METHOD FOR PREPARING THE AUTOMATED PRODUCTION OF AN ELECTRONIC COMPONENT, METHOD FOR AUTOMATED PRODUCTION AND/OR FOR AUTOMATED POST-PROCESSING OF AN ELECTRONIC COMPONENT, COMPUTING DEVICE, COMPUTER PROGRAM AND ELECTRONICALLY READABLE DATA STORAGE DEVICE

Abstract

A method for preparing the automated production of an electronic component, in which an SMD component and/or a conductor track are arranged on a substrate, for production by 3D printing. Structural information describing the structure of the electronic component is used to determine first production information including a first machine-readable control command set for a production device designed at least in part for 3D printing. Together with the first control command set, post-processing information is determined from the structural information and/or the production information, which includes recycling information including a second, machine-readable control command set for a recycling device for at least partial automated recycling of the electronic component by recovery of at least one material of the electronic component and/or repair information including a third machine-readable control command set for a repair device for an at least partial automatic repair of the electronic component, and is reserved for the post-processing and/or repair of the electronic component.

Claims

1. A method for preparing the automated production of an electronic component, in which at least one SMD component part and/or at least one conductor track and/or at least one plug component and/or at least one printed electronic component part is/are arranged on at least one substrate, for manufacturing by means of 3-D printing, wherein an item of structural information which describes the structure of the electronic component part and is created, in particular, using a CAD and/or CAM device is used to determine an item of production information comprising a first machine-readable control instruction set for a production device at least partially designed for 3-D printing, wherein an item of post-processing information is determined, together with the first control instruction set, from the structural information and/or the production information, which post-processing information comprises an item of recycling information comprising a second machine-readable control instruction set for a recycling device, designed for the at least partially, in particular completely, automated recycling of the electronic component, for recycling the electronic component by recovering at least one material of the electronic component and/or an item of repair information comprising a third machine-readable control instruction set for a repair device designed to at least partially automatically repair the electronic component, and is held for the post-processing, in particular the recycling and/or the repair, of the electronic component.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the post-processing information is held in a storage means of the electronic component after the electronic component has been produced.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the recycling device automatically reads the recycling information and/or the repair device automatically reads the repair information from the storage means.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the post-processing information is held retrievably on a server device belonging to the producer of the electronic component.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the recycling information, in particular the second control instruction set, describes a recycling measure to be performed and/or omitted and/or a sequence of recycling measures to be used and/or at least one operating parameter of at least one recycling measure and/or a recycling material to be used, in particular a release agent, and/or a recycling tool to be used.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the production device and the recycling device are assumed to be structurally identical for the purpose of determining the recycling information.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein both the production device and the recycling device are designed to move at least one tool relative to the electronic component along processing paths described by the control instruction sets of the production information and the recycling information, wherein at least one processing path, in particular all processing paths, in the production information and the recycling information is/are selected to be identical.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein, in the case of identical processing paths, at least partially different tools are used by the production device and the recycling device and/or at least one of the at least one identical processing path relates to the course of a conductor track to be 3-D printed.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein, in particular in the case of assumed lower accuracy of the recycling device, the processing width along at least one of the at least one identical processing path is selected to be larger for the recycling device.

10. A method for the automated production and/or the automated recycling and/or the automated repair of an electronic component, wherein an item of production information and an item of post-processing information are determined by means of a method as claimed in one of the preceding claims, and the electronic component is produced in an at least partially, preferably completely, automated manner by means of the production device executing the first control instruction set and/or is recycled by means of the recycling device executing the second control instruction set and/or is repaired by means of the repair device executing the third control instruction set.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the post-processing information is stored in a storage means of the electronic component during automated production.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the production device and the recycling device which are used are structurally identical.

13. A computing device designed to carry out a method as according to claim 1.

14. A computer program which carries out the steps of a method according to claim 1 when it is executed on a computing device.

15. An electronically readable data storage device on which a computer program according to claim 14 is stored.

Description

[0031] Further advantages and details of the present invention emerge from the exemplary embodiments described below and on the basis of the drawings, in which:

[0032] FIG. 1 shows a general flowchart of an exemplary embodiment of the method according to the invention,

[0033] FIG. 2 shows the functional structure of a computing device according to the invention, and

[0034] FIG. 3 shows a section of a surface of an electronic component with processing paths.

[0035] FIG. 1 shows a general flowchart of an exemplary embodiment of the method according to the invention. Both the production and the recycling of an at least partially 3-D printed electronic component are intended to be included here, wherein the electronic component has at least one conductor track and at least one SMD component part which are arranged on a substrate, in particular a three-dimensional substrate. Plastic, glass fiber, carbon fiber and/or coated wood can be used as the substrate material, for example. Conductor tracks, for example made of silver or copper, may be applied. SMD component parts may comprise, for example, chips, capacitors, resistors, inductances, switches, plug components and the like. The electronic component may also have printed electronic component parts, for example printed resistors, capacitors and the like.

[0036] In a step S1 of the method, an item of structural information is first of all provided, for example in the form of a three-dimensional model of the electronic component to be produced, which model is created in a CAD process. In a step S2, production information, which comprises a first control instruction set 1 in machine code, for example G-code, can then be automatically derived using this structural information. The first control instruction set 1 may be directly executed by the production device, specifically a control device of the production device, in order to produce the electronic component in a completely automated manner in this case and in an at least partially automated manner in other cases.

[0037] For this purpose, the production device may have a movement mechanism and at least one production tool, in the present case at least one 3-D printing tool, at least one placement tool (pick-and-place tool) for SMD component parts and at least one pre-processing and/or post-processing tool. The production tools are moved in a highly accurate manner by means of the movement mechanism, for example a 3-D printing tool in order to be able to apply a conductor track along a processing path, or a placement tool in order to fasten an SMD component part in an accurate position by means of a conductive adhesive which can be initially positioned using a different tool or the same tool.

