JP4608353B2 - Dispensing device for soluble pellets for electroplating - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an apparatus for introducing a soluble pellet for electroplating that supplies a non-spherical soluble pellet to a plating electrode.
Specifically, for example, the present invention relates to a charging device that vibrates and cuts out a non-spherical soluble pellet used in, for example, Ni plating, and forcibly loads it into a plating electrode with air.

Various methods have been proposed in the past for introducing soluble pellets used in electroplating into an electrode. For example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 3-1484 discloses a replenishment pipe between a pellet conveying device and an electrode. In the middle of the replenishment pipe, a pellet detector and a quantitative cutting device comprising two shutter plates are provided. Soluble pellets for electroplating that replenish pellets in the electrodes by opening and closing the shutter plates A replenishment device is described.
However, the method described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 3-1484 has a problem that the pellets are caught between the shutter plate and the supply pipe when the shutter is closed.

As a method for preventing the biting of the pellets, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-213499 proposes a method in which a hole is provided in a rotary rotor installed in the conveying device and the pellet is cut out from the conveying device through the hole. ing.
The method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-213499 is a method suitable for spherical pellets, but non-spherical pellets do not roll and are easy to bite, so that the holes and pellets are bitten. Or there existed a problem that fixed quantity cut-out was impossible by biting with a pellet and a main part of a conveyance device.
Furthermore, in this method, the fullness of the pellet in the electrode is detected by a sensor installed in the pellet supply pipe, but the upper part of the plating section is in a high temperature and humidity environment due to fume, etc. Since there is a problem that the amount of pellets in the electrode cannot be accurately grasped due to a malfunction of the sensor, pellets have to be manually input by using, for example, a change in plating voltage as a reference index.
Thus, in the conventional method, in the case of a non-spherical soluble pellet, an appropriate amount cannot be fully automatically charged to the electrode due to the bite of the pellet or the malfunction of the sensor.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No.3-1484 JP 2003-213499 A

  The present invention solves the problems of the prior art as described above, and when non-spherical soluble pellets are used, it does not cause pellet biting or sensor malfunction, and the appropriate amount is fully automatically charged into the electrode. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for feeding soluble pellets for electroplating that can be used.

The present invention has been made as a result of intensive studies in order to solve the above-described problems, and the gist of the present invention is the following contents as described in the claims.
(1) An electroplating soluble pellet feeding device for supplying non-spherical soluble pellets to a plating electrode,
A vibrator that vibrates the soluble pellet in the conveying path of the soluble pellet;
An apparatus for feeding soluble pellets for electroplating, comprising: an ejector forcibly conveying the soluble pellets using air.
(2) Furthermore, a sensor for detecting that the soluble pellet is filled in the electrode in the soluble pellet conveyance path;
The apparatus for feeding a soluble pellet for electroplating according to claim 1, further comprising an air pipe for supplying air for extruding the soluble pellet when the conveyance of the soluble pellet is started.

According to the present invention, when a non-spherical soluble pellet is used by providing a vibrator that vibrates the conveying path of the soluble pellet and an ejector that forcibly conveys the soluble pellet using air, In addition, it is possible to provide a device for feeding soluble pellets for electroplating, which does not cause any trouble or malfunction of the sensor, and can automatically put an appropriate amount into the electrode.
In addition, in the conventional throwing method, rolling throwing using inclination was performed, but in this method, rolling in the conveyance path is difficult due to the influence of the magnetic field, and even if throwing into the electrode is possible. The profile of the pellet in the electrode was not flat, and the basis weight distribution occurred in the width direction of the steel sheet, but according to the present invention, the pellet profile was flat because the pellet was forcedly introduced from the electrode end, A difference in basis weight in the width direction can be avoided, the basic unit of the pellet and the material cost can be reduced, and the electrode can be prevented from being damaged.

The best mode for carrying out the invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of an electroplating soluble pellet feeding apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a detailed view thereof.
1 and 2, 1 is a non-spherical soluble pellet, 2 is a vibrator, 3 is an air pipe, 4 is a sensor, 5 is an ejector, and 6 is a basket-type electrode whose upper surface is closed.
As described above, as a method for introducing soluble pellets, there has been a quantitative cutting method in which two partition plates are provided or a hole is provided in a cylindrical rotating rotor.
However, these cutting methods have a problem that non-spherical soluble pellets do not roll, and biting occurs at the partition shutter or the rotary rotor, so that they cannot be stably fed into the electrode.
Conventionally, full detection of the pellet in the electrode is detected by a sensor installed at the top of the plating section, but the sensor operates unstablely due to the effects of fumes and magnetic fields generated in the plating section where the environment is bad, Invited false positives.

Therefore, in the present invention, in order to solve these problems, the following improvements have been implemented.
That is, the present invention is an apparatus for introducing a soluble pellet for electroplating that supplies a non-spherical soluble pellet 1 to a plating electrode 6, and is a vibrator 2 that vibrates the conveying path in the conveying path of the soluble pellet 1. And an ejector 5 that forcibly conveys the soluble pellets using air.
The non-spherical soluble pellet 1 can be put into the electrode 6 by installing the vibrator 2 in the conveying path of the soluble pellet for electroplating and using forced air by the ejector 4.
By oscillating with the vibrator 2 attached to the conveying path of the soluble pellets for electroplating, for example, non-spherical pellets that have been divided in half, such as crowns and pumpkins, have been quantitatively cut out. It is possible.
Specifically, an inclined plate is provided in the conveyance path, and the vibrator 2 is installed at the lower portion of the inclined plate, thereby making it possible to quantitatively cut pellets by vibration. Thereby, the shelf hanging in a conveyance path can be avoided. Further, the cutout amount can be set by the air pressure that is the drive source of the vibrator 2.
In the present invention, the method of the vibrator 2 is not limited, but from the viewpoint of versatility, for example, a method of vibrating by rotating the ball internally with air is preferable.

