SEHO Will Introduce Zero-Fault Production at productronica

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SEHO Systems GmbH, a worldwide leading manufacturer of complete solutions for soldering processes and automated production lines, will highlight zero-fault production in hall A4, booth 578 at the upcoming productronica International Trade Fair, scheduled to take place Nov. 10-13, 2015 at the Messe München exhibition center in Munich, Germany. Innovative solutions and custom-made automation technology demonstrate SEHO’s future viability.

Zero-Fault Production Line with Automatic Rework

Typically, manual rework processes – if allowed at all – are almost non-reproducible and often cannot be performed with the required high quality. In addition, manual rework is time-consuming and cost-intensive, and hidden costs such as productivity rates or staff training need to be considered.

The zero-fault production line from SEHO is designed for selective soldering of through-hole components, free from defects and completely traced. Besides the selective mini-wave soldering process, this production line incorporates automated optical inspection (AOI) of the solder joints, a verify workstation for verification and classification of detected faults as well as a defined and automated rework soldering process according to the respective soldering defect. Intelligent handling units automatically allocate the assemblies to the next work station.

Of course, all modules in this zero-fault production line are linked with a bi-directional data transfer. All process and machine data is completely recorded, analyzed and documented.

Fully reproducible and operator-independent processes, automatic rework of only verified defects, not the entire board, and no influence on the cycle time of the overall system are only a few of the outstanding advantages of this zero-fault production line from SEHO.

Wave Soldering System of the Future

New concepts also are required in the field of wave soldering in order to meet the goal of a defect-free production. For this purpose SEHO developed a new system where all process-relevant components – fluxing, preheating and soldering – have been replaced by new, innovative modules.

To activate the surface of the PCB prior to wave soldering, typically a solvent-based flux is applied. Alternatively, now a plasma process can be used to deposit flux powder, so a solvent can be avoided. Due to reduced residues, product quality and downtime of the system can be improved.

Preheating of PCBs, especially for the increasing share of power electronics, requires a high energy density. This can be implemented efficiently by using new infrared emitters that offer extremely good heat transfer and are only activated in the areas where a PCB is located. This can be achieved by the fast response of the emitters, an exact PCB monitoring system and newly developed software.

For the solder wave, the increasing product mix is a major challenge. To meet this requirement, SEHO developed a dual soldering unit that allows independent temperature settings for the solder and an automotive-compliant separation of different solder materials. The exchange between two solder alloys for two different products can take place in seconds, the unused solder is completely separated from the process chamber.