ELECTROPLATING BASKET

Abstract

An electroplating basket includes a basket body and a hanging unit. The basket body has two upright side walls, two upright end walls interconnected with the upright side walls, and a bottom wall connected to the upright side walls and the upright end walls. The hanging unit includes a conductive metal rod. The conductive metal rod has a connection portion that extends along the upright side walls and that is disposed beneath and connected to the bottom wall, and two hanging portions extending respectively and upwardly from two opposite ends of the connection portion along the upright end walls and bending sidewards away from the upright end walls.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to Taiwanese Patent Application No. 109106172, filed on Feb. 26, 2020.

FIELD

The disclosure relates to a basket, and more particularly to an electroplating basket.

BACKGROUND

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, an electroplating metal block 91, such as a zinc block for galvanizing, is generally disposed within a metal basket 92. The metal basket 92 is hung to a copper rod 93, and is immersed into an electrolyte bath. The copper rod 93 conducts an electric current to the metal basket 92. The metal basket 92 passes the electric current to the electroplating metal block 91 so that the electroplating metal block 91 can be electrolyzed.

The metal basket 92 has a basket body 921 and two hooks 922 welded to the basket body 921. The hooks 922 are attached to the copper rod 93. Because each hook 922 has a small area in contact with the copper rod 93, when the electric current is large, the hooks 922 are easily damaged. Further, the welded joint between each hook 922 and the basket body 921 has small contact surface area and is prone to damage due to the large electric current.

In addition, stability of contact pressure between the hooks 922 and the copper rod 93 must rely on the weight of the electroplating metal block 91 within the basket body 921 in order to maintain stable electric conduction. However, after a period of electrolysis, the weight of the electroplating metal block 91 can be reduced, and the contact pressure between the hooks 922 and the copper rod 93 can become instable and decrease the electric conducting effect. Moreover, because the electric current flows to the electroplating metal block 91 through the hooks 922 and the basket body 921, the path of electric conduction is long, and the electrical resistance thereof is large. As the copper rod 93 conducts electricity in air, it is easy to generate heat, which increases energy consumption.

SUMMARY

Therefore, the object of this disclosure is to provide an electroplating basket that can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art.

According to the disclosure, an electroplating basket includes a basket body and a hanging unit.

The basket body has two upright side walls spaced apart from each other, two upright end walls spaced apart from each other and interconnected with the upright side walls, and a bottom wall connected to the upright side walls and the upright end walls. The upright side walls, the upright end walls, and the bottom wall cooperatively define an accommodating space.

The hanging unit includes a conductive metal rod. The conductive metal rod has a connection portion that extends along the upright side walls and that is disposed beneath and connected to the bottom wall, and two hanging portions extending respectively and upwardly from two opposite ends of the connection portion along the upright end walls and bending sidewards away from the upright end walls.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiment(s) with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an existing metal basket hung to a copper rod;

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates an electroplating basket according to an embodiment of the disclosure; and

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 3 to 4 illustrate an electroplating basket 100 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The electroplating basket 100 includes a basket body 1 and a hanging unit 2.

The basket body 1 has two upright side walls 11, two upright end walls 12, and a bottom wall 13. The upright side walls 11 are spaced apart from each other. Each upright side wall 11 is shaped in a rectangular form and has a plurality of perforations for entry of an electrolyte into the basket body 1. The upright end walls 12 are spaced apart from each other and are each connected to one end of each upright side wall 11. The upright end walls 12 are as high as the upright side walls 11. Each upright end wall 12 has a length shorter than that of each upright side wall 11, so that the basket body 1 is oblong. The bottom wall 13 is connected to the upright side walls 11 and the upright end walls 12. The upright side walls 11, the upright end walls 12, and the bottom wall 13 cooperatively define an accommodating space 14 to receive an electroplating metal block (M), such as a zinc, nickel, or copper block, for plating. In this embodiment the electroplating metal block is the nickel block having a trapezoidal cross section. The bottom wall 13 has two inclined wall portions 131 that extend upwardly and respectively from bottom ends of the upright side walls 11, and that intersect each other and are inclined with respect to the upright side walls 11. Each inclined wall portion 131 has an inner inclined surface 132 that is inclined with respect to one of the upright side walls 11. The inner inclined surface 132 is used to contact and support a sloping face of the electroplating metal block (M). Because there are two inner inclined surfaces 132 in this embodiment, regardless of whatever one of the sloping faces of the plating metal block (M) is used as a leading end for insertion into the metal block (M), the metal block can certainly be placed in contact with the inner inclined surface 132 of one of the inclined wall portions 131. However, in other embodiments, the bottom wall 13 of the basket body 1 can have only one inner inclined surface 132.

