When melting the solder paste within the process chamber, process gases may arise; these in turn can contaminate the cooling modules and the fine filter. As a result, the volume flow of the cooling process (which should be as constant as possible) is restricted or reduced, thus causing an insufficient amount of process gas to be fed through the filter. At the same time, less gas means less cooling capacity, and this can lead to an increase in the outflow temperature – or to a change in the cooling gradient on the components. To ensure a safe and stable process, the correct outflow temperature and a constant cooling gradient of the soldered component are very important.
As part of predictive maintenance, via the integrated control system, the filter monitoring with active readjustment automatically detects if the volume flow falls below the flow rate that has been individually set by the customer for their production requirements. This indicates that a filter change is imminent. Until this change is made, the system automatically adapts the volume flow by means of active readjustment in order to reliably maintain the process by increasing the cooling capacity. For this purpose, the set gas flow rate in the process chamber is continuously compared with the value that is actually being identified.
Filter monitoring with active readjustment thus guarantees high process reliability and ensures an optimum reflow soldering process with constant flow conditions.
