The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 28, 1996
Filed:
Apr. 22, 1994
Kevin McKean, Naperville, IL (US);
Frederic Rotman, Paris, FR;
Robert W Connors, Western Springs, IL (US);
Air Liquide America Corporation, Walnut Creek, CA (US);
L'Air Liquide Societe Anonyme pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des, , US;
Abstract
The present invention relates to a wave soldering process wherein an inert gas atmosphere is injected inside the wave soldering machine, the inert gas atmosphere having a temperature which might be controlled. Particularly, the atmosphere can be heated at the same or different temperatures before injection, for example in the preheating zones, in the machine. The atmosphere can also be cooled (or injected at ambient temperature) e.g. in the cooling zone. Various atmospheres can be used (similar or different from one zone to another). Also, maintaining the atmosphere under forced laminer flow conditions improves the quality of the solder joints. The thermal efficiency of the heat transfer between the atmosphere and the printed circuit boards is thus greatly enhanced, which means less solder defects, higher components density and decrease of energy consumption and inert gas flow rate.