Reflow furnace control system

Claim 1

A reflow furnace control system comprising: a conveyor in a reflow furnace for transporting an object to be heated along a conveyor line within said furnace; heating means, disposed along said conveyor line, for applying heat to said object on said conveyor; data table means containing sets of control data relating to a transporting speed of said conveyor and an operating temperature of said heating means, each set of control data being associated with various conditional parameters specific to and indicative of a configuration and material characteristics of a known type of object as well as a required temperature to which the object is heated; data entry means for entry of data; control data assigning means which, in response to an entry of the conditional parameters, retrieves from said data table means the control data relevant to said conditional parameters designated; control means for controlling the transporting speed of said conveyor and the operating temperature of said heating means based upon said retrieved control data in such a manner as to give an optimum time-temperature profile of the object during movement of the object along said conveyor line; simulation means which processes said retrieved control data in response to the designated conditional parameters for providing a simulated time-temperature profile of the object to be heated; display means for representing a resulting simulated time-temperature profile; and means for obtaining an actual time-temperature profile of an object by sensing temperatures reached by the object during movement of the object along said conveyor path and for representing a resulting actual time-temperature profile on said display means in an overlaying relation to said simulated time-temperature profile.