CA1126694A - Plating apparatus - Google Patents
Plating apparatusInfo
- Publication number
- CA1126694A CA1126694A CA328,052A CA328052A CA1126694A CA 1126694 A CA1126694 A CA 1126694A CA 328052 A CA328052 A CA 328052A CA 1126694 A CA1126694 A CA 1126694A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- electrolyte
- workpiece
- outlet
- slot
- trough
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
Links
Classifications
-
- C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
- C25—ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PROCESSES; APPARATUS THEREFOR
- C25D—PROCESSES FOR THE ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PRODUCTION OF COATINGS; ELECTROFORMING; APPARATUS THEREFOR
- C25D5/00—Electroplating characterised by the process; Pretreatment or after-treatment of workpieces
- C25D5/08—Electroplating with moving electrolyte e.g. jet electroplating
-
- C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
- C25—ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PROCESSES; APPARATUS THEREFOR
- C25D—PROCESSES FOR THE ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PRODUCTION OF COATINGS; ELECTROFORMING; APPARATUS THEREFOR
- C25D5/00—Electroplating characterised by the process; Pretreatment or after-treatment of workpieces
- C25D5/02—Electroplating of selected surface areas
Abstract
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
A plating method which comprise disposing a linear workpiece in a plating bath with the region to be plated immersed in the bath. A pair of flat thin input streams of electrolyte is then caused to be directed against both sides of the immersed portion simultaneously at substantially the same rate and the electrolyte is withdrawn downwardly from below the workpiece at a rate not in excess of the input rate.
Finally, an electric current is passed through the workpiece as cathode and through the solution to a pair of anodes dis-posed below the workpiece and on either side of it. An apparatus for carrying out this method is also disclosed. With this method and apparatus there is no need to mask the portion which is to be left unplated.
A plating method which comprise disposing a linear workpiece in a plating bath with the region to be plated immersed in the bath. A pair of flat thin input streams of electrolyte is then caused to be directed against both sides of the immersed portion simultaneously at substantially the same rate and the electrolyte is withdrawn downwardly from below the workpiece at a rate not in excess of the input rate.
Finally, an electric current is passed through the workpiece as cathode and through the solution to a pair of anodes dis-posed below the workpiece and on either side of it. An apparatus for carrying out this method is also disclosed. With this method and apparatus there is no need to mask the portion which is to be left unplated.
Description
~12~
The ~reserlt invention relates to a method for plating a portion of a workpiece upto an accurately defined boundary without the need to mas~ the portion ~hich is to be left ~-~plated, and to apparatus for 5. carrying out the method.
According -to the present invention a plating method comprises disposing a linear workpiece in a plat~ng bath with the region to be plated imm~rsed in the bath, causing a pair of flat thin input streams - 10. of electrolyte to be direc-t~d against both sidesof the immersed portion simultaneously at substantially the same r~te ~r~d withdra~ing electrolyte down~Jardly - from below the wor}~piece at a rate nct in excess o~ the i~put rate, and passing an electric current through 15. the workpiece as cathode and the solutiono~ a pair of anodes disposed below the workpiece and on either side of it.
Preferably a shield is disposed between the anodes and the worl~piece so that a straight line cannot 20. be drawn between them.
. .
Preferably the th-ll electrolyte streams are deflected upwardly at a small angle e.g. 10 to 20 to imp inge on the workpiece.
Preferahly a small amo~rlt of electrolyte is 25- allowed to draln frGm the plat~ng bath and the rate of ~D~ PB 2.
. ' ~ ,.
:. .
il~fi6~
~ithdrawal of electroly~e and the rate of draining is slightly below the input rate so that the electrolyte just tends to o~er-~low from the bath over the edges of the container therefor whereby the electrolyte level is 5- kept substantially constant.
