JP7284994B2 - Plating equipment - Google Patents

Description

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

As a plating apparatus, for example, a barrel plating apparatus is known. A barrel plating apparatus is an apparatus for plating small parts (to be plated hereinafter), and is equipped with a rotating barrel. The barrel is in the shape of a polygonal column (mainly hexagonal), and its wall surface is made of mesh so that the plating solution flows through the wall surface. When plating a material to be plated, the barrel plating apparatus accommodates the material to be plated in the barrel, and rotates the barrel while the material is immersed in the plating solution together with the barrel.

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

In the plating process, the concentration of metal ions in the plating solution decreases as a plating film is formed on the material to be plated. However, since the plating solution does not easily flow through the mesh, the circulation of the plating solution inside and outside the barrel is poor, resulting in a problem of reduced plating speed.

On the other hand, Patent Literature 1 describes a plating apparatus provided with a basket instead of a rotating barrel containing a material to be plated. This plating apparatus includes a basket for accommodating a material to be plated, a basket support, and a driving device. The basket support part detachably and swingably holds the basket. A drive device horizontally reciprocates the basket support.

The plating apparatus of Patent Document 1 has a simple structure in which a basket held by a basket support portion is reciprocated in a horizontal direction by a driving device. It is said that it can be stirred in a state of Furthermore, in the plating apparatus, since the basket is held by the basket support so that it can swing freely, the reciprocating motion of the basket support causes the basket to swing (oscillating motion), thereby further enhancing the stirring effect of the material to be plated. there is

Patent No. 6209668

However, the plating apparatus of Patent Literature 1 merely reciprocates the basket in the horizontal direction and swings the basket with respect to the basket support portion. In other words, since this plating apparatus moves the basket in one axial direction like a swinging pendulum, the materials to be plated accommodated in the basket are mixed unevenly. Therefore, with this plating apparatus, it is difficult to make the film thickness of the plated film uniform, and the plated film may cause the materials to be plated to stick to each other.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a plating apparatus capable of evenly mixing the material to be plated to homogenize the film thickness of the plating film and improve the quality.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a typical configuration of the plating apparatus according to the present invention is a plating apparatus having a basket for accommodating a material to be plated, wherein the material to be plated is rotated horizontally while circularly moving the basket. It is characterized by subjecting to plating treatment.

According to the above configuration, the material to be plated is plated while the basket containing the material to be plated is moved in a horizontal circular motion, so that the material to be plated can be evenly mixed by the circular motion. Therefore, the film thickness of the plated film can be made uniform and the quality can be improved. Furthermore, it is possible to prevent the materials to be plated from sticking together due to the plating film.

The above plating apparatus includes two drive gears, a pulley gear connecting the two drive gears, two eccentric shafts eccentrically attached to the two drive gears, and an arm supported by the two eccentric shafts. and the basket is supported by the arm.

In the above configuration, when one of the two drive gears is attached to, for example, the drive shaft of the motor and the motor is driven, the two drive gears rotate in the same direction synchronously via the pulley gear. Therefore, the two eccentric shafts eccentrically attached to the two drive gears synchronously perform circular motion. Arms for supporting the basket are pivotally supported on the two eccentric shafts that perform the circular motion. Therefore, the basket can perform circular motion in the horizontal direction in accordance with the movement of the portion of the arm that supports the basket. Therefore, the materials to be plated housed in the basket can be evenly mixed by the circular motion.

The above 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 evenly mixing the material to be plated and homogenizing the film thickness of the plated film to improve the quality.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the plating apparatus in embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which the plating apparatus of FIG. 1 is viewed obliquely from above; FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a drive section of the plating apparatus of FIG. 1; It is a figure which shows the structure of the plating apparatus in other 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 these embodiments are merely examples for facilitating understanding of the invention, and do not limit the invention unless otherwise specified. In the present specification and drawings, elements having substantially the same function and configuration are given the same reference numerals to omit redundant description, and elements that are not directly related to the present invention are omitted from the drawings. do.

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

A plating apparatus 100 is an apparatus for plating a material (not shown) to be plated, and includes a basket 102 . The basket 102 is a horizontal container, and has a shape of a combination of a hexagonal prism and a hexagonal pyramid, as shown in FIG. 2, for example. 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 introduced. The opening 108 is formed by opening the upper surface of the basket 102 as shown in FIG.

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 section 116 . 2 also shows the inside of control box 114 through side wall 118 of control box 114 shown in FIG. A motor 120 shown in FIG. 2 is accommodated in the control box 114 .

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

Also inserted into basket 102 is electrode 126 through opening 108 as shown in FIG. During plating, the material to be plated is contained in the basket 102, and the basket 102 is immersed in a plating solution in a plating tank (not shown).

A plating film is formed on the material to be plated by such a plating treatment. 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. Furthermore, when the material to be plated is an extremely small electronic component such as 0.4 mm x 0.2 mm or 0.6 mm x 0.3 mm, the mesh 104 on the wall surface 106 of the basket 102 also becomes finer, and the plating solution passes through it. gets worse. As a result, circulation of the plating solution inside and outside the basket 102 is poor, and the plating speed is lowered.

