Intelligent soldering cartridge for automatic soldering connection validation

An intelligent soldering cartridge comprising:

• a housing;
• a solder tip;
• a heater for heating the solder tip;
• a storage device for storing information about characteristics of the cartridge;
• a processor for retrieving the information about characteristics of the cartridge, detecting liquidus occurrence at a solder joint, receiving a 3D current image of the solder joint, determining volume of the dispensed solder after occurrence of the liquidus from the 3D current image, comparing the volume of the dispensed solder to an amount of solder needed to fill in a barrel of a hole for a through hole component, or to fill in a surface of a barrel of a hole for a surface mount component to determine how much of the dispensed solder is dissipated onto the barrel or on the surface area of the barrel, repeating the comparing of the volume of the dispensed solder until the dispensed solder has filled the barrel or the surface area of the barrel, and generating an indication signal indicating that a reliable solder joint connection is formed when the dispensed solder has filled the barrel or the surface area of the barrel within the predetermined tolerance;
• and
• an interface for transmitting the indication signal.