Product Inspectionlili IC andmddle pateLaser MeasurementSeaWeldSeaWeldWeldAssembly andbondAssembly of dassembly andbondngof soundngof soundBondngof soundngof the entire circumferenceSoderingof leadBondng and seangof mddle pate and coverngof housing andmddle pateBondng andweldngof termnal boardngofngof housingaphragm andngof backpatemarking inlet inlet inlet andmeshli i li i i li i i ili lii il i i 8A hearing aid generally has four parts: a microphone, an amplifier, a receiver, and a battery. Shigeki Sugawara and Keishi Akiwa, who belong to the Medical Instruments Manufacturing Technology Section in the Manufacturing Engineering Department, are involved in using, designing, and manufacturing robots that automatically manufacture microphones for hearing aids.A microphone consists of a number of parts, including the diaphragm and backplate, which represent the heart of the microphone. The manufacturing robot automatically performs the assembly process, including setting the components in the microphone housing, bonding them together with adhesive, and sealing the housing shut.The robot basically consists of a space for pallets of the parts to be placed before and after the process, a workspace, and actuators to pick up and transfer the parts.The actuator is an XYZ three-axis Cartesian robot. The arm moves like that in an arcade crane game, picking up parts from the pallet and carrying them over to the workspace, where they are bonded and assembled, then placing the completed products in another pallet. The robot that performs this series of operations is installed in the microphone production room.These automated manufacturing robots were developed in-house by Rion. The project involving their development began in 1997. The Manufacturing and Engineering Department, which was in charge of producing jigs, and the Research and Development Department, in charge of developing microphones, worked together to develop an automated manufacturing robot that would enable automated, 24-hour production. The goal was to dramatically reduce production costs by automating production.After much trial and error, seven automated manufacturing robots were finally completed in 2002, almost five years after the project launch. This included an acoustic system assembly robot for assembling and bonding the diaphragm and backplate.Prior to this, the assembly of hearing aid microphone components had been performed manually. “At that time,” says Kenichi Kidokoro—in charge of product design in the project until 2002 (he is currently with the Technical Development Center)—“the microphones were designed to be assembled by hand. When we began to manufacture microphones using the automated manufacturing robot, we changed the design into one that would facilitate assembly by robots.”An automated robot for manufacturing microphonesDeveloped seven robots in-house by 2002Lined up in the foreground are automated manufacturing robots for hearing aid microphones.Each robot measures about one meter in length and width and about two meters in height.The flow of microphone assemblyThe production of microphones for hearing aids begins with the process of assembling the diaphragm and backplate by fixing them inside the housing with adhesive. In addition to component assembly, each process, including sealing the hearing aid to prevent sound leakage, is performed manually using a jig or by an auto-mated manufacturing robot designed to perform the process.
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