The invention also extends to apparatus for carrying out the method comprising an elongated electrolyte trough, a pair of electrolyte input spargers disposed near the top of the trough and parallel to and 10- near the edges thereo~ with hori~ontally disposed input slots facing towards the centre line of the trough, a suction outlet sparger having an up~ardly facing outlet slot disposed belo~ the level of the said input slots and on the midline ~etween the said input 15- slots and mea~s for feeding or mounting a workpiece or workpieces o~ the said midline~the top edges of the side walls of the trough defining the electrolyte solution level and the plating bour~dary for the workpiece~
and me~ns for collecting electrolyte displaced from 20- .the trough over the top edges thereof. The side ~alls o~ the trou~h ar~ preferably each provided Jith one or more bleed orifices. The top edges of the side walls are preferably cham~cred to asslst dralnage of electrolyte over the e~es thereoi with the minim.~m 25- ris~ of ripples being formed.
lr~i~r~ 3.
., ~ .
Slot defining means are preferably provided above the outlet slot in the suction sparger leading from just below the bottom of the worLcpiece pass line to the said outlet slot.
5. Deflector means may also be prQvided to deflect the two opposed streams o~ electrolyte from the input spargers upwards at a small angle towards the workpiece.
Shield means may also be provided between the workpiece and the anodes so as to even out the distri-10. bution of current density over the surface of' theworkpiece.
The slot deflning means~deflector means and shield means are preferably provided by a pair of triangular cross section members extending along the 15. length o~ the trough and positioned back to back but spaced apart so as to define the slot, their out-wardly and upwardly facing sur~aces providing the de,~lecting means and their mass providing the shielding means.
20., Such de~lector and shield mealls are pre~erably made of non conduotive material e.~. polyrler such as polyethylcne.
The input spargers are prelerably provlded wi-th baffles so as to direct the electïolyte in a stream 25. generally hori~cntally to~?a1ds the inlets to the input ~DNI~/P~ 4.
i6~
slots WniCIl are preferably formed with a convergiIIg inlet and a narrow parallel sided outlet.
The outlet slot in the outlet sparger is preferably also provided with a converging inlet and 5- a narrow parallel sided outlet and the outlet from the outlet sparger is preferably also baffled so as - to direct the flow from the said outlet slot first to one side of the pass line and thèn back to the other side of the pass line before it passes into the 10. outlet duct of the outlet sparger~
. .
KDIYK.,/P~ 5.
112fi~i9~
The present invention can be put into practice in various ways and two specific embodiments will be described by way of example to illustrate the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a diagrammatic cross section of a first form of plating apparatus in accordance with the present invention;
Figure 2 is a cross section of a second form of plating apparatus in accordance with the present invention, Figure 3 is an enlarged view of part of Figure 2.
The plating apparatus is desinged to plate portions of workpieces from one edge inwardly to an accurately defined straight line boundary and to produce platings of even thickness from the edge up to the said boundary without the need for the region which is not to be plated to be masked by a layer of resist. The apparatus can be used to plate a strip which can be moved continuously through the apparatus or it can be used to plate an elongated article or a series of articles located in a stationary condition in the apparatus during the plating process.
The apparatus provides an elongated bath of plating composition, the articles to be plated are provided with current as the cathode and an anode or anodes are located in the bath. The problem is to ensure that fresh plating compo-sition is continuously fed to the workpiece while the surfaceof the solution is kept non-turbulent and as nearly as possible at a constant level since it is this level which determines . , .
the boundary of the plating.
A subsidiary problem is to ensure that there are no extreme variations in current density over the area of the workpiece so that an even plating thickness is produced. The apparatus consists of an elongated tank 10, defined by a bottom wall 11 having an inlet opening 12 and an outlet opening 13 and side walls 14 and 15 each having an outlet opening 16, and end walls 17 and 18 each containing an inlet opening 19. A
plating trough 20 is located within the tank 10 and is defined by parallel weirs 21 and 22 extending along the length of~the tank 10 and mounted on the bottom wall 11. The weirs 21 and 22 are adjustable in height and their top edges define the solution level and are provided with outwardly facing chamfers 23 over which excess solution can flow out (see arrows 26) into side drainage channels 24 afforded by the space between the walls 14 and 21 and 15 and 22. Each weir also has a bleed orifice 28 located in its lower half and arranged so that most of any excess of plating solution supplied to the trough drains out through the orifices 28 rather than flowing over the tops of the weirs 21 and 22.
The solution draining out through the orifices 28 passes into the channels 24 and thence out through the outlet openings 16.
