Solder supply device, soldering system and automatic control method of blowing

Abstract

The present application provides a solder supply device, a welding system and an automatic control method of blowing. The solder supply device has a solder-gas supply pipe as a gas inner channel and a housing. The solder-gas supply pipe has a solder pipe and a gas pipe. The housing covers the end of the solder-gas supply pipe and has an outlet for outputting solder and flowing gas. The solder-gas supply pipe penetrates into the housing. The present application can reduce the device volume and effectively disperse the smoke caused by welding, thereby improving the welding quality.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to devices, systems and methods, and particularly relates to a solder supply device, a soldering system and an automatic control method of blowing gas. BACKGROUND

[0002] In order to improve the soldering quality by removing the oxides on the surface of the metal, rosin or other organic substances are usually added to the solder as flux.

[0003] However, during the soldering process, these organic substances are heated and released in the form of smoke, which interferes with the soldering equipment such as laser instruments, cameras and thermometers. Moreover, if the operator inhales these toxic smoke for a long time, it will increase the risk of lung disease.

[0004] To solve the above problems, the existing soldering equipment adds a smoke exhaust device or a blowing device to disperse the smoke. However, the above-mentioned method must add a smoke exhaust device or a blowing device, which increases the risk of interfering with the soldering in a small soldering space.

[0005] Therefore, the existing soldering equipment has the above-mentioned problems, and a more effective solution is urgently needed. SUMMARY

[0006] The main purpose of the present application is to provide a solder supply device with gas internal flow channel, a soldering system and an automatic control method of blowing gas, which can use the same device to supply solder and blow gas.

[0007] In an embodiment, a solder supply device with gas internal flow channel includes a material gas supply pipe and a housing. The material gas supply pipe includes a material supply pipe and a gas supply pipe, the material supply pipe is used to transport a solder and is connected to a material supply device for supplying the solder, and the gas supply pipe is used to transport flowing gas and is connected to a gas supply device for supplying the flowing gas. The housing covers the end of the material gas supply pipe, the housing is provided with an outlet to output the solder and the flowing gas, and the material gas supply pipe penetrates into the inside of the housing from an inlet provided in the housing.

[0008] In one embodiment, a soldering system includes a solder supply device with a gas flow channel as described above, a fume sensing device, a soldering device, a solder supply device, a gas supply device, and a control device connected to the fume sensing device, the soldering device, the solder supply device, and the gas supply device. The solder supply device is used to supply the solder to a soldering location. The fume sensing device is used to sense a fume concentration. The soldering device is used to heat the soldering location. The solder supply device, connected to the solder supply tube of the solder supply device, is used to supply the solder. The gas supply device, connected to the gas supply tube of the solder supply device, is used to supply the flow gas. The control device is configured to control the gas supply device to deliver the flow gas to expel fume from the outlet of the solder supply device when the fume concentration meets a fume expelling condition.

[0009] In one embodiment, an automatic gas blowing method is applied to a soldering system including a solder supply device with a gas flow channel as described above, including: a) supplying the solder to a soldering location by the solder supply device; b) heating the soldering location to melt the solder; c) sensing a fume concentration; and d) outputting the flow gas by the solder supply device to reduce the fume concentration when the fume concentration meets a fume expelling condition.

[0010] The present application can reduce the size of the device by integrating the solder supply and the gas blowing in the same device, effectively expel the fume caused by soldering, and improve the quality of soldering. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0011] Figure 1 The architecture of the solder supply device of one embodiment of the present application.

[0012] Figure 2 The architecture of the solder supply device of one embodiment of the present application.

[0013] Figure 3 The architecture of the soldering system of one embodiment of the present application.

[0014] Figure 4 The architecture of the control device of one embodiment of the present application.

[0015] Figure 5 The architecture of the soldering system of one embodiment of the present application.

[0016] Figure 6 The flowchart of the soldering procedure of one embodiment of the present application.

[0017] Figure 7 The flowchart of the preheating procedure of one embodiment of the present application.

[0018] Figure 8Flow chart for calculating smoke concentration for an embodiment of the present application.

[0019] Reference numerals:

[0020] 1: solder supply device

[0021] 10: gas supply pipe

[0022] 11: feed pipe

[0023] 12: gas supply pipe

[0024] 13: housing

[0025] 14: outlet

[0026] 15: inlet

[0027] 16: gap

[0028] 17: solder

[0029] 18: space

[0030] 30: control device

[0031] 300: soldering control module

[0032] 301: preheating control module

[0033] 302: blowing control module

[0034] 303: smoke analysis module

[0035] 31: feed device

[0036] 32: gas supply device

[0037] 320: high-pressure gas source

[0038] 321: high-temperature gas source

[0039] 33: soldering device

[0040] 330: laser module

[0041] 331: laser light path

[0042] 34: smoke sensing device

[0043] 340: image acquisition device

[0044] 40: soldering target

[0045] 41: circuit board

[0046] L1, L2: laser

[0047] Im1: visible light

[0048] Im2: Image signal

[0049] 50: Carrying platform

[0050] 51: Tee connector

[0051] 52: Electric control valve

[0052] 53: Solenoid valve

[0053] 54: Mobile device

[0054] C1-C4: control signal

[0055] S10-S15: Welding steps

[0056] S20-S27: Preheating step

[0057] S30-S34: Smoke density calculation steps DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0058] A preferred embodiment of the present invention is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0059] See also Figure 1 , is a structural diagram of a solder supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The present invention provides a solder supply device 1 having an inner gas flow channel for supplying solder 17 (such as tin wire or other materials of solder) for welding and blowing air to dissipate smoke.

