What is a contactless dipensing valve and how does it work with my selective robotic conformal coating system?
As the name implies, these valves typically operate between 2-10mm from the surface onto which they are dispensing and can apply very small dots or well defined lines and can be used to coat critical areas or discrete components. These types of valves generally work best with materials with some degree of thixotropy and medium apparent viscosities. These valves do rely on unhindered access to the coating area and are most suitable for SMT technology.
Contactless dispensing from a conformal coating robot
To find out more about this and other valves for conformal coating application click Choosing the Right Valve for a Selective Robotic Conformal Coating Application Process
What is the right selective robotic conformal coating system for my material?
A selective conformal coating machine should comprise essentially of three main components:
- The valves and fluid system, which deliver the conformal coating material in the required areas on the printed circuit board
- The robot platform itself, responsible for delivering the valves to the correct location accurately and in an extremely repeatable fashion.
- A software interface that enables simple programming by an operator, to then control both the robot and the fluid system, to ensure that the coating material is consistently dispensed in the specified locations, and areas required to be left coating free, are indeed left coating free.
To learn more about the valves click Choosing the Right Valve for a Selective Robotic Conformal Coating Application Process
What is an atomised conformal coating spray valve and how does it affect my selective robot process?
Atomised spray valves rely on mixing the material with air, to break it into small, discrete particles and shape the resulting spray pattern to form a well defined pattern.
Atomised spray pattern from a conformal coating robot
To find out more about this and other valves for conformal coating application click Choosing the Right Valve for a Selective Robotic Conformal Coating Application Process
What is an airless, non-atomised film coating valve and how does it affect my conformal coating robot process?
This type of valve design relies on generating sufficient fluid pressure to force the valve through a shaped valve opening to form a leaf-shaped fan pattern.
Conformal Coating Non-atomised airless robotic spraying
What you get, if several other conditions are near perfect, is a wide fluid stream with a well-defined edge as seen in the picture below.
Conformal Coating applied by a film coating valve
To find out more about this and other valves for conformal coating application click Choosing the Right Valve for a Selective Robotic Conformal Coating Application Process
Choosing the Right Valve for a Selective Robotic Conformal Coating Application Process
Want to know what is the right valve or valve combination for a conformal coating process?
Then read the NEW Technical Bulletin from SCH Technologies, Choosing the Right Valve for a Selective Robotic Conformal Coating Application Process
What types of valve are available for robotic selective conformal coating machines?
There are three main types of valves fitted to machines and used in conformal coating applications. These are:
- Airless Spray Valves commonly referred to in this industry as ‘film-coat’ valves.
- LVLP (Low Volume Low Pressure) Atomised spray valves).
- Dispense valves (Contactless or regular needle style)
To find out more about these valves click Choosing the Right Valve for a Selective Robotic Conformal Coating Application Process
Conformal Coating 