CONDITIONING

How to feed bulk SMD components into carrier tape?

Industry – Electronic & semiconductor
Application – Conditioning
Integrated product – Asyfill S 2L – Asycube 240 – EYE+ for Asycube

Context –Tape and reel is a standard packaging format widely used in the electronics industry to prepare components for automated assembly. Parts are placed into a carrier tape with evenly spaced pockets, sealed with a cover tape, and wound onto a reel. Components can either be directly reeled from wafers or supplied in bulk. This process ensures compatibility with high-speed pick-and-place machines, which require parts to be presented at a defined pitch and orientation for fast PCB assembly prior to soldering (reflow or wave).

Challenge –When components are supplied in bulk, they must first be singulatedand handled individually. These parts are often small, with legs/pins , sensitive, and ESD-prone, with frequent reference changes. Handling multiple part types typically requires dedicated equipment or manual intervention, reducing flexibility.
To ensure reliable packaging, parts must be accurately picked and placed into each pocket with the correct orientation. Vision inspection is often required prior to placement to verify quality and alignment. The tape must then be precisely indexed step-by-step to maintain consistent positioning.
Gentle handling, precise placement, and consistent indexing are essential to guarantee component integrity, avoid misplacement, and ensure seamless feeding into downstream pick-and-place operations.