Patent ID: 7014673

Claim:
A system for reflow soldering comprising: a reflow oven having an inlet and an outlet and a plurality of regions, the regions producing flux vapor at various rates, at least one region comprising a pre-heat region, at least another region comprising a high-temperature region at or above a solder reflow temperature; a contaminated-gas inlet configured to receive contaminated gas from at least one of the plurality of regions of the reflow oven; a filter assembly configured to filter contaminated gas received from the reflow oven through the contaminated-gas inlet; a cleaned-gas outlet configured to receive cleaned gas from the filter assembly and to introduce cleaned gas into at least one of the plurality of regions of the reflow oven; and a gas barrier on a flow path separate from the cleaned-gas outlet, the gas barrier comprising a unit located at the inlet and the outlet of the oven configured to receive cleaned gas from the filter assembly and to move cleaned gas past the inlet and the outlet of the oven, thereby preventing a flow of ambient atmosphere into the oven through the inlet and the outlet of the oven.