[0060] Specifically, the solder supply device 1 includes a material gas supply pipe 10 and a housing 13 . The material gas supply pipe 10 includes a material supply pipe 11 and a gas supply pipe 12 .

[0061] The feeding pipe 11 is used as a transportation channel for the solder 17 and is connected to the feeding device 31 (such as Figure 3 As shown), and is used to transport the solder 17 provided by the feeding device 31 to the solder supply device 1 for soldering.

[0062] In one embodiment, the material of the feeding tube 11 includes Teflon. Due to the low friction coefficient of the Teflon inner layer, the solder 17 can be easily pushed out or withdrawn from the feeding tube 11.

[0063] The gas supply pipe 12 is used as a gas transportation channel and is connected to the gas supply device 32 (such as Figure 3 As shown), and is used to transport the flowing gas (such as high-pressure gas) provided by the gas supply device 32 to the solder supply device 1 for blowing.

[0064] The housing 13 covers the end of the flux gas supply pipe 10. The housing 13 is provided with an outlet 14 and an inlet 15. The flux gas supply pipe 10 (including the flux supply pipe 11 and the gas supply pipe 12) penetrates into the interior of the housing 13 from the inlet 15. And, in the interior of the housing 13, the flux gas supply pipe 10 can be arranged towards the outlet 14. In this way, when the flux supply device 31 starts to supply flux and / or the gas supply device 32 starts to supply gas, the flux 17 and the flowing gas can be output from the outlet 14.

[0065] In an embodiment, the end of the gas supply pipe 15 is open in the housing 13 and communicates with the outlet 14 through the inner wall of the housing 13, which makes the flowing gas discharged from the end of the gas supply pipe 15 flow along the inner wall to the outlet 14 and disperse the smoke around the outlet 14.

[0066] In an embodiment, the housing 13 is pen-shaped, and the cross-sectional area of one end thereof is gradually reduced to form the outlet 14 (as shown in the left half of Figure 1 ).

[0067] In an embodiment, the diameter of the outlet 14 is greater than the diameter of the flux 17. In this way, the outlet 14 can allow the flux 17 and the gas to be output simultaneously. For example, when a tin wire with a diameter of 1 mm is used as the flux 17, the diameter of the outlet 14 can be set to 1.3 mm.

[0068] In an embodiment, as shown in Figure 1 , the flux supply pipe 11 and the gas supply pipe 12 can be coaxial pipes. For example, the flux supply pipe 11 is an inner pipe, and the inner space 18 thereof is used as a flux transport channel. And, the gas supply pipe 12 is an outer pipe, and the gap 16 between the outer pipe and the inner pipe is used as a flowing gas transport channel.

[0069] And, the gas supply pipe 12 (the outer pipe) has higher strength and lower flexibility than the flux supply pipe 11 (the inner pipe), thereby providing protection for the inner pipe.

[0070] And, in at least part of the pipeline outside the housing 13 (such as the pipeline between the flux supply device 1 and the tee joint 51 as shown in Figure 5 ), the gas supply pipe 12 completely covers the flux supply pipe 11 to protect the flux 17 in the inner pipe from being bent.

[0071] In an embodiment, as shown in Figure 1 , the pipeline of the gas supply pipe 12 outside the housing 13 has a relatively thick pipe wall thickness to provide sufficient protection, but after entering the interior of the housing 13, the pipe wall thickness of the gas supply pipe 12 can be reduced to reduce the occupied volume due to the protection function of the housing 13.

[0072] In an embodiment, as shown in Figure 1As shown, the opening of the supply pipe 11 in the housing 13 is not covered by the gas pipe 12, i.e. the length of the supply pipe 11 in the housing 13 can be greater than the length of the gas pipe 12 in the housing 13.

[0073] Specifically, inside the housing 13, the opening of the gas pipe 12 is disposed at the reduced portion, so that the flowing gas can be discharged from the outlet 14 along the inner wall of the reduced portion. Also, the opening of the supply pipe 11 extends to the outlet 14, so that the solder 17 can be directly extruded from the opening of the gas pipe 12 to the outlet 14 without being blocked by the inner wall of the housing 16.

[0074] The present application can avoid the high-pressure flowing gas to blow the solder 17 in the pipeline or the housing 13, which can cause the solder 17 or the inner wall to be damaged, by transporting the solder 17 and the flowing gas in the same coaxial pipe and extending the supply pipe 11 to the opening 14.

[0075] Please refer to Figure 2 , which is a schematic diagram of a solder supply device according to an embodiment of the present application. In the embodiment shown in Figure 2 , the supply pipe 11 for transporting the solder 17 and the gas pipe 12 for transporting the flowing gas are arranged in different pipelines from the same or different inlets 15 to the housing 13 and output the solder 17 and the flowing gas through the same outlet 14.

[0076] The present application can reduce the size of the device and effectively dissipate the smoke caused by welding by integrating the solder supply and the blowing gas in the same device, thereby improving the welding quality.

