Soldering station with built-in self-calibration function

Abstract

A soldering station with a control unit and a soldering iron having a replaceable soldering tip, the soldering iron being connected to the control unit by a power cord for receiving electrical power from said control unit is provided with an automatic calibration feature. The control unit has circuitry for controlling the temperature of the soldering iron at the tip by adjusting the supply of power to the tip heater of the soldering iron, a temperature selector for enabling selection of a temperature to which the soldering iron is to be heated by a user, a calibration temperature sensor connected to said circuitry and exposed for enabling it to be engaged by the tip of the soldering iron. The circuitry has a calibration mode and a heating mode, and in said calibration mode, the circuitry is compares a temperature sensed by the calibration temperature sensor and produced by contacting of the soldering iron which has been heated to a temperature selected with said temperature selector with the calibration temperature sensor, and adjusts the power supply to the tip heater so as to bring the temperature sensed by the calibration temperature sensor into conformance with the temperature selected with the temperature selector.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.