The hanging unit 2 includes a conductive metal rod 21 and two reinforcement members 22. The conductive metal rod 21 is disposed parallel with the upright side walls 11, and has a connection portion 211 and two hanging portions 212. The connection portion 211 extends along the upright side walls 11 and is disposed beneath and connected to the bottom wall 13. The hanging portions 212 extend respectively and upwardly from two opposite ends of the connection portion 211 along the upright end walls 12 and bend sidewards away from the upright end walls 12. The hanging portions 212 can be hung to a copper rod (not shown) that is electrically connected to a conductive member (not shown) of an electroplating tank (not shown). Each reinforcement member 22 is connected to one of the hanging portions 212 of the conductive metal rod 21 and one of the upright end walls 12 of the basket body 1 to reinforce connection strength of the conductive metal rod 21 to the basket body 1.

In this embodiment, the basket body is made from titanium. The conductive metal rod 21 is a copper rod with an outer surface covered by a titanium coating.

The connection portion 211 of the conductive metal rod 21 is welded to the bottom wall 13 of the basket body 1. In particular, the connection portion 211 is disposed between and welded to bottom sides 133 of said inclined wall portions 131 of the bottom wall 13. In addition, the connection portion 211 of the conductive metal rod 21 extends through the upright end walls 12.

In use, most parts of the conductive metal rod 21 are immersed in and cooled by the electrolyte to reduce heat dissipation and energy consumption. Further, the titanium coating covering the outer surface of the conductive metal rod 21 can resist corrosion. The connection portion 211 of the conductive metal rod 21 is welded to the bottom wall 13 along an entire length of the bottom wall 13. Therefore, the contact surface area of the welded joint between the conductive metal rod 21 and the basket body 1 for conducting electricity can be increased, and excessive current concentration, which can damage the welded area, can be avoided. Particularly, because the connection portion 211 of the conductive metal rod 21 is welded to both bottom sides 133 of the inclined wall portions 131, the welded joint between the conductive rod 21 and the basket body 1 has an increased contact surface area for electric conduction, thereby reducing the risk of damage to the welded joint. As the connection portion 211 of the conductive metal rod 21 is intimately welded to the bottom wall 13, the contact surface area at the welded joint is stable, thereby stabilizing electrical conduction. During plating, contact between the sloping face of the electroplating metal (M) and the inner inclined surface 132 can increase conductivity. An electric current passing the conductive metal rod 21 can directly flow to the electroplating metal (M) through the bottom wall 13. Therefore, the electric conduction path can be shortened, and an overall electrical resistance of the electroplating basket 100 can be reduced, thereby decreasing energy consumption. Compared to the existing electroplating basket 92 (see FIG. 1), the electroplating basket 100 is able to provide energy saving of 15% to 30%.

By virtue the conductive metal rod 21 having the hanging portions to hang the basket body 1 and the connection portion welded to the bottom wall 131 of the basket body 1 to transmit electricity to the electroplating metal block through the bottom wall, energy consumption can be saved, and the risk of damage to the welded joints can be reduced.

In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details have been set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiment. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that one or more other embodiments maybe practiced without some of these specific details. It should also be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” an embodiment with an indication of an ordinal number and so forth means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic may be included in the practice of the disclosure. It should be further appreciated that in the description, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of various inventive aspects, and that one or more features or specific details from one embodiment may be practiced together with one or more features or specific details from another embodiment, where appropriate, in the practice of the disclosure.

While the disclosure has been described in connection with what is considered the exemplary embodiment, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiment but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.

Claims

1. An electroplating basket comprising:

a basket body having two upright side walls spaced apart from each other, two upright end walls spaced apart from each other and interconnected with said upright side walls, and a bottom wall connected to said upright side walls and said upright end walls, said upright side walls, said upright end walls, and said bottom wall cooperatively defining an accommodating space; and

a hanging unit including a conductive metal rod, said conductive metal rod having a connection portion that extends along said upright side walls and that is disposed beneath and connected to said bottom wall, and two hanging portions extending respectively and upwardly from two opposite ends of said connection portion along said upright end walls and bending sidewards away from said upright end walls.

2. The electroplating basket as claimed in claim 1, wherein said basket body is made from titanium, and said conductive metal rod is a copper rod with an outer surface covered by a titanium coating.

3. The electroplating basket as claimed in claim 1, wherein said connection portion of said conductive metal rod is welded to said bottom wall of said basket body.

4. The electroplating basket as claimed in claim 1, wherein said hanging unit further includes two reinforcement members each of which is connected to one of said hanging portions of said conductive metal rod and one of said upright end walls of said basket body.

5. The electroplating basket as claimed in claim 1, wherein said bottom wall of said basket body has an inner inclined surface that is inclined with respect to one of said upright side walls, said inner inclined surface being configured to contact and support a sloping face of an electroplating metal block.

6. The electroplating basket as claimed in claim 1, wherein said bottom wall of said basket body has two inclined wall portions that extend upwardly and respectively from bottom ends of said upright side walls, and that intersect each other and are inclined with said upright side walls, said connection portion of said conductive metal rod being disposed between and welded to bottom sides of said inclined wall portions.

7. The electroplating basket as claimed in claim 1, wherein said connection portion of said conductive metal rod extends through said upright end walls.