Soldering is a key process step in electronics manufacturing, used for example to connect electronic components to a circuit board. Machines and robots assist in ensuring consistently high connection quality between electronic components. A crucial factor in this process is the precise dosing of the solder. Furthermore, the soldering process must be repeatable to guarantee consistent quality. Sendance GmbH, the company where this Master's thesis was conducted, develops, among other things, sensor mats with integrated pressure sensors to enhance existing wearable devices. The electronic components are connected via thin, meander-shaped brass wires using a suitable soldering process. Since these mats are later subjected to continuous mechanical stress, the solder joints must be both mechanically robust and as thin and uniform as possible to avoid interfering with sensor performance. To meet these requirements, an automated soldering process is being developed. It combines pre-tinning using a solder stencil with the subsequent soldering operation performed by a specially configured soldering machine. The pre-tinning process is based on stencil printing, a well established method in printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing. A custom-designed smart soldering head, mounted on an existing computerized numerical control (CNC) machine operating in a Cartesian coordinate system, performs the actual soldering task. The goal is to improve process reliability and productivity while ensuring consistently high solder joint quality.
Development and Automation of the Soldering Process on Sendance-Grids
Kolmbauer, M. (Author). 2025
Student thesis: Master's Thesis