[0077] In an embodiment, the solder supply device 1 can be obtained by modifying an existing solder supply module.

[0078] For example, as shown in Figure 1 , the existing solder supply module only has the supply pipe 12, and the present application can replace the supply pipe 12 of the solder supply module with the aforementioned coaxial pipe and connect the inner pipe of the coaxial pipe to the supply device 31 and connect the outer pipe to the gas supply device 32.

[0079] In another example, as shown in Figure 2 , the supply pipe 12 of the solder supply module is not changed, but the present application can additionally provide the gas pipe 12 connected to the gas supply device 32 on the solder supply module to add the blowing gas function to the solder supply module.

[0080] The solder supply device 1 of the present application can be obtained by modifying the existing solder supply module, which can greatly save the manufacturing cost and time. Also, the present application does not need to change the specifications of the components of the solder supply module, which can provide lower system complexity.

[0081] Please refer to Figures 1 to 3 , Figure 3Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a soldering system according to an embodiment of the present application. The present application also provides a soldering system capable of performing soldering by the soldering apparatus 1 as described above. Furthermore, the soldering system of the present application is capable of sensing the concentration of fumes during soldering and performing air blowing to disperse the fumes when the concentration of fumes is too high.

[0082] In particular, the soldering system can include the soldering apparatus 1 having the gas inner channel, the feeding device 31, the gas supplying device 32, the soldering device 33, the fume sensing device 34 and the control device 30 of any of the embodiments described above.

[0083] The soldering apparatus 1 is operable to move the outlet 14 to a designated soldering position and to supply the solder 17 to the soldering position. The soldering apparatus 1 is also operable to perform air blowing to the soldering position.

[0084] The feeding device 31 is connected to the feeding pipe 11 and supplies the solder 17 to the soldering apparatus 1 through the feeding pipe 11. In an embodiment, the feeding device 31 can be a solder wire feeder and push or pull a solder wire in the feeding pipe 11.

[0085] The gas supplying device 32 is connected to the gas pipe 12 and supplies the flowing gas to the soldering apparatus 1 through the gas pipe 12. The gas supplying device 32 can include one or more gas sources for providing different types of flowing gas.

[0086] For example, the gas supplying device 32 can include a high pressure gas source, a high pressure nitrogen gas source, a normal temperature high pressure gas source, a high temperature high pressure gas source, a low temperature high pressure gas source, a normal temperature high pressure nitrogen gas source, a high temperature high pressure nitrogen gas source, a low temperature high pressure nitrogen gas source or other high pressure gas sources. The high pressure gas source is used to provide high pressure gas, the high pressure nitrogen gas source is used to provide high pressure nitrogen gas, the normal temperature high pressure gas source is used to provide normal temperature high pressure gas, the high temperature high pressure gas source is used to provide high temperature high pressure gas, the low temperature high pressure gas source is used to provide low temperature high pressure gas, the normal temperature high pressure nitrogen gas source is used to provide normal temperature high pressure nitrogen gas, the high temperature high pressure nitrogen gas source is used to provide high temperature high pressure nitrogen gas, and the low temperature high pressure nitrogen gas source is used to provide low temperature high pressure nitrogen gas.

[0087] In an embodiment, the present application can use the above-mentioned different types of flowing gas for different purposes in soldering. For example, normal temperature gas can be used to disperse the fumes generated in soldering, high temperature gas can be used to preheat the soldering target 40, low temperature gas can be used to cool the solder joint after soldering, and nitrogen gas can be used to avoid oxidation or other chemical reactions.

[0088] In an embodiment, the present application can switch the gas source for gas supplying by opening and closing an electric valve (such as the electric control valve 52 and / or the electromagnetic valve 53) as shown in Figure 1 and can control the gas supplying pressure and the gas supplying volume of the switched gas source. Figure 5

[0089] ​The soldering device 33 is used to heat the soldering target 40 (e.g. the solder 17 and / or the pads at the soldering position) to melt the solder 17, so that the melted solder 17 covers the pads and the pins of the electronic components. The soldering device 33 can include a laser module for laser soldering, a gas flame module for flame soldering, an electric arc module for arc soldering, or other heating modules for other types of soldering.

[0090] The smoke sensing device 34 is used to sense the smoke concentration at the soldering position.

[0091] In an embodiment, the smoke sensing device 34 can include a smoke detector for sensing the smoke concentration. The smoke detector can be an ionization smoke detector or a photoelectric smoke detector, and can sense the smoke concentration by conductivity or light obscuration.

[0092] In an embodiment, the smoke sensing device 34 can include an image acquisition device 340 (as shown in FIG. 4) connected to the control device 30, and can capture images of the soldering position to obtain soldering images. The control device 30 can analyze the soldering images by computer vision to calculate the smoke concentration. Figure 5

[0093] The control device 30 is used to control the soldering system, and can control the soldering system to perform the automatic control method of soldering and / or the automatic control method of blowing air as described below.

[0094] In an embodiment, the control device 30 can be configured to control the air supply device 32 to deliver the flowing gas to the solder supply device 1 when the smoke concentration meets a pre-set smoke exhaust condition, so that the flowing gas is exhausted from the outlet of the solder supply device 1 to disperse the smoke. The pre-set smoke exhaust condition can be that the smoke concentration reaches a pre-set concentration, the smoke area reaches a pre-set area or a pre-set percentage, etc.

