JP2021021124A - Plating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a plating apparatus that uniformly mixes a plated material and makes the thickness of a plating film uniform for improved quality.SOLUTION: The typical constitution of a plating apparatus 100 herein is a plating apparatus including a basket 102 to house a plated material. It is characterized by plating the plated material while circularly moving the basket in a horizontal direction.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a plating apparatus used when plating a small part.

As a plating apparatus, for example, a barrel plating apparatus is known. The barrel plating device is a device for plating a small part (hereinafter referred to as a material to be plated), and includes a rotating barrel. The barrel has the shape of a polygonal pillar (mainly a hexagon), and the wall surface is composed of a mesh so that the plating solution can flow through the wall surface. When the material to be plated is plated, the barrel plating apparatus accommodates the material to be plated in the barrel and rotates the barrel in a state of being immersed in the plating solution together with the barrel.

However, due to the miniaturization of electronic components in recent years, it is necessary to plate extremely small members to be plated such as 0402 (0.4 mm × 0.2 mm) and 0603 (0.6 mm × 0.3 mm) in the plating apparatus. .. In such a case, in the barrel plating apparatus, the mesh on the wall surface of the barrel also becomes finer, and the passage of the plating solution becomes difficult.

In the plating process, the metal ion concentration of the plating solution decreases as the plating film is formed on the material to be plated. However, since the plating solution does not easily pass through the mesh, there is a problem that the circulation of the plating solution inside and outside the barrel is poor and the plating speed is lowered.

On the other hand, Patent Document 1 describes a plating apparatus provided with a basket instead of a barrel that accommodates and rotates a material to be plated. In this plating apparatus, a basket for accommodating a material to be plated, a basket support portion, and a driving device are provided. The basket support portion swingably holds the basket in a detachable state. The drive device reciprocates the basket support in the horizontal direction.

The plating apparatus of Patent Document 1 is a simple mechanism in which the basket held by the basket support portion is reciprocated in the horizontal direction by a driving device, and the material to be plated is immersed in a plating solution in a plating process, a cleaning process, or the like. It is said that it can be stirred in a state of being. Further, in the plating apparatus, since the basket is oscillatingly held by the basket support portion, the basket oscillates (swings) due to the reciprocating motion of the basket support portion, and the stirring effect of the material to be plated is further enhanced. There is.

Patent No. 6209668

However, the plating apparatus of Patent Document 1 merely reciprocates the basket in the horizontal direction and swings the basket with respect to the basket support portion. That is, since this plating apparatus moves the basket in the uniaxial direction so as to shake the pendulum, unevenness occurs in the way the materials to be plated contained in the basket are mixed. Therefore, in this plating apparatus, it is difficult to homogenize the film thickness of the plating film, and the materials to be plated may stick to each other in the plating film.

In view of such a problem, an object of the present invention is to provide a plating apparatus capable of uniformly mixing the materials to be plated to homogenize the film thickness of the plating film and improve the quality.

In order to solve the above problems, a typical configuration of the plating apparatus according to the present invention is a plating apparatus provided with a basket for accommodating the material to be plated, and the material to be plated while moving the basket in a circular motion in the horizontal direction. It is characterized in that it is plated.

According to the above configuration, the material to be plated is plated while the basket containing the material to be plated is circularly moved in the horizontal direction, so that the material to be plated can be evenly mixed by the circular motion. Therefore, the film thickness of the plating film can be homogenized to improve the quality. Further, it is possible to prevent the materials to be plated from sticking to each other due to the plating film.

The plating device described above comprises two drive gears, a pulley gear connecting the two drive gears, two eccentric shafts eccentrically attached to the two drive gears, and an arm pivotally supported by the two eccentric shafts. It is preferable that the basket is supported by the arm.

In the above configuration, when one of the two drive gears is attached to the drive shaft of the motor to drive the motor, the two drive gears rotate in the same direction in synchronization with each other via the pulley gear. Therefore, the two eccentric shafts attached eccentrically to the two drive gears simultaneously perform circular motion. Further, arms supporting the basket are pivotally supported on the two eccentric shafts that perform circular motion. Therefore, the basket can perform a circular motion in the horizontal direction in accordance with the movement of the portion of the arm that supports the basket. Therefore, the material to be plated contained in the basket can be mixed evenly in a circular motion.

The basket may be suspended downward from the arm. Since the basket is suspended downward from the arm in this way, the installation area of the plating apparatus can be reduced and the size can be reduced.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a plating apparatus capable of uniformly mixing the materials to be plated to homogenize the film thickness of the plating film and improve the quality.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the plating apparatus in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the state which saw the plating apparatus of FIG. 1 from obliquely above. It is a figure explaining the drive part of the plating apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the structure of the plating apparatus in another embodiment of this invention.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The dimensions, materials, and other specific numerical values shown in such an embodiment are merely examples for facilitating the understanding of the invention, and do not limit the present invention unless otherwise specified. In the present specification and drawings, elements having substantially the same function and configuration are designated by the same reference numerals to omit duplicate description, and elements not directly related to the present invention are not shown. To do.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a plating apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which the plating apparatus 100 of FIG. 1 is viewed from diagonally above.

