Rapid prototyping is an established method to get new electronic products to market faster. But, particularly in regulated high-reliability sectors, this involves much more than just a rapid design and build capability.
Details matter. We have to consider the intended operating environment, compliance with relevant industry standards, and the ability to maintain production of the final assemblies, cost-effectively at the required rate.
Although we might only need a small number of components for prototyping, we have to select ones where we can be certain of a quality-assured long-term supply.
When everything comes together we can be talking about a compliant production-ready assembly within days, rather than weeks.
Requirements and Constraints
The process starts with information gathering. We understand and document the desired functionality, performance parameters, operating environment and regulatory constraints.
Design and Layout
In-house design capabilities, sector experience and advanced CAD tools get you to a workable schematic design in less time and with fewer iterations. The physical PCB layout has to carefully consider component placement to ensure signal integrity and manage operating temperature distribution to protect delicate components.
In a modern rapid prototyping environment, circuit simulations identify and eliminate many potential issues such as signal and power integrity early in the process.
Manufacturing Practicalities
Design for Manufacturing (DfM) principles should guide the prototype design process. The intended throughput and design tolerances will influence the ultimate production process – so it makes sense to optimise the prototype design accordingly with full-scale manufacturing constraints in mind.
Coupled with our in-house box build, wiring and system integration capabilities, this ensures a rapid switchover from a proven prototype to volume manufacturing – accelerating the overall time-to-market.
Test and Refine
The moment of truth for a prototype PCB assembly comes in the testing phase, which includes climatic tests to mirror the intended operating environment. The careful design process ensures that most potential issues are avoided. But it might still be necessary to make a few refinements and modifications.
Approval
Once the design has been approved as conforming with the performance and regulatory requirements there’s still the vital task of creating technical documentation, compliance paperwork and a component database to ensure total traceability.
A streamlined process means we can achieve all of this, while meeting the demands of high reliability markets with an extremely fast turnaround.
Recent rapid prototyping assignments:
- Trizo to provide examples (e.g X product for Y sector/application, production-ready in Z days/weeks)
Discover more in our resource centre.
