JPH0987895A - Plating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to efficiently apply plating on a material to be plated by increasing the number of use times (the number of usable plating batches) of a meshed cathode electrode. SOLUTION: The parts, which come into contact with the material to be plated, of a meshed contact medium 5 for depositing a plating metal on the surface of the material to be coated by conducting with the cathode electrode and coming into contact with the material to be plated are at least partly exposed as conductive surfaces 8a and the other parts are covered with insulating materials 9 so as not to expose these conductive surfaces 8a.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plating apparatus, and more particularly, to a plating apparatus capable of efficiently plating a small object to be plated such as an electronic component.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Barrel plating is one of the plating methods for plating an object to be plated such as electronic parts.

In this plating method, for example, at least a part is made of a material such as a wire mesh that allows a plating solution to pass therethrough, and an electronic component (for example, a laminated ceramic capacitor) is placed in a barrel in which a cathode electrode is arranged. After accommodating a large number of objects to be plated and a contact medium for conducting the objects to be plated and the cathode electrode, the barrel is dipped in the plating solution in the plating tank, and the cathode electrode and the anode electrode arranged in the plating tank are This is a method of performing plating by rotating the barrel in a plating solution while energizing the plate and bringing the object to be plated into contact with the cathode electrode and the contact medium. However, this barrel plating method has a problem that the plating speed is slow, and a plating method having a higher plating speed has been required for cost reduction.

Therefore, in order to improve the plating speed,
There has been proposed a method in which a mesh formed by knitting a nickel wire or the like is used as a contact medium. In this method, for example, a cage for storing the object to be plated, which has a mesh shape and also functions as a contact medium, is disposed in the plating tank, and the object to be plated inside is oscillated by vibrating the object to be accommodated by the vibrating means. By swinging, the object to be plated is efficiently brought into contact with the contact medium (that is, the basket containing the object to be plated),
It is intended to improve the plating speed.

However, when the mesh-shaped contact medium becomes finer, clogging occurs in a short period of time due to the deposition of plating metal. Therefore, for example, it is necessary to replace the contact medium by plating several times. Not only is it time-consuming,
There is a problem that it causes an increase in running cost.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a plating apparatus capable of efficiently plating an object to be plated by increasing the number of times the contact medium is used.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a plating apparatus of the present invention comprises a plating tank for containing a plating solution, an anode electrode and a cathode electrode arranged in the plating tank, and the cathode. What is claimed is: 1. A plating apparatus, comprising: a contact medium that is electrically connected to an electrode and comes into contact with an object to be plated to deposit a plating metal on the surface of the object to be plated, wherein the contact medium has a mesh shape, and It is characterized in that the conductive surface is exposed in at least a part of the portion that comes into contact with the plated object, and the conductive surface is not exposed in other portions.

In the plating apparatus of the present invention, the "mesh shape" is not limited to a wire mesh woven into a net shape, but a large number of passage holes or passage grooves that allow the plating solution to pass therethrough without any trouble. It is a broad concept that includes a structure with.

In the plating apparatus of the present invention, the contact medium may be formed separately from the cathode electrode and electrically connected to the cathode electrode, or the contact medium may be integrated with the cathode electrode. You may form in.

Further, in the plating apparatus of the present invention, the contact medium is formed in a mesh shape by knitting a conductive wire, and at the intersection of the conductive wire on at least one of the front and back main surfaces thereof. Only the conductive surface is exposed, and the other part is covered with an insulating material.

Further, the mesh-shaped contact medium whose conductive surface is exposed only at the intersections of the conductive wires is formed into a mesh by knitting (a) a conductive wire covered with an insulating material (coated wire). After that, a method of exposing only the intersecting portion of the covered wire to expose the conductive wire, (b) knitting the coated wire into a mesh shape, and then dipping only the intersected portion of the covered wire into molten solder or the like. To remove the insulation,
(c) A method in which the covered wire is knitted into a mesh shape, and then only an intersecting portion of the covered wire is brought into contact with a heating body such as a hot plate to melt and remove the insulating material, and (d) a conductive wire. It is characterized in that it is formed by any method of forming a mesh shape by knitting and then resin-coating a portion other than the intersecting portion of the conductive wire.

Further, the contact medium is formed by providing a large number of through holes in the conductive plate material and a large number of projections on at least one of the front and back main surfaces, and Only the conductive surface is exposed, and the other part is covered with an insulating material.

