Shocked! With 3X Magnification, Thermal Imaging Camera Identifies Subtle Hidden Dangers of 0.25 mm Contacts on Circuit Board

As circuit board manufacturing technology continues to develop, the integration of electronic components goes higher and higher, and the complexity of circuit boards is also increasing. Thermal management has always been a key factor in ensuring product performance and reliability during the design and manufacturing of circuit boards. As circuit density increases and power increases, the heating problem becomes more serious.

The non-contact solution provided by infrared thermal imaging technology allows R&D engineers to use infrared thermal imaging cameras to observe the temperature distribution of circuit boards in real time during a thermal design process, discover possible hotspots and then optimize the process. This helps avoid performance degradation or failure of components due to high temperatures, thereby improving the overall quality and reliability of products.

01 Project Background

This is a top IT company in China. The operation of the circuit board assembly of one of its important products affects the stability of the entire product. The customer needs high-resolution infrared equipment to detect micron-level components, help R&D personnel quickly locate abnormal points of components, assist in optimizing product design, and ensure uniform heating of circuit boards.

02 User's Pain Points

➤  Difficulty in controlling heating uniformity

The heating uniformity of the circuit board is difficult to control. If it is heated unevenly, it will lead to reduced performance of the entire circuit board, abnormal operation of the circuit board, damage, and so on.

➤  Difficulty in locating problem points

R&D personnel use tools to detect and identify that there is a problem with the circuit board, but the circuit board has many contacts, and the detection cannot accurately locate the abnormality at a certain point.

➤  Difficulty in detecting small components

Contacts of a circuit board are not only numerous but also very small, with a single contact diameter of about 0.25 mm. The infrared thermal imaging camera of a certain brand used by the customer before could not clearly show abnormal temperature points.

03 Solution

The company uses the flagship infrared thermal imaging camera PT850 and macro lens to detect circuit boards. After a circuit board is powered on, PT850 equipped with a macro lens is used to continuously detect the circuit board contacts and observe whether there is an obvious difference between the temperatures of each contact of the circuit board, so as to identify abnormal temperature contacts.

Evenly Distributed Hotspots Without Abnormal Points

The evenly distributed hotspots without abnormal points mean that the temperature of each contact point on the circuit board is basically consistent, and there is no obvious color protruding area in the infrared image; while the appearance of obvious color protruding temperature abnormal points during detection indicates that there are design defects and other problems at the contacts.

Two High Temperature Anomalies

04 Project Value

➤  Temperature visualization with high-definition display of temperature information

The infrared detector has a resolution of 1024×768, and 780,000 pixels clearly present the details of each contact point on the circuit board.

➤  Insight into subtle temperature differences and rapid identification of heat source faults

The use of high-sensitivity infrared detectors can easily detect small temperature changes, and can also quickly locate abnormal points through regional temperature measurement, high and low temperature warnings, and other functions.

➤  Macro lens making micron-level components clearer

By adding a macro lens, it is possible to clearly image and accurately measure the temperature of micron-level and millimeter-level components.

➤  Infrared analysis software for data analysis and collation

Professional temperature curve analysis on the recorded pictures and videos is conducted to intuitively display the temperature trend changes, and generate analysis reports to assist in optimizing product design.

05 Product Recommendation

The PT Series Flagship infrared thermal imaging camera is the world's first megapixel portable thermography camera. With its maximum of one million pixels, advanced focusing technology, ultra-large temperature measurement range and ultra-high temperature measurement accuracy, modular design, and more than 20 patented technologies, it has led the development trend in the field of infrared thermal imaging cameras and become a new benchmark in the industry. Its matching macro lens supports 3x magnification, which can clearly observe and detect the temperature of targets as small as 50 μm.