[0095] In an embodiment, the control device 30 can be an industrial computer, and can include a processor, an input / output interface, a network interface, a memory, and other computer devices.

[0096] Please refer to Figures 1 to 4 , Figure 4 FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the control device according to an embodiment of the present application. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the control device 30 can include a processor (not shown in the figure) which can include modules 300-304 configured to perform different functions. Figure 4 The soldering control module 300 is used to control the progress of the soldering process. Specifically, during the soldering process, the soldering control module 300 can control the movement and feeding of the solder supply device 1, and can control the heating power of the soldering device 33.

[0097]

[0098] ​​In one embodiment, the welding control module 300 can obtain one or more welding parameters of the current solder target 40, each of which corresponds to a heating power of a welding stage.

[0099] For example, in a three-stage welding process, the first welding power of the first welding stage can be used to steadily increase the solder target 40 to a temperature close to the melting point, the second welding power of the second welding stage can be used to melt the solder 17, and the cooling power of the cooling stage can be used to cool the molten solder 17 to form a solder joint. The second welding power can be the highest, the first welding power can be the second highest, and the cooling power can be the lowest or zero.

[0100] The preheating control module 301 is configured to control the preheating process. Specifically, before the welding process, the preheating process is performed to heat the solder target 40 to a temperature close to a pre-set working temperature, to reduce the temperature difference of the solder target 40 (e.g. the temperature difference between the solder 17 and the pads), and to reduce the heating time of the welding process. During the preheating process, the welding control module 300 can control the movement and feeding of the solder supply device 1, and can use a pre-set preheating power as the heating power of the soldering device 33.

[0101] In one embodiment, the welding control module 300 can obtain one or more preheating parameters of the current solder target 40, each of which corresponds to a heating power of a preheating stage, i.e. a preheating power.

[0102] In one embodiment, the preheating power is lower than the welding power and higher than the cooling power.

[0103] The gas blowing control module 302 is configured to control the switching between different gas sources, so that the solder supply device 1 blows out different types of flowing gas based on different pre-set conditions. The gas blowing control module 302 can also control the parameters of the flowing gas, such as the gas supply pressure, the gas supply volume, the gas supply time, etc.

[0104] The smoke analysis module 303 is configured to analyze the smoke concentration, and can determine whether the smoke concentration meets the smoke exhaust condition.

[0105] In one embodiment, when the smoke sensing device 34 includes a smoke detector, the smoke analysis module 303 can obtain the sensing value of the smoke detector to calculate the smoke concentration.

[0106] In one embodiment, when the smoke sensing device 34 includes an image acquisition device 340, the smoke analysis module 303 can obtain the welding image captured by the image acquisition device 340, and calculate the smoke concentration by analyzing the welding image.

[0107] The aforementioned modules 300-303 are connected to each other (which can be electrical connection and information connection), and can be hardware modules (such as electronic circuit modules, integrated circuit modules, SoC, etc.), software modules (such as firmware, operating system or application program) or a combination of software and hardware modules, without limitation.

[0108] It is worth mentioning that when the aforementioned modules 300-303 are software modules (such as firmware, operating system or application program), the memory (not shown in the figure) of the control device 30 can include a non-transitory computer readable recording medium (not shown in the figure) which stores a computer program, and the computer program records computer executable program codes, and when the processor of the control device 30 executes the aforementioned program codes, the functions of the corresponding modules 300-303 can be realized.

[0109] Please refer to Figures 1 to 5 , Figure 5 The schematic diagram of the welding system according to an embodiment of the present application. Figure 5 In the embodiment of the present application, the welding system is a laser welding system combined with computer vision.

[0110] The welding device 33 can include a laser module 330 and a laser light path 331 (such as a laser lens). The laser module 330 can be controlled by the control device 30 to emit laser light L1 to the laser light path 331, and refract and / or reflect laser light L2 through the laser light path 331 to the welding position where the welding target 40 is located, so as to perform laser welding.

[0111] The welding target 40 can include pads on a printed circuit board (PCB) 41, electronic components to be welded to the printed circuit board 41 and solder 17 extruded by the solder supply device 1. The solder supply device 1 can be a solder gun, and the solder 17 can be a solder wire.

[0112] The smoke sensing device 34 includes an image acquisition device 340. The image acquisition device 340 includes an optical lens and an image sensor, which can convert visible light Im1 from the welding position into image signal Im2, and send the image signal Im2 to the smoke analysis module 303 as a welding image, so as to analyze the smoke concentration of the welding image through computer vision.

[0113] In an embodiment, the laser module 330, the laser light path 331 and the image acquisition device 340 can be arranged on the same carrier table 50, and the coaxial arrangement of the laser light path and the image acquisition light path can be realized through the arrangement of the light splitting structure. The light splitting structure can guide the infrared wavelength laser light L1, L2 to the welding position, and guide the visible light Im1 of the visible wavelength to the image acquisition device 340.

[0114] In one embodiment, the soldering system can include a moving device 54, such as a robot arm, electrically connected to the control device 30. The moving device 54 is connected to the solder supply device 1 for moving the solder supply device 1 so that the outlet 14 is aligned with the soldering position, and the solder 17 can be extruded to the soldering position.

