Soldering apparatus and method for creating program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11273510-B2
Application number	US-201816143011-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 26, 2018
Priority date	Oct 2, 2017
Publication date	Mar 15, 2022
Grant date	Mar 15, 2022

Abstract

The present application discloses a soldering apparatus including a soldering iron having an iron tip that melts solder, a driving portion that moves the soldering iron, and an operation portion displaced to instruct the driving portion of a moving direction of the soldering iron. While an operation on the operation portion is performed by a user, the driving portion moves the soldering iron in a direction corresponding to a displacement direction of the operation portion.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A soldering apparatus comprising:
a soldering iron having an iron tip configured to melt solder;
a driving portion configured to move the soldering iron;
an operation portion configured to be displaced for instructing the driving portion of a moving direction of the soldering iron;
a controller configured to control the driving portion; and
a detector configured to detect the operation on the operation portion,
wherein the driving portion moves the soldering iron in a direction in correspondence to a displacement direction instructed by the operation portion during an operation on the operation portion,
wherein the operation portion includes a lever portion to be tilted for instructing the driving portion of the moving direction of the soldering iron,
wherein the detector includes a tilt detector configured to detect a tilt direction of the lever portion,
wherein the controller determines the moving direction of the soldering iron based on the tilt direction of the lever portion detected by the tilt detector, and
wherein the driving portion moves the soldering iron in the moving direction determined by the controller.

2. The soldering apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the controller sets a moving speed of the soldering iron to a first speed when a tilt amount of the lever portion detected by the tilt detector is a first value,
wherein the controller sets the moving speed of the soldering iron to a second speed which is higher than the first speed when the tilt amount of the lever portion detected by the tilt detector is a second value which is larger than the first value, and
wherein the driving portion moves the soldering iron at the moving speed set by the controller.

3. The soldering apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the lever portion includes a first lever configured to be operated for moving the iron tip along a predetermined x-axis, and
wherein the driving portion moves the iron tip relative to a surface of an electronic board to be soldered by the soldering iron in an extending direction along the x-axis when the first lever is tilted in the extending direction along the x-axis.

4. The soldering apparatus according to claim 3 ,
wherein the driving portion moves the iron tip relative to a surface of the electronic board in an extending direction along a y-axis orthogonal to the x-axis when the first lever is tilted in the extending direction along the y-axis.

5. The soldering apparatus according to claim 4 ,
wherein the lever portion includes a second lever configured to be operated for adjusting a positional relationship between the surface of the electronic board and the iron tip along a z-axis orthogonal to the x-axis and the y-axis and for rotating the iron tip around the z-axis above the surface of the electronic board.

6. The soldering apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
storage configured to store a coordinate value of a soldering position at which soldering is to be performed,
wherein the operation portion includes a storage request portion configured to be operated for requesting storage of the coordinate value,
wherein the detector includes an operation detector configured to detect an operation on the storage request portion, and
wherein the controller monitors a current position of the soldering iron, and causes the storage to store a coordinate value indicating the current position as the coordinate value of the soldering position when the operation detector detects the operation on the storage request portion.

7. The soldering apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
storage configured to store a coordinate value of a soldering position at which soldering is to be performed; and
a housing in which the detector is stored,
wherein the operation portion includes a storage request portion configured to be operated for requesting storage of the coordinate value,
wherein the detector includes an operation detector configured to detect an operation on the storage request portion,
wherein the controller monitors a current position of the soldering iron, and causes the storage to store a coordinate value indicating the current position as the coordinate value of the soldering position when the operation detector detects the operation on the storage request portion,
wherein the lever portion includes a first lever configured to be operated for moving the iron tip relative to a surface of an electronic board to be soldered by the soldering iron along a predetermined x-axis and a y-axis orthogonal to the x-axis, and a second lever configured to be operated for adjusting a positional relationship between a surface of the electronic board and the iron tip along a z-axis orthogonal to the x-axis and the y-axis and for rotating the iron tip around the z-axis above the surface of the electronic board,
wherein the housing includes a surface from which the first and second levers protrude,
wherein the storage request portion is a pressing button disposed between the first and second levers on a surface of the housing, and
wherein the pressing button is different in surface profile from the housing, or less protrusive from the surface of the housing than the first and second levers.

8. The soldering apparatus according to claim 6 ,
wherein under the control of the controller, the storage stores the coordinate value of the soldering position as an end point of a point soldering operation for adhering dot-shaped solder to an electronic board and stores another coordinate value immediately before or after the coordinate value of the soldering position as a start point of the point soldering operation, and
wherein after the coordinate values of the start and end points are stored in the storage, the controller automatically goes to a state in which the controller waits for a storage request of a subsequent coordinate position, the storage request corresponding to the operation detector detecting a subsequent operation on the operation portion.

9. The soldering apparatus according to claim 6 ,
wherein the coordinate value of the soldering position, which defines start and end points of a soldering operation, is referred to as positional data,
wherein after the positional data of the soldering position is stored in the storage, and when an operation on the storage request portion is detected by the operation detector, the controller causes the storage to store a coordinate distance of a current position of the soldering iron situated for a subsequent soldering position at which soldering is to be performed, the coordinate distance being stored as positional data of the subsequent soldering position, and
wherein after the positional data of the soldering position and the positional data of the subsequent soldering position are stored in the storage, the controller reads the positional data of the soldering position and the positional data of the subsequent soldering position to control the driving portion so that the iron tip of the soldering iron moves from the start point of the soldering position to the end point of the soldering position and returns to the start point, and then controls the driving portion so that the iron tip of the soldering iron moves to a position specified by the positional data of the subsequent soldering position.

10. The soldering apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a base configured to support the soldering iron; and
an installation table on which an electronic board is installed to be soldered by the soldering iron,
wherein the installation table and the operation portion are attached to the base, and
wherein the lever portion protrudes from a recessed r

Assignees

• Hakko Corp

Inventors

• Teraoka Yoshitomo
• Takahara Tomoo

Classifications

• B23K1/0016

  Soldering of electronic components · CPC title

• B23K3/08 Primary

  Auxiliary devices therefor · CPC title

• G05B19/00

  Program-control systems · CPC title

• B23K3/025

  Bits or tips · CPC title

• B23K3/02 Primary

  Soldering irons; Bits · CPC title