Coating jig and coating method

Abstract

This invention discloses a coating fixture and a coating method. The coating fixture is composed of a plurality of stacked wire frames. Each wire frame includes a lead screw and a fixing rod, wherein the lead screw and the fixing rod are connected in a frame shape. The coating method includes the steps of winding the wire frame, placing the wire frame in a cage, plasma treatment, and coating. The equipment design required for the coating fixture and coating method is simple, the process is simple, and the operation is simple. It can simultaneously coat multiple wires, thereby reducing production costs and improving production efficiency.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a coating fixture and a coating method, and more particularly to a coating fixture and a coating method suitable for insulating coatings on cochlear implant electrode wires. Background Technology

[0002] Cochlear implant electrode wires require an insulating coating. This coating has strict requirements for dielectric strength, mechanical strength, abrasion resistance, melt resistance, acid and alkali resistance, salt spray resistance, corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility. Furthermore, the coating thickness must be controlled to approximately 5 μm, and the AC withstand voltage must be greater than 50V. Therefore, very few coating materials meet the requirements for cochlear implant electrode wire coatings. Materials that do meet these requirements typically require specialized coating fixtures and processes. For example, parylene cannot be coated using general methods such as enameled wire processing.

[0003] To ensure the coating of the electrode wire meets requirements, vapor deposition is typically used to uniformly cover the surface of the electrode wire and form a film of sufficient thickness. This coating process can control the coating film size between 0.1μm and 100μm, and the thickness is uniform, dense, and free of pinholes. Therefore, it can guarantee the coating thickness, and coating a thickness of 5μm ± 1μm on the electrode wire is not a problem.

[0004] However, this coating process has certain limitations for electrode wire coating because it requires deposition in a vacuum furnace, not an open space, which leads to complex processes and high production costs. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In view of the above-mentioned deficiencies of the prior art, the technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a coating fixture and a coating method, the fixture required for production having a simple structure and low production process requirements.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides a coating fixture, which is composed of a plurality of wire frames stacked on top of each other. The wire frame includes a lead screw and a fixing rod, wherein the lead screw and the fixing rod are connected to each other in a frame shape.

[0007] The lead screw is provided with winding grooves, which are evenly distributed along the body of the lead screw.

[0008] The lead screw is provided with winding holes at both ends.

[0009] The wire frames are stacked in a crisscross manner.

[0010] The coating fixture also includes a series rod, and the two ends of the fixing rod are provided with series holes that match the series rod.

[0011] The present invention also provides a coating method, which includes the steps of:

[0012] The wire is wound around the wire frame to form a wire frame, wherein the wire frame includes a lead screw and a fixing rod, and the lead screw and the fixing rod are connected to form a frame shape;

[0013] The wire frames are stacked together to form a wire cage;

[0014] The wire cage is placed in a plasma device for plasma treatment.

[0015] The wire cage is placed in a coating device for coating treatment.

[0016] The lead screw is provided with winding grooves and winding holes, wherein the winding grooves are evenly distributed along the body of the lead screw.

[0017] The winding holes are located at both ends of the lead screw.

[0018] The wire cage includes a series rod, and the two ends of the fixed rod are provided with series holes that match the series rod.

[0019] The coating fixture and coating method of this invention have a simple design, simple process, and simple operation. They can coat multiple wires at the same time, thereby reducing production costs and improving production efficiency.

[0020] The following will further explain the concept, specific structure, and technical effects of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, so as to fully understand the purpose, features, and effects of the present invention. Attached Figure Description

[0021] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the coating fixture of the present invention.

[0022] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the wire frame.

[0023] Figure 3 The flowchart of the coating method of the present invention is shown.

[0024] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the wire frame.

[0025] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of a wire cage being placed into a plasma device.

[0026] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of a wire cage being placed into a coating device.

[0027] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the electrode wire being tested. Detailed Implementation

[0028] The invention will now be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0029] like Figure 1 As shown, the present invention provides a coating fixture, which is composed of a plurality of wire frames 1 stacked on top of each other, that is, the coating fixture is formed by stacking the wire frames 1 layer by layer.

[0030] like Figure 2 As shown, the wire frame 1 includes a lead screw 11 and a fixing rod 12. The lead screw 11 is used for winding the wire, and the fixing rod 12 is used for fixing and supporting it. The lead screw 11 and the fixing rod 12 are connected in a frame shape, that is, both ends of the lead screw 11 are connected to the fixing rod 12, and both ends of the fixing rod 12 are also connected to the lead screw 11. The connection between the lead screw 11 and the fixing rod 12 can be in various forms such as snap-fit, thread, and nut.