In this contact medium, for example, after forming a through hole and a protrusion in a conductive plate material, only the protruding portion is left and other portions are covered with an insulating material, or the entire conductive plate material is made of an insulating material. After coating, it is possible to easily manufacture by removing only the insulating material that coats the protruding portion.

[0014]

In the plating apparatus of the present invention, the contact medium has a mesh shape, and the conductive surface is exposed in at least a part of the part that comes into contact with the object to be plated, and the conductive surface is not exposed in other parts. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of clogging due to the deposition of plating metal on the entire mesh-shaped contact medium, and to increase the number of times the mesh-shaped contact medium is used. You will be able to apply.

Further, the conductive wire is knitted into a mesh shape, the conductive surface is exposed only at the intersection of the conductive wire on at least one of the front and back main surfaces, and the other portion is covered with an insulating material. As a result, it is possible to reliably obtain a contact medium that does not easily cause clogging without impairing the contact property with the object to be plated.

Further, by using the predetermined method of (a) to (d) of claim 3, it is possible to more reliably obtain the mesh-shaped contact medium having the conductive surface exposed only at the intersection. Therefore, the present invention can be further effectively realized.

Further, as the contact medium, a large number of through holes are provided in the conductive plate material, and a large number of projections are provided on at least one of the front and back main surfaces, and the conductive surface is exposed only at the projections. By covering the portion with an insulating material, it is possible to obtain a contact medium that does not easily cause clogging without impairing the contact property with the object to be plated.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a plating apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a main part of a mesh-shaped contact medium which constitutes the plating apparatus of FIG. 1, and FIG. It is a III line sectional view.

This plating apparatus includes a plating solution 1 and an object to be plated (for example, a chip type multilayer ceramic capacitor).
A plating tank 3 for containing 2; an anode electrode 4 arranged in the plating tank 3; and an object to be plated 2 arranged in the plating tank 3
In order to efficiently bring the object 2 to be plated into contact with the mesh-shaped contact medium 5 which is in contact with
It is provided with a vibrating means 6 for vibrating and swinging a to-be-plated object storage basket 7 that accommodates a large number of to-be-plated objects 2. In this embodiment, the mesh-shaped contact medium 5 also serves as the cathode electrode and constitutes a part (bottom portion) of the plated object storage basket 7 for receiving the plated object 2.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the contact medium 5 is a conductive wire 8 made of nickel or stainless steel.
Is formed into a mesh shape by knitting a covered wire rod 10 obtained by coating the insulating wire 9 with a conductive wire rod 8
The upper surface (conductive surface) 8a of the conductive wire 8 is exposed only at the intersection C of the above, and the other portion is covered with the insulating material 9. The conductive surface 8a of the contact medium 5 is exposed by polishing only the intersecting portion C of the coated wire rod 10 after the coated wire rod 10 is woven into a mesh shape.

In this contact medium 5, the conductive surface 8 of the conductive wire 8 is located at a high position (intersection C) on the upper surface of the contact medium 5.
Since a is exposed, the contact property between the object to be plated 2 and the contact medium 5 is secured even if the other part of the contact medium 5 is covered.

In the plating apparatus constructed as described above, the conductive wire material 8 constituting the mesh-shaped contact medium 5 is formed.
Conductive wire 8 (conductive surface 8a) only at intersection C of
Since the conductive wire 8 is not exposed at other portions, the object 2 to be plated placed in the object-containing basket 7 is immersed in the plating solution 1 and the vibrating means 6 is used to apply the object. By vibrating the basket 7 for plating and swinging the object 2 to be plated, current is applied between the anode electrode 4 and the cathode electrode (contact medium 5), thereby (the conductive surface 8a) of the contact medium 5 is formed. The object 2 to be plated can be surely brought into contact (see FIG. 4), and the surface of the object 2 (external electrode 2 a (FIG. 4)) can be uniformly plated, and the entire mesh-shaped contact medium 5 can be applied. It is possible to effectively suppress the occurrence of clogging due to the deposition of plating metal on the. As a result, it is possible to increase the number of times the mesh-shaped contact medium 5 is used.

In the above embodiment, a method of exposing the conductive wire 8 by polishing only the intersection C of the covered wire 10 after knitting the covered wire 10 covered with the insulating material 9 into a mesh shape. Although the case where the contact medium 5 manufactured by was used was explained, as the contact medium, after the coated wire material is knitted into a mesh shape, only the intersection of the coated wire material is dipped in molten solder or the like to remove the insulating material. Or a method of melting and removing the insulating material by bringing only the intersecting portion of the covered wire into contact with a heating body such as a hot plate, or as shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b), the conductive wire 8 is After being formed into a mesh shape by knitting, those manufactured by various methods such as a method of dipping the other part of the conductive wire 8 except the part on the upper surface side of the intersection C in the resin 11 and coating it are used. Can Wear.

