Metcal was awarded a 2017 Global Technology Award in the category of Hand Soldering for its CV-5200 Soldering and Rework Systems with Connection Validation technology. The award was presented to the company during a ceremony that took place during productronica in Munich, Germany. This marks the company’s fifth award since its introduction at the beginning of 2017.
Premiering in 2005, the Global Technology Awards program is an annual celebration of product excellence in electronics surface mount assembly. Premier products based on the finest examples of creative advancement in technology are chosen by a distinguished panel of industry experts.
“Connection Validation sets the stage for a major advancement in machine intelligence,” according to Christopher Larocca, President of OK International, which acquired Metcal in 1996. “It fundamentally mitigates the risk of product failures, imperilled user safety, recalls and unrecoverable cost — which can result in significant damage to a company and its brand. We are excited to have won this fifth major industry award for the CV technology.”
In soldering, the ideal intermetallic compound (IMC) formation is between 1μm and 4μm thickness. Metcal’s CV-5200 with Connection Validation features a patented algorithm, which evaluates the quality of the solder joint during the soldering process. Connection Validation identifies the correct solder tip geometry to the load, detects the transition of solder from solid to liquid, and calculates IMC formation.
Connection Validation is Metcal’s latest patented technological innovation that is reinventing hand soldering. Built on the company’s SmartHeat™ technology, used in all Metcal soldering systems, Connection Validation evaluates the quality of the solder joint by calculating the intermetallic compound formation and providing closed-loop feedback to the operator, mitigating risk in the process.