Patent Application
20240150921
The present disclosure relates to the technical field of thin-film electroplating, and in particular to a cathode conduction mechanism and an electroplating system.
Electroplating is the process of using the principle of electrolysis to coat a thin metal or alloy layer onto a metal surface. It uses electrolysis to attach a metal film to the surface of metal or other materials to prevent metal oxidation (such as rust), thereby improving wear resistance, conductivity, reflectivity and aesthetics. With the development of modern industrial technologies, surface plating of a film substrate is increasingly popular, and has been widely applied to high-performance automotive films, plasma TV flat-panel displays, touch screens, solar cells, flexible printed circuit (FPC) boards, chip on film (COF), etc.
Concerning existing devices for producing a conductive thin film, the Chinese Patent Application No. CN 114182328A provides a cathode edge conduction mechanism and a cathode conduction module for a horizontal electroplating device. In this example, conductive belts are used to replace conventional conduction rolls to conduct the edge of a thin film. However, the conductive belts are short, which results in the present drawbacks that two belt pulleys of a lower conductive belt are located at the bottom of an electroplating bath, and the lower conductive belt passes through the bottom of the bath where an upper conductive belt is located. Consequently, the bath where the upper conductive belt is located is prone to leakage downwards. In addition, the lower conductive belt and the upper conductive belt are each driven by four conductive belt pulleys, which wastes cost.
In view of defects and shortages of the prior art, the present disclosure provides a cathode conduction mechanism and an electroplating system, to solve the technical problem that a lower conductive belt passes through a bottom of an electroplating bath to cause leakage at the bottom of the electroplating bath in the prior art.
To achieve the above objective, the present disclosure adopts the following main technical solutions:
According to an aspect, the present disclosure provides a cathode conduction mechanism. The cathode conduction mechanism includes a first conductive belt and a first conductive belt assembly, the first conductive belt assembly including a first belt roll and a second belt roll, and the first conductive belt covering the first belt roll and the second belt roll; and a second conductive belt and a second conductive belt assembly, the second conductive belt assembly including a third belt roll and a fourth belt roll, and the second conductive belt covering the third belt roll and the fourth belt roll, where the first belt roll comes in rolling contact with the third belt roll, and the second belt roll comes in rolling contact with the fourth belt roll.
Optionally, the second conductive belt is wider than the first conductive belt, and a wider portion of the second conductive belt over the first conductive belt is provided with a conductive brush; or, the first conductive belt is wider than the second conductive belt, and a wider portion of the first conductive belt over the second conductive belt is provided with the conductive brush.
Optionally, the conductive brush is connected to a copper bar.
Optionally, the first conductive belt assembly further includes a plurality of upper pressing wheels; and the plurality of upper pressing wheels are located between the first belt roll and the second belt roll, with a mounting height lower than a mounting height of each of the first belt roll and the second belt roll.
Optionally, the second conductive belt assembly further includes a plurality of lower pressing wheels; and the plurality of lower pressing wheels are located between the third belt roll and the fourth belt roll, with a mounting height higher than a mounting height of each of the third belt roll and the fourth belt roll.
Optionally, an upper auxiliary electrode bath is provided above the first conductive belt assembly, and openings for allowing the first conductive belt to pass through are respectively formed at two sides of the upper auxiliary electrode bath; and an upper copper etching mechanism for removing copper plated particles on a surface of a conductive layer of the first conductive belt is provided in the upper auxiliary electrode bath.
Optionally, a lower auxiliary electrode bath is provided below the second conductive belt assembly, and openings for allowing the second conductive belt to pass through are respectively formed at two sides of the lower auxiliary electrode bath; and an upper copper etching mechanism for removing copper plated particles on a surface of a conductive layer of the second conductive belt is provided in the lower auxiliary electrode bath.
According to another aspect, the present disclosure provides an electroplating system. The electroplating system includes an electroplating bath, as well as cathode conduction mechanisms provided in the electroplating bath in mirror symmetry, where the cathode conduction mechanisms are respectively located at two sides of a film feeding direction of a thin film; and a plurality of upper and lower electroplating anodes are provided in the electroplating bath, and the upper and lower electroplating anodes are provided between the cathode conduction mechanisms at two sides of the electroplating bath.
Optionally, a thickening segment is further provided at a front end of a film coating segment of the electroplating bath, and the thickening segment is configured to thicken a plated layer at an edge of the thin film.