Therefore, in the plating apparatus 100, a mechanism (driving unit 116) is employed to perform plating processing on the material to be plated while circularly moving the basket 102 containing the material to be plated in the horizontal direction.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the driving section 116 of the plating apparatus 100 of FIG. FIG. 3 shows the plating apparatus 100 of FIG. 1 viewed obliquely from below, and also shows the inside of the control box 114 as in FIG.

Drive section 116 has two drive gears 128 and 130 , a pulley gear 132 , two eccentric shafts 134 and 136 and an arm 138 . Drive gear 128 is attached to drive shaft 140 of 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 .

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

The eccentric shaft 134 is mounted eccentrically from the center of rotation of the lower portion 146 of the drive gear 128 . Also, the eccentric shaft 136 is mounted at a position eccentric from the center of rotation of the lower portion 148 of the drive gear 130 . Thus, the two eccentric shafts 134, 136 are eccentrically attached to the two drive gears 128, 130 that rotate synchronously in the same direction. Therefore, when the motor 120 is driven, the two eccentric shafts 134, 136 perform synchronous circular motion.

The arm 138 is pivoted on two eccentric shafts 134, 136 that perform circular motion. The arm 138 has a base portion 150 pivotally supported by the two eccentric shafts 134 and 136, and support portions 152 and 154 bent downward from both ends of the base portion 150 to extend. Supports 152 , 154 horizontally support and secure opposite ends 156 , 158 of basket 102 below base 150 . Thus, basket 102 is suspended below arm 138 as shown.

In this manner, in the driving portion 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 circular motion in the horizontal direction as indicated by the arrows in the drawing 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 horizontally circularly moved, so that the material to be plated can be evenly mixed by the circular motion. Therefore, the film thickness of the plated film can be made uniform and the quality can be improved. Furthermore, it is possible to prevent the materials to be plated from sticking together due to the plating film.

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

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

In the above embodiment, the configuration is described in which the material to be plated is plated while the basket 102 containing the material to be plated is horizontally circularly moved, but the present invention is not limited to this. As an example, the basket 102 may be vertically pendulum-moved (swinged) while being horizontally circularly moved (see FIG. 4).

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of a plating apparatus 100A according to another embodiment of the invention. The plating apparatus 100A is mainly different from the plating apparatus 100 described above in that the plating apparatus 100A is provided with a swinging section 160 for vertically swinging the basket 102 in addition to the drive section 116 for horizontally circularly moving the basket 102 .

The plating apparatus 100A includes a swing section 160, an installation table 162 on which the driving section 116 is installed, and a control box 164. As shown in FIG. The swinging portion 160 includes a disk-shaped cam 166 , a link member 168 and a connecting member 170 . The cam 166 is mounted on the drive shaft of a motor (not shown) located within the control box 164 and is also mounted on a side wall 172 of the control box 164 as shown. A side wall 172 of the control box 164 is provided with controllers 122A and 122B operated by an operator.

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 . Further, the other end portion 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. A lower end portion 180 of the connecting member 170 is rotatably coupled to the mounting base 162 .

In this manner, the installation table 162 is positioned at a position spaced downward from the control box 164 by the connecting member 170 and is suspended below the control box 164 by the link member 168 . For this reason, in the swing unit 160, when the motor in the control box 164 is driven to rotate the cam 166 as indicated by the arrow in the figure, the mounting table 162 moves around the lower end 180 of the connecting member 170 and the link member 168 moves. swings up and down interlocking with the movement of the other end 176 of the . A drive unit 116 for horizontally circularly moving the basket 102 is installed on the oscillating installation base 162 .

Therefore, according to the plating apparatus 100A, the drive unit 116 causes the basket 102 containing the material to be plated to undergo circular motion in the horizontal direction, and the swing unit 160 causes the basket 102 to swing vertically, that is, to make a pendulum motion. can be done. In this manner, the plating apparatus 100A applies the plating process to the material to be plated, so that the material to be plated can be evenly mixed by circular motion and pendulum motion. Therefore, the film thickness of the plated film can be made uniform and the quality can be improved. Furthermore, it is possible to prevent the materials to be plated from sticking together due to the plating film.

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

Although the 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 obvious that a person skilled in the art can conceive of various modifications or modifications within the scope described in the claims, and these also belong to the technical scope of the present invention. Understood.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used as a plating apparatus for plating small parts.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100, 100A... Plating apparatus 102... Basket 104... Mesh 106... Wall surface 108... Opening 110, 112... Frame body 114, 164... Control box 116... Drive part 118, 172... Side wall of control box , 120 motor 122, 122A, 122B controller 124 bottom wall of control box 126 electrode 128, 130 drive gear 132 pulley gear 134, 136 eccentric shaft 138 arm 140 motor drive shaft 142, 144 shaft portion 146, 148 lower portion of drive gear 150 arm base portion 152, 154 arm support portion 156, 158 both side ends of basket 160 swing portion Reference numeral 162: installation base 166: cam 168: link member 170: connecting member 174: one end of link member 176: other end of link member 178: upper end of connecting member 180: lower end of connecting member Department

Claims (2)

A plating apparatus equipped with a basket containing a material to be plated,
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,
The basket is supported by the arm,
A plating apparatus that applies plating to the material to be plated while circularly moving the basket in a horizontal direction. 2. The plating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said basket is suspended downward from said arm.

Images