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:
Jun. 05, 2001
Filed:
Mar. 22, 2000
Talal M. Al-Nabulsi, San Gabriel, CA (US);
Unitek, Monrovia, CA (US);
Abstract
An improvement in a reflow soldering apparatus for bonding a connector element such as flexible circuitry or a pin type input/output (I/O) connector to a printed circuit board (PCB) is disclosed wherein a fixture tray included in the apparatus automatically aligns or self levels itself with the heating bars, or thermodes, of the apparatus. The fixture tray includes a body for supporting the connector/PCB assembly and cylindrical rods extending from the body. The rods are rotatably supported in corresponding grooves on the surface of the fixture tray table. As a thermode is pressed onto the connector/PCB assembly, the fixture tray rotates about its axis of rotation until the work area is aligned with the thermode. In a sandwich type soldering application including a pair of thermodes for simultaneously soldering opposite sides of a connector/PCB assembly, the fixture tray rests on an upper plate of a tray table supported by resilient means such as springs. Pressing an upper thermode onto the upper work surface of the connector/PCB assembly causes the work surface to rotate into alignment with the thermodes, and further causes the upper plate to descend until the bottom work surface of the connector/PCB assembly contacts the lower thermode prior to initiation of a reflow soldering cycle.