Design Of Arc Ion Source Control System

In recent years, optical thin films are widely used in industrial field. Arc ion plating technology has become a popular technology in the field of thin films producing due to its unique advantages, which has several advantages compared to the other films producing technology, such the higher ion deposition rate, higher ion energy and larger target’s ionization rate. So it is widely used in the field of industrial production, involving the production of hard tool, lamps, home decoration, mould, stainless steel and so on. Thin films that produced by arc ion plating technology has better uniformity, higher hardness and stronger wear-resistance, these characteristics make the tools have longer using time, make more economic profits and bring convenience to people’s life, so arc ion plating technology not only has a better developing prospect, but also has potential research value.However, there are two main problems in the current arc ion plating machines:first, the automation level of arc ion source control system is not high; second, the anti-interference ability of the arc source control system is poor. This paper mainly solves these two problems, and reformes the traditional manual arc ion plating electrical arc source control system, which has improved its automation degree, enhance its anti-interference ability that will help arc coating technology to have a further promotion.Through repeated practice, ultimately, we has determined the design scheme like this: using a PLC as the control core which will be configured with a A/D conversion modular and touch screen constituting as the hardware system, and designe software system attached to the hardware system, which will upgrade the current device. At first, this paper has introduced the background and significance of the topic, and then give an overview to arc ion plating technology, clarifies the definition of arc and arc discharge, introduce the advantages and application of arc ion plating technology. This paper has designed a new arc ion source and a arc coating equipment on the basis of the old structure, the new arc device and cooling water system can overcome the defects of the original one which may be not flexible when fasten the arc target, easily to produce the target droplet and so on. This paper has designed the whole structure of the ion source by CAD drawing software which attached with the materials’ selection of every part of the machine, and Mitsubishi FX2N series was selected in the hardware system designing, using the type of 48MT-PLC as the hardware controller that could built the high voltage pulse power supply and optimized the DC power signal. The software of this control system has been programmed by ladder diagram of PLC, through the simulation software to verify the correctness of the ladder diagram. In addition, this paper has designed the communication program between the host computer and PLC which can provide a better interface between people and the computer, which is convenient to operate.By the way of combining hardware and software that can greatly improve the control system’s automation degree and enhance the control system’s anti-interference ability of current arc ion plating machine, which can also improve the precision and efficiency of the machine. This scheme will make more opportunities for the arc ion plating technique’s applying areas in industrial field, and provide more conditions to meet different producing requirements. In addition, the operation of traditional arc plating machine is simplified, the workload of the staff and the labor intensity are reduced, and the working efficiency of the plating machine is improved, so it will bring more economic returns.