Hey guys, Paul with Diode Dynamics.
And today I'm going to show you how
we make our SL1 LED Headlight
Bulbs right here in St. Louis,
Missouri.
We're proud to be the only U.S.
based manufacturer of these types
of products.
Some will say they do some assembly,
but it's not quite everything you'll
see here today.
Now like all of our products, the
SL1 starts with a circuit
board. So, for the SL1
LEDs, we actually use a pretty
unique board.
This is a full copper core.
So the entire thing is made of pure
copper, and the LED
connections are going to connect the
LED directly to that
core. So something called "direct
solder",it makes a big difference
with the thermal performance.
We've got another video on that if
you want to check it out further.
But we've got to grab our copper
boards, as well as our control
driver boards, and then we're going
to grab some components.
So of course the
SL1 uses about 40-50 different
electrical components, but we carry
all kinds of stuff for the different
products we make.
Resistors, capacitors, we've got
LED driver ICs.
And of course a whole lot of LEDs.
We stock anywhere from two to three
million LEDs at any
given time, so we're ready to
produce what we need to.
So, we've got to grab the
components, we're going to head over
to our SMT line for assembly.
So to get started with assembly, we
first got to put solder on the
circuit boards so that we can put
components on it.
You can see here we've got all of
these stencils, and each
one is going to be for different
circuit board. So this one's for our
SL1 LED driver.
We've got one loaded up here and
we're gonna put this in the machine
and it's going to print the solder
to the circuit board.
Now this machine basically works
just like making t-shirts.
It's going to align everything
visually to make sure everything's
aligned, and then it's going to
spread across with the stencil.
And push that solder paste
to the circuit board.
So it's just that fast; only takes
a couple of seconds.
And we've got our circuit board now
that has the
solder paste directly applied
to each one of those individual
pads.
So the next step of the process is
our pick and place machine.
So is going to take that bare
circuit board and put the
components onto it.
Now these components can be really,
really tiny, almost you can't even
see.
So they're all loaded up here on
reels, for handling, and it's
going to pull those off the reels
and place them on the circuit board.
Now this is a new Europlacer
machine. It's got a lot of great
quality features.
For example, we can test
electrically each component before
it's placed, to make sure the
correct component is loaded
onto the correct feeder and reel.
So , a pretty smart machine, and
allows us to start with really high
quality standards.
Now when those circuit boards are
all loaded up with components,
they're going to come out to this
inspection conveyor here.
With the nice light, we can check to
make sure everything looks good and
then we'll throw it right into our
reflow oven.
So, this is a pretty big oven.
It's not too much different than the
convection oven at your house, but
it's divided up into about
10 sections.
So we're going to heat up the board
to a plateau, spike it
up, to create that solder reflow
and bond all the components,
and then it's just going to cool
down slowly and come out at the end
as a finished circuit board.
Now with the circuit board totally
reflowed, and everything ready
to go, the last step for SMT
department is going to be inspecting
this to make sure it works exactly
as we expect.
We don't want any bad boards going
into assembly.
So to do that, we've got our AOI
(automated optical inspection),
and it's gonna use a number of
cameras and different types of
color, to inspect each solder
joint and also make sure each
component is in the correct
position.
That way we can ensure again the
quality is 100% every
step of the process.
So to do this, we're just going to
load it in from the side, and then
the machine's going to check out
every one of those components on the
board.
And that's going to spit out a
report to us and we can go
ahead and correct anything that it
might see as a potential failure
on that board.
So now we've got our circuit boards
100% quality tested, and we're
going to start making it look like a
real bulb over in assembly.
So as you can see, we're no longer
on that white ESD tile, and that's
because we're in our assembly area
here at Diode Dynamics.
So as you can see, we've got
different cells for each of the
products we make.
For the SL1, we're actually going to
assemble the drivers first, so let's
take a look.
So our driver team is responsible
for turning one circuit board into
a sub-assembly here, that's
encapsulated with that circuit board
and then has our full wiring harness
attached ready to go into that bulb.
So we've got all kinds of components
here including a ton of
Sunon MagLev fans.
We've got our customized wire
harnesses, and with these you can
see we've got over-molds, as well,
to provide strain relief.
Again, quality being the top
focus.
As part of that, we got to get that
encapsulation.
So when they're ready to go, we're
going to move over to our potting
area here. This is called "potting",
you basically just fill it up with a
very specific glue.
It's going to fill these up, and put
them on cookie racks here.
Not for cookies, they are for bulbs.
So when those are cured, it'll be
time to go ahead and start the
assembly.
So we've got our cured driver here,
totally potted.
The next step is connecting our LED
board. Again, using that
factory-style connector to ensure
quality.
And these guys are going to be
putting this into our castings.
Now these castings have a thermal
transfer material applied.
Again, no grease or anything.
This is really highly efficient
thermal transfer material and we're
going to have that prepped and ready
to go.
Now we're finally ready to assemble
the actual bulb.
The first step is sandwiching the
LEDs between those two castings.
We're going to secure those
together, and then snap them into
our plastics.
You know, each one of these parts
has been custom designed, so it all
fits together really well.
Then we're gonna put the collar on
the bulb, depending on the size.
Of course, we have to get the input
connector and the collar the same,
to make sure that we're delivering
the exact size that you need.
We're going to test that out to make
sure that the right collar is on
there. To do that, we've got this
nice unique test box
that we've assembled and we're going
to have a cut out for each
size. This is pretty slick.
Every time the bulb is put in there,
if it's not the right size, it won't
light up. There's a little switch in
there that will light it up when
it's fully inserted with the correct
collar size. So again, all of these
'poke-a-yolk' fixtures and other
quality controls in place, to make
sure that when the bulb is fully
assembled, it's exactly what you
purchased.
The last step is gonna be packaging
everything up. We of course got our
nice colored boxes, as well as
custom blow-molded inserts,
so everything stays nice and secure
on its way to you.
We've also got instructions with
every kit showing you how to rotate
that collar if you need to.
Everything you need to know to
install your bulbs.
And with that, we've got yet another
set of SL1 LED headlights completed,
fully assembled here in St. Louis,
Missouri. We're proud to be making
these bulbs here, and we appreciate
your support. If you have questions
about the assembly process or
these bulbs, please feel free to
contact us.
Thanks for watching.
