Good vibrations for new PCB plant
1 min read
High component density printed circuit boards (PCBs) will be produced to new levels of accuracy and reliability at a new 35,000 sq ft facility that is being built as part of a major site redevelopment by Eurotech. It will contain new and improved equipment, including new plating lines and will allow Eurotech to better match future UK, European and worldwide customer requirements for capability and capacity.
Extract fans in the new manufacturing facility in Exmouth have been designed so that no vibration transmits to the PCBs in production. This means high component density boards can be produced to new levels of accuracy and reliability.
Eurotech wanted to reduce ambient vibration to an absolute minimum so the eight fans required were located in the roof void to maximise their distance from the production machinery and rubber mountings reduced transmitted vibration significantly.
Drives expert David Ede of KLJ Group who was called in to solve the fans challenge, said: "Eurotech takes its carbon footprint seriously, so didn't want the fans running continuously, but to switch in only when required. This meant we had to start and stop them smoothly, so direct-on-line starting was not acceptable. We looked at several options and decided on fitting each fan with Hyundai variable speed drives supplied by SoftStart UK, choosing the appropriate size and model in each case."
The drives were new to the UK and SoftStart had to import a batch especially for the Eurotech job.
Eurotech managing director Kelvin Leigh said: "In the current climate the new PCB plant is evidence of our commitment to UK manufacturing and to our customers. We believe this investment will not only improve our technical capabilities but also allow us to improve production flow through our plant."