[0115] Further, the soldering control module 300 can send a moving control signal C1 (e.g. in robot coordinates) to the moving device 54 for controlling the moving device 54 to move to a specified position / posture.

[0116] In one embodiment, the solder supply pipe 10 of the solder supply device 1 is connected to a tee joint 51. Through tapping of the tee joint 51, the solder supply pipe 11 extends to be connected to the solder supply device 31, and the gas supply pipe 12 extends to be connected to the gas supply device 32.

[0117] The solder supply device 31 is connected to the control device 30, and can supply or withdraw the solder 17 from the solder supply device 1 based on the soldering control signal C4 sent by the soldering control module 300.

[0118] In one embodiment, the gas supply pipe 12 is connected to an electrically controlled valve 52, and extends to be connected to the gas supply device 32 through the electrically controlled valve 52. The electrically controlled valve 52 is connected to the control device 30, and can be, for example, an electrically controlled servo proportional valve, and can adjust the gas pressure in the pipe based on the proportional control signal C2 sent by the gas blowing control module 302, so as to adjust the gas supply pressure and the gas supply volume (the higher the pressure, the higher the gas volume per unit time) of the blowing gas of the solder supply device 1.

[0119] Specifically, the electrically controlled valve 52 is set to reduce the gas supply pressure. By setting the electrically controlled valve 52 to reduce the gas supply pressure, the present application can avoid excessive gas supply pressure from causing the soldering target 40 to cool down or be blown away, and can avoid waste of gas.

[0120] In one embodiment, the gas supply device 32 can include multiple gas sources, such as a high-pressure gas source 320 and a high-temperature gas source 321. The high-pressure gas source 320 can be used to provide high-pressure blowing gas (e.g. normal-temperature high-pressure gas), and the high-temperature gas source 321 can be used to provide high-temperature blowing gas (e.g. high-temperature nitrogen gas).

[0121] Further, the normal-temperature high-pressure gas can be used to disperse smoke, and can make cooling more smooth, and improve lattice formation quality. The high-temperature nitrogen gas can preheat the soldering position, and improve soldering stability. In addition, since nitrogen gas is an inert gas, it can avoid occurrence of severe oxidation during the soldering process.

[0122] In one embodiment, the soldering system may include a solenoid valve 53 connected to the control device 30. The solenoid valve 53 is connected to multiple gas sources, such as the high-pressure gas source 320 and the high-temperature gas source 321. The solenoid valve 53 can switch between the multiple gas sources based on the switching control signal C3 from the air blowing control module 302, so that a specific gas source is connected to the gas supply pipe 12 to provide the corresponding type of flowing gas to the solder supply device 1. The air blowing control module 302 can also control the gas supply time and volume through the solenoid valve 53 (the longer the gas supply time, the higher the gas volume).

[0123] In one embodiment, the solenoid valve 53 includes at least three openings and at least three phases. The three openings are respectively connected to the high-pressure gas source 320, the high-temperature gas source 321 and the gas supply pipe 12. The three phases correspond to the gas supply and non-gas supply states of the two gas sources.

[0124] In one embodiment, the solenoid valve 53 may be a five-port, three-position solenoid valve, but is not limited thereto.

[0125] In one embodiment, the air blowing control module 302 is configured to control the solenoid valve 53 to switch to the high-temperature gas source 320 to provide high-temperature flowing gas to the solder supply device 1 when the gas heating condition is met, and to control the solenoid valve 53 to switch to the high-pressure gas source 320 to provide high-pressure flowing gas to the solder supply device 1 when the smoke exhaust condition is met, and to control the solenoid valve 53 to switch to stop providing all types of flowing gas to the solder supply device 1 when both the smoke exhaust condition and the gas heating condition are met.

[0126] Thus, the control device 30 can control the moving device 54 to move the solder supply device 1, control the feeding device 31 to provide solder 17 to the solder supply device 1, control the laser module 330 to perform welding, and detect the real-time smoke concentration through the image acquisition device 340 and computer vision.

[0127] In addition, the control device 30 can switch to the high-pressure gas source 320 through the solenoid valve 53 to start supplying high-pressure flowing gas according to the real-time smoke concentration, adjust the gas supply pressure of the flowing gas through the electric control valve 52, and discharge the flowing gas through the outlet 14 of the solder supply device 1 to disperse the smoke and reduce the smoke concentration.

[0128] In one embodiment, the present invention can set different air supply pressures based on different smoke concentrations. Specifically, the present invention can pre-measure the air supply pressure required to reduce the smoke concentration to a predetermined concentration within a specified air supply time under different smoke concentrations, and set the air supply pressure for each smoke concentration accordingly.

[0129] For example, if the smoke concentration is expressed by the smoke area, when the smoke area is 11.2 mm2, 30 mm2, and 47 mm2, respectively, the minimum supply pressure required for reducing the smoke area to 3.5 mm2 within 1 second is 0.2 bar, 0.6 bar, and 0.8 bar, respectively.

[0130] Furthermore, the regression relationship between the minimum supply pressure and the smoke area can be further calculated from the above data, for example: minimum supply pressure = 0.0168 * smoke area + 0.0383. By substituting different smoke areas into the obtained regression relationship, the corresponding minimum supply pressure can be obtained.

[0131] The slope (0.0168) of the aforementioned regression relationship is the supply gain value. If the smoke area is lower than the preset area (e.g., 3.5 mm2), no flow gas is supplied (the supply gain value is zero).

