BreezeBlog

Quite an emotional moment today to finally see our first batch of PCBs roll off the production line.

The first day of sunshine for some weeks saw me driving down through the New Forest towards Fordingbridge - home to electronics experts CorinTech.

We thought you might like to see inside CorinTech's hi-tech operaton and get a glimpse of the expertise that goes into making our products.

First off the PCB - printed circuit board - is put through a machine that applies a solder paste over specific areas where connections between the components and the PCB's tracks are to be made. Think of screen printing T-shirts and you won't be a million miles off.

Next comes the tricky bit - putting tiny electronic components on to the PCB. For the small test batch that we did today we were delighted to witness Assembly Team Leader, Ian Henderson at work. Ian must have the steadiest hands and keenest eyes for miles to be able to see these components.

Ian was keen to tell me about quality control at CorinTech. He pointed to the bag in which the SleepBreeze components are stored. "The green spot indicates RoHS compliance. A red spot indicates that older, leaded processes, are to be followed.

Keen to learn more I asked about the types of industries that might need to adhere to older practices. Ian explained, "Some of our customers are in safety-critical industries and can't afford to allow any changes to tried and tested product despite RoHS regulations, so require us to continue to keep Non-RoHS processes in place. Running both RoHS and non-RoHS systems in parallel requires very tight stock control." I have to say, that's what we like about CorinTech - they are strictly professional in their approach. We're in safe hands!

Of course the big difference between the samples that we made up today and the production run is quantity. For mass production CorinTech will use an auto-assembly Mirae machine that places up to 20,000 components per hour onto PCBs. The auto-assembly machine, shown below, takes components from the reels shown - or if integrated circuits are needed, from a small chute which vibrates, deliverying one component at a time. Suction cups then pick up each component and position each component with microscopic precision. Well, actually the machine's accuracy is a bit better than microscopic, as components can, if needed, be placed to the nearest micron.

Once the components are in position the solder pasted has to be melted to form the electrical connections. Forget the soldering iron that you might use for this kind of thing at home. The PCB is passed through a large oven with 5 separate temperature zones, allowing precise control of the heating and cooling of the PCB, components and solder over a 5 minute baking period. Now, imagine a PCB with dozens of components and multiple connections on each component, and then think about putting dozens of PCBs through the machine at a time... well, let's just say you'd need to be nifty with a soldering iron to keep up.

Gordon Rice, pictured left (below), has worked with us since we first started working on the electronics sub-assembly for the product.

Gordon explained how the components are stored prior to the final soldering process. "Humidity is a big issue. Imagine if moisture penetrated into the components. When we bake it the resulting steam would cause the components to explode making them useless." Gordon went on to explain that surface tension of the molten solder pulls the component towards the PCB. "That's how we can use this machine to place components on both sides of the PCB - even though one set of components would be upside down they don't fall out."

5 minutes later and our first PCB rolled out of the oven (sorry, couldn't resist the pun). Baked to perfection. Ian explained that each PCB is then examined under a microscope to ensure the quality of the finished product. Good to see that machines haven't taken over completely!

Of course this process isn't suited to all the components that go into our product. I was taken upstairs with my PCB to meet Donna Ashford, one of the team at CorinTech working in their final assembly room. Donna, pictured below, soldered the power socket by hand.

And that, as they say, is that. The first complete batch of PCBs ready for programming and test. More on that later.