The trough 20 contains a numbef of transverse beams 30 and 31 which extend from the lower portion of the upper half of each weir inwardly to a longitudinally extending conduit 33 or suction sparger. This has a slot shaped orifice 34 located in its upper face which is preferably planar, the sparger conveniently being of square box cross section. The slot 34 has upwardly and inwardly facing chamfers 35 so that it has a Y shaped cross section.~ A-pair of deflectors 36 and 37 of right angled triangular cross section are mounted on the upper surface of the sparger 33 and the hypotenuses 38 of the deflectors face upwardly and outwardly, whilst they are spaced apart so that their short~ vertical sides form a longitudinally extending slot 39 leading down to the slot 34.
A pair of inwardly facing discharge spargers 41 and 42 are mounted on the upper surfaces of the beams 31 and 32 respectively parallel to the slot 34.
Each discharge sparger has an outlet slot 43 disposed in its inwardly disposed face just below the level of the tops of the weirs 21 and 22 i.e. in use just below the surface of the plating solution. ' These discharge spargers are arranged to direct an even thin solid stream of p:ating solution inwardly from each side towards the centre of the trough 20 and the suction sparger is arranged to withdraw liquid downwardly from the centre line of the surface of the trough evenly along the entire length of the trough whilst avoiding the formation of vorteces on the surface of the solution.
Each end wall 17 and 18 has a vertical inlet slot, 45 and 46 respectively, preferably of adjustable depth and 8.
preferably provided with an adjustable sliding seal, disposed on the centre line of the trough 20 in register with the slot 34.
The workpiece, or workpieces, is then fed sequentially through the end ~lot 45 along the trough 20 through the plating solution and out through the end slot 46.
An electrical sliding contact of conventional appropriate type is used to supply d.c. current to render the workpiece the cathode. A pair of anodes 50 and 51 of conventional appropriate type extend the length of the trough ~0 and are underneath races of the beams 31 and 32.
The mode of operation is as follows.
The spargers 41 and 42 are provided with a pumped supply A of plating solution via the inlet 12 and connecting pipe work (not shown) and the suvtion sparger is provided with a pumped drain capacity s via the outlet 13 and connecting pipework (not shown). The drain C through the orifices 28 and over the weirs 21 and 22 is collected and may be held in a supply tank from which A is drawn and to which B is supplied.
This supply tank may be subjected to appropriate filtration, monitoring, pH adjustment and component make up as necessary.
A is arranged to be slightly greater than B at all times.
The flow of plating sclution travels inwardly from each outlet 43 and is deflected upwardly by the ramps 3~ on to the immersec portion of the workpiece 56 and is then drawn down into the slot 39 and thence through the slot 34 by the suction sparger 33.
me plating current from the anodes is deflected and prevented from concentrating on the bottom edge of the workpiece by the deflectors 36 and 37.
This results in an even thickness of deposit.
Since fresh electrolyte solution is continuously supplied and the rate of supply can be varied high current densities can be used and good deposits achieved at the same time.
The apparatus has been found very suitable for gold plating conventional substrates such as brass strips.
We now turn to Figure 2 where the same reference as are the orifices 28 and the chamfers 23 on the weirs.
me orifices 28 are afforded by plugs 60 arranged to be removably located in bores in the weirs 21 and 22, This enables the orifices 28 to be changed by replacing the plugs 60 by other plugs having orifices of different size.
The chamfers 23 are reversed and face inwardly rather !~ than outwardly. An exhaust hood 65 is also provided. The anodes 50 and 51 are provided with current via connectors 71 and 72.
The discharge spargers 41 and 42 are provided with a baffled arrangement to assist in producing a thin flat even ; stream of electrolyte solution.
m e suction sparger 33 is also provided with a baffled arrangement to assist in even withdrawal of electrolyte without the creation of vorteces on the surface of the solution. These arrangements are best see~ in Figure 3.
.
fi~94 The suction sparger 33 is formed with three longitu-dinally extending horizontal plates. The first 80 has the slot 34 located in it~ The second 81 located below the first has a wider slot 82 located in it offset to one side of the centre line of the sparger and the bottom plate 83 has its outlet opening offset to the other side of the centre line.
