Patent ID: 6090262
Filing Date: 2000-07-18
Classification: C25D

Abstract:
A barrel plating method for operating a plurality of plating barrels used to plate a plurality of articles, comprising the steps of:grouping a plurality of articles to be plated into a plurality of containers;providing each container with a kanban, said kanban bearing a value of a plating coefficient proportional to a value of current to be supplied according to a unit weight of the articles in that container;transferring the plurality of articles from the plurality of containers to a plurality of barrels, each respective barrel being large enough to hold articles from more than one container;automatically calculating a value of barrel-plating current for each respective barrel according to the value of a plating coefficient retrieved from the kanban of each container of articles transferred to each respective barrel, and the total weight of the articles in each respective barrel;providing a plurality of power sources that correspond at least in number to the plurality of barrels; andperforming barrel plating by supplying power to each barrel from one of the plurality of power sources, the value of barrel plating current so supplied being the valve having previously been calculated for each respective barrel.