[0031] The wires wound in the following text are all based on electrode wire X, but are not limited to electrode wire X.

[0032] The lead screw 11 is provided with winding grooves and winding holes. The winding grooves are evenly distributed along the body of the lead screw 11 and are used to place the electrode wire X. In this way, when winding the electrode wire X, it is convenient to wind it and the electrode wire is wound evenly. It also limits the electrode wire X and prevents the electrode wire X from slipping on the lead screw 11. The winding holes are located at both ends of the lead screw 11 and are used to fix the head and tail of the electrode wire X. The head and tail of the electrode wire X can be fixed by passing through the winding holes to facilitate winding.

[0033] To avoid mutual interference between electrode wires X on adjacent wire frames 1 during coating, the wire frames 1 are stacked in a crisscross manner. That is, the fixing rod 12 of the upper wire frame 1 is stacked on top of the lead screw 11 of the lower wire frame 1, and the lead screw 11 of the upper wire frame 1 is stacked on top of the fixing rod 12 of the lower wire frame 1. The electrode wires X of adjacent layers are distributed perpendicularly to each other. It is worth noting that, in order to facilitate the staggered stacking of the wire frames 1, the wire frames 1 can adopt a square structure.

[0034] The coating fixture also includes a series rod 2. Both ends of the fixing rod 12 are provided with series holes 121 that match the series rod 2. The series rod 2 stacks the wire frames 1 through the series holes 121. When stacking the wire frames 1, simply aligning the series holes 121 with the series rod 2 easily completes the stacking process. Furthermore, the number of stacked wire frames 1 can be controlled according to actual needs; that is, the series rod 2 is suitable for different numbers of wire frames 1.

[0035] As an alternative embodiment, adjacent wire frames 1 can also be fixed to each other by means of snap fasteners.

[0036] like Figure 3As shown, the present invention also provides a coating method, the steps of which include winding a wire frame, placing the wire frame in a cage, plasma treatment, and coating. In order to improve the yield, the entire process is preferably carried out in a cleanroom of not less than Class 100,000 or an environment equivalent to Class 100,000.

[0037] Winding wire frame: such as Figure 4 As shown, the electrode wire X is wound around the wire frame 1 to form the wire frame 1'.

[0038] Specifically, the electrode wire X is first fixed through the winding hole of the lead screw 11, and then the electrode wire X is wound onto the lead screw 11 along the winding groove. Finally, the tail of the electrode wire X is fixed through the winding hole of the lead screw 11 to complete the winding of a single wire frame 1, forming a single wire frame 1'.

[0039] As an alternative embodiment, the electrode wire X can also be wound in an independent single-turn manner, that is, unlike the above-mentioned method of one wire all the way through, one turn is one wire.

[0040] Wire frame cage assembly: Stack wire frames 1' together to form wire cage 3'.

[0041] Specifically, the wire frames 1' are stacked together in a crisscross pattern to form a wire cage 3', that is, the fixing rod 12 of the upper wire frame 1' is stacked on the screw 11 of the lower wire frame 1', and the screw 11 of the upper wire frame 1' is stacked on the fixing rod 12 of the lower wire frame 1', and the electrode wires X of the two adjacent layers are distributed perpendicularly to each other.

[0042] Plasma treatment: such as Figure 5 As shown (electrode wire X is not shown in the figure), the wire cage 3' is placed in the plasma device 4 for plasma treatment.

[0043] Specifically, the wire cage 3' is placed in the plasma equipment 4 for plasma treatment. The plasma treatment process parameters are: power 2500W, time 10min, filling gas argon 2500ml / min, oxygen 2500ml / min.

[0044] Coating: such as Figure 6 As shown (electrode wire X is not shown in the figure), the wire cage 3' is placed into the coating equipment 5 for coating treatment.

[0045] Specifically, the wire cage 3' after plasma treatment is placed into the coating equipment 5 for coating treatment. The coating treatment process includes evaporation, pyrolysis, deposition, cold trap, and vacuum degree. The parameter settings for each process are shown in Table 1, and the temperature rise setting for evaporation is shown in Table 2.

