Reflow Oven for Soldering of Printed Circuit Boards and RF / Microwave Housings

PRO 1600 is a forced air / nitrogen convection reflow oven with a small footprint measuring only 31" x 31" (80cm x 80cm). It has been designed for reflow soldering of even the most challenging applications including metal core, high thermal mass, RF / microwave housings, wafer boards, and ceramic assemblies. PRO 1600 is very user friendly in terms of profile creation and modification. Sealed heating chamber enables ramp up rates of up to 4° Celsius/second from ambient and programming of up to 10 profile zones. It offers a unique On-The-Fly settings adjustment capability that allows creating and optimizing profiles all in a single pass. Where other batch and conveyor ovens fail to meet the desired profile curve, PRO 1600 excels.

Precise software control delivers unsurpassed temperature uniformity. Maintaining a low delta T across all of the components on the assembly ensures that they are not overheated or thermally stressed. Even for prototypes, this often means avoiding to spend hours of testing and debugging failed boards. With the optional External Thermocouple Control (ETC), profiles may be processed based on temperature readings of the assembly, not the air temperature around it. An optional Video Recording and Observation Module allows taking high magnification images and recording video during a soldering cycle. Increased productivity, superior performance and ease of operation make the PRO 1600 a versatile system ideal for small to medium run production, prototyping, NPI, testing or curing.

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Why solder in a Nitrogen reflow oven?

Most PCBs are reflowed in an air atmosphere with great results. However, for mission critical or high reliability applications (i.e. aerospace, military, telecommunications) reflow soldering in a Nitrogen gas atmosphere with low levels of Oxygen is common and is a preferred setup. There are two main reasons for this.

First, Nitrogen is an inert gas that is purged in the reflow chamber to displace Oxygen. Low levels of Oxygen (below 500 PPM) mean there is less oxidation at the solder joints when the alloy is in a molten state. This yields metallurgically stronger solder joints with less voiding and in turn higher quality product that is able to withstand longer thermal cycles and pass the required reliability testing. For most applications, Oxygen PPM level below 1,000 may be required however, some specify O2 under 10 PPM which is essentially an Oxygen free environment.

Second main reason for using Nitrogen during reflow soldering is that it allows for a wider process window than traditional air reflow. PCB assemblies that are thermally heavy due to their mass or materials may take too long to get to reflow temperatures. In an air reflow oven, this will cause flux burn off and by the time solder paste reaches melting temperature there may not be enough flux left to remove the oxide film from the board pads to allow for proper wetting of solder. If reflowed in a Nitrogen atmosphere, even if most of the flux is burned off, low concentration of oxygen means there is very little oxides at the pads so oxidation will not interfere with quality of the solder joint formation. This means a PCB may be reflowed with a profile that takes considerably more time than is recommended by the solder paste manufacturer and still have high quality solder joints.

• Full Convection Air / Nitrogen Reflow
• Up to 10 individually programmable zones
• Small Footprint of 31" x 31"
• Computer control with unlimited profile storage capacity
• Comprehensive software package with monitoring and profiling capability
• No Warm-Up time required before operating
• Integrated Exhaust / Fume Cleaning Unit
• Nitrogen ready with low rates of consumption
• Optional configuration allows Oxygen levels down to 10 PPM
• External Thermocouple Control
• Automatic Profile Repeat function (up to 10 times)
• Library of predefined profiles
• Password protected login for engineers and operators
• Plug and Operate Configuration
• Minimal maintenance
• Designed and Manufactured in USA