Further, FIG. 6 shows another example of the contact medium constituting the plating apparatus of the present invention. In this contact medium 15, a conductive plate material (punching metal) 18 having a large number of projections 21 and through holes 22 is coated with an insulating material (insulating resin) 19, and then the insulating material is provided only near the top of the projection 21. 19 is removed to expose the conductive surface 18a (conductive plate material 18). Even when this contact medium 15 is used, the same effect as when using the contact medium 5 of the above embodiment can be obtained. Depending on the case, it is possible to use the contact medium in which the conductive surface is partially not exposed and the conductive surface is partially exposed at a plurality of predetermined positions.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment in other respects, and various applications and modifications can be made within the scope of the invention.

[0026]

As described above, the plating apparatus of the present invention is
Since the conductive surface is exposed in at least a part of the portion of the mesh-shaped contact medium that comes into contact with the object to be plated, and the conductive surface is not exposed in other portions, the plated metal is not spread over the entire mesh-shaped contact medium. It is possible to suppress the occurrence of deposition and clogging, increase the number of times the mesh-shaped contact medium is used, and reduce the plating cost.

Further, the conductive wire is knitted into a mesh shape, the conductive surface is exposed only at the intersection of the conductive wire on at least one of the front and back main surfaces, and the other part is covered with an insulating material. As a result, it is possible to reliably obtain a contact medium that does not easily cause clogging without impairing the contact property with the object to be plated.

Further, by using any one of the above-mentioned predetermined methods of the present invention, it is possible to more reliably obtain a mesh-shaped contact medium in which the conductive surface is exposed only at the intersection, and the present invention is further improved. It can be effective.

Further, a large number of through holes are provided in the conductive plate material, a large number of projections are provided on at least one of the front and back main surfaces, and the conductive surface is exposed only at the projections and the other parts are insulated. By covering with a material, it is possible to obtain a contact medium that does not easily cause clogging without impairing the contact property with the object to be plated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a plating apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a main part of a mesh-shaped contact medium which constitutes the plating apparatus of FIG.

3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state where an object to be plated and a conductive surface of a contact medium are in contact with each other.

5 (a) and 5 (b) are views showing a method for producing a mesh-shaped contact medium.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another example of a contact medium that constitutes the plating apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 plating liquid 2 object to be plated 3 plating tank 4 anode electrode 5 contact medium (cathode electrode) 6 vibrating means 7 cage to be plated object 8 conductive wire 8a conductive surface 9 insulating material 10 coated wire 11 resin 15 contact medium 18 conductive Plate material 18a Conductive surface 19 Insulating material (insulating resin) 21 Protrusion 22 Through hole C Intersection

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plating tank for containing a plating solution, an anode electrode and a cathode electrode arranged in the plating tank, and a cathode electrode, which are electrically connected to each other and come into contact with an object to be plated to plate the surface of the object to be plated. A plating apparatus comprising a contact medium for depositing a metal, wherein the contact medium has a mesh shape, and a conductive surface is exposed in at least a part of a portion in contact with an object to be plated, The plating device is characterized in that the conductive surface is not exposed at the part. 2. The contact medium is formed into a mesh by knitting a conductive wire, and the conductive surface is exposed only at the intersection of the conductive wire on at least one of the front and back main surfaces thereof. The plating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the other portion is covered with an insulating material. 3. The mesh-shaped contact medium having a conductive surface exposed only at the intersections of the conductive wires is formed into a mesh by knitting (a) a conductive wire covered with an insulating material (coated wire). Then, a method of exposing the conductive wire rod by polishing only the intersecting portion of the coated wire rod, (b) knitting the coated wire rod to form a mesh, and then dipping only the intersecting portion of the coated wire rod into molten solder or the like. A method of removing the insulating material by (c) knitting the coated wire into a mesh shape, and then contacting only a crossing portion of the coated wire with a heating body such as a hot plate to melt and remove the insulating material. And (d) after knitting the conductive wire to form a mesh,
The plating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the plating apparatus is formed by any one of the methods of resin-coating a portion other than the intersecting portion of the conductive wire. 4. The contact medium is formed by providing a large number of through holes in a conductive plate material and a large number of protrusions on at least one surface of both the front and back main surfaces, and at the protrusion portion. The plating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein only the conductive surface is exposed, and the other portion is covered with an insulating material.