Medical Cartridge Coating Custom Machine

The revolutionary part coating machine MWES produced for our customer offers a superior inert, immobilized lubrication alternative to current lubrication methods including siliconization and grease or oil applications. This machine’s automation equipment features a vibratory bowl feeder, an indexing six-station rotary dial and a vision inspection system. The cartridge coating process includes part ionization, pre-plasma treatment, proprietary coating spray and a post-plasma treatment.

The entire machine is built around the six-station indexing rotary dial. At the first station the operator loads and unloads parts into the station’s part nest. In the second station, the automated pre-plasma treatment head comes down into position and treats the inside surface of the parts. Once complete, the head retracts and the dial indexes to the third station. Here the part is pneumatically gripped and raised to the lubricant dispenser where the coating is applied to the parts.

After the coating has been applied the dial indexes to the fourth station, where sensors verify that the parts are still present in the nest and the vision inspection system checks the coating quality of the parts. The dial indexes to the fifth station where a post-plasma treatment is performed on the parts to ensure that the lubrication properties are within the desired parameters. The dial indexes to the sixth and final station, where a reject chute dumps parts that did not pass the vision systems coating quality inspection.

The automated coating machine included these features and processes: 

• Bowl Feeder – A vibratory bowl feeder automatically orientates the parts and feeds the parts to the assembly machine.
• Dial Assembly – A six-station servo indexing rotary dial system with part nesting moves the parts through the coating process.
• Ionizers – Ionizers are used to blow off any dust particles and reduce the parts’ static electricity before the coating process.
• Pre-Plasma Treatment – The parts needed to be treated with a gas plasma both before and after the coating is applied. This process uses a unique downstream plasma process that operates at atmospheric pressure to enable high throughput. The pre-plasma treatment increases the surface tension of the area where the coating is going to be applied for better adhesion characteristics.
• Post-Plasma Treatment – The post-plasma treatment finalizes the coating process to provide the excellent lubrication properties needed for the product application.
• Coating Spray – The coating is sprayed with a positive displacement pumping system. This allows for very precise and repeatable amounts of the coating onto the product.
• Vision System – A proprietary vision system is used to inspect the coating after it has been applied to the product. It can measure the uniformity and dispersion of the coating to verify the consistency of the process.
• Process Testing and Install – All equipment was set up in the MWES facility for production trial runs and testing before installation. Final runoff testing was conducted at the customer’s site to ensure the system meets all the requirements.