Manufacturing of Vertical Double-Door Evaporation Coating Equipment

The evaporation decorative coating machine is a specialized device for evaporating aluminum and chrome wire coating on plastic surfaces. It features a vertical double-door structure, offering fast film formation, bright colors, and a film layer that is not easily contaminated. It can produce dense, high-purity, and uniformly thick films, and is considered environmentally friendly equipment. The materials that can be processed include ABS, PS, PP, PC, PVC, nylon, metal, glass, ceramic, TPU, etc. The available coating effects include ordinary electroplated surfaces, matte (semi-matte, full matte), decorative electroplating textures, brushed, raindrop, and colorful finishes.

Part One: Requirement Analysis and Solution Design:

  Engage in in-depth communication with the customer to clarify the core use of the equipment (such as decoration, optical coating, scientific research, etc.), and plan the configuration accordingly. For example, for large-scale production of coatings for automotive lighting, there might be a preference for using high-capacity equipment.

  Engineers will establish multiple core designs based on the requirements and produce detailed drawings as the basis for subsequent production and quality inspection.

Section Two: Precision Parts Machining:

Vacuum chamber processing:

  Material Selection: Choose high-quality 304 stainless steel or carbon steel to ensure strength and corrosion resistance.

  Forming: Process the material into cylindrical or box-shaped cavities according to the design drawings through rolling, welding, and other procedures. The manufacturing process will include stress optimization to prevent structural deformation and ensure vacuum stability.

  Opening: Precisely process flange interfaces on the cavity for installing accessories such as observation windows, electrodes, valves, and pump ports.

  Frame: Welded and machined main and auxiliary frames that support the host machine and various pump bodies.

  Doors and Door Mechanisms: Machining of double door bodies and their key hinge mechanisms to ensure smooth opening and closing of the doors with reliable sealing. Some designs also incorporate elastic cushioning devices to prevent rigid collisions when closing the doors.

  Evaporation System Components: Precision machining of electrodes, boats, or crucibles used for resistance evaporation, as well as their insulation and cooling components.

  Work-piece Motion System: Machining mechanical parts such as drive shafts, gears, bearings, and brackets required for the rotation of the work-piece.

  Auxiliary Parts Machining: Machining of auxiliary parts such as cooling water pipelines, air pipes, various flanges, and brackets.

Section Three: Modular Component Assembly:

  Vacuum chamber assembly: Install internal components on the chamber, such as heaters, work-piece carousel, evaporation sources, and film thickness monitoring probes, and complete the connection of the water cooling sleeves.

  Pump system assembly: Connect the mechanical pump, roots pump, diffusion pump, and other components according to the design drawings to form a complete pumping system.

  Electrical and control system assembly: Install the PLC controller, HMI touchscreen, and various power modules (such as the resistive evaporation power supply, ion bombardment power supply, etc.) into the electrical control cabinet and complete internal wiring.

  Work-piece motion system pre-assembly: Pre-assemble and adjust the work-piece holder’s driven motors, gear reducers, and carousel.

  Auxiliary system assembly: Install the distribution pipelines and valves of systems such as cooling water and compressed air on the equipment chassis.

Section 4: System Assembly and Integration:

  Rack Fixation: Secure the main rack and auxiliary rack steadily.

  Cavity and Pump Unit Connection: Place the vacuum cavity on the rack and connect the preinstalled pump system accurately to the cavity through bellows and valves.

System Integration: Connect all cooling water, compressed air, power, and signal lines.

Control System Commissioning: Connect all sensors, actuators, and control cabinets, completing the integration and preliminary wiring test of the 'PLC HMI' fully automated control system.

Stage Five: Fine Tuning and Strict Testing:

  Cleaning and drying: Before formal commissioning, thoroughly clean and dry the vacuum chamber and all its internal components. This is the foundation for achieving high vacuum.

  Preliminary inspection: Use a leak detector (such as a helium mass spectrometer leak detector) to check all welds and detachable interfaces, ensuring that the overall system leak rate meets the design standard (e.g., ≤1×10⁻⁹ Pa·m³/s).

  Detailed inspection: Perform targeted repairs on any minor leaks found, and recheck to confirm.

  Pumping speed test: Record the actual time taken to evacuate from atmospheric pressure to the target vacuum level (e.g., 5×10⁻² Pa) to verify whether it meets the design requirement of ≤5 minutes

  Ultimate vacuum test: After prolonged evacuation, measure the highest vacuum level that the system can achieve to ensure it meets the design target (e.g., 6×10⁻⁴ Pa to 8.0×10⁻⁴ Pa).

  Holding vacuum test: After closing the main valve, measure the rate of increase in vacuum pressure to verify whether the system's static leak rate meets the standard (e.g., ≤0.1 Pa/h).

  Evaporation Source Debugging: Calibrate the power supply and conduct evaporation rate tests. Monitor in real-time using a quartz crystal thickness monitor and plot the "Power-Rate" curve to ensure the rate is stable (fluctuation ≤ ±5%).

  Heating Uniformity Debugging: For the baking function, use multi-point temperature measurement to verify the uniformity of the heating temperature (error ≤ ±5℃).

  Film Thickness Uniformity Test: Place substrates at different positions on the work-piece holder for trial coating, measure the film thickness distribution, and ensure the uniformity meets standards.

  Control System Joint Debugging: Perform fully automatic run tests for all process programs to verify their logical correctness and stability.

Stage Six: Factory Quality Inspection and Delivery:

Final Quality Inspection: The quality control department re-inspects all performance aspects of the equipment according to design standards and factory inspection specifications, and issues an inspection report.

Customer Acceptance: The customer sends personnel to the site for final acceptance testing (FAT) to confirm that the equipment fully meets the contract requirements.

Packaging and Transportation: After passing quality inspection, the equipment is professionally packaged and safely transported to the customer’s site.

On-Site Installation and Training: On-site installation and secondary commissioning are carried out at the customer's factory (SAT), and comprehensive operation and maintenance training is provided.