The progress made in the last decade in the miniaturisation of electronic devices has its dark side, which manufacturers do not always like to talk about. It is the high sensitivity to electrostatic discharge. ESD is a nightmare for electronics manufacturers which, due to high quality requirements, increases production costs and forces continuous investment in the protection of semiconductor systems. One of the methods of protection, and often the only one available, are ionizers, which allow to fight the uncontrolled flow of charges with different potential.
Renex, a leading Polish distributor of professional solutions for electronics production and service, as a distributor of Panasonic ionizers, a Japanese electronics giant, has introduced devices that allow to increase the quality of work of assembly lines and service departments, as well as reduce the costs associated with damage to semiconductor components through electrostatic discharge.
The offered products allow to protect production lines and workstations from the harmful effects of ESD, which leads to a decrease in the quality of produced electronic components, increased failure rate and consequently customer dissatisfaction. The principle of ionizer operation is to scatter in the atmosphere and neutralize positive and negative ions that come into contact with charged surfaces.
Ionizers are a good and often the only way to solve the problem of dangerous charges. Panasonic offers specialized ionizers for various sizes of assembly lines and workstations of technicians and service technicians.
ER-X SERIES FOR PRODUCTION AND ASSEMBLY LINES
From an economic point of view, the speed and efficiency of the production line also counts for the production and assembly of electronic devices. In order to ensure the highest possible safety for sensitive integrated circuits, in accordance with current ESD standards, combined with very high production efficiency, it is necessary to use ionizers with a large operating zone and high performance from the ER-X series. In this area, the manufacturer offers customers as many as five models, differing in head widths from 80 to even 640 mm.
The 640 mm wide model allows the production and assembly of equipment on a very large scale and in a short time. In its case, the time needed to balance the electrostatic charges is less than 1 second. This is possible due to the very high efficiency of unwanted charges elimination provided by pulsed AC operation with relatively low compressed air pressure.
Each of the heads allows to work with or without supplied compressed air up to 5 bar. This is of great importance for small electronics manufacturers, where even the smallest air stream could blow miniature components off the PCB. The extremely short discharge time of electrostatic charges eliminates the risk of discharges, even in the case of fast moving materials and already at air pressure below 0.5 bar (0.05 Mpa).
The advanced control module allows to control two heads simultaneously. It automatically adjusts the number of positive and negative ions generated for each individual head to maintain the right balance of both. When the module detects a deviation from the set value, the controller immediately reacts by emitting a correspondingly higher number of ions with the missing polarity for potential equalization.
A clear LED display on the controller allows for checking the exact amount of ions generated by the ionizer as well as the accumulated charge around the head itself. What additionally distinguishes Panasonic heads is the possibility to personalize the direction, angle and power of ionized air and the invaluable ease of maintenance of each of the individual elements of the heads.
ER-F TABLE IONIZER FOR LABORATORY AND SMALL SCALE APPLICATIONS
The ER-F air ionizer is the ideal device to protect electronic components in laboratories, service stations and similar facilities. This versatile and functional device is small in size, so it can be used at any assembly and service station, neutralizing dangerous loads at the workstation. Two modes of operation allow you to set the directional blast of ionized air to the operating site, or a wide zone blast, ensuring the flow of ions and neutralization of loads over the entire work area.
The table ionizer does not require a compressed air supply for efficient operation, and the high neutralization efficiency of ±2 kV allows for a significant reduction in the cost of ESD protection of the workstation, which goes hand in hand with increased safety of sensitive semiconductor components. Depending on the needs, the operator can continuously adjust the flow of air and, in the case of maintenance, the easy-to-removal housing makes maintenance time just a few moments. Today, the Panasonic ER-F table ionizer is a must-have component of any professional electronics workstation as well as an indispensable part of any place where we deal with semiconductor systems, whether it is assembly, service or packing department.
EC-G02 AIR-GUN IONIZER
In many cases, it is only by providing an air-gun ionizer that static electricity can be effectively and efficiently removed from the electronics being assembled or repaired.
The air-gun ionizer is a tool that allows you to get rid of unwanted charges from electronic components and the circuit board in a directional and extremely fast way, lasting no more than half a second. The EC-G02 air-gun ionizer is a device that requires a compressed air supply. It has a solidly constructed compact gun grip, which allows for free movements of the device, in no way limiting the comfort of work. The gun provides direct emission of ionised air with an adjustable blast pressure of 0.5-5 bar, in one of the three available modes of operation.
Long pulse mode, allows to neutralize negative and positive ions, as well as to get rid of dust collecting in electronic devices, which also increases the accumulation of charges, long pulsating emissions of compressed and ionized air.
This can be particularly useful during service work, where the devices often work at customers’ premises in unfavourable conditions, where the accumulation of dirt and dust inside electronic devices is very high. The second mode – the short pulse mode – can be used in similar situations as the first one, but for a completely different category of products, where long pressurised air emissions cannot be afforded, which could lead to mechanical damage to sensitive equipment components.
The operator using the Panasonic EC-G02 air-gun ionizer also has the option of using the continuous mode, where he controls the force, direction and timing of ionized air emissions with a manually operated trigger.
With this product, the time needed to neutralise the load is extremely short and does not exceed 0.5 s, ensuring effective and efficient protection of every electronic component while working on the assembly or service station.
In addition, the device is equipped with a white LED illuminator for even more precise control of the area to be served.
These lights can be activated permanently or synchronized with the ionizer trigger. The manufacturer also took care of easy to carry out, independent maintenance of the air-gun ionizer, thanks to which keeping the device clean is easy and trouble-free. The EC-G02 air-gun ionizer is a device that no professional assembly and service station can do without.
The high efficiency and short time of static charge neutralization combined with the ergonomics of the device itself makes the work of the technician extremely easy and perfectly protects electronic devices against ESD.