Evaporator With Adjustable Feeding For Even Heating

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional evaporation coating technologies face issues with source material piling up and uneven heating, leading to carbonization and waste, as all source material must be placed in the furnace initially, resulting in inefficient use and quality issues during the coating process.

Innovation Solution

An evaporator with adjustable feeding members and a heating member that transfers source material in portions, allowing for controlled evaporation and preheating, along with a vapor flow stabilizing plate to maintain even vapor distribution, preventing carbonization and optimizing the coating process.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If all source material is placed in the furnace at once, then the coating chamber can be sealed and the coating process can proceed without contamination, but the source material piles up and experiences uneven heating leading to carbonization

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecoating chamber contamination preventionVSAvoidsource material carbonization
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSObject-generated harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The source material feeding process is segmented into multiple portions that are fed sequentially rather than all at once. The feeding member divides the total source material into multiple batches, delivering them to the furnace at different time intervals, which prevents piling up and ensures uniform heating and evaporation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The source material is fed to the furnace in periodic intervals rather than continuously or all at once. This periodic feeding allows the furnace to maintain stable temperature and evenly evaporate each portion before the next is added, preventing carbonization while keeping the coating chamber sealed.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #19Periodic action

2Temperature

If the heating wire surrounds the furnace to heat the source material, then evaporation can be achieved, but uneven heating occurs causing carbonization of piled source material

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesource material evaporation temperatureVSAvoidsource material uniformity
Core Design Contradiction:
TemperatureVSStability of the object's composition

Solution Approach 1:

The heating process is segmented by controlling the heating wire to heat different portions of the furnace sequentially or uniformly across small portions of source material. This ensures each portion receives adequate heat without creating hot spots that would cause carbonization.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The heating system is made dynamic by adjusting the heating wire's operation to match the periodic feeding of source material. The heating can be modulated to provide uniform temperature distribution across the furnace interior, adapting to the changing load as source material is added in portions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

3Productivity

If the source material is fed quickly to maintain productivity, then coating efficiency increases, but carbonization occurs due to insufficient heating time

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecoating process speedVSAvoidsource material carbonization
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSObject-generated harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The feeding process operates periodically with optimized intervals that balance productivity and quality. Each portion of source material is fed at a rate that allows complete evaporation before the next portion is added, maintaining high productivity while preventing carbonization through proper timing.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #19Periodic action

Solution Approach 2:

The feeding rate and portion size are optimized as parameters to achieve the best balance between productivity and prevention of carbonization. By adjusting these parameters, the system maintains high coating efficiency while ensuring each portion of source material receives adequate heating time.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

Applied Scientific Principles

This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.

Function Achieved in This Case

This solution reduces source material carbonization and ensures even heating, improving the efficiency and quality of the evaporation coating process by managing the transfer speed and temperature, thereby minimizing waste and enhancing coating consistency.

Implementation Method 1

The heating member is configured to heat the source material transferred by the feeding member for evaporation to thereby generate a source material vapor

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectEvaporation: Evaporation

Implementation Method 2

the source material vapor becomes attached onto (or deposits) the substrate to thereby obtain a coated substrate having a layer of the source material coated thereon

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectPhysical Vapour Deposition: Physical Vapour Deposition

Data Source

PatentEP3491164B1Evaporator, evaporation coating apparatus and evaporation coating method
Publication Date: 2024.05.15 BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO LTD
  • EP3491164B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3491164B1 patent drawingFigure 2A
  • EP3491164B1 patent drawingFigure 2B

AI summary

An evaporator (10), an evaporation coating apparatus, and a method of evaporation coating are provided. The evaporator (10) comprises at least one feeding member (11) and a heating member (12). Each feeding member (11) is configured to transfer a source material in a transfer speed that is adjustable, and the heating member (12) is configured to heat the source material transferred by the feeding member (11) for evaporation to thereby generate a source material vapor. Besides the evaporator (10), the evaporation coating apparatus further includes a coating chamber (43), an object holder (41), and a controller configured to control the transfer speed, wherein the evaporator (10) and the object holder (41) are both disposed inside the coating chamber (43), the object holder (41) is configured to provide a platform for placing an object to be coated thereon, and the coating chamber (43) is configured to provide an environment for the source material vapor vented out from the evaporator (10) to attach to the object to thereby form a film of the source material onto the object.