Each discharge sparger 41 and 42 is constructed in the same manner, having three longitudinally extending strip shaped horizontally disposed chambers 85, 86 and 87 defined by four plates 88, 89, 90 and 91. The lowest plate 88 has its inlet opening disposed on the outer side of its centre line. The next plate 89 has a longitudinally extending slot sparger andopposite it in the upper outer corner of the top chamber 87 there is a triangular fillet 94 providing an inclined downwardly and inwardly facing surface 95. This deflects the liquid crossing through the slot 93 inwardly towards the inside face of the sparger, through which extends the horizontal slot 43 having a converging inlet 96 and a parallel sided outlet 97.
This outlet 97 is opposite the lower end of the surface 38 of the deflectors 36 and 37 so that the incoming electrolyte is directed up the inclined surface to impinge against the immersed portion 55 of the workpiece 56.
The upper and lower edges of the vertical walls of the deflectors 36 and 37 which form the slot 39 are provided with a slight chamfer 98 and 99 to assist smooth flow of electrolyte.
11.
~,
The ~reserlt invention relates to a method for plating a portion of a workpiece upto an accurately defined boundary without the need to mas~ the portion ~hich is to be left ~-~plated, and to apparatus for 5. carrying out the method.
According -to the present invention a plating method comprises disposing a linear workpiece in a plat~ng bath with the region to be plated imm~rsed in the bath, causing a pair of flat thin input streams - 10. of electrolyte to be direc-t~d against both sidesof the immersed portion simultaneously at substantially the same r~te ~r~d withdra~ing electrolyte down~Jardly - from below the wor}~piece at a rate nct in excess o~ the i~put rate, and passing an electric current through 15. the workpiece as cathode and the solutiono~ a pair of anodes disposed below the workpiece and on either side of it.
Preferably a shield is disposed between the anodes and the worl~piece so that a straight line cannot 20. be drawn between them.
. .
Preferably the th-ll electrolyte streams are deflected upwardly at a small angle e.g. 10 to 20 to imp inge on the workpiece.
Preferahly a small amo~rlt of electrolyte is 25- allowed to draln frGm the plat~ng bath and the rate of ~D~ PB 2.
. ' ~ ,.
:. .
il~fi6~
~ithdrawal of electroly~e and the rate of draining is slightly below the input rate so that the electrolyte just tends to o~er-~low from the bath over the edges of the container therefor whereby the electrolyte level is 5- kept substantially constant.
The invention also extends to apparatus for carrying out the method comprising an elongated electrolyte trough, a pair of electrolyte input spargers disposed near the top of the trough and parallel to and 10- near the edges thereo~ with hori~ontally disposed input slots facing towards the centre line of the trough, a suction outlet sparger having an up~ardly facing outlet slot disposed belo~ the level of the said input slots and on the midline ~etween the said input 15- slots and mea~s for feeding or mounting a workpiece or workpieces o~ the said midline~the top edges of the side walls of the trough defining the electrolyte solution level and the plating bour~dary for the workpiece~
and me~ns for collecting electrolyte displaced from 20- .the trough over the top edges thereof. The side ~alls o~ the trou~h ar~ preferably each provided Jith one or more bleed orifices. The top edges of the side walls are preferably cham~cred to asslst dralnage of electrolyte over the e~es thereoi with the minim.~m 25- ris~ of ripples being formed.
lr~i~r~ 3.
., ~ .
Slot defining means are preferably provided above the outlet slot in the suction sparger leading from just below the bottom of the worLcpiece pass line to the said outlet slot.
5. Deflector means may also be prQvided to deflect the two opposed streams o~ electrolyte from the input spargers upwards at a small angle towards the workpiece.
Shield means may also be provided between the workpiece and the anodes so as to even out the distri-10. bution of current density over the surface of' theworkpiece.
The slot deflning means~deflector means and shield means are preferably provided by a pair of triangular cross section members extending along the 15. length o~ the trough and positioned back to back but spaced apart so as to define the slot, their out-wardly and upwardly facing sur~aces providing the de,~lecting means and their mass providing the shielding means.
20., Such de~lector and shield mealls are pre~erably made of non conduotive material e.~. polyrler such as polyethylcne.
