Abstract
We have developed a highly responsible probing system for inspection of electrical properties of assemble PCB$_{s}$ (printed circuit boards). However, as the duration of the impact occurring between a probe and a solder joint on PCB is very short, it is very difficult to control the harmful peak impact force and the slip motion of the probe to sufficient level only by its vorce feedback control with high gains. To overcome these disadvantages of the prototype, it needs ot obtain some information of the solder joint in advance before the contact. In addition, to guarantee the reliability of the probing task, the probing system is required to measure several points around the probale target point at high speed. There fore, to meet such requirements, we propose a new noncontaet sensor capable of detecting simultaneously position and normal vectors of the multiple points around the probable target point in real time. By using this information, we can prepare a control strategy for stable contact motion on impact. In this paper, we described measuring priniciple, design, and development of the sensor. The effectiveness of the proposed sensor is verified through a series of experiments.s.
