Mitsuboshi Diamond Industrial Co., Ltd. is using high quality processing technology for various types of glass, establishing a process to work with various hard brittle material, and creating equipment and tools for that. Recent new product development placed an emphasis on realizing high-speed, high-precision laser processing technology and preventing the outflow of design and technology assets (by creating a black box for control technology). When we were searching for a trustworthy business partner with reliable technology, we came across the Contec controller. It has high performance, and our new product development took off.
Keyword: Control unit | Embedded PC
Industry: Manufacturing
Purpose: Enhanced features | Space saving
Laser processing equipment using the BX-110n.
(Equipment dimensions:1660(W)×1540(D)×1500(H)mm)
Since the company was established in 1935, Mitsuboshi Diamond Industrial Co., Ltd. (MDI) has utilized its knowledge and experience over the years as well as its advanced technology to support the global flat panel display (FPD) industry. MDI continues to create the latest solutions for processing hard and weak materials of varying size, construction, and material, including FPDs, solar cells, and LEDs.
“With the recent increase in requests to perform laser processing (special shape processing) to freely shape glass, we began to explore the development of a controller that could provide high-speed processing without losing processing accuracy. At the same time, we believed that if we could incorporate control technology that enables high precision processing into our laser processing equipment, we would have to prevent the outflow of control technology (by creating a black box). However, our current system was at its limit when it came to realizing both aspects.” (Ken-ichi Nishinaka, Development Group, Laser Business Project, Development Division)
Solving the difficult problem of preventing an outflow of technology assets required selecting a high-performance, highly reliable system and a business partner.
“We took a close look at the companies to which we have ordered a system in the past and selected Contec as a highly skilled and reliable business partner. As we knew that they were extremely quick and flexible in response, which was important in jointly developing our own controller, we were able to propose a plan of development easily.” Mr.Nishinaka said.
Providing various processing including fine processing and special shape processing using abundant lineup of laser engines and specially designed optical engines.
Using an application to instruct processing. Enables an intuitive understanding of various types of processing.
What was the deciding factor for incorporating the Contec BX-110n?
“A major deciding factor was their ability to customizing the FPGA, a device that enables advanced control, to our specifications. By incorporating control that provides high-speed, high-precision laser processing control into the FPGA, we were able to create a black box for our control technology.” Mr.Nishinaka said.
However, they did encounter a difficult point during development.
“It was difficult to incorporate the advanced laser processing control that we wanted, and we needed to be able to control entire devices at the same time. We had to develop our laser processing equipment in parallel with the controller being developed by Contec, and it took approximately four years from development of the controller prototype to verification of the laser processing equipment. This is because of the strength of Contec who patiently listened to our detailed requests and developed the hardware to match our requests. Using their flexible responsiveness and advanced technology, they were able to help us develop our own controller.” Mr.Nishinaka said.
The Contec BX-110n has a space-saving design. This also enabled the compact design of the newly developed LPM series of laser processing equipment.
“There are large requirements to achieving a compact design of laser processing equipment. We are proud to have created a device that takes high-speed, high-precision laser processing technology and enables more generic laser processing.” Mr.Nishinaka said.
In addition to answering growing needs, there are great possibilities in laser processing equipment that has high performance and compact design.
“Until now, the main objects that has been processed is glass, but the LPM series enables the processing of materials other than glass according to your desires. Because the laser engine with the appropriate laser wavelength can be selected according to the object being processed, a wide variety of material can be laser-processed. We can now fully meet more diverse needs.” Mr.Nishinaka said.
Challenges
As the need for flexible glass curved processing (special shape processing) increases, there is a growing demand for high-performance laser processing technology. In addition, it is imperative to create a black box to prevent the outflow of a program used in a controller.
Solutions
By enabling curved processing with high speed and performance, it is possible to meet more diverse customer needs. Development of a black box was successful, and full security measures were implemented. In addition, the compact computer design helped realize smaller equipment.
Mitsuboshi Diamond Industrial Co., Ltd.
Comment from Ken-ichi Nishinaka, Scientist, Development Group, Laser Business Project, Development Division
Through joint development with Contec, we were able to create high-performance laser processing equipment, which was our initial goal, and in this way, we felt a huge response. By raising the quality to the highest level, Contec enabled us to create a product with high satisfaction. Next, we want to create a CPU with even higher speed and performance in the future.
Mitsuboshi Diamond Industrial Co., Ltd.
Since the company was established in 1935 as a glass cutter manufacturer, MDI has developed “cutting” using dry processing. In addition to simple cutting, MDI also provides special shape processing, drilling, and other highly complicated processing, and it is a leader in the hard brittle material processing industry. MDI uses its advanced technology to plan business development in extensive electronic parts processing, including LED and other semiconductors and solar power panels, and it is venturing into new business areas such as the development of original laser oscillators and cameras with built-in CMOS image sensors.