Based on the high-performance Siplace X-Series platform, the Siplace X4i reportedly has a placement speed of 102,000 cph, as measured in accordance with IPC-9850. This value corresponds to a Siplace benchmark rating of 120,000 cph and a maximum theoretical performance rating of 135,500 cph.

It comes standard with a flexible dual-lane conveyor and four 20-nozzle heads. In dual-lane mode, it is said to achieve placement of 110,000 cph for board sizes up to 250 mm x 380 mm. Larger boards up to 436 mm x 380 mm can be processed when running in single conveyor mode. The machine footprint is 8 ft², and the machine is designed to shorten gantry travel distance between feeders and boards.
The machine’s new i-Placement concept is responsible for most of this performance improvement. As before, the machine comes equipped with the flexible dual transport that can be operated in synchronous or asynchronous mode. In either mode, two heads take turns in the placement area. In synchronous mode, two boards are moved into the placement area via the dual conveyor system. Typically, while one head is picking up components, the other head places its load of components. With i-Placement, however, both heads operate completely independent of each other on their respective tracks. This shortens the travel between feeders and PCB significantly and improves the productivity of the placement process.

The new Productivity Lane and Combined PCB options provide additional boosts in productivity and flexibility. The Productivity Lane is a third transport track on which PCBs are moved through the machine between its regular tracks to be processed in parallel on another machine. The result is a more efficiently balanced SMT line. It also makes it possible to perform maintenance on one machine while the rest of the line keeps working.

The efficiency of a placement line tends to drop for boards with fewer components, as the share of transport and nonproductive time increases relative to the actual placement time. The Combined PCB option minimizes nonproductive time in applications where high-density and low-density boards (for example, tops and bottoms) are processed together. With Combined PCB, the machine can process two boards simultaneously side-by-side and treat them as one, making the line more efficient. In software as well as physically, the boards are simply pushed together (without special carriers). Both boards then enter the placement area together and are treated as a single board.

The X4i is compatible with all existing models in the Siplace X-Series.

Available from Siemens, siemens.com.

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