Digital Twin in Manufacturing: Reflow Soldering Process

In the recent years, the Digital Twin (DT) has been a widely studied and discussed topic. It plays a significant role to support the industry transition from the traditional trial and error era to the modern industrial mode. Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) and simulation are key aspects connected to the DT concept. DT in manufacturing is a virtual concept of the real processes, which can be optimized and improved in advance. DT also provides an unlimited amount of measurement points and variables without massive and costly sensors in the real process. This will reduce the production time and cost, as well as the CO
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emissions from the production line (by reducing the number of the real-world reflow processes). DT will help the later experimental verification because sensors can be located in critical and problematic areas. Reflow soldering is a widely used method to attach surface mount technology (SMT) components to printed circuit boards (PCB). In this article, a DT based simulation model is used to virtually simulate the reflow process, optimize the inputs, and improve the performance of the reflow process. First, a transient model for the reflow oven is created. Secondly, the model has been tested using simple test cases. As a final step, a real product PCB, using the component models from vendors, was simulated and oven parameters were optimized. Later, simulation results were compared against the experimental measurements made in the Nokia Factory in Oulu, Finland, and good agreement was achieved.