[0132] In an embodiment, the control device 30 can also set different supply times according to different conditions and situations,

[0133] For example, the melting point of the tin wire is 250 degrees Celsius. The present application can measure the blowing time (e.g., 10 seconds) of the high-temperature nitrogen gas required for preheating to 200 degrees Celsius (working temperature) in advance, and set this time as the supply time of the high-temperature nitrogen gas in the preheating program.

[0134] In another example, the present application can measure the blowing time (e.g., 5 seconds) of the normal-temperature high-pressure gas required for reducing the melting point temperature 250 degrees to room temperature (e.g., 25 degrees Celsius) in advance, and set this time as the supply time of the normal-temperature high-pressure gas in the cooling stage.

[0135] Please also refer to Figures 1 to 6 , Figure 6 The flowchart of the welding program of an embodiment of the present application. The present application also proposes an automatic control method of blowing, which is applied to the welding system of any of the aforementioned embodiments, and the welding system includes the aforementioned solder supply device 1 with the gas inner flow channel.

[0136] The automatic control method of the present application includes steps S10-S15 performed in the welding program.

[0137] Step S10: The welding control module 300 provides the solder 17 to the welding position through the solder supply device 1.

[0138] In an embodiment, the welding control module 300 can control the moving device 54 to move the outlet 14 of the solder supply device 1 to the welding position, and control the supply device 31 to start providing the solder 17.

[0139] Step S11: The smoke analysis module 303 starts continuously sensing the smoke concentration at the welding position by the smoke sensing device 34.

[0140] Step S12: The welding control module 300 controls the soldering device 33 to heat the welding position to melt the solder 17 to start the welding.

[0141] Step S11 and step S12 can be executed simultaneously or sequentially, without limitation.

[0142] Step S13: The blowing control module 302 continuously determines whether the current smoke concentration meets the smoke exhaust condition.

[0143] When the smoke sensing device 34 is a smoke detector, the smoke exhaust condition can be that the sensed smoke concentration exceeds a preset concentration.

[0144] When the smoke sensing device 34 is an image acquisition device 34, the smoke area or the smoke color difference can be calculated based on the welding image as the smoke concentration. The smoke area can be obtained by calculating the number of pixels of the smoke image, and the smoke color difference can be obtained by calculating the pixel difference value caused by the smoke.

[0145] In addition, the smoke exhaust condition can be that the smoke area exceeds a preset area or a preset percentage of the screen, or the smoke color difference reaches a preset pixel difference value.

[0146] If the smoke concentration meets the smoke exhaust condition, step S14 is executed; otherwise, step S15 is executed.

[0147] Step S14: The blowing control module 30 reduces the smoke concentration by outputting flowing gas through the solder supply device 1.

[0148] In an embodiment, the blowing control module 30 can control the electromagnetic valve 53 to switch to the high-pressure gas source 320 to start supplying gas until the set gas supply time is met, and then switch to stop supplying gas. In addition, the blowing control module 30 can control the electrically controlled valve 52 to adjust the pressure of the flowing gas at the set gas supply pressure.

[0149] Step S15: The welding control module 300 determines whether the welding is completed.

[0150] In an embodiment, the welding control module 300 can analyze whether the welding is completed through the welding image captured by the image acquisition device 34.

[0151] In an embodiment, the welding control module 300 can determine that the welding is completed after all welding stages (including the welding stage and the cooling stage) are completed.

[0152] If the welding is completed, the welding program is ended. Otherwise, the welding continues, and step S13 is executed again.

[0153] By this, the present application can automatically complete the welding and can automatically control the blowing to disperse the smoke during the welding process, thereby improving the welding quality.

[0154] Please refer to Figures 1 to 7 , Figure 7 The flowchart of the preheating procedure of an embodiment of the present application. The automatic control method of this embodiment can perform the initial setting (step S20) and the preheating procedure (steps S21-S26) before the welding procedure (step S27).

[0155] Step S20: Perform the initial setting. Specifically, the welding control module 300 can initialize the welding parameters of the welding procedure, which can be, for example, the welding power and the corresponding gas type, the single gas supply time and the gas supply pressure of each stage.

[0156] Also, the preheating control module 301 can initialize the preheating parameters of the preheating procedure, which can be, for example, the preheating power and the corresponding gas type, the single gas supply time and the gas supply pressure.

[0157] Step S21: The preheating control module 301 determines whether the preheating procedure needs to be performed, for example, whether the current welding target 40 needs the preheating procedure to improve the welding quality, or whether the user has set to perform the preheating procedure.

[0158] If the preheating procedure needs to be performed, step S22 is performed; otherwise, step S27 is performed.

[0159] Step S22: The blowing control module 302 controls the electromagnetic valve 53 to switch to provide the high-temperature flowing gas from the high-temperature gas source 321 to the solder supply device 1.

[0160] Step S23: The preheating control module 301 controls the soldering device 33 to preheat the welding target 40 at the preheating power, so as to raise the welding target 40 to the working temperature.

[0161] It is worth mentioning that step S23 is not a necessary step of the present application. In an embodiment, step S23 can not be performed, and only steps S24-S25 are performed to achieve the preheating function by blowing the high-temperature flowing gas.

