Automatic silver plating production line and method

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of electroplating production lines, in particular to an automatic silver plating production line and method. Comprising a guide rail, a travelling crane arranged on the guide rail and a control device, a position measuring device is arranged on the travelling crane, a positioning device corresponding to the position measuring device is arranged at the position of a silver plating tank, and the control device is respectively connected with the position measuring device, the silver plating tank and the positioning device. The control device is matched with the position measuring device, so that the travelling crane can automatically identify the position of the silver plating tank, accurate positioning of the travelling crane and the silver plating tank is realized, meanwhile, the positioning accuracy is high, and after positioning is completed, the control device can realize plating of parts according to set parameters; the preset parameters can ensure the uniformity and the thickness of the coating of the part, so that the quality of the coated part can reach the preset standard and meet the process requirements.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the field of electroplating production lines, and in particular to an automatic silver plating production line and method. Background Art

[0002] Automatic silver plating equipment is a highly efficient and precise electroplating equipment, which is used to plate a layer of silver on the surface of various materials, thereby improving their conductivity, corrosion resistance and aesthetics. In the production process of existing automatic silver plating equipment, parts are placed in the silver plating tank, and the thickness and uniformity of the coating can be accurately controlled through preset parameters; however, in actual operation, the coating thickness and uniformity of some parts are still difficult to reach the ideal standard. This problem directly affects the overall quality of the parts, making it difficult for the products to fully meet customer requirements.

[0003] Another point is that the existing automatic silver plating equipment requires human participation in the entire silver plating process, mainly because manual identification of the position of the crane and the silver plating tank is required to ensure that the parts in the crane can be placed in the silver plating tank, which makes it difficult to achieve true automation of the entire production process. Summary of the invention

[0004] In view of the problems mentioned in the prior art, the present invention proposes an automatic silver-plating production line and method, which utilizes an encoder on a crane to identify the position of a silver-plating tank, thereby locking the position of the silver-plating tank in the horizontal and vertical directions. After the crane recognizes the silver-plating tank, the silver-plating parameters are controlled by PLC to achieve silver-plating processing on the parts in the tank.

[0005] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention adopts the following technical solution: The invention discloses an automatic silver-plating production line, comprising a guide rail, a crane arranged on the guide rail and a control device, wherein the crane is provided with a position measuring device, a positioning device corresponding to the position measuring device is provided at the position of the silver-plating tank, and the control device is respectively connected with the position measuring device, the silver-plating tank and the positioning device.

[0006] As a further improvement of the present invention, the position measuring device is an encoder, and when the encoder is running, it will continuously send a pulse signal representing the travel distance to the control device.

[0007] As a further improvement of the present invention, the positioning device is a sensor, and when the vehicle moves to a suitable position in the horizontal and / or vertical direction relative to the silver plating tank, the sensor will send a positioning signal.

[0008] As a further improvement of the present invention, the control device is a PLC or a single chip microcomputer.

[0009] As a further improvement of the present invention, the control device can preset the horizontal distance and vertical distance of the vehicle movement to the silver plating tank, and obtain the moving distance of the vehicle according to the received pulse signal.

[0010] As a further improvement of the present invention, the control device can output current to the tank body to perform silver plating on the parts in the tank body.

[0011] As a further improvement of the present invention, the control device includes manual control and automatic control. As a further improvement of the present invention, it also includes a driving device connected to the control device, and the driving device is used to control the movement of the traveling vehicle along the guide rail.

[0012] An automatic silver plating method, based on the above-mentioned automatic silver plating production line, comprises the following steps: S1, obtaining the horizontal distance between the crane and the silver plating tank and the horizontal travel distance of the crane, and when the horizontal distance between the crane and the silver plating tank is equal to the horizontal travel distance of the crane, the horizontal positioning of the crane and the silver plating tank is achieved; S2, obtaining the vertical distance between the crane and the silver-plating tank and the vertical travel distance of the crane, and when the vertical distance between the crane and the silver-plating tank is equal to the vertical travel distance of the crane, the vertical positioning of the crane and the silver-plating tank is achieved; S3. After positioning, the driving machine puts the parts to be silver-plated into the silver-plating tank and silver-plates the parts based on preset parameters.