[0038] For step S3 which is discussed below, it is now assumed that a repair device to be used for repair and a recycling device to be used for recycling are at least substantially structurally identical to the effect that there is likewise a movement mechanism which moves corresponding tools. At least the recycling device and the production device may preferably be completely structurally identical with at least partially interchangeable tools. In particular, the recycling of the electronic component and the production of the electronic component can therefore be carried out using the same machine, that is to say device.

[0039] In a step S3, in precisely this preparation phase of the production, substantially together with step S2, wherein parts of the production information can also be taken into account, at least one second control instruction set 2 for the recycling device and/or at least one third control instruction set 3 for the repair device are also determined as post-processing information 4 on the basis of the structural information, wherein the third control instruction set 3 to be interpreted as repair information can be considered to be optional. The important factor is the determination of the second control instruction set 2 to be interpreted as recycling information.

[0040] During this determination in step S3, the structural information is always used, but specifically also the production information in this case, since the processing paths used in the control instruction set 1 can ultimately be directly applied to the second control instruction set 2 and possibly the third control instruction set 3 with regard to the executing devices being structurally identical. For example, provision may therefore be made for a conductor track to be applied by means of a printing tool during production according to the first control instruction set 1 and for the same processing path to be moved along during recycling according to the second control instruction set 2 in order to remove the conductor track again by means of a corresponding recycling tool, for example a milling tool and/or a recycling tool which discharges and/or aspirates a release agent. Similarly, SMD component parts which were positioned at particular positions according to the first control instruction set can be approached again in a positionally accurate manner according to the second control instruction set, for example, and can be removed again, in particular again by means of the pick-and-place tool or the placement tool. For the third control instruction set 3 of the repair information, if it is determined, it may hold true that corresponding replacement instructions for SMD component parts and/or reprinting instructions for conductor tracks are included.

[0041] The processing width, for example when removing conductor tracks, is expediently selected to be wider at least for the recycling operation, that is to say the second control instruction set 2, in order to compensate for any positional inaccuracies as far as possible and to make it possible to recover the conductor track material (and the substrate remaining underneath) as completely as possible.

[0042] It shall be noted at this point that mutual feedback between steps S2 and S3 is also possible, for example in order to improve the recycling process in step S3 with regard to particularly high environmental compatibility, with the result that the production information can be also adjusted for better recycling and the like, for example.

[0043] In a step S4, the electronic component is produced on the basis of the first control instruction set 1 or generally the production information by means of the production device, wherein 3-D printing is at least partially used. In a step S5, the post-processing information 4 is stored in a storage means of the produced electronic component in order to be held there. This storage means may be based, for example, on RFID technology, but may also be configured to be electronically readable via corresponding connections, for example a plug-in contact. At the same time, the post-processing information is held on a server device belonging to the producer of the electronic component if it is not possible to read the information from the storage means. The result of this production process is then the electronic component 5.

[0044] If the optional repair information has been determined in step S3, repair measures according to the third control instruction set 3 can be carried out in an automated manner during the service life of the electronic component 5.

[0045] If the end of the service life of the electronic component 5 has been reached or the electronic component becomes obsolete, the recycling by means of the recycling device is carried out in a step S6, which recycling device automatically reads the second control instruction set 2 from the storage means of the electronic component 5 and implements it within its control device in order to recover materials and parts of the electronic component 5 as the recycling result 6. SMD component parts can be reused, for example; materials can be supplied to a new production process and/or can be sold.

[0046] It shall again be noted here that the production device or a largely or completely structurally identical device can again be used as the recycling device, wherein obsolete production devices can also be operated further as recycling devices, in particular, since increased accuracy is not important when recycling older electronic components 5 and tolerances can be accordingly compensated for on account of the choice of wider processing paths, as explained.

[0047] FIG. 2 shows a basic schematic diagram of a system in which the method according to the invention can be carried out. In this case, a computing device 7 for carrying out the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 1 initially comprises a determination unit 8 for carrying out steps S2 and S3, wherein the determination unit 8 is part of a CAD and CAM device 9. This may be, for example, a computer on which corresponding CAD/CAM software is present. The structural information can be determined by means of CAD in the at least partially manual design of the electronic component 5, for example, and can be made available to the determination unit 8 which uses it to derive the production information and the post-processing information 4, specifically the first control instruction set 1, the second control instruction set 2 and the third control instruction set 3, therefrom.

[0048] In the present case, the computing device 7 also comprises the control devices 10, 11 of the production device 12 and of the recycling device 13, respectively, wherein the invention is also already implemented merely by implementing steps S1, S2 and S3 using the determination unit 8.

[0049] Both the production device 12 and the recycling device 13 comprise, in particular, as components, a movement mechanism 14 and tools 15, as already explained, in which case further components may naturally also be provided. The control devices 10, 11 have an interpreter which makes it possible for them to convert control instruction sets 1, 2, 3 into direct actuation of their components and therefore to execute said control instruction sets.

[0050] FIG. 3 finally shows a section 16 of an in particular three-dimensional surface 17 of an electronic component 5. A conductor track 18, for example made of silver, which ends at an SMD component part 19, for example an LED, can be seen, in particular. The conductor track 18 has been applied along the processing path 20 by means of a printing tool, wherein the processing width in the production process corresponds to the width 21 of the conductor track 18. For the recycling process, that is to say the second control instruction set 2, a larger processing width 22 is now selected in step S3, as indicated in the lower region of FIG. 3. This makes it possible to compensate for tolerances.

[0051] Processing paths may moreover also relate to the operation of approaching positions of SMD component parts 19 and/or the operation of applying and accordingly removing printed electronic component parts.