Thermal Response of Electronic Assemblies during Forced Convection-Infrared Reflow Soldering in an Oven with Air Injection

The thermal response of electronic assemblies during forced convection-infrared reflow soldering is studied numerically. Soldering for attaching electronic components to printed circuit boards is performed in a process oven that is equipped with porous panel heaters, through which air is injected in order to dampen temperature fluctuations in the oven. Forced convection-infrared reflow soldering process with air injection is simulated using a twodimensional numerical model. The multimode heat transfer within the reflow oven as well as within the electronic assembly is simulated. Parametric study is also performed to study the effects of various conditions such as conveyor speed, air injection velocity, and electronic assembly emissivity on the thermal response of electronic assemblies. The results of this study can be used in the process oven design and selecting the oven operating conditions to ensure proper solder melting and solidification.