Optionally, a pre-plating bath is provided at a front end of the electroplating bath; and a conduction roll, a pass-over roll and an anode plate are provided in the pre-plating bath.
The present disclosure has following beneficial effects:
According to the cathode conduction mechanism and the electroplating system provided by the present disclosure, the cathode conduction mechanism includes a first conductive belt and a first conductive belt assembly, the first conductive belt assembly including a first belt roll and a second belt roll, and the first conductive belt covering the first belt roll and the second belt roll; and a second conductive belt and a second conductive belt assembly, the second conductive belt assembly including a third belt roll and a fourth belt roll, and the second conductive belt covering the third belt roll and the fourth belt roll. The second conductive belt does not pass through the bottom of the electroplating bath to prevent leakage. The first conductive belt and the second conductive belt each are only driven by two belt rolls to greatly save a cost.
In order to facilitate a better understanding of the above technical solutions, the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although the accompanying drawings show exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, it should be understood that the present disclosure may be implemented in various forms and should not be limited to the embodiments set forth herein. The embodiments are provided for a more thorough understanding of the present disclosure, so as to make the scope of the present disclosure be fully conveyed to those skilled in the art.
As shown in
As shown in
Specifically, due to structural limitations of a conduction mechanism in the prior art, the conductive belt is short. With a short time on the conductive belt, a current is transferred to a roll for driving the belt. Due to a small resistance and a little heating amount of the conductive belt, the conductive belt is hardly damaged by the current. However, the short conductive belt cannot satisfy a film coating requirement, so a plurality of conductive components are provided in an electroplating bath. In view of this, the first conductive belt 11 is narrower than the second conductive belt 13 in the cathode conduction mechanism 10 provided by the present disclosure. The wider portion of the second conductive belt 13 over the first conductive belt 11 is provided with the conductive brush 15. The first conductive belt 11 and the second conductive belt 13 are lengthened (for example, from 3 m to about 50 m). When the current passes through one end of each of the first conductive belt 11 and the second conductive belt 13 to the other end, more electric charges are accumulated on the first conductive belt 11 and the second conductive belt 13. Since the first conductive belt 11 and the second conductive belt 13 have a fixed thickness, the first conductive belt and the second conductive belt have a greater resistance, with the current to be increased by ten times. Consequently, a heating amount and a power voltage of each of the first conductive belt 11 and the second conductive belt 13 are increased, and the first conductive belt 11 and the second conductive belt 13 require a larger current bearing capacity. In the embodiment, by using the conductive brush 15 to contact the second conductive belt 13, the current is shunted from the second conductive belt 13. Therefore, the current on the first conductive belt 11 and the second conductive belt 13 is reduced, so as not to damage the first conductive belt 11 and the second conductive belt 13.
In some embodiments, due to a large number of the conductive brushes 15, the conductive brush 15 is connected to copper bar 151. In the embodiment of the present disclosure, with the copper bar 151, leads of all conductive brushes 15 can be gathered through the copper bar 151. This makes the whole machine wired more conveniently.
As shown in
As shown in
Specifically, a portion to be lifted is changed into the upper pressing wheels 123, such that additional lifting control turns out to be unnecessary. While reducing the belt roll, the present disclosure further simplifies a drive mechanism, a lifting mechanism and a tensioning mechanism of the belt roll, thereby reducing the cost.
Specifically, the first conductive belt 11 and the second conductive belt 13 are lengthened. That is, a distance between the first belt roll 121 and the second belt roll 122, and a distance between the third belt roll 141 and the fourth belt roll 142 are increased. Hence, an enough mounting space can be provided for the upper auxiliary electrode bath 16 and the lower auxiliary electrode bath 17.
As shown in
In some embodiments, a liquid inlet end of the electroplating bath 20 may further be provided with a thickening segment. The thickening segment may be structurally the same as a film coating segment. However, a mounting width between the cathode conduction mechanisms 10 in the thickening segment is slightly greater than a mounting width between the cathode conduction mechanisms in the film coating segment. That is, portions of the cathode conduction mechanisms 10 clamping the thin film 30 in the thickening segment are closer to the edge of the electroplating bath than portions of the cathode conduction mechanisms 10 clamping the thin film 30 in the film coating segment. Therefore, a plated layer of the thin film 30 on portions of the thickening segment and the film coating segment not overlapping at the edge of the electroplating bath is thickened, thereby improving a conductivity of the film coating segment.