The input spargers are prelerably provlded wi-th baffles so as to direct the electïolyte in a stream 25. generally hori~cntally to~?a1ds the inlets to the input ~DNI~/P~ 4.
i6~
slots WniCIl are preferably formed with a convergiIIg inlet and a narrow parallel sided outlet.
The outlet slot in the outlet sparger is preferably also provided with a converging inlet and 5- a narrow parallel sided outlet and the outlet from the outlet sparger is preferably also baffled so as - to direct the flow from the said outlet slot first to one side of the pass line and thèn back to the other side of the pass line before it passes into the 10. outlet duct of the outlet sparger~
. .
KDIYK.,/P~ 5.
112fi~i9~
The present invention can be put into practice in various ways and two specific embodiments will be described by way of example to illustrate the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a diagrammatic cross section of a first form of plating apparatus in accordance with the present invention;
Figure 2 is a cross section of a second form of plating apparatus in accordance with the present invention, Figure 3 is an enlarged view of part of Figure 2.
The plating apparatus is desinged to plate portions of workpieces from one edge inwardly to an accurately defined straight line boundary and to produce platings of even thickness from the edge up to the said boundary without the need for the region which is not to be plated to be masked by a layer of resist. The apparatus can be used to plate a strip which can be moved continuously through the apparatus or it can be used to plate an elongated article or a series of articles located in a stationary condition in the apparatus during the plating process.
The apparatus provides an elongated bath of plating composition, the articles to be plated are provided with current as the cathode and an anode or anodes are located in the bath. The problem is to ensure that fresh plating compo-sition is continuously fed to the workpiece while the surfaceof the solution is kept non-turbulent and as nearly as possible at a constant level since it is this level which determines . , .
the boundary of the plating.
A subsidiary problem is to ensure that there are no extreme variations in current density over the area of the workpiece so that an even plating thickness is produced. The apparatus consists of an elongated tank 10, defined by a bottom wall 11 having an inlet opening 12 and an outlet opening 13 and side walls 14 and 15 each having an outlet opening 16, and end walls 17 and 18 each containing an inlet opening 19. A
plating trough 20 is located within the tank 10 and is defined by parallel weirs 21 and 22 extending along the length of~the tank 10 and mounted on the bottom wall 11. The weirs 21 and 22 are adjustable in height and their top edges define the solution level and are provided with outwardly facing chamfers 23 over which excess solution can flow out (see arrows 26) into side drainage channels 24 afforded by the space between the walls 14 and 21 and 15 and 22. Each weir also has a bleed orifice 28 located in its lower half and arranged so that most of any excess of plating solution supplied to the trough drains out through the orifices 28 rather than flowing over the tops of the weirs 21 and 22.
The solution draining out through the orifices 28 passes into the channels 24 and thence out through the outlet openings 16.
The trough 20 contains a numbef of transverse beams 30 and 31 which extend from the lower portion of the upper half of each weir inwardly to a longitudinally extending conduit 33 or suction sparger. This has a slot shaped orifice 34 located in its upper face which is preferably planar, the sparger conveniently being of square box cross section. The slot 34 has upwardly and inwardly facing chamfers 35 so that it has a Y shaped cross section.~ A-pair of deflectors 36 and 37 of right angled triangular cross section are mounted on the upper surface of the sparger 33 and the hypotenuses 38 of the deflectors face upwardly and outwardly, whilst they are spaced apart so that their short~ vertical sides form a longitudinally extending slot 39 leading down to the slot 34.
A pair of inwardly facing discharge spargers 41 and 42 are mounted on the upper surfaces of the beams 31 and 32 respectively parallel to the slot 34.
Each discharge sparger has an outlet slot 43 disposed in its inwardly disposed face just below the level of the tops of the weirs 21 and 22 i.e. in use just below the surface of the plating solution. ' These discharge spargers are arranged to direct an even thin solid stream of p:ating solution inwardly from each side towards the centre of the trough 20 and the suction sparger is arranged to withdraw liquid downwardly from the centre line of the surface of the trough evenly along the entire length of the trough whilst avoiding the formation of vorteces on the surface of the solution.
Each end wall 17 and 18 has a vertical inlet slot, 45 and 46 respectively, preferably of adjustable depth and 8.
preferably provided with an adjustable sliding seal, disposed on the centre line of the trough 20 in register with the slot 34.
