PCB market
Infrared sensors in the booming PCB market
The PCB market is booming.
Manufacturers of PCB’s watch worldwide trends and opportunities to reduce production cost whilst increasing quality and lifetime. It is almost logical that they are looking at solid temperature management as temperature plays a very critical and crucial role.
Find below how infrared temperature sensors are being used in this exciting growing market.
Happy reading.
Advantages of using a smart infrared sensor checking the temperature of the PCB in dispenser machines
This Fortune 200 global industrial manufacturer operates in 58 countries, and develops and provides capital equipment used in electronics manufacturing. These can be found in premier printed circuit board (PCB) assembly facilities worldwide. In one of their fluid dispensers, they were running into a thermal management challenge and were looking how to control the temperature of the PCB. To give you an idea of the size of the PCB market, this was $75 billion in 2021 and knows a CAGR of over 5% of which the electronics industry covers a larg part of this market.
Dispensing technology
Dispensing is a process in which glue, oil or other liquids are applied or dripped to a PCB or specific components mounted on a PCB. Materials dispensed can range from very low (water like) to very high (toothpaste like) viscosity and encompass many different functions. These include solder paste to electrically connect components, encapsulants to protect devices from atmospheric conditions and provide moisture-proof insulation, thermal interface materials (TIMs) to help dissipate heat from parts, and adhesives to attach parts to a substrate or assembly. The dispensing process actually is a process to protect the product and improve the product reliability.
The value of testing printed circuit boards using test fixtures and infrared sensors
PCB Market
The printed circuit board (PCB) Market size is large, it surpassed USD 75 billion in 2021 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of over 5% between this year (2022) and 2030. While often obscured from sight, PCBs play an essential role in our everyday live, constituting the electronic back bone of many appliances we daily depend on.
Communications (business/retail/computers/telecom) together account for around 60% of the global PCB market and are expected to retain the dominance. PCB’s application in the automotive industry is expected to be the fastest-growing segment in the years to come due to the growing integrated and sophisticated features required in modern vehicles. GPS navigation system, anti-lock brake system (ABS), ECU systems that control engines, and many safety and security features all require PCBs.
Challenge of reducing costs while increasing quality and lifetime
Manufacturers of PCBs are continuously looking for ways to reduce cost of production and to increase quality and lifetime of the PCBs. Temperature plays a critical role in this endeavor, and measuring the temperature becomes more and more important.
Tech Note #23: Controlling printed circuit board preheat during wave soldering
The IRt/c is an excellent solution to the problem of heater control for PC board preheat. IRt/c’s work particularly well in this process, since both the heating and measuring occur right at the surface, where the solder must flow. The IRt/c reading is unaffected by reflections from the heater, since the spectral response of the 6-14 micron IRt/c lens filters out any shorter wavelengths of the radiant heater energy.
The IRt/c may be mounted in between ceramic heaters, or in the shroud or reflector of the radiant heater, such that it can see in between the elements.
Select the IRt/c model with the field-of-view required to see past the elements to the PC boards. Care should be taken in mounting the IRt/c in such a way as to keep its temperature below 93°C (200°F) and to keep the lens clean. The IRt/c.3x is the preferred model for this application because of its small physical size and built-in air purge. It can function in temperatures to 121°C (250°F) when the air purge system is used. For still narrower fields of view, the IRt/c.5 and IRt/c.10 with 5:1 and 10:1 FOV respectively are very popular.
.png)