[0013] As a further improvement of the present invention, the parameters preset in step S3 include current magnitude and silver plating time.

[0014] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has achieved the following technical effects: The automatic silver-plating production line of the present invention comprises a guide rail, a crane arranged on the guide rail, and a control device. The crane is provided with a position measuring device, and the position of the silver-plating tank is provided with a positioning device corresponding to the position measuring device. The control device is respectively connected with the position measuring device, the silver-plating tank, and the positioning device. During use, the control device of the present invention cooperates with the position measuring device, so that the crane can automatically identify the position of the silver-plating tank, and realize accurate positioning of the crane and the silver-plating tank, and the positioning accuracy is high. After the positioning is completed, the control device can realize the plating of the parts according to the set parameters. The preset parameters can ensure the uniformity and thickness of the part plating, so that the quality of the plated parts can reach the predetermined standard and meet the process requirements. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] Figure 1 This is a connection diagram of the automatic silver plating production line of the present invention; Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the PLC program of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] In the following, only some exemplary embodiments are briefly described. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, the described embodiments may be modified in various ways without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Therefore, the drawings and descriptions are considered to be exemplary and non-restrictive in nature.

[0017] In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", "axial", "radial", "circumferential" and the like indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the referred device or element must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be understood as limiting the present invention.

[0018] In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features. Therefore, the features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present invention, the meaning of "plurality" is two or more, unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.

[0019] In the present invention, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "installed", "connected", "connected", "fixed" and the like should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection, an electrical connection, or a communication; it can be a direct connection, or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium, it can be the internal connection of two elements or the interaction relationship between two elements. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0020] In the present invention, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, a first feature being "above" or "below" a second feature may include that the first and second features are in direct contact, or may include that the first and second features are not in direct contact but are in contact through another feature between them. Moreover, a first feature being "above", "above" and "above" a second feature includes that the first feature is directly above and obliquely above the second feature, or simply indicates that the first feature is higher in level than the second feature. A first feature being "below", "below" and "below" a second feature includes that the first feature is directly above and obliquely above the second feature, or simply indicates that the first feature is lower in level than the second feature.

[0021] It should be understood that when used in this specification and the appended claims, the terms "include" and "comprises" indicate the presence of described features, integers, steps, operations, elements and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0022] It should also be understood that the terms used in the present specification are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the present invention. As used in the present specification and the appended claims, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include plural forms.

[0023] It should be further understood that the term "and / or" used in the present description and the appended claims refers to any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items, and includes these combinations.

[0024] Various structural schematic diagrams of the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are shown in the accompanying drawings. These figures are not drawn to scale, and some details are magnified and some details may be omitted for the purpose of clear expression. The shapes of various regions and layers shown in the figures and the relative sizes and positional relationships therebetween are only exemplary, and may deviate in practice due to manufacturing tolerances or technical limitations, and those skilled in the art may additionally design regions / layers with different shapes, sizes, and relative positions according to actual needs.

[0025] The embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0026] The invention discloses an automatic silver-plating production line, comprising a guide rail, a crane arranged on the guide rail and a control device, wherein the crane is provided with a position measuring device, a positioning device corresponding to the position measuring device is provided at the position of the silver-plating tank, and the control device is respectively connected with the position measuring device, the silver-plating tank and the positioning device.

[0027] The automatic silver plating equipment in this embodiment is usually composed of multiple functional areas, including a pretreatment area: used for cleaning, degreasing, rust removal and other pretreatment of the workpiece to ensure a good combination of the coating and the substrate. Silver plating area: This is the core area of ​​the equipment, responsible for evenly attaching the silver coating to the surface of the workpiece. The silver plating area usually includes components such as a silver plating tank, a rectifier, anodes and cathodes. Post-processing area: used for cleaning, drying, passivation and other treatments on the silver-plated workpiece to improve the stability and corrosion resistance of the coating. The present invention mainly relates to the process flow of the silver plating area.