The plating apparatus 100 is an apparatus for plating a material to be plated (not shown), and includes a basket 102. The basket 102 is a container installed sideways, and has a shape in which a hexagonal columnar body and a hexagonal pyramid are combined, for example, as shown in FIG. The basket 102 has a wall surface 106 made of a mesh 104 so that the plating solution can flow, and an opening 108 into which the material to be plated is charged. As shown in FIG. 2, the opening 108 is formed by opening the upper surface of the basket 102.

The plating apparatus 100 further includes frames 110 and 112, a control box 114 attached to the upper portions of the frames 110 and 112, and a drive unit 116. Note that FIG. 2 also shows the inside of the control box 114 through the side wall 118 of the control box 114 shown in FIG. The motor 120 shown in FIG. 2 is housed in the control box 114.

A controller 122 operated by an operator is installed on the side wall 118 of the control box 114. Further, the motor 120 is installed above the lower wall 124 of the control box 114 shown in FIG. 2 and is driven in response to the operation of the controller 122. The drive unit 116 is installed under the lower wall 124 of the control box 114 and is driven by the driving force of the motor 120 (described later).

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the electrode 126 is inserted into the basket 102 through the opening 108. When performing the plating process, the material to be plated is housed in the basket 102, and the electrode 126 is brought into contact with the material to be plated and energized while the basket 102 is immersed in the plating solution of a plating tank (not shown).

By such a plating treatment, a plating film is formed on the material to be plated. However, in the plating process, the metal ion concentration of the plating solution decreases as the plating film is formed on the material to be plated. Further, when the material to be plated is an extremely small electronic component such as 0.4 mm × 0.2 mm or 0.6 mm × 0.3 mm, the mesh 104 of the wall surface 106 of the basket 102 also becomes finer and allows the plating solution to pass through. Becomes worse. As a result, the circulation of the plating solution inside and outside the basket 102 is poor, and the plating speed is lowered.

Therefore, the plating apparatus 100 employs a mechanism (drive unit 116) for plating the material to be plated while moving the basket 102 containing the material to be plated in a circular motion in the horizontal direction.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a drive unit 116 of the plating apparatus 100 of FIG. FIG. 3 shows a state in which the plating apparatus 100 of FIG. 1 is looked up from diagonally below, and further shows the inside of the control box 114 as in FIG. 2.

The drive unit 116 has two drive gears 128 and 130, a pulley gear 132, two eccentric shafts 134 and 136, and an arm 138. The drive gear 128 is attached to the drive shaft 140 of the motor 120. The drive gear 130 has the same shape as the drive gear 128, and is rotatably supported by a shaft portion 142 installed on the lower wall 124 of the control box 114.

The pulley gear 132 is arranged between the two drive gears 128 and 130 as shown in the figure, and connects the two drive gears 128 and 130. The pulley gear 132 is rotatably supported by a shaft portion 144 installed on the lower wall 124 of the control box 114. Therefore, in the drive unit 116, when the motor 120 is driven, the two drive gears 128 and 130 rotate in the same direction as shown by the arrows in the drawing in synchronization with each other via the pulley gear 132.

The eccentric shaft 134 is attached at a position eccentric from the center of rotation of the lower portion 146 of the drive gear 128. Further, the eccentric shaft 136 is attached at a position eccentric from the rotation center of the lower portion 148 of the drive gear 130. In this way, the two eccentric shafts 134 and 136 are eccentrically attached to the two drive gears 128 and 130 that rotate in the same direction in synchronization. Therefore, when the motor 120 is driven, the two eccentric shafts 134 and 136 perform circular motions in synchronization with each other.

The arm 138 is pivotally supported by two eccentric shafts 134 and 136 that perform circular motion. The arm 138 has a base portion 150 pivotally supported by two eccentric shafts 134 and 136, and support portions 152 and 154 extending downward from both ends of the base portion 150. The support portions 152 and 154 horizontally support and fix both side ends 156 and 158 of the basket 102 below the base portion 150. Therefore, the basket 102 is suspended downward from the arm 138 as shown in the figure.

In this way, in the drive unit 116, the arm 138 that supports the basket 102 is pivotally supported by the two eccentric shafts 134 and 136 that perform circular motion. Therefore, the basket 102 can perform a circular motion in the horizontal direction as shown by an arrow in the figure in accordance with the movement of the support portions 152 and 154 of the arm 138.

Therefore, according to the plating apparatus 100, the material to be plated is plated while the basket 102 containing the material to be plated is circularly moved in the horizontal direction, so that the material to be plated can be evenly mixed by the circular motion. Therefore, the film thickness of the plating film can be homogenized to improve the quality. Further, it is possible to prevent the materials to be plated from sticking to each other due to the plating film.

Further, in the plating apparatus 100, the operator operates the controller 122 to appropriately adjust the rotation direction and rotation speed of the motor 120, so that the direction of the circular motion of the basket 102 can be set to either clockwise or counterclockwise. You can also speed up or slow down the circular motion. In this way, the material to be plated can be mixed more evenly.

