Vacuum dip coating apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9731315-B2
Application number	US-201314759359-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2013
Priority date	Jan 7, 2013
Publication date	Aug 15, 2017
Grant date	Aug 15, 2017

Abstract

There is provided a dip coating apparatus that includes a sealed case assembly for containing at least one workpiece to be coated. The dip coating apparatus also includes an air pump communicated with the sealed case assembly, for pumping air from the sealed case assembly and injecting air into the sealed case assembly. Further, the dip coating apparatus includes a fresh coating solution container containing a coating solution, which is communicated with the sealed case assembly, for injecting the coating solution to the sealed case assembly and a recycle coating solution container, which is communicated with the sealed case assembly, for retrieving the coating solution from the sealed case assembly.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A dip coating apparatus, comprising:
a sealed case assembly for containing at least one workpiece to be coated;
an air pump communicated with the sealed case assembly, for pumping air from the sealed case assembly and injecting air into the sealed case assembly;
a fresh coating solution container containing a coating solution and communicated with the sealed case assembly through a first liquid pipeline, for injecting the coating solution to the sealed case assembly;
a recycle coating solution container communicated with the sealed case assembly through a second liquid pipeline, for retrieving the coating solution from the sealed case assembly;
a controller for controlling the air pump to pump air from the sealed case assembly and inject air into the sealed case assembly, controlling the flow of the coating solution from the fresh coating solution container to the sealed case assembly and controlling the flow of the coating solution from the sealed case assembly to the recycle coating solution container; and
a workpiece supporting element for supporting the at least one workpiece and arranged in the sealed case assembly;
wherein the sealed case assembly comprises: a first case element comprising a case without cover and a push-and-pull device for moving the case, and a second case element for assembling with the case to become the sealed case assembly, said second case element comprising a cover, an extending board arranged on one side of the cover, and a slider mounted on a bottom of the cover and the extending board for sliding the workpiece supporting element from the extending board to the cover, wherein the controller further controls the push-and-pull device to move the case to assemble and disassemble the sealed case assembly.

2. The dip coating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cover or the case is made of transparent or translucent material.

3. The dip coating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one side of the cover is hinged to at least one side of the case.

4. The dip coating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cover is vertically arranged on a platform, or is arranged on the platform with a slant angle, or is flatly arranged on the platform.

5. The dip coating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first case element and the second case element are assembled together through hinged configurations.

6. The dip coating apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an inert gases container communicated with the sealed case assembly, wherein the controller controls the inert gases container to inject inert gases into the sealed case assembly.

7. The dip coating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a vacuum degree in the sealed case assembly is controlled higher than 0.1 Mpa.

8. A dip coating apparatus, comprising:
a sealed case assembly for containing at least one workpiece to be coated;
an air pump communicated with the sealed case assembly, for pumping air from the sealed case assembly and injecting air into the sealed case assembly;
a fresh coating solution container containing a coating solution and communicated with the sealed case assembly through a first liquid pipeline, for injecting the coating solution to the sealed case assembly;
a recycle coating solution container communicated with the sealed case assembly through a second liquid pipeline, for retrieving the coating solution from the sealed case assembly;
a controller for controlling the air pump to pump air from the sealed case assembly and inject air into the sealed case assembly, controlling the flow of the coating solution from the fresh coating solution container to the sealed case assembly and controlling the flow of the coating solution from the sealed case assembly to the recycle coating solution container; and
a workpiece supporting element for supporting the at least one workpiece and arranged in the sealed case assembly;
wherein the sealed case assembly comprises: a first case element comprising a case without cover and a push-and-pull device for moving the case, and a second case element for assembling with the case to become the sealed case assembly, said second case element comprising a cover, a plurality of extending boards arranged on two sides of the cover, and a slider mounted on a bottom of the cover and the plurality of extending boards for sliding the workpiece supporting element from a former extending boards to the cover, and sliding the workpiece supporting element from the cover to a later extending boards, wherein the controller further controls the push-and-pull device to move the case to assemble and disassemble the sealed case assembly.

9. The dip coating apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the cover or the case is made of transparent or translucent material.

10. The dip coating apparatus of claim 8 , wherein at least one side of the cover is hinged to at least one side of the case.

11. The dip coating apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the cover is vertically arranged on a platform, is arranged on the platform with a slant angle, or is flatly arranged on the platform.

12. The dip coating apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the first case element and the second case element are assembled together through hinged configurations.

13. The dip coating apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising an inert gases container communicated with the sealed case assembly, wherein the controller controls the inert gases container to inject inert gases into the sealed case assembly.

14. The dip coating apparatus of claim 8 , wherein a vacuum degree in the sealed case assembly is controlled higher than 0.1 Mpa.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Barber John H
• Yang Hai
• Wang Chen
• Liu Zhixun

Classifications

• B05C3/09 Primary

  for treating separate articles · CPC title

• B05C3/109

  Passing liquids or other fluent materials into or through chambers containing stationary articles · CPC title

• B05C13/00

  Means for manipulating or holding work, e.g. for separate articles {(B05C1/0821 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B05C3/10

  the articles being moved through the liquid or other fluent material (conveying articles through baths B65G, e.g. B65G49/02) · CPC title

• B05C3/02 Primary

  the work being immersed in the liquid or other fluent material · CPC title