in the fluid line, the company explained.
Equipment details include:
- The pump is designed to make high-performance bulk dispensing safe and easy to maintain and to minimize down-time. The pump enclosure securely holds a one-gallon pail at the operator’s waist-level so that it is simple to load and remove. When it’s time to change out the pail, a semi-automated air-bleed routine with priming valve ensures that air is removed from the system, operating behind the closed, safety-interlocked doors. This operation helps to maintain safety while minimizing down-time and material waste. Other features, such as the highly durable hydraulic pump, the intuitive operator interface, and the quick, tool-free seal changeover, establish new benchmarks in performance and maintenance.
- The dispensing platform handles medium- and large-volume dispensing applications — typically in diameters larger than 1mm — that include many single- and two-component fluid materials and pastes, like highly abrasive TIM. Helios dispenser processes are controlled by dedicated Fluidmovefluid dispensing software that includes user-programmable dispense geometries.
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