Publication date: 26 June 2008
Sono-Tek is continually developing new applications for its unique technology, replacing wasteful practices in a world that is growing ever more environmentally sensitive.
Sono-Tek has a historic position as the originator of ultrasonic spraying and coating, as well as spray fluxing. We now have focused a significant part of our engineering and R&D resources on developing products for the advanced energy fields of Photovoltaics and Fuel Cells.
Most recently we have developed standalone coaters, the ExactaCoat and FlexiCoat, that produce highly uniform coatings atomizing phosphoric-based solutions for the PV industry, as well as membrane coatings for the fuel cell industry.
These coaters provide top-down coatings coupled with XYZ motion, conveyors, and even heating and vacuum plates, depending on the application requirements.
This is a rapidly growing market where the precision of ultrasonic atomization can bring huge benefits to the end product. In the electronics sector, Sono-Tek has made technological advances in developing ultrasonic spray fluxers that are highly suited for the lead-free process, and which have incorporated features for selective area fluxing and deposition density control.
Sono-Tek provides coating solutions to the electronics industry. Unlike many coating equipment providers, Sono-Tek delivers both the equipment as well as the process “know how” to make our machines successful in a manufacturing line. Our engineers are experts in the process of fluxing as it relates to wave soldering, and we also have a division of Sono-Tek that is focused at being process experts for fuel and solar cells.
When someone purchases a Sono-Tek system, they are not only purchasing a state-of-the-art ultrasonic coating machine, they are also purchasing our years of experience and expertise in the process of through-hole PCB, fuel cell, solar cell and semiconductor manufacturing. In fuel cell and PV applications, some of the liquids are suspensions of carbon and precious metals, which can settle out very quickly.
To prevent this, we invented and have a patent pending on a new ultrasonic pump that does a far superior job of keeping suspensions uniformly distributed compared to competitive technology.
Our ultrasonic atomization nozzle systems are a game-changing technology, invented before its time in the 1970s. This approach to spraying can take a few drops of liquid and turn them into thousands of micro-droplets, resulting in an incredibly efficient spray, with little bounce back. Historically, foam and pressure spray fluxing was a process that inherently wasted a great deal of flux, which contained VOCs.
Sono-Tek’s ultrasonic spray fluxers, introduced in the early 1990s, drastically reduced required quantities of flux. All industries today are facing a need to reduce the amounts of water, chemicals, energy, and environmental impact in their manufacturing processes due to the price of oil and competition for resources from developing nations. We have the technology that that can help them do exactly that in many of their spraying and coating applications.
Customers in electronics, glass manufacturing, textile finishing, and other industries who have switched to our spraying systems regularly report on savings in materials, energy use, and associated costs of up to 80 percent.
There are three primary changes that have occurred with ultrasonic spray fluxers over the past several years:
• The ability to run fluxes that are compatible for the lead-free process• The necessity to monitor flux deposition density• The need to provide ultrasonic spray fluxers at economical prices, making them practical for all PCB manufacturers to use.
Sono-Tek has met these needs with our latest model spray fluxers, incorporating automatic deposition control and having full flux compatibility with all lead-free fluxes. Also introduced this year is the SonoFlux EZ. This is an economical ultrasonic spray fluxing system designed on a reciprocating platform.
This machine allows small to mid-size PCB manufacturers to get the same high-quality fluxing results achieved with ultrasonic spray that has historically only been affordable to larger manufacturers.
We also just introduced the SonoFlux Servo, a reciprocating platform for more variable applications. We now offer the widest line of fluxing equipment, which, combined with strong service and distributor support, provides the best choice for customers today.
The EVS solder recovery system works by using heat and compression to turn dross from the wave solder machine’s solder pot back into useable solder. The operator simply de-drosses the solder pot and loads the dross directly into our EVS machine as opposed to the dross pail.
After a 6-10 minute cycle in which the good solder is separated from the oxides, the operator can pull out a tray containing three ingots that can be loaded back into the solder pot when needed. The price of both lead solder and lead-free solder have risen sharply, along with other commodities. We offer our electronics customers in the US and Canada the chance to dramatically reduce their solder cost with a payback of months, in most cases.
As opposed to getting a nominal amount back for the dross, customers are able to reclaim up to 75 percent of the dross’s weight back to the solder pot, reducing solder purchases up to 50 percent. This “green” technology fits in very well with our entire corporate direction: Reduce, Recycle, Reuse — It will be the world we live in going forward.
Sono-Tek is a world leader in the development and application of liquid ultrasonic atomization technology into nozzle systems and spraying and coating application systems. Compared to conventional pressure spraying methods, the company’s ultrasonic nozzles do not clog, reduce liquid usage, waste, and environmental impact while achieving much more precise, uniform, thin film coatings.
For more information, visit the company at http://www.sono-tek.com.
