Automated disassembly of electr(on)ic equipment

Abstract

Almost all end-of-life possibilities-upgrade, re-use, recycling of materials-require some form of disassembly. Despite the high standard of automation for the assembly of electric and electronic equipment, the standard of automation for disassembling is still very low and therefore dismantling is often done manually. The approach to automate disassembling processes of electr(on)ic equipment with disassembly cells and the development of a flexible semi automatic disassembly cell for printed circuit boards (PCB) is described and discussed.