Located on the edge of the Frankfurt-Rhine-Main metropolitan region, TH Aschaffenburg (= Aschaffenburg University of Applied Sciences) is characterised by its business-oriented, predominantly interdisciplinary and innovative degree programs. Close cooperation with companies and application-oriented research ensure that more than 3,300 students have an optimal practical orientation. In the Microcomputer Technology Laboratory, which is part of the Faculty of Engineering, students now have access to the Ersa HR 500, a professional and flexible rework system.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Francesco P. Volpe is a professor in the Electrical Engineering and Information Technology degree program and is in charge of the practice-oriented elective “Printed Circuit Board Unbundling with EAGLE”, which takes place in the Microcomputer Technology Laboratory. The aim for the students participating in this course is to produce a USB sound stick in which SMD components and digital/analogue converter ICs are to be processed in the TQFP package.
The students will learn all of the process steps – starting with the handling of the program EAGLE from Autodesk, the correct layout of simple circuits, the application of existing design rules for high-frequency circuits right through to the equipping and soldering of the USB sound card.
The Thin Quad Flat Packages (TQFN) used in this process are very flat, usually square surface-mounted plastic housings. They usually have 32 to 200 pins arranged in a grid with dimensions ranging from 0.4 to 1 mm.
In order to be able to solder very small and complex components like these professionally, TH Aschaffenburg was looking for a suitable system and found it with Ersa.
The HR 500 offers an entry into prototyping and professional component repair. Components from 1 x 1 mm to 50 x 50 mm edge length can be placed and soldered or desoldered with ease. If required, equipped sample assemblies up to 70 x 70 mm can be completely remelted – comparable to a reflow line process.
Component alignment is carried out using fine drives and high-resolution camera images from the Visionbox. With the help of a stepper motor with precision cut-off, even small components are set down with almost no force. The combination of a hybrid top heater and infrared heating elements in the bottom heater also ensure gentle and homogeneous heating of the components.
According to Prof. Dr. Volpe, the intuitive software is a great advantage for the students, who are often working with such a system for the first time. Due to the clear operation and user guidance by means of pictograms, even inexperienced users learn how to use the system very quickly.
The Microcomputer Technology Laboratory also can be used outside of lectures by students, especially from the Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Industrial Engineering and Mechatronics degree programs, to conduct independent research as part of project work or theses. Projects with external partners and companies also are carried out, thus actively promoting the transfer of knowledge and technology between the university and industry. Among other things, circuits and electronic assemblies are developed in this context, and are used in diverse areas such as IoT, data buses (CAN, I2C, SPI etc.) and embedded systems.
Ersa supports universities in particular with high-quality soldering equipment in order to familiarise students with current manufacturing processes in electronics production. Ersa Sales Engineer Ralf Walk was pleased to hand over the HR 500 system.
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