Thermal Profilers and Data Loggers

Profilers, also known as thermal profilers or data loggers, are basically temperature recorders that can travel through an oven. There are many, many data recorders on the market, but only a small group of companies make profilers specifically for reflow profiling in the PCB industry

Profilers usually accommodate several thermocouple input channels (3, 4, 6, and 8 channels are common). A thermocouple based sensor (type-K or type-J) such as a Temprobe or plain wire thermocouple is attached to a printed circuit board and plugged into the profiler. The board and profiler are then run through the reflow oven or wave preheat and the temperature profile of the process is recorded.

Profilers either store the temperature data for download after going through the oven, transmit the data in real-time via wireless radio frequency (RF), or a combination of both. The most common method we see used is the download mode.

Another approach to profiling an oven is to have a sensor system permanently installed into the reflow oven instead of using a portable profiler. If you have a large equipment budget, having a permanent sensor system and portable profiler would be ideal, but most companies are working with limited budgets and have to choose. A portable data logger will cost, on average, around $5000, while the installed sensor system costs $10,000, on average. The limitations of portable profilers is they can only capture a slice of time in the entire reflow process (e.g. one run through the oven) and cannot stay in the oven without overheating. The advantage is they capture true temperature data at the board level. The installed sensor system monitors the atmospheric temperatures 24 hours a day, but does not capture what is truly happening at the board level.

When shopping for a profiler system, look at the hardware features as well as the software. While there are many similarities between the different profilers, each engineer has a particular hardware and/or software feature they like. Battery life, profiler size, thermal jacket design, and user-friendliness of the software are all things to consider before purchasing. Getting to test the profiler hardware/software on your particular oven system is the best way to evaluate the different products. This is also an excellent opportunity to check out the vendor's technical support capabilities

Profilers Thermal Profilers & Data Loggers
Temprobe™ Reflow Rider™ E-Z Rider™ Side Rider Board Carriers ECD's SuperM.O.L.E.™ Technical Information Industry Links Home		Profilers, also known as thermal profilers or data loggers, are basically temperature recorders that can travel through an oven. There are many, many data recorders on the market, but only a small group of companies make profilers specifically for reflow profiling in the PCB industry Profilers usually accommodate several thermocouple input channels (3, 4, 6, and 8 channels are common). A thermocouple based sensor (type-K or type-J) such as a Temprobe or plain wire thermocouple is attached to a printed circuit board and plugged into the profiler. The board and profiler are then run through the reflow oven or wave preheat and the temperature profile of the process is recorded. Profilers either store the temperature data for download after going through the oven, transmit the data in real-time via wireless radio frequency (RF), or a combination of both. The most common method we see used is the download mode. Another approach to profiling an oven is to have a sensor system permanently installed into the reflow oven instead of using a portable profiler. If you have a large equipment budget, having a permanent sensor system and portable profiler would be ideal, but most companies are working with limited budgets and have to choose. A portable data logger will cost, on average, around $5000, while the installed sensor system costs $10,000, on average. The limitations of portable profilers is they can only capture a slice of time in the entire reflow process (e.g. one run through the oven) and cannot stay in the oven without overheating. The advantage is they capture true temperature data at the board level. The installed sensor system monitors the atmospheric temperatures 24 hours a day, but does not capture what is truly happening at the board level. When shopping for a profiler system, look at the hardware features as well as the software. While there are many similarities between the different profilers, each engineer has a particular hardware and/or software feature they like. Battery life, profiler size, thermal jacket design, and user-friendliness of the software are all things to consider before purchasing. Getting to test the profiler hardware/software on your particular oven system is the best way to evaluate the different products. This is also an excellent opportunity to check out the vendor's technical support capabilities
		ECD 4287-B SE International Way Milwaukie, OR 97222 USA Phone 503-659-6100 Fax 503-659-4422 Email: saunders@ecd.com

Temprobe™ \| Reflow Rider™ \| E-Z Rider™ \| Board Carriers ECD's SuperM.O.L.E.™ \| Technical Information \| New Products \| Industry Links \| Privacy \| ECD Home \| Saunders Home