US 5,180,440 A · Printed circuit thermocouple arrangements for personnel training and equipment evaluation purposes

Abstract

A thermocouple arrangement for developing, evaluating, monitoring and adjusting any process performed on or otherwise so as to thermally affect a printed circuit board assembly or other electronic assembly (including bare circuit board or boards in the manufacturing process), such as soldering/desoldering and various other production, rework and repair processes including cleaning, fluxing, preheating, thermocompression bonding and spot welding. In accordance with various embodiments, a layer of a first conductor material is applied on a first surface of an electrically insulative support, while a second layer of a second, dissimilar, conductor material is applied to at least one other surface of the support using conventional printed circuit board construction techniques. At those locations where thermocouple junctions are required, holes are drilled through the conductor layers and support material, and then the two layers of conductor are electrically connected by a plating of the first conductor material through the through hole. The voltages produced by the thermocouples during a production/repair/rework operation on an emulated electronic assembly may be monitored and used to develop, modify or adjust the operation of thermally affecting processes thereon, train personnel or evaluate equipment. Numerous different processes can be evaluated involving different permutations of thermal mass configurations, heat source locations and types, and thermocouple locations.

Claims19

Dependent claims

Thermocouple arrangement for providing temperature data, resulting from use of at least one thermally affecting process on an electronic assembly via simulated production/rework/repair operation, comprising an electrically insulative support, a layer of a first conductor material applied on a first surface of said support, at least one printed circuit pattern of a second conductor material, that is dissimilar to said first conductor material, formed on at least one other surface of the support;

wherein said printed circuit pattern is comprised of circuitry having thermocouple pad terminal portions, signal monitoring connection portions and trace interconnections running therebetween;
wherein at least one thermocouple pad terminal portion of the printed circuit pattern of the second conductor is connected to the layer of the first conductor material by an electrical connection that is formed of said first conductor material and which extends through said support therebetween in a manner creating a thermocouple junction on the respective thermocouple pad terminal portion due to the first conductor material which forms the electrical connection extending through and into overlying relationship with said at least one thermocouple pad portion;
wherein said printed circuit pattern of the second conductor material has a plurality of electrically connected terminal portions, and wherein the circuitry for some of said terminal portions is of a different area relative to the area of other of said terminal portions for simulating differing thermal mass configurations.

wherein said printed circuit pattern is comprises of circuitry having thermocouple pad terminal portions, signal monitoring connection portions and trace interconnections running therebetween;
wherein at least one thermocouple pad terminal portion of the printed circuit pattern of the second conductor is connected to the layer of the first conductor material by an electrical connection that is formed of said first conductor material and which extends through said support therebetween in a manner creating a thermocouple junction on the respective thermocouple pad terminal portion due to the first conductor material which forms the electrical connection extending through and into overlying relationship with said at least one thermocouple pad portion;
wherein said printed circuit pattern of the second conductor material has a plurality of electrically connected terminal portions, and wherein the circuitry for some of said terminal portions is of a different area relative to the area of other of said terminal portions for simulating differing thermal mass configurations;
wherein said electrical connection is formed by first conductor material being plated through a through hole in the support and onto terminal portions of said printed circuit patterns in a manner mechanically as well as electrically connecting the terminal portions of the patterns of the first and second conductor materials;
wherein the amount of first conductor material provided in a said through hole is predetermined as a means for simulating heat sinks.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Printed circuit thermocouple arrangements for personnel training and equipment evaluation purposes

Life of this patent

Printed circuit thermocouple arrangements for personnel training and equipment evaluation purposes

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims19