Method an apparatus for obtaining reflow oven settings for soldering a PCB

A system for automatically determining settings for a reflow oven for soldering a printed circuit board (PCB) comprising:

• a microprocessor;
• programming means for installing a neural network program into said microprocessor;
• a reflow oven including a plurality of temperature zones, and a motor driven conveyor belt for moving a PCB through said plurality of temperature zones;
• means for determining thermal characteristics for a representative plurality of different samples of printed circuit boards typical of a family of printed circuit boards that may be run through said reflow oven, whereby for each sample PCB, certain thermal characteristics are selected and used in combination with identifiable physical characteristics for each sample PCB, for obtaining identifying and distinguishing input features between each sample PCB;
• means for determining for each of said plurality of sample PCB boards output features including the belt speed, and temperature settings for said temperature zones, respectively, of said oven for obtaining acceptable soldering of said sample PCB boards;
• and
• means for training said neural network by sequentially and iteratively applying via said microprocessor said input features to input nodes of said neural network, and said output features to output nodes of said neural network, respectively for each sample PCB, whereafter said neural network is operable in a recall mode for receiving features of a non-sample PCB, for providing as outputs from said neural network a desired belt speed, and temperature settings for each zone of said oven, for setting up said oven to solder said non-sample PCB.