The workpiece, or workpieces, is then fed sequentially through the end ~lot 45 along the trough 20 through the plating solution and out through the end slot 46.
An electrical sliding contact of conventional appropriate type is used to supply d.c. current to render the workpiece the cathode. A pair of anodes 50 and 51 of conventional appropriate type extend the length of the trough ~0 and are underneath races of the beams 31 and 32.
The mode of operation is as follows.
The spargers 41 and 42 are provided with a pumped supply A of plating solution via the inlet 12 and connecting pipe work (not shown) and the suvtion sparger is provided with a pumped drain capacity s via the outlet 13 and connecting pipework (not shown). The drain C through the orifices 28 and over the weirs 21 and 22 is collected and may be held in a supply tank from which A is drawn and to which B is supplied.
This supply tank may be subjected to appropriate filtration, monitoring, pH adjustment and component make up as necessary.
A is arranged to be slightly greater than B at all times.
The flow of plating sclution travels inwardly from each outlet 43 and is deflected upwardly by the ramps 3~ on to the immersec portion of the workpiece 56 and is then drawn down into the slot 39 and thence through the slot 34 by the suction sparger 33.
me plating current from the anodes is deflected and prevented from concentrating on the bottom edge of the workpiece by the deflectors 36 and 37.
This results in an even thickness of deposit.
Since fresh electrolyte solution is continuously supplied and the rate of supply can be varied high current densities can be used and good deposits achieved at the same time.
The apparatus has been found very suitable for gold plating conventional substrates such as brass strips.
We now turn to Figure 2 where the same reference as are the orifices 28 and the chamfers 23 on the weirs.
me orifices 28 are afforded by plugs 60 arranged to be removably located in bores in the weirs 21 and 22, This enables the orifices 28 to be changed by replacing the plugs 60 by other plugs having orifices of different size.
The chamfers 23 are reversed and face inwardly rather !~ than outwardly. An exhaust hood 65 is also provided. The anodes 50 and 51 are provided with current via connectors 71 and 72.
The discharge spargers 41 and 42 are provided with a baffled arrangement to assist in producing a thin flat even ; stream of electrolyte solution.
m e suction sparger 33 is also provided with a baffled arrangement to assist in even withdrawal of electrolyte without the creation of vorteces on the surface of the solution. These arrangements are best see~ in Figure 3.
.
fi~94 The suction sparger 33 is formed with three longitu-dinally extending horizontal plates. The first 80 has the slot 34 located in it~ The second 81 located below the first has a wider slot 82 located in it offset to one side of the centre line of the sparger and the bottom plate 83 has its outlet opening offset to the other side of the centre line.
Each discharge sparger 41 and 42 is constructed in the same manner, having three longitudinally extending strip shaped horizontally disposed chambers 85, 86 and 87 defined by four plates 88, 89, 90 and 91. The lowest plate 88 has its inlet opening disposed on the outer side of its centre line. The next plate 89 has a longitudinally extending slot sparger andopposite it in the upper outer corner of the top chamber 87 there is a triangular fillet 94 providing an inclined downwardly and inwardly facing surface 95. This deflects the liquid crossing through the slot 93 inwardly towards the inside face of the sparger, through which extends the horizontal slot 43 having a converging inlet 96 and a parallel sided outlet 97.
This outlet 97 is opposite the lower end of the surface 38 of the deflectors 36 and 37 so that the incoming electrolyte is directed up the inclined surface to impinge against the immersed portion 55 of the workpiece 56.
The upper and lower edges of the vertical walls of the deflectors 36 and 37 which form the slot 39 are provided with a slight chamfer 98 and 99 to assist smooth flow of electrolyte.
11.
~,
Claims (16)
1. A plating method which comprise disposing a linear workpiece in a plating bath with the region to be plated immersed in the bath, causing a pair of flat thin input streams of electrolyte to be directed against both sides of the immersed portion simultaneously at substantially the same rate and withdrawing electrolyte downwardly from below the workpiece at a rate not in excess of the input rate, and passing an electric current through the workpiece as cathode and the solution to a pair of anodes disposed below the workpiece and on either side of it.
