Viscous material noncontact jetting system

A method of dispensing viscous material onto a substrate from a non-contact dispenser which is operable to apply jetted droplets of viscous material onto the substrate wherein each droplet of viscous material discharged from a nozzle of the dispenser releases from the dispenser and moves away from the dispenser without requiring a wetting of the substrate to pull the droplet of viscous material from the nozzle, the method comprising the steps of:

• a. providing a total volume value representing the total volume of material to be dispensed onto the substrate and a total length value representing a length over which the total volume value is be dispensed onto the substrate;
• b. operating the dispenser to apply a first number of droplets of viscous material onto a calibration surface in a non-wetting manner;
• c. generating a feedback signal representing the measured weight value of viscous material contained in the first number of droplets of viscous material applied onto the calibration surface;
• d. determining a velocity value of relative motion between the dispenser and the substrate which will result in the total volume value of viscous material being dispensed onto the substrate over the total length value , wherein the step of determining the velocity value comprises the steps of:
• i. determining a second number of droplets of viscous material that is required to substantially equal the total volume value;
• ii. determining a distance between each of the second number of droplets that is required to distribute the droplets over the length represented by the total length value;
• iii. determining a rate at which the second number of droplets [[are]] is to be dispensed from the dispenser;
• and
• iv. using the rate at which the second number of droplets are to be dispensed and the distance between each of the droplets in the second number of droplets to determine the relative velocity value;
• and
• e. moving the dispenser over the substrate at the velocity value to and applying the second number of droplets of viscous material onto the substrate in a non-wetting manner and at the determined rate over the total length value.

A method of dispensing viscous material onto a substrate from a nozzle of a non-contact dispenser which is operable to apply jetted droplets of viscous material onto the substrate wherein each droplet of viscous material discharged from the dispenser releases from the dispenser and moves away from the dispenser without requiring a wetting of the substrate to pull the droplet of viscous material from the nozzle, the method comprising the steps of:

• moving the dispenser so that the nozzle is over a table of a weigh scale;
• determining a total volume value representing the total volume of material to be dispensed onto the substrate;
• operating the dispenser to apply a first number of droplets of viscous material in a non-wetting manner onto the table of the weigh scale;
• generating a feedback signal representing the measured weight value of viscous material contained in the first number of droplets of viscous material applied onto the table of the weigh scale;
• using the first number of droplets of viscous material and the measured weight value to determine the average weight of each droplet;
• using the average weight of each droplet to determine the average volume of each droplet;
• using the total volume value and the average volume of each droplet to determine the number of droplets required to dispense the total volume value;
• determining a total length value representing a length over which the total volume value is to be dispensed onto the substrate;
• using the total length value and the number of droplets required to dispense the total volume value to determine the distance between the centers of the droplets;
• determining the rate at which the droplets will be dispensed from the dispenser;
• using the rate at which the droplets will be dispensed from the dispenser and the distance between the centers of the droplets to determine the velocity value at which the dispenser will be moved relative to the substrate;
• and
• moving the dispenser over the substrate at the velocity value to dispense and, in a non-wetting manner, dispensing the number of droplets required to dispense the total volume value onto the substrate over the total length value and at the determined rate.