[0046] Based on the calculation that forty wire frames 1' form a wire cage 3', one wire frame 1' is wound with forty turns of electrode wire X, and one turn of electrode wire X is cut into two electrode wires X, the present invention can complete the coating of 3,200 electrode wires X at one time, which has a high production efficiency.

[0047] It is worth noting that wire frame 1' is the wire frame 1 with electrode wire X wound on it, and wire cage 3' is the coating fixture with electrode wire X wound on it. Therefore, the specific structure of wire frame 1' and wire cage 3' will not be described in detail.

[0048] Table 1

[0049] Table 2: Temperature unit is °C, time unit is hour

[0050] To verify whether the AC withstand voltage of the electrode wire X produced by the coating method of the present invention meets the standard, an AC withstand voltage test was performed on the electrode wire X after coating.

[0051] The withstand voltage tester used was the ZHZ80 withstand voltage tester A from Shanghai Anbiao Electronics Co., Ltd. The test method used was a wet test method with salt water (3% sodium chloride solution by weight) as the conductive medium. The leakage current was less than 0.85mA after 1 minute of withstand voltage test. The withstand voltage values ​​were 30V, 50V, 100V, 150V and 200V.

[0052] Pretreatment before testing: Take 20 electrode wire X samples, remove about 25 mm of coating from both ends of each electrode wire X sample, immerse the entire insulating part of the electrode wire X in a 9 g / L salt solution at 37±5℃ for 10 days, and then rinse the insulating part with distilled water.

[0053] Formal testing: such as Figure 7 As shown, the two ends of the pretreated electrode wire X are twisted together to form a loop. Beaker B is filled with brine (a 3% sodium chloride solution by weight), with the end of electrode wire X exposed above the brine surface. The coated portion should be immersed in the brine as much as possible, but the uncoated portion should not come into contact with the brine. The uncoated bare wire is then connected to the negative terminal of the withstand voltage tester A, and the brine is connected to the positive terminal of the withstand voltage tester A. The withstand voltage tester A is turned on, and the knob is adjusted to the preset voltage. Each preset voltage value is tested for 1 minute. The test results are shown in Table 3.

[0054] Table 3

[0055] As shown in Table 3, even at 200V, all 20 electrode wire samples X meet the requirement of "leakage current less than 0.85mA after 1 minute of withstand voltage". Therefore, the electrode wire produced by the coating method of this invention meets the requirement of "AC withstand voltage greater than 50V".

[0056] The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above. It should be understood that those skilled in the art can make numerous modifications and variations based on the concept of the present invention without creative effort. Therefore, all technical solutions that can be obtained by those skilled in the art based on the concept of the present invention through logical analysis, reasoning, or limited experimentation on the basis of existing technology should be within the scope of protection defined by the claims.

Claims

1. A coating fixture, characterized in that: It is composed of multiple wire frames stacked on top of each other. Each wire frame includes a lead screw and a fixing rod. The lead screw and the fixing rod are connected to form a frame shape. The wire frames are stacked in a cross manner. The fixing rod of the upper layer is stacked on the lead screw of the lower layer, and the lead screw of the upper layer is stacked on the fixing rod of the lower layer. The wires of adjacent layers are distributed perpendicularly to each other.

2. The coating fixture as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The lead screw is provided with winding grooves, which are evenly distributed along the body of the lead screw.

3. The coating fixture as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The lead screw is provided with winding holes at both ends.

4. The coating fixture as described in claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a series rod, and the two ends of the fixed rod are provided with series holes that match the series rod.

5. A coating method, comprising the steps of: winding wire around a wire frame to form a wire frame, wherein, The wire frame includes a lead screw and a fixing rod, the lead screw and the fixing rod being connected to form a frame shape; the wire frames are stacked together to form a wire cage, wherein the wire frames are stacked in a crisscross manner, the upper fixing rod is stacked on top of the lower lead screw, the upper lead screw is stacked on top of the lower fixing rod, and the wires of adjacent layers are distributed perpendicularly to each other; the wire cage is placed in a plasma device for plasma treatment; the wire cage is placed in a coating device for coating treatment.

6. The coating method as described in claim 5, characterized in that: The lead screw is provided with winding grooves and winding holes, wherein the winding grooves are evenly distributed along the body of the lead screw, and the winding holes are provided at both ends of the lead screw.

7. The coating method as described in claim 5, characterized in that: The wire cage includes a series rod, and the two ends of the fixed rod are provided with series holes that match the series rod.

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