[0162] Step S24: The blowing control module 302 determines whether the gas heating condition is met. The gas heating condition can be, for example, that the temperature of the welding target 40 is lower than the preheating target temperature, or the blowing action is not completed, etc.

[0163] If the gas heating condition is met, step S25 is performed; otherwise, step S26 is performed.

[0164] Step S25: The preheating control module 301 controls the opening and closing of the electromagnetic valve 53 based on the preheating parameters to control the gas supply time and the gas supply volume, and controls the electrically controlled valve 52 to adjust the gas supply pressure and the gas supply volume, so as to blow out the high-temperature flowing gas conforming to the preheating parameters from the solder supply device 1 to increase the temperature of the welding target 40 (including the solder 17).

[0165] Step S26: The preheating control module 301 judges whether the preheating program is completed, for example, judges whether the welding target 40 reaches the working temperature.

[0166] If the preheating program is completed, step S26 is executed; otherwise, step S27 is executed.

[0167] Then, when the preheating program is completed or the preheating program is not needed to be executed, step S27 is executed: the welding control module 300 executes the welding program, for example, executes steps S10-S15 of the welding program. Figure 6

[0168] The present application can reduce the temperature difference between the welding target 40 and the environment and improve the welding quality through the execution of the preheating program.

[0169] Please refer to Figures 1 to 8 , Figure 8 for the flowchart of calculating the smoke concentration of an embodiment of the present application. The automatic control method of the embodiment uses computer vision to detect the generation of welding smoke and the smoke concentration, so as to adjust the appropriate gas supply pressure, gas supply volume and / or gas supply time according to different smoke concentrations.

[0170] Specifically, in the embodiment, step S11 can include the following steps.

[0171] Step S30: The smoke analysis module 303 obtains the background image of the welding position. The aforementioned background image can be taken before the welding starts and does not contain any smoke image.

[0172] Step S31: During the welding process, the smoke analysis module 303 obtains the welding image of the welding position.

[0173] Then, the smoke analysis module 303 can calculate the smoke area based on the current welding image as the smoke concentration. Specifically, the smoke analysis module 303 can execute the following steps to calculate the smoke concentration.

[0174] Step S32: The smoke analysis module 303 performs subtraction processing on the welding image and the background image to obtain the difference image. The pixel value of each pixel of the difference image is the pixel difference value of the corresponding position of the welding image and the background image.

[0175] ​In one embodiment, the smoke analysis module 303 further performs an extraction process (step S33) to extract sub-images corresponding to the welding positions from the difference image to exclude areas irrelevant to the welding process.

[0176] Specifically, the smoke analysis module 303 obtains an image mask. The image mask is configured with at least one set of valid regions, each valid region corresponding to a welding position.

[0177] Next, the smoke analysis module 303 performs an extraction process on the welding image based on the image mask to extract pixels in the valid regions of the welding image. For example, the smoke analysis module 303 can apply the image mask to the welding image such that the pixel values outside the valid regions of the welding image are set to an exclusion value (e.g. 0, 255 or any other value that can be easily identified). These excluded pixels will not be included in the calculation of the smoke area.

[0178] In this way, the present application can reduce the amount of data to be processed and improve the accuracy of the calculation.

[0179] Step S34: The smoke analysis module 303 calculates the smoke area of the smoke pixels in the difference image as the smoke concentration.

[0180] In one embodiment, the smoke analysis module 303 identifies the number and distribution of smoke pixels in the smoke image in the difference image and calculates the corresponding smoke area as the smoke concentration based on the number and distribution of pixels, such as converting the number and distribution of pixels to an area value in a three-dimensional space based on the focal length of the lens of the image acquisition device 340.

[0181] In one embodiment, the smoke analysis module 303 selects pixels with a value (pixel difference value) greater than a predetermined difference value as smoke pixels in the difference image.

[0182] In one embodiment, the smoke analysis module 303 can calculate the smoke area based on the difference image without performing the extraction process or based on the difference image after performing the extraction process, without being limited thereto.

[0183] The present application calculates the smoke concentration by computer vision, which can effectively detect whether the smoke affects the optical action (such as laser heating) and can save the cost of setting up a smoke detector.

[0184] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present application, which is not limited by the claims of the present application, so any equivalent changes made by applying the content of the present application are also included in the scope of the present application, which is hereby declared.

Claims

1. A solder supply device having a gas inner flow channel, comprising: a material gas supply pipe, comprising a material feeding pipe and a gas supply pipe, wherein the material feeding pipe is used to transport a solder and is connected to a material feeding device for supplying the solder; the gas supply pipe is used to transport a flowing gas and is connected to a gas supply device for supplying the flowing gas; the gas supply pipe uses flowing gases of different properties for different purposes in welding, wherein room temperature gas is used to blow away fumes generated by welding, high temperature gas is used to preheat the welding target, and low temperature gas is used to cool the completed weld; and A shell is provided with an outlet for outputting the solder and the flowing gas. The end of the material and gas supply pipe penetrates into the interior of the shell from an inlet provided in the shell, and the material supply pipe and the gas supply pipe are covered by the shell.