Further, in the plating apparatus 100, since the basket 102 is suspended downward from the arm 138, the installation area of the apparatus can be reduced and the size can be reduced.

In the above embodiment, the configuration in which the basket 102 for accommodating the material to be plated is circularly moved in the horizontal direction to perform the plating treatment on the material to be plated has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. As an example, the basket 102 may be made to make a pendulum movement (swing) in the vertical direction while the basket 102 is made to make a circular motion in the horizontal direction (see FIG. 4).

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a plating apparatus 100A according to another embodiment of the present invention. The plating device 100A is mainly different from the plating device 100 in that it includes a driving unit 116 that makes the basket 102 move in a circular motion in the horizontal direction and a swinging unit 160 that swings the basket 102 in the vertical direction.

The plating apparatus 100A includes a swinging portion 160, an installation base 162 on which the driving portion 116 is installed, and a control box 164. The swinging portion 160 includes a disk-shaped cam 166, a link member 168, and a connecting member 170. The cam 166 is attached to a drive shaft of a motor (not shown) arranged in the control box 164, and is further installed on the side wall 172 of the control box 164 as shown. Controllers 122A and 122B operated by an operator are installed on the side wall 172 of the control box 164.

One end 174 of the link member 168 is rotatably coupled to the cam 166 at a position eccentric from the center of rotation of the cam 166. The other end 176 of the link member 168 is rotatably coupled to the installation base 162. The connecting member 170 is a member that connects the installation base 162 and the control box 164, and the upper end portion 178 is fixed to the control box 164 as shown in the figure. Further, the lower end portion 180 of the connecting member 170 is rotatably connected to the installation base 162.

In this way, the installation base 162 is positioned at a position downwardly separated from the control box 164 by the connecting member 170, and is further suspended below the control box 164 by the link member 168. Therefore, in the swing portion 160, when the motor in the control box 164 is driven to rotate the cam 166 as shown by the arrow in the figure, the installation base 162 is centered on the lower end portion 180 of the connecting member 170 and the link member 168. It swings up and down in conjunction with the movement of the other end 176 of the. A drive unit 116 that makes the basket 102 move in a circular motion in the horizontal direction is installed on the swinging installation table 162.

Therefore, according to the plating apparatus 100A, the basket 102 accommodating the material to be plated is circularly moved in the horizontal direction by the drive unit 116, and the basket 102 is further shaken in the vertical direction, that is, a pendulum movement by the rocking unit 160. Can be done. In this way, in the plating apparatus 100A, since the material to be plated is plated, the material to be plated can be evenly mixed by circular motion and pendulum motion. Therefore, the film thickness of the plating film can be homogenized to improve the quality. Further, it is possible to prevent the materials to be plated from sticking to each other due to the plating film.

Further, the drive unit 116 and the swing unit 160 are driven, for example, according to the operation of the controllers 122A and 122B, respectively. Therefore, in the plating apparatus 100A, the operator can operate the controllers 122A and 122B to appropriately adjust the rotation direction and rotation speed of the motors of the drive unit 116 and the swing unit 160. As a result, in the plating apparatus 100A, the direction of the circular motion of the basket 102 can be set to either clockwise or counterclockwise, and the speed of the circular motion or the pendulum motion can be increased or decreased. In this way, the material to be plated can be mixed more evenly.

Although preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to such examples. It is clear that a person skilled in the art can come up with various modifications or modifications within the scope of the claims, which naturally belong to the technical scope of the present invention. Understood.

The present invention can be used as a plating apparatus used when plating a small part.

100, 100A ... Plating device, 102 ... Basket, 104 ... Mesh, 106 ... Wall surface, 108 ... Opening, 110, 112 ... Frame, 114, 164 ... Control box, 116 ... Drive unit, 118, 172 ... Side wall of control box , 120 ... motor, 122, 122A, 122B ... controller, 124 ... control box lower wall, 126 ... electrode, 128, 130 ... drive gear, 132 ... pulley gear, 134, 136 ... eccentric shaft, 138 ... arm, 140 ... motor Drive shafts, 142, 144 ... Shafts, 146, 148 ... Lower part of drive gear, 150 ... Arm base, 152, 154 ... Arm support, 156, 158 ... Both ends of basket, 160 ... Swinging parts, 162 ... Installation stand, 166 ... Cam, 168 ... Link member, 170 ... Connecting member, 174 ... One end of the link member, 176 ... The other end of the link member, 178 ... Upper end of the connecting member, 180 ... Lower end of the connecting member Department

Claims (3)

A plating device equipped with a basket for accommodating a material to be plated.
A plating apparatus characterized in that the material to be plated is plated while the basket is circularly moved in the horizontal direction. The plating equipment
Two drive gears and
A pulley gear that connects the two drive gears and
Two eccentric shafts eccentrically attached to the two drive gears,
It has an arm pivotally supported by the two eccentric axes.
The plating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the basket is supported by the arm. The plating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the basket is suspended downward from the arm.

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