Design and Fabrication of Automated De - Soldering Machine

Sin, Xiu Men (2011) Design and Fabrication of Automated De - Soldering Machine. Final Year Project (Other), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

In today's world, environment protection is so important and this becomes the responsibility for everybody to save our mother earth. Over the year, there is large volume of wasted printed circuit boards waiting to be recycled. In the flow chart of recycling a wasted printed circuit board, de soldering process to take out the components is the very first step in the whole process. Thus, author decided to design a new machine to improve the existing method in recycling the wasted printed circuit board. In this project, author had designed a brand new machine which is fully automated de soldering machine by combining the simple conveyor attached with infrared light to melt the solder. This project including designs a suitable conveyor with wire mesh belt attached to convey the printed circuit board and using the infrared light to transfer the heat to the surface of the printed circuit board and melt the solder. Since the printed circuit board is place upside down on the wire mesh conveyor belt, thus once the solder melted, the components which attached with the printed circuit board will drop by gravity. According to Goosey and Kellner, August 2002, 50,000 tonnes of PCB scrap is produced each year in the UK and of this only around 15% currently subjected to any form of recycling. The remaining 85% is consigned to landfill and this may lead to leaching of toxic materials and finally cause pollution. By introduce this new machine, it can not only reduce the lead time in production, but also reduce the man power and at the same time save the labor cost. Furthermore, this machine may reduce the pollution to the environment, avoid repetitive job and improve the safety of workers. If compare the de soldering method with India who just gather all the wasted circuit board and burn it, this machine is definitely better and practical.