• Printed Circuit Board (PCB) assemblies requiring high quality and repeatable results in prototype - medium volumes (depending on PCB size).
• Single or Double Sided PCB’s with standard or Pb-Free solders.
• Densely populated, metal core, and high thermal mass assemblies.
• Surface Mount Devices per IPC / JEDEC J-STD-020 and JESD22-A113F standards for Leaded and Pb-Free profiles
• Reflow of solder preforms in an inert atmosphere.
• IPC-TM-650 Test Method 2.6.27 - Thermal Stress, Convection Reflow Assembly Simulation / IPC-9631. 
• Bare PCB’s to simulate profiles developed for volume production environments.
• Delamination and other quality issues testing on multilayer PCB’s.
• Various composite materials for analysis / testing.
• Ceramic substrates to Gold Plated Nickel / Copper housings using preforms in an atmosphere with <50 PPM of Oxygen.
• Copper heatsinks to PCB’s using preforms.
• Gold / Tin reflow.
• Wafer Bumping with Oxygen levels below 10 PPM
• Preconditioning reflows of IC’s while in extruded aluminum tubes.
• Aluminum pins to a metal housing.
• Flex connector to ceramic substrate.
• Surface Mount Devices / Passive Components to ceramic substrate.
• Connector filters with fluxed preforms.
• LED’s in production quantities.
• Various solder pastes for analysis in an R&D environment.

Unlike a long tunnel or conveyor type SMT reflow oven, PRO 1600 does not need to be pre-heated before it is ready to process PCBs. An operator would simply turn on the power, load the control software and the system is ready for reflow soldering with the chamber at ambient temperature. This is especially helpful in non-production type environments like prototype labs or for small lot runs typically saving 30 minutes or more by eliminating preheating.

When PRO 1600 is turned on, the cover automatically opens while the loading tray slides out slowly for easy access to place down circuit boards. Once PCBs are loaded (either single or double sided), the operator would select an appropriate reflow oven profile from the software screen. A reflow oven profile is a pre-programmed set of parameters like ramp up rate, temperature, time at set temperature, cooling method, etc., that is specific to the PCBs being soldered. The software includes a library of different profiles tailored to the solder type used in the process as well as general size and mass of the circuit board. An operator can create custom profiles for their unique boards or simply optimize the existing profiles.

As the Start icon is activated, the loading tray automatically slides into the reflow chamber at an adjustable and controlled speed. A reflow profile is then processed per the programmed settings. PRO 1600’s control software constantly monitors actual ramp up rates and temperature inside an oven to the programmed values for accuracy. Once the reflow cycle is complete, the cover will open slowly and tray automatically exits from a heating chamber. PRO 1600 is now in a standby mode, ready for a new cycle run.

The following parameters may be programmed for each profile:

• Up to 5 Ramp Up stages ( ° Celsius / second)
• Up to 5 Temperature stages
• Up to 5 Time at Temperature stages
• Up to 4 In-Process Cooling stages
• Final Cooling stage
• Cooling Modes - 4 types
• Initial Lag time to reach low Oxygen level
• Nitrogen purge time
• Automatic Profile Repeat (up to 10 times)

Profiles are developed, stored, and recalled within PRO 1600’s software package. It controls the reflow cycle, automation of process sequences, and automatic execution of safety checks before and during every profile run.

• Real-Time process graphing
• Profile processing based on part / PCB temperature control*  
• Profile development with up to 7 thermocouples*
• Library with predefined profiles
• On-The-Fly settings adjustment
• Real- time data recording for documentation and analysis
• Password Protected Access
• User friendly environment
• Designed for Windows® 10 Pro OS

There are two standard configurations of the PRO 1600 series. They both share the same design and principle of operation. Below is a comparison matrix outlining features of each model. Additionally, various modifications may be made to satisfy specific application requirements. They include higher temperature rating, process video recording, and fixture customization.

• External Thermocouple Control (Part: ETC-PRO)
  • profile is executed based on temperature reading from the application
  • allows for both fixed and external thermocouple control
• Multiple Thermocouple Data Acquisition System (Part: MTDA-PRO)
  • built-in 7 thermocouple interface controller for profile development
  • 7 K-type thermocouples
• Double Sided PCB Fixture (Part: DSBF-PRO)
• External Cooling Fans Module (Part: ECF-PRO)
• Laptop Computer Stand (Part: LCS-PRO)
• Additional Nitrogen line for Oxygen level down to 10 PPM
• Custom Fixtures / Tooling
• Video Recording and Observation Module (Part: VRM-PRO)