2. A method as claimed in Claim 1, in which a shield is disposed between the anodes and the workpiece so that a straight line cannot be drawn between them.
3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, in which the thin electrolyte streams are deflected upwardly at a small angle to impinge on the workpiece.
4. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, in which the thin electrolyte streams are deflected upwardly at an angle of 10 to 20° to impinge on the workpiece.
5. A method as claimed in claim 1, in which a small amount of electrolyte is allowed to drain from the plating bath and the rate of withdrawal of electrolyte and the rate of draining is slightly below the input rate so that the electrolyte just tends to overflow from the bath over the edges of the con-tainer therefor whereby the electrolyte level is kept substan-tially constant.
6. Plating apparatus comprising an elongated electrolyte trough, a pair of electrolyte input spargers disposed near the top of the trough and parallel to and near the edges thereof with longitudinally disposed input slots facing towards the centre line of the trough, a suction outlet spar-ger having an upwardly facing outlet slot disposed below the level of the said input slots and on the mid line between the said input slots and means for feeding along or mounting a workpiece or workpieces on the said mid line, the top edges of the side walls of the trough defining the electrolyte solution level and the plating boundary for the workpiece, and means for collecting electrolyte displaced from the trough over the top edges thereof.
7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, in which the side walls of the trough are each provided with one or more bleed orifices.
8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6 or 7, in which the top edges of the side walls are chamfered to assist drainage of electrolyte over the edges thereof with the minimum risk of ripples being formed.
9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, in which slot means are provided above the outlet slot in the suction sparger leading from just below the bottom of the workpiece pass line to the said outlet slot.
10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9, in which deflector means are also provided to deflect the two opposed streams of electrolyte from the input spargers upwards at a small angle towards the workpiece.
11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10, in which shield means are also provided between the workpiece and the anodes so as to even out the distribution of current density over the sur-face of the workpiece
12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 11, in which the slot defining means, deflector means and shield means are provided by a pair of triangular cross section members extending along the length of the trough and positioned back to back but spaced apart so as to define the slot, their outwardly and upwardly facing surfaces providing the deflecting means and their mass providing the shielding means.
13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, in which the in-put spargers are provided with baffles so as to direct the electrolyte in a stream generally horizontally towards the inlets to the input slots.
14. Apparatus as claimed in claim 13, in which the input slots are formed with a converging inlet and a narrow parallel sided outlet.
15. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, 13 or 14, in which the outlet slot in the outlet sparger is also provided with a converging inlet and a narrow parallel sided outlet.
16. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, in which the outlet from the outlet sparger is baffled so as to direct the flow from the said outlet slot first to one side of the pass line and then back to the otherside of the pass line before it passes into the outlet duct of the outlet sparger.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB21316/78A GB1600567A (en) | 1978-05-23 | 1978-05-23 | Plating apparatus |
| GB21316/78 | 1978-05-23 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1126694A true CA1126694A (en) | 1982-06-29 |
Family
ID=10160827
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA328,052A Expired CA1126694A (en) | 1978-05-23 | 1979-05-22 | Plating apparatus |
Country Status (3)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| JP (1) | JPS6037879B2 (en) |
| CA (1) | CA1126694A (en) |
| GB (1) | GB1600567A (en) |
Families Citing this family (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US4377461A (en) * | 1981-09-23 | 1983-03-22 | Napco, Inc. | Tab plater for circuit boards or the like |
| US4501650A (en) * | 1983-08-26 | 1985-02-26 | Napco, Inc. | Workpiece clamp assembly for electrolytic plating machine |
| DE3710895C1 (en) * | 1987-04-01 | 1987-09-17 | Deutsche Automobilgesellsch | Process for the electroless metallization of flat textile substrates |
-
1978
- 1978-05-23 GB GB21316/78A patent/GB1600567A/en not_active Expired
-
1979
- 1979-05-22 CA CA328,052A patent/CA1126694A/en not_active Expired
- 1979-05-22 JP JP54063183A patent/JPS6037879B2/en not_active Expired
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| GB1600567A (en) | 1981-10-21 |
| JPS6037879B2 (en) | 1985-08-28 |
| JPS54157740A (en) | 1979-12-12 |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| MKEX | Expiry |