The Ultimate Additive Manufacturing for Electronics Use Case Round Up

 

Touch sensor 3D Printed on Nano Dimension’s DragonFly Pro  

 

So, you’re a design engineer searching for information on the benefits of additive manufacturing of electronics. If your goal is to convince your boss that 3D printing is the future of electronics development, use cases with demonstrable results are your best ammunition. Or, maybe you want some inspiration or just want to see how other companies are using additive technology and new materials to create electronics in innovative ways.

Whatever your end goal, searching for these resources takes time and it’s time you don’t necessarily have. We understand and we’ve saved you a step. Here are our popular 3D printed electronics use case topics, and we expect one or more will help you reach goals:

Reducing time, cost and risk…

Outsourcing prototyping processes are long, costly and involve security risks. Additively manufacturing  electronics empowers companies to take control of the entire development cycle by 3D printing their own professional circuit boards. Prototyping and testing in-house shortens cycles from months or weeks to just days or hours, cuts costs by eliminating large order minimums and costly mistakes, and keeps sensitive and valuable IP confidential during development.

These use cases show how our DragonFly Pro system works to deliver prototyping securely and reliably in-house in less than a day for most parts

• Enabling Agile Workflows and Reducing Rework Time
• Producing MIDs with 3D Printed Electronics
• 3D Printed with the DragonFly™ Pro 3D Printer Arduino 2-Layer PCB Prototype

Contact us to find out how you can drastically transform your business through the use of our additive manufacturing platform for electronics.

                           Arduino 2-Layer PCP Prototype 3D Printed with the DragonFly Pro 3D Printer 

Gaining design freedom and creative inspiration…

When unshackled from the constraints of traditional manufacturing techniques, design engineers are free to add new functionality and customization in their designs. This includes re-engineering end-product design by creating different shapes and geometries that were previously impossible. Using additive manufacturing for printing electronics creates virtually limitless design possibilities for new products with improved performance, enhanced functionality and increased miniaturization. And, because designers can 3D print prototypes quickly and cost-effectively, they can test and validate designs on the fly, reducing errors in production-mode.

These resources will ignite creativity for limitless designs:

• 3D Printed Embedded Components
• Electromagnets 3D Printed Coil

                      Electromagnet 3D Printed Coil on the DragonFly Pro 3D Printer 

Building modern electronics…

With sensors added to machines and processes to provide interconnectivity between objects, the IoT is ushering in Industry 4.0. Sensors allow us to interact with our gadgets, tools, environment and vehicles in new ways such as touch, eye tracking or speech. But, as product formats change and features evolve, the need to develop new sensors to facilitate this ‘electronics everywhere’ era where monitoring and effortless control is paramount.

These use cases present the benefits of producing sensors on the DragonFly™ Pro system:

• Touch sensor precision 3D printed on Nano Dimension’s DragonFly Pro
• IoT Sensor Circuit Made Using Additive Manufacturing on the DragonFly™ Pro System

If you STILL need confirmation that additive manufacturing of electronics will perform…

If you’re unsure about how 3D printed electronics will perform when compared with traditionally manufactured electronics, you can learn more here.  Harris Corporation and Nano Dimension worked together on a study to explore the potential use of 3D printing for radio frequency (RF) circuits for RF systems. The project included designing, simulating, and testing a 3D printed RF amplifier and comparing it with the performance of an amplifier developed with conventional manufacturing techniques. The results: no noticeable difference in circuit performance, clearly demonstrating the viability of 3D printed electronics for RF circuitry.

These resources explain the tests and showcase the complete results:

• Harris’ 3D Printed RF Amplifiers Comparable to Traditional Circuits
• Breakthrough 3D Printing of RF Antennas Showcased by Harris Corp. at 2019 IEEE Radio & Wireless Week
• Additive Manufacturing Breakthrough: Harris Corp. 3D Prints RF Amplifiers Using Nano Dimension’s DragonFly Pro; Performance is Comparable to Traditionally Manufactured Circuits

                 3D Printed RF Amplifier for Space Systems by Nano Dimension and Harris Corporation 

You can also visit the “Resources” section of our website for whitepapers, videos and more. We’ve pioneered additive manufacturing of electronics with our DragonFly platform, so if you don’t find what you’re looking for, please reach out. We’d love to help you build a case for investing in a DragonFly Pro precision additive manufacturing system, and add your company to our use case list.