Characterization of vapour phase soldering process zone with pressure measurements

The purpose of this paper is to present a novel approach on the process zone characterization for direct feedback regarding the state of vapour, in order to assure a better monitoring, control and understanding of the process.

Different pressure sensors were applied in an experimental vapour phase soldering (VPS) station, where the hardware setup was dedicated to the current experiments. Static and dynamic pressure values were analyzed and correlated with additional thermal measurements.

The results reveal the dynamics of the vapour blanket generation. The correlated measurements show different stages of the process initialization, highlighting better accuracy than sole temperature measurements of saturated vapour identification. It is possible to trace the height of the available saturated vapour blanket with static pressure measurements.

The VPS process may benefit from the more precise saturation detection, giving better control on the heat transfer, enabling more efficient production with the reduction of idle time, and resulting in better soldering quality.

Reducing the idle time of the VPS stations may result in better efficiency and smaller power consumption, reducing the environmental impact of the method.

The presented methods provide a completely novel approach from the aspect of process zone state variables and parameters characterization, focusing on pressure measurements.