2. The solder supply device according to claim 1, wherein the material supply pipe and the gas supply pipe are coaxial pipes; in, The feeding pipe serves as an inner pipe, one end of which penetrates into the interior of the shell, and the other end of which is used to connect to the feeding device, so as to serve as a transportation channel for the solder between the feeding device and the shell; and Among them, at least part of the pipeline of the air supply pipe completely covers the feed pipe to serve as an outer pipe. One end of the air supply pipe penetrates into the interior of the shell, and the other end is used to connect to the air supply device. The gap between the feed pipe and the air supply pipe is used as a transportation channel for the flowing gas.

3. The solder supply device according to claim 2, wherein the housing is pen-shaped, and a cross-sectional area of ​​one end of the housing is gradually reduced to form the outlet; in, The air supply pipe has higher strength and lower flexibility than the material supply pipe; The material of the feeding tube includes Teflon.

4. The solder supply device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the opening of the supply pipe in the housing is not covered by the gas supply pipe; in, The length of the material supply pipe in the housing is greater than the length of the gas supply pipe in the housing; The opening of the air supply pipe in the shell is connected to the outlet of the shell through the inner wall of the shell.

5. A welding system comprising: The solder supply device with a gas inner flow channel as claimed in claim 1, used to provide the solder to a welding position; a smoke sensing device for sensing a smoke concentration; a welding device for heating the welding position; a feeding device connected to the feeding pipe of the solder supply device for supplying the solder; a gas supply device connected to the gas supply pipe of the solder supply device for supplying the flowing gas; and A control device is connected to the smoke sensing device, the welding device, the feeding device and the gas supply device. The control device is configured to control the gas supply device to deliver the flowing gas when the smoke concentration meets a smoke exhaust condition, so that the flowing gas is discharged from the outlet of the solder supply device to disperse the smoke.

6. The welding system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the smoke sensing device comprises a smoke detector for sensing the smoke concentration, and the smoke detector is a free smoke detector or a photoelectric smoke detector.

7. The welding system of claim 5, wherein the smoke sensing device comprises an image acquisition device connected to the control device and configured to capture the welding position to obtain a welding image; The control device includes a smoke analysis module configured to calculate a smoke area as the smoke concentration based on the welding image.

8. The welding system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the welding device comprises a laser module connected to the control device for emitting laser light to the welding position for performing welding.

9. The soldering system as claimed in claim 5, further comprising a moving device connected to the control device, for moving the outlet of the solder supply device to the soldering position. 10 . The welding system as claimed in claim 5 , further comprising a three-way joint connected to the material and gas supply pipe, and branching the material and gas supply pipe to the material supply device and the gas supply device.

11. The welding system as described in claim 5 further includes an electric control valve connected to the control device, the electric control valve is used to connect the gas supply device and the gas supply pipe, and control the pressure or volume of the flowing gas flowing from the gas supply device to the gas supply pipe.

12. The welding system of claim 5, further comprising a solenoid valve connected to the control device, comprising a plurality of openings and a plurality of phases; in, The gas supply device includes a plurality of gas sources connected to the gas supply pipe through the solenoid valve and used for providing different types of the flowing gas respectively.

13. The welding system of claim 12, wherein the solenoid valve comprises at least three openings and at least three phases; in, The plurality of gas sources include a high-pressure gas source and a high-temperature gas source; The control device also includes a blowing control module, which is used to control the solenoid valve to switch to the high-temperature gas source to provide the high-temperature flowing gas to the solder supply device when a gas heating condition is met, and to control the solenoid valve to switch to the high-pressure gas source to provide the high-pressure flowing gas to the solder supply device when the smoke exhaust condition is met, and to control the solenoid valve to switch to stop providing the flowing gas to the solder supply device when both the smoke exhaust condition and the gas heating condition are not met.

14. An automatic air blowing control method, applied to a welding system, the welding system comprising the solder supply device with an inner gas flow channel according to claim 1, comprising: a) providing the solder to a soldering position through the solder supply device; b) heating the soldering location to melt the solder; c) sensing a smoke concentration; and d) When the smoke concentration meets a smoke exhaust condition, the solder supply device outputs the flowing gas to reduce the smoke concentration.

15. The automatic air blowing control method according to claim 14, further comprising: e) When a gas heating condition is met, providing the high-temperature flowing gas to the solder supply device to increase the temperature of the solder.

16. The automatic air blowing control method according to claim 15, wherein step e) further comprises: e1) controlling at least one of the pressure, volume, and time of providing the high-temperature flowing gas based on a preheating parameter.

17. The automatic air blowing control method according to claim 15, further comprising: f) When neither the fume exhaust condition nor the gas heating condition is satisfied, stopping the supply of the flowing gas to the solder supply device.

18. The automatic air blowing control method according to claim 14, wherein step c) comprises: c1) obtaining a welding image of the welding position; c2) calculating a smoke area based on the welding image as the smoke concentration.

19. The automatic air blowing control method according to claim 14, wherein step c2) comprises: c21) obtaining a background image of the welding position, wherein the background image is taken before welding begins; c22) performing a subtraction process on the welding image and the background image to obtain a difference image; and c23) Determine the smoke area based on the difference image.

20. The automatic air blowing control method according to claim 14, wherein step c2) further comprises: c24) obtaining an image mask, wherein the image mask is set to have a valid area corresponding to the welding position; c25) performing an acquisition process on the welding image based on the image mask to acquire a plurality of pixels of the effective area of ​​the welding image; and c26) Calculating the smoke density based on the multiple pixels.

Images