Infrared Board Preheater

The FR-1012B is a bench-top board heater designed to elevate the temperature of printed circuit board assemblies so that components on them can be soldered and de-soldered more easily, and with improved results. This is particularly useful on medium to high-mass board assemblies, which can “heat-sink” a significant amount of energy being supplied by a soldering iron tip, or handheld hot-air tool. This tool is particularly useful when soldering Pb-free assemblies.

The Preheater operates in either of two modes, Power Mode or T/C (Thermocouple) Mode. Power Mode allows the user to set the output of the unit manually. When running in this mode, the unit will output the set percentage of power, regardless of the T/C actual value. A thermocouple is not required in this mode, but may be used to monitor the actual board temperature.

T/C Mode allows the user to set the desired temperature (50-180ºC/122-356ºF) of the PCB for closed-loop control of the temperature using the T/C input. A Type-K thermocouple must be secured to the PCB and plugged into the unit’s T/C jack for this mode to operate. When running in this mode, the unit will apply 100% power until the board reaches 10ºC below the set temperature. The unit will then start PID control to regulate the power output of the heater to hold the PCB at the set temperature.

The Preheater array is divided into 4 separate switched zones for smaller PCBs used in devices similar to PDAs and cell phones.