KOMPASS brings solder joint inspection to through-hole boards, terminals, connectors and wire terminations. AI models trained on your joints find insufficient solder, bridges, cold joints and excess solder, separating real defects from normal fillet variation before the assembly reaches test.
An assembly may carry dozens or hundreds of joints. Most are fine, but one bridge or starved joint causes a short, an intermittent fault or a field return.
Our AI Product Inspection system, KOMPASS™, carries out solder joint inspection with cameras and lighting suited to reflective solder and AI models trained on your joints. Results reach the line controls with an image of every failing joint.
Solder joint inspection depends on lighting and training, because solder is reflective and joints vary in shape. KOMPASS combines both with a direct link to rework and the line.
Multi-angle lighting reveals fillet shape and wetting on shiny solder. Joints are captured from the side the defects appear on.
The model checks each joint and classifies insufficient, excess, bridged and cold joints against your acceptance standard.
Failing assemblies go to rework with joint locations marked, and every image is stored for traceability.
Send us assemblies with typical solder defects and your acceptance standard. We will assess the lighting and views your joints need.
Get In TouchVisual checks, sampling and inline solder joint inspection each play a part. The difference is how consistently subtle surface defects are judged.
Solder joint inspection with KOMPASS finds the defects visible on the joint surface: insufficient solder, excess solder, solder bridges between neighbouring joints, cold or poorly wetted joints, missing joints, solder balls and lifted leads. Each is classified separately, so repair teams know what to fix. Internal voids are not visible to a camera and remain a job for X-ray where required. The result for each joint is stored with its image, so rework and audits start from evidence.
Through-hole joints after wave soldering or selective soldering are common applications, along with terminal blocks, connector pins, relay and transformer terminals and wire terminations on harnesses. Hot-bar soldering of flex circuits and ribbon cables is another. Each joint type needs its own lighting and views, which are chosen during the trial with your assemblies. Mixed assemblies with several joint types can be checked at one station when the views allow it.
Cold joints look dull, grainy or lumpy, and the solder does not flow smoothly onto the lead and pad. Those differences are subtle and change with alloy, flux and lighting. Training on your own good and poorly wetted examples teaches the model what matters in your process, which is more reliable than fixed brightness or shape thresholds. Borderline examples are labelled with your inspectors so the model follows their judgement.
Rule-based systems compare joints with fixed limits on shape and brightness. Normal variation in fillet height, shine and lead position breaks those rules, so good joints get flagged. An AI model trained on acceptable variation separates real solder joint defects from harmless differences, which reduces rework queues without letting bad joints through. That keeps rework teams focused on joints that genuinely need attention.
Yes, where the camera resolution and lighting can resolve the gap between pins. Bridges on fine-pitch connectors and hot-bar joints can be hidden by reflections, so the view is set up to look between pins at a suitable angle. Very fine pitches are tested early in the trial to confirm the imaging can see them. Where a pitch is too fine to resolve, the trial says so clearly before any commitment.
It applies the standard your quality team uses. Many electronics manufacturers work to IPC-A-610 classes, while harness and terminal makers may use their own criteria. Training examples are labelled against that standard with your inspectors, and validation compares the station's decisions with theirs before automatic decisions are switched on. Different product lines can follow different classes if your customers require it.
Straight after the soldering process is usually best, so defects are caught before electrical test, conformal coating or final assembly. On wave-soldered boards, inspecting the solder side catches bridges and insufficient fill. A second view of the component side helps confirm hole fill on through-hole parts where your standard requires it. Placing the station before test also stops faulty boards consuming test capacity.
Send assemblies with typical defects, your acceptance standard, drawings or images showing joint locations and the soldering processes you use. Add the cycle time and how rework is organised. With that, we can recommend cameras, lighting and views for solder inspection on your line. Boards from different solder pots or nozzles help show how process changes affect the joints.
Share assemblies with typical defects, your acceptance standard, processes and cycle time. We will scope solder joint inspection before test and lay out timing and cost. Expect roughly 6 to 8 weeks to deploy.