In addition, by forcibly transporting the cut-out pellets using the ejector 5 installed in the transport path, the non-spherical pellet 1 that has been halved from the crown shape and pumpkin, which has been difficult until now, is stabilized. Can be put into the electrode 6.
In the present invention, the method of the ejector 5 is not limited, but from the viewpoint of versatility, for example, a method of forcing a suction force in the central axis direction by forcibly supplying and discharging air from the side surface is preferable.

Further, a sensor 4 for detecting that the soluble pellet 1 is filled in the electrode 6 and an air for extruding the soluble pellet 1 when feeding the soluble pellet 1 is supplied to the soluble pellet conveying path. It is preferable to have the air piping 3 to be used.
As shown in FIG. 2, a sensor 4 that uses a backflow of air generated when the pellets in the electrode are full is provided in the transport path of the soluble pellets to detect the stoppage of the pellets in the transport path, and the electrode 6 is full. Sex can be detected.
When the pellet 1 in the electrode 6 is full, there is no air escape path by the ejector 5, so that the air flows backward to the ejector 5. Then, the pellet 1 cut out from the conveying apparatus main body balances backflow air and its own weight, and further stops in the upstream of the ejector 5 because of its non-spherical shape.
Therefore, by installing the sensor 4 immediately below the point where the pellet 1 stops, it is possible to detect the full sensor in the electrode without installing it directly above the plating section.
By this detection, the vibrator 2 is stopped and the charging of the pellet 1 into the electrode 6 is stopped.
In the present invention, the method of the sensor 4 is not limited, but from the viewpoint of versatility, it is preferable to use a conventional non-contact type proximity sensor.

When the full sensor 4 in the installed electrode 6 detects that the charging of the pellet into the electrode 6 is resumed, the transportation into the electrode 6 is stopped. Therefore, when the transportation is resumed, it is necessary to remove the pellet 1 immediately above the sensor 4. is there.
Therefore, when the introduction of the pellet 1 is resumed, in order to turn off the detection of the sensor 4 described above, as shown in FIG. 2, an air pipe 3 is installed at the end of the conveyance path, and the pellet 1 is forced by blowing air. Extrude to remove.
As a result, when the detection of the sensor 4 is turned off, the operation of the ejector 5 and the vibrator 2 can be resumed in this order, and the charging of the pellets can be resumed. By repeating this operation, it has been impossible until now. Automatic loading is possible.
The timing of restarting the injection of the pellet 1 into the electrode 6 is calculated, for example, by calculating the pellet amount consumed by the integrated value of the plating current, and inserting the pellet 1 when the pellet consumption reaches a certain value. It is preferable to resume.

In addition, as shown in the upper part of FIG. 3, in the conventional charging method, rolling charging using inclination is performed. However, in this method, the top profile of the pellets stacked in the electrode is not flat. In addition, since the distance between the steel plate surface and the pellets is sparse, there is a case where the weight per unit area distribution occurs in the width direction of the steel plate or the electrode is damaged due to the concentration of the plating current.
For this reason, since the lower limit of the actual weight per unit area was set as a target value, the steel sheet center portion had an unnecessary amount per unit area (within the management range).
However, according to the present invention, since the pellet 1 is forcibly introduced from the end of the electrode 6 by air, the uppermost profile of the pellets laminated in the electrode becomes flat as shown in the lower part of FIG. Since the distance at which the surface and the pellet face each other is uniform, a difference in the basis weight in the width direction can be avoided, which can contribute to a reduction in the basic unit of the pellet and can prevent the electrode from being damaged.
In addition, non-spherical pellets such as the half of the crown shape or pumpkin targeted by the present invention are less expensive than conventional spherical pellets, so that material costs can be reduced and only Ni plating can be used. It can also be applied to other electroplating.
Furthermore, the vibrator and the ejector used in the pellet charging apparatus of the present invention are general-purpose devices, and the driving air can be compressed air supplied in the factory, so that the equipment / operating costs do not become a problem.

It is a figure which illustrates embodiment of the injection | throwing-in apparatus of the soluble pellet for electroplating in this invention. It is detail drawing of the injection | throwing-in apparatus of the soluble pellet for electroplating in this invention. It is a figure which shows the profile of the uppermost part of the pellet laminated | stacked in the electrode.

Explanation of symbols

1 Non-spherical soluble pellet 2 Vibrator 3 Air piping 4 Sensor 5 Ejector 6 Electrode

Claims (2)

A device for introducing a soluble pellet for electroplating that supplies a non-spherical soluble pellet to a plating electrode,
A vibrator that vibrates the soluble pellet in the conveying path of the soluble pellet;
An apparatus for feeding soluble pellets for electroplating, comprising: an ejector forcibly conveying the soluble pellets using air. Furthermore, a sensor for detecting that the soluble pellet is filled in the electrode in the conveyance path of the soluble pellet,
The apparatus for feeding a soluble pellet for electroplating according to claim 1, further comprising an air pipe for supplying air for extruding the soluble pellet when the conveyance of the soluble pellet is started.

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