[0028] The crane is a device equipped with parts in the process flow, which is used to transport the parts to be silver-plated to the silver-plating tank. The existing technology mainly relies on manually controlling the position of the crane close to the silver-plating tank, and placing the parts into the silver-plating tank through the crane hanging on the wall to realize the silver plating of the parts. In order to solve this problem, the present invention measures the moving distance of the crane by a position measuring device arranged on the crane, so as to realize the position positioning of the crane and the silver-plating tank.

[0029] In the embodiment, the position measuring device on the vehicle is an encoder, and when the encoder is running, it will continuously send a pulse signal representing the travel distance to the control device. When the rotating shaft of the encoder in the embodiment rotates, the sensing element inside it will sense this change and convert it into an electrical signal output; when in use, when the encoder rotates one circle, it will output a certain number of pulse signals, and this number is the number of pulses per revolution (PPR). By measuring the number of pulses output by the encoder, the number of revolutions of the encoder can be calculated. When the circumference of the vehicle wheels is obtained, the moving distance of the vehicle can be calculated. The control device in the present invention can read the number of pulses and convert it into a distance value to realize the identification of the travel distance of the vehicle.

[0030] The encoder of the present invention can accurately measure the travel distance of a vehicle and has the characteristic of small error; at the same time, the encoder adopts a contactless measurement method, has a long service life and high reliability, and can ensure long-term measurement use.

[0031] The positioning device is a sensor. When the vehicle moves to a suitable position in the horizontal and / or vertical direction with the silver plating tank, the sensor will send a positioning signal. In the embodiment, the sensor can be an optical sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, and a wireless sensor. In this embodiment, an optical sensor is preferably used, but it is not limited thereto. Different types of sensors can also be selected according to actual use requirements and setting scenarios.

[0032] When the carriage moves horizontally to a predetermined position relative to the silver plating tank, the optical sensor can detect this change and send out a positioning signal. The optical sensor can determine the position of the carriage by capturing light in the environment. In the vertical direction, the optical sensor can also detect the relative position relationship between the carriage and the silver plating tank by measuring the displacement of the carriage in the vertical direction.

[0033] When the optical sensor detects the predetermined position relationship between the crane and the silver plating tank, it will send out a positioning signal, which is a light signal. The light signal will be recognized by the control device and used for the control or monitoring of the crane. The processed signal can be used to control the movement parameters of the crane.

[0034] In this embodiment, the control device is a PLC or a single chip microcomputer. In the embodiment, a PLC is preferably used, which can receive the positioning signal from the sensor and accurately control the crane according to the preset program logic. The PLC can realize accurate control of the start and stop of the crane and ensure that the crane can accurately reach the predetermined position in the horizontal and vertical directions.

[0035] When using, first measure the horizontal distance from the starting position of the carriage to the silver plating tank, and store this horizontal distance value in the DM1 register of the PLC.

[0036] The PLC will automatically read the pulse number of the encoder on the crane and convert it into the horizontal walking distance (actually measured walking distance), and store this horizontal distance value in the DM2 register of the software.

[0037] Through the comparison instructions in the PLC preset software, when the set horizontal distance value DM1 is equal to the encoder horizontal walking distance DM2, the PLC will send a horizontal positioning signal and verify it according to the sensor, so as to accurately locate the horizontal position of the crane in the silver plating tank.

[0038] Measure the vertical distance from the starting position of the carriage to the silver plating tank, and store this vertical distance value in the DM3 register of the PLC.

[0039] The PLC will automatically read the pulse number of the encoder on the crane and convert it into the vertical travel distance (actual measured travel distance), and store this vertical travel distance in the DM4 register of the software.