According to the electroplating system provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, since the whole structure of the cathode conduction mechanism 10 is provided in the electroplating bath 20, the second conductive belt 13 does not pass through the bottom of the electroplating bath 20 to prevent leakage. Meanwhile, few cathode conduction mechanisms 10 are required in the electroplating system, and two sides of the electroplating bath 20 each are only provided with one cathode conduction mechanism 10. This satisfies the film coating requirement, and greatly saves the cost.
As shown in
The embodiment of the present disclosure has the following beneficial effects:
The second conductive belt 13 does not pass through the bottom of the electroplating bath to prevent leakage. The first conductive belt 11 and the second conductive belt 13 each are only driven by two belt rolls to greatly save a cost.
In the embodiment, by using the conductive brush 15 to contact the second conductive belt 13, the current is shunted from the second conductive belt 13. Therefore, the current on the first conductive belt 11 and the second conductive belt 13 is reduced, so as not to damage the first conductive belt 11 and the second conductive belt 13.
In the embodiment of the present disclosure, with the copper bar 151, leads of all conductive brushes 15 can be gathered through the copper bar 151. This makes the whole machine wired more conveniently.
In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first conductive belt 11 and the second conductive belt 13 are lengthened. That is, a distance between the first belt roll 121 and the second belt roll 122, and a distance between the third belt roll 141 and the fourth belt roll 142 are increased. Hence, an enough mounting space can be provided for the upper auxiliary electrode bath 16 and the lower auxiliary electrode bath 17.
According to the electroplating system provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, since the whole structure of the cathode conduction mechanism 10 is provided in the electroplating bath 20, the second conductive belt 13 does not pass through the bottom of the electroplating bath 20 to prevent leakage. Meanwhile, few cathode conduction mechanisms 10 are required in the electroplating system, and two sides of the electroplating bath 20 each are only provided with one cathode conduction mechanism 10. This satisfies the film coating requirement, and greatly saves the cost.
It should be understood that in the description of the present disclosure, terms such as “first” and “second” are used merely for a descriptive purpose, and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance, or implicitly indicating a quantity of indicated technical features. Thus, features defined with “first” and “second” may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present disclosure, “a plurality of” means two or more, unless otherwise specifically defined.
In the present disclosure, unless otherwise clearly specified, the terms such as “mounting”, “interconnection”, “connection” and “fixation” are intended to be understood in a broad sense. For example, the “connection” may be a fixed connection, removable connection or integral connection; may be a mechanical connection or electrical connection; may be a direct connection or indirect connection using a medium; and may be a communication or interaction between two elements. Those of ordinary skill in the art may understand specific meanings of the above terms in the present disclosure based on a specific situation.
In the present disclosure, unless otherwise explicitly specified, when it is described that a first feature is “above” or “below” a second feature, it indicates that the first and second features are in direct contact or the first and second features are in indirect contact through an intermediate feature. In addition, when it is described that the first feature is “over”, “above” and “on” the second feature, it indicates that the first feature is directly or obliquely above the second feature, or simply indicates that an altitude of the first feature is higher than that of the second feature. When it is described that a first feature is “under”, “below” or “beneath” a second feature, it indicates that the first feature is directly or obliquely under the second feature or simply indicates that the first feature is lower than the second feature.
In the description of this specification, the description with reference to the terms such as “one embodiment”, “some embodiments”, “example”, “specific example” or “some examples” means that specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described in connection with the embodiment or example are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present disclosure. In this specification, the schematic expression of the above terms is not necessarily directed to the same embodiment or example. Moreover, the specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in a suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples. In addition, those skilled in the art may combine different embodiments or examples described in this specification and characteristics of the different embodiments or examples without mutual contradiction.
Although the embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated above, it should be understood that the above embodiments are merely illustrative and may not be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. Changes, modifications, substitutions and variations may be made to the above embodiments by a person of ordinary skill in the art within the scope of the present disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202211279657.7 | Oct 2022 | CN | national |
This application is a continuation application of International Application No. PCT/CN2023/075610, filed on Feb. 13, 2023, which is based upon and claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202211279657.7, filed on Oct. 19, 2022, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/CN2023/075610 | Feb 2023 | US |
| Child | 18415678 | US |
