Prototyping Your New Electronic Product Idea

Posted on April 4, 2010, 2:52 am

Do you have an idea for an electronic product, the next must-have gadget, music or video system, saving time, or the largest part of the resolution of problems that has ever been invented? Even if you have expertise in electronic design products available, there are a number of tasks you must complete and issues you must resolve before you design an actual product that can be produced, marketed and sold. Once you’ve filled out the paper product specification and market research, you must be ready to have electronics and packaging design process began when a prototype unit can be assembled and tested. One of the first choices to be made in the electronic design is what microprocessor or microcontroller architecture will be used if your product idea requires processing capacity. Most microprocessor or microcontroller devices are available in a variety of configurations of internal memory sizes, including some with non-volatile flash memory for program storage, the quantity and types of input and output pins , types of packages for surface mount or through-hole applications, clock speeds and interfaces that are supported by the processor without having to add additional devices. Once a microprocessor or microcontroller family is selected, additional decisions must be made on which the clock system to use, how much CPU and memory system will be necessary for the application, and how the development process software must be supported. The choice of processor architecture must take into consideration the available software development and testing tools and resources to design software that will be necessary for your product software / firmware design. additional decisions must be made on how the software / firmware will be loaded into the processor memory during the manufacturing process. Is the design of the finished product can take the field or user initiated software update firmware or that the product will be a unit of a programmable time? Before the game processor design is complete, you must also define what types of interfaces to external systems will be required (serial port, parallel port, USB, Ethernet, wireless connection such as 802. 11x or Bluetooth, infrared, etc.) and the minimum bandwidth required interface. All these factors play a role in choosing the best treatment product to use in your design application. Some microprocessor / microcontroller examples of products that you can research are set MicroChip PAL and product family from Atmel that both suppliers offer solutions that are very powerful but low-cost treatment. Electronic components, including microprocessors and microcontrollers, are generally available in two versions for both surface mount and through-hole. Some electronic components may be available in one format (like some transformers, relays, capacitors, resistors, or connectors only available in thru-hole packages). Surface mount components are preferred for any level of production volume, because they are generally less expensive to buy, the more readily available, and allow more compact designs printed circuit elements take up far less space and can be applied to both sides the card if necessary. Using surface mount technology may allow the design of printed circuits using a smaller size and / or fewer layers, thus reducing costs council first. However, surface mounted components can be assembled in-house and soldering difficult or impossible if you do not have the proper equipment and expertise. The completed design will include a section that will provide power voltage and current levels required by the components of the design. input power options could include plug into 120 VAC and the conversion of AC to the proper regulation of DC voltage levels internally as part of the power supply design. You can also choose to use an external power adapter that converts 120 VAC to a DC voltage level and thus regulates the incoming voltage level to DC level required by the design. A third option would be to have the product powered by batteries. If your product should be powered by battery, in addition to defining the battery technology and the number of ampere-hours of energy storage in batteries, you must also consider whether the design of a rechargeable battery or design a battery Replaceable end user is best for the product demand and prices. Once the electronic design and PCB design are completed, mechanical packaging and external housing can be developed and initial software development may be completed. Now it is time to have a prototype unit assembled and tested, and decisions must be made concerning the production of initial prototypes. Choices include control of all components and assembly of prototype product internally if you have the expertise of the Assembly, outsourcing of the prototyping process in a domestic contract electronics manufacturing business or subcontracting of the prototyping process to a company contract manufacturing of electronics located off the coast. If you do not have the expertise or equipment necessary to assemble the prototypes, you must prepare a list of companies that can support your prototyping and production needs and begin the process of identifying the best options. In addition to determining who will assemble the prototype units, you must also determine which option you will use for the manufacture of production units. The choices include the manufacturing units of yourself, contracts for the Assembly of units outside a home, or acquiring Assembly units with a provider of offshore electronic manufacturing services. If you plan to use a manufacturing source externally, believe that some firms specialize in specialty assemblies at low volume, as a prototype or initial production units, but are not able to effectively support costs high levels of production volume due to capacity limitations. Other companies are in the spectrum of face and specialize only in high volume. The quantity of production units that would be a high volume of your point of view can not be large enough to generate interest strictly a high volume manufacturer. You must also take into account the delivery time after receipt of your purchase order as a factor in choosing a source outside the Assembly. Another important factor to consider in the process of evaluating providers of electronics manufacturing services would help to design them to be able to provide throughout the product development process. Services such as electronic design and printed circuit layout plan, component selection and procurement process with the help of multi-component sourcing, design walls, mechanical packaging design, and providing production capacity from prototype to low volume to high volume may all be of great help to you. In addition, a contract electronics manufacturer may also provide suggestions to improve manufacturability, lower component costs, and improve product reliability. Make sure you have an appropriate non-disclosure agreement in place with all parties who are involved in this process to protect your intellectual property. You must also define how the product manufactured must be tested and packaged. Once the product has been successfully tested a prototype and it is important to determine the quantity of units to be manufactured for the production run and initial levels of output. You must also understand how different levels of cross product distribution (at each level taking a cut from the margin) before it is facing a consumer to buy. If you are an inventor or having a very good idea electronic product, I do not want to discourage you, but you must consider all these activities and their associated costs before you commit to spending thousands of dollars needed to design and prototyping of your product idea. For example, you must be prepared to a minimum or you perform or subcontract the following tasks: - The idea of the investigational product (are there any existing products or patents already exist for this idea) - Preparing specifications (what to do, what it will look like, how it will be fed, and how the user will interface with it) - Market Research (which he is appointed, who buy this, how much they pay, how do we attract customers to buy the product) - Schema or electronic circuit design process - Creating a bill of materials or BOM and an approved supplier list or AVL for each component in the design, preferably with multiple sources identified with a BOM and AVL for each level of the assembly in the product - Council on PCB layout design process (single sided, double sided board, multilayer board or the size of the PCB, the ship’s papers) - The mechanical packaging design of user interfaces (displays, buttons, switches, keys, interconnects, power, etc.), whether the assembly of products require sealing, conformal coating internal or compost protect against moisture - Software / software development processes and software tools - Installation costs supply prototype components, assembly of prototypes and associates, and tests with the software / firmware - There may also have UL and / or testing of FCC regulatory compliance required based on your request for products (such as FCC Part 15 and UL standards that may apply to the product) - Review drawings as necessary based on results of initial tests with possible additional rounds of prototyping is necessary - Any necessary modification of the assembly of prototypes and testing must be incorporated before the first production cycle. This may require changes to the printed board and schematic design, mechanical changes to the packaging, changes to the software / firmware, or cosmetic changes to the packaging enclosure.