Composite soldering, de-soldering station load detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10974335-B2
Application number	US-201816031242-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 10, 2018
Priority date	Jul 10, 2018
Publication date	Apr 13, 2021
Grant date	Apr 13, 2021

Abstract

A soldering and de-soldering station and systems including enhanced features for the soldering heating tools and load detection functionality.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A soldering system for use in soldering and de-soldering of electrical devices, the soldering system comprising:
a control station including a central processing unit (CPU) and operations programs;
a thermal tool assembly including a cable, a handle connected to said control station by said cable, and at least one cartridge removably installed in said handle and powered by said control station, said cartridge including a tip temperature sensor;
a load detection circuit within said control station to detect an applied amount of energy during a soldering operation; and
a program to monitor the load detection circuit and an amount of power delivered to said cartridge to identify the beginning and completion of each soldering operation based upon an energy load delivered by said control station to said cartridge said program further comprising:
monitoring the applied amount of energy delivered by the soldering station to the thermal tool assembly;
monitoring a tip temperature of the thermal tool assembly;
determining that there has been a drop in the tip temperature in excess of a predetermined amount representing the beginning of the soldering operation;
upon determining that the soldering operation has begun, calculating the energy input to the thermal tool assembly provided by the control station;
determining when the input energy for the soldering operation exceeds a first lower level user established input energy level; and
causing the control station to provide an indication that the lower level has been exceeded.

2. A soldering system for use in soldering and de-soldering of electrical devices, the soldering system comprising:
a control station including a central processing unit (CPU) and operations programs wherein said CPU is programmed with a lower level energy input for a soldering operation, and said CPU causes said control station to generate an indication that the lower level energy input for the soldering operation has been delivered by the control station;
a thermal tool assembly including a cable, a handle connected to said control station by said cable, and at least one cartridge removably installed in said handle and powered by said control station, said cartridge including a tip temperature sensor;
a load detection circuit within said control station to detect an applied amount of energy during a soldering operation; and
a program to monitor the load detection circuit and an amount of power delivered to said cartridge to identify the beginning and completion of each soldering operation based upon an energy load delivered by said control station to said cartridge.

3. The soldering system of claim 2 , wherein said load detection circuit comprises: a voltage detector and a current detector to measure the voltage and current delivered by a power supply, said voltage detector and said current detector each being connected to and controlled by said CPU.

4. The soldering system of claim 2 , wherein said CPU is programmed with an upper level energy input for the soldering operation, and said CPU causes said control station to generate an indication that the upper level energy input for the soldering operation has been delivered by the control station.

5. The soldering system of claim 2 , wherein said operations program for controlling the operation of said control station further comprises:
monitoring the applied energy delivered by the soldering station to a soldering device;
monitoring the tip temperature of the soldering device;
determining that there has been a drop in the tip temperature in excess of a predetermined amount representing the beginning of the soldering operation;
upon determining that the soldering operation has begun, calculating the energy input to the soldering device provided by the control station;
determining when the input energy for the soldering operation exceeds a first lower level user established input energy level; and
causing the control station to provide an indication that the lower level has been exceeded.

6. A soldering system for use in soldering and de-soldering of electrical devices, the soldering system comprising:
a control station including a central processing unit (CPU) and operations programs wherein said CPU of said control station is programmed with a lower level energy input for a soldering operation, and said CPU causes said control station to generate an indication that the lower level energy input for the soldering operation has been delivered by the control station and an upper level energy input for the soldering operation, and said CPU causes said control station to generate an indication that the upper level energy input for the soldering operation has been delivered by the control station;
a thermal tool assembly including a cable, a handle connected to said control station by said cable, and at least one cartridge removably installed in said handle and powered by said control station, said cartridge including a tip temperature sensor;
a load detection circuit within said control station to detect an applied amount of energy during a soldering operation; and
a program to monitor the load detection circuit and an amount of power delivered to said cartridge to identify the beginning and completion of each soldering operation based upon an energy load delivered by said control station to said cartridge.

7. The soldering system of claim 6 , wherein the operations program further comprises:
monitoring the applied energy delivered by a soldering station to the thermal tool assembly;
monitoring the tip temperature of the thermal tool;
determining that there has been a drop in the tip temperature in excess of a predetermined amount representing the beginning of the soldering operation;
upon determining that the soldering operation has begun, calculating the energy input to the thermal tool assembly provided by the control station;
determining when the input energy for the soldering operation exceeds a first lower level user established input energy level; and
causing the control station to provide an indication that the lower level has been exceeded.

8. The operations program of claim 7 , wherein the step of causing the control station to provide an indication further comprises causing the control station to generate an audible beep, chime or tone.

9. The operations program of claim 7 , further comprising:
after the operations program determines that the input energy for the soldering operation exceeds a first lower level, the operations program monitors the tip temperature of the thermal tool assembly to detect a temperature increase indicative of the end of the soldering operation.

10. The operations program of claim 7 , further comprising:
after the operations program determines that the input energy for the soldering event exceeds a first lower level, the operations program determines if the input energy has exceeded a second, upper level; and
when the operations program determines that the second, upper level has been exceeded, the operations program causes the control station to provide an indication that the upper level has been exceeded.

11. A system for use in soldering and de-soldering of electrical devices, the system comprising:
a control station including a central processing unit (CPU) and operations programs, said control station further including a load detection circuit comprising a voltage detector and a current detector to measure a voltage and a current delivered by a power supply, said voltage detector and said current detector each being connected to and controlled by said CPU;
a thermal tool assembly for soldering or de-soldering operations, said th

Assignees

• Hakko Corp

Inventors

• Matsuzaki Kenji
• Takeuchi Hitoshi
• Nakamura Kenta

Classifications

• B23K1/0016 Primary

  Soldering of electronic components · CPC title

• H05K13/0885

  Power supply · CPC title

• B23K3/033 Primary

  comprising means for controlling or selecting the temperature or power · CPC title

• G01R22/10

  using digital techniques · CPC title

• G01R19/1659

  to indicate that the value is within or outside a predetermined range of values (window) (G01R19/16514, G01R19/16519, G01R19/16528 and G01R19/16533 take precedence) · CPC title