[0040] Through the comparison instructions in the PLC preset software, when the vertical distance value DM3 set by the crane is equal to the vertical walking distance DM4, the PLC will send a horizontal positioning signal and verify it according to the sensor. It can accurately locate the horizontal position of the crane in the silver plating tank. The above steps can realize the two-dimensional spatial positioning of the crane and the silver plating tank.

[0041] The control device can output current to the tank body to silver-plate the parts in the tank body. When the positioning is completed, the hanging arm on the traveling crane will put the parts into the silver-plating tank, and the software program written in the PLC will send a silver-plating signal to silver-plate the parts.

[0042] In the embodiment, the silver plating tank is mainly made of corrosion-resistant materials, such as stainless steel or plastic, and the shape and size of the tank body are determined according to the requirements of the electroplating process; the silver plating tank is provided with a solution for electroplating, an anode and a cathode to realize silver plating of parts.

[0043] In this embodiment, the program software written in the PLC can reasonably adjust the current density according to the shape, material and electroplating requirements of the part to ensure that the current is evenly distributed on the surface of the part. According to the electroplating process requirements, the characteristics of the plating solution and the required coating thickness, the silver plating time can be reasonably controlled through the PLC to avoid excessively long or short silver plating time, which may result in the thickness and uniformity of the silver layer of the part failing to meet the requirements.

[0044] This embodiment mainly determines the thickness and uniformity of the silver-plated layer by controlling and adjusting the current size and the silver-plating time. The current size plays an important role and directly affects the electroplating rate and the quality of the coating. For example, the larger the current, the faster the electroplating rate, but too large a current may lead to a decrease in the quality of the coating, such as roughness or uneven thickness. Therefore, according to the specific electroplating solution formula, substrate material and required coating thickness, an appropriate current range is selected, and the current range will be written into the PLC program, and the process needs to directly select the appropriate current range size; in addition, the silver-plating time is another factor that affects the coating thickness. When the current size is constant, the longer the silver-plating time, the thicker the coating, but too long a silver-plating time may also lead to a decrease in the quality of the coating. Therefore, a reasonable silver-plating time can be calculated according to the required coating thickness and the electroplating rate. Different silver-plating times will be written into the PLC program, and the process needs to directly select the appropriate silver-plating time.

[0045] Other parameters in the above-mentioned PLC program may be the same, such as electrolyte concentration, pH value, temperature, additives and the like. Since the present invention mainly involves parameters such as current size and silver plating time, other parameters may be set unchanged.

[0046] The control device includes manual control and automatic control. In the embodiment, manual control is to control the operation of the equipment by human work. This control method requires the operator to manually operate the equipment through buttons, switches, etc. according to actual needs to achieve precise control of the equipment; while automatic control refers to automatically monitoring and controlling the operation of the equipment through the preset program of PLC, so automatic control is suitable for batch silver-plated parts.

[0047] The driving device connected to the control device is also included, and the driving device is used to control the trolley to move along the guide rail. The structure of the trolley in the embodiment is simple, mainly including a slot for placing parts, a wheel is arranged at the bottom of the trolley, and the driving device is preferably a motor, which drives the trolley to move along the guide rail.

[0048] The present invention provides a method for an automatic silver-plating production line, which first obtains the horizontal distance between a crane and a silver-plating tank and the horizontal travel distance of the crane, and when a PLC recognizes that the horizontal distance between the crane and the silver-plating tank is equal to the horizontal travel distance of the crane, the horizontal positioning of the crane and the silver-plating tank is achieved; Obtain the vertical distance between the crane and the silver plating tank and the vertical travel distance of the crane. When the PLC recognizes that the vertical distance between the crane and the silver plating tank is equal to the vertical travel distance of the crane, the vertical positioning of the crane and the silver plating tank is achieved; After positioning, the crane puts the parts to be silver-plated into the silver plating tank. According to the silver plating thickness and uniformity of the parts to be silver-plated, the appropriate current size and silver plating time are selected in the PLC to silver-plate the parts.

[0049] The automatic silver-plating production line of the present invention comprises a guide rail, a crane arranged on the guide rail, and a control device. The crane is provided with a position measuring device, and the position of the silver-plating tank is provided with a positioning device corresponding to the position measuring device. The control device is respectively connected with the position measuring device, the silver-plating tank, and the positioning device. During use, the control device of the present invention cooperates with the position measuring device, so that the crane can automatically identify the position of the silver-plating tank, and realize accurate positioning of the crane and the silver-plating tank, and the positioning accuracy is high. After the positioning is completed, the control device can realize the plating of the parts according to the set parameters. The preset parameters can ensure the uniformity and thickness of the part plating, so that the quality of the plated parts can reach the predetermined standard and meet the process requirements.

[0050] The above shows and describes the basic principles and main features of the present invention and the advantages of the present invention. It is obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the details of the above exemplary embodiments, and the present invention can be implemented in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or basic features of the present invention. Therefore, no matter from which point of view, the embodiments should be regarded as exemplary and non-restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the attached claims rather than the above description, and it is intended that all changes falling within the meaning and scope of the equivalent elements of the claims are included in the present invention. Any figure mark in the claims should not be regarded as limiting the claims involved.

[0051] In addition, it should be understood that although this specification is described in accordance with the implementation modes, not every implementation mode contains only one independent technical solution. This description of the specification is only for the sake of clarity. Those skilled in the art should regard the specification as a whole. The technical solutions in each embodiment can also be appropriately combined to form other implementation modes that can be understood by those skilled in the art. The above content is only to illustrate the technical idea of ​​the present invention, and cannot be used to limit the protection scope of the present invention. Any changes made on the basis of the technical solution according to the technical idea proposed by the present invention shall fall within the protection scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. An automatic silver plating production line, characterized in that: It includes a guide rail, a carriage arranged on the guide rail, and a control device. The carriage is provided with a position measuring device, the silver plating tank is provided with a positioning device corresponding to the position measuring device, and the control device is respectively connected with the position measuring device, the silver plating tank and the positioning device.

2. An automatic silver plating production line according to claim 1, characterized in that: The position measuring device is an encoder, which continuously sends pulse signals representing the travel distance to the control device when it is running.

3. The automatic silver plating production line according to claim 1, characterized in that: The positioning device is a sensor. When the carriage moves to a suitable position in the horizontal and / or vertical direction relative to the silver plating tank, the sensor will send a positioning signal.

4. The automatic silver plating production line according to claim 1, characterized in that: The control device is a PLC or a single chip microcomputer.

5. The automatic silver plating production line according to claim 1, characterized in that: The control device can preset the horizontal distance and vertical distance of the vehicle moving to the silver plating tank, and obtain the moving distance of the vehicle according to the received pulse signal.

6. An automatic silver plating production line according to claim 5, characterized in that: The control device can output current to the tank body to perform silver plating on the parts in the tank body.

7. An automatic silver plating production line according to claim 5, characterized in that: The control device includes manual control and automatic control.

8. The automatic silver plating production line according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a driving device connected to the control device, and the driving device is used to control the vehicle to move along the guide rail.

9. An automatic silver plating method, based on the automatic silver plating production line according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: S1, obtaining the horizontal distance between the crane and the silver plating tank and the horizontal travel distance of the crane, and when the horizontal distance between the crane and the silver plating tank is equal to the horizontal travel distance of the crane, the horizontal positioning of the crane and the silver plating tank is achieved; S2, obtaining the vertical distance between the crane and the silver-plating tank and the vertical travel distance of the crane, and when the vertical distance between the crane and the silver-plating tank is equal to the vertical travel distance of the crane, the vertical positioning of the crane and the silver-plating tank is achieved; S3. After positioning, the driving machine puts the parts to be silver-plated into the silver-plating tank and silver-plates the parts based on preset parameters.

10. The automatic silver plating method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The parameters preset in step S3 include current magnitude and silver plating time.

Images