Electronic Board Research Articles

Transient thermal behaviour of a substrate subjected to the activation of an electronic chip and surface cooling

<p>Controlling the temperature of electronic components is a major interest for the electronics industry. Indeed, the lifetime of the components is directly dependent on the temperature levels reached in the electronic boards. Then, it is essential to predict the chip temperature evolution in order to maximize their lifespan. The electronic boards are more and more complex. They are multi-layers composed of different materials. The numerical resolution of the heat transfer equations in these systems requires very fine meshes and therefore very high computation times. It is possible to standardize the characteristics of these multilayer boards in order to treat them as a homogeneous material. The study presented in this work uses this approach and deals with the transient thermal behaviour of a substrate and its chip. The entire surface of the electronic board is cooled by convection. The developed model assumes that the surface convection coefficient is known, constant and uniform. The heat transfer by conduction in the substrate is based on an axisymmetric assumption on the longitudinal dimensions of the exchange surface (r, theta) and an assumption of semi-infinite medium in the transversal direction of the plate (thickness z). These assumptions are verified if, on the one hand, the activation times of the electronic chips are low enough and the dimensions of the chip is small compared to the electronic board. In these conditions, a fully analytical model is developed considering two successive integral transforms: a Laplace transform for the temporal variable, and a Hankel transform for the radial variable. An explicit expression of the temperature of the surface heated by the component is established, requiring very short computation times compared to numerical simulations. This model can be easily incorporated into a dimensioning code for electronic devices to predict their temperature.  It can also be used as a direct model in an inverse procedure for identifying parameters on electronic boards.</p>

Reuse, a neglected “R” word in “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle"

This editorial considers hindrances that keep me from making sure that my used wooden furniture items don’t get thrown out at a point where their wooden content still has decades or hundreds of years of potential service left in them. I am a careless and lazy person, and I am not always appreciating the different ways in which other people might be ready to appreciate and utilize my cast-off items. Continued usage of a wooden item can be the ultimate in minimizing environmental impacts. I might envision that the only usage of an old, scuffed wooden dining room set is full restoration. But my niece might need it for her college apartment. A friend of a friend might need it for an informal basement art studio. Alternatively, if the set is really well beyond use in its original form, it could be converted into wood particles for particleboard or incinerated to generate renewable energy. Whether I use eBay, word of mouth, my church’s electronic bulletin board, or just put the item out by the curb on a sunny day, a wooden item of furniture has the potential to continue to provide valuable service for much longer than I might first imagine.

Applicability of Weibull distribution in Generating Model for Evaluating Lifespan Closed Circuit Television System (CCTV)

CCTV is an expedient tool for monitoring and investigating. Since it can record emergency and routine events in memory of the electronic circuit board. However, in the process of operating CCTV, it is necessary to carry out a sampling inspection on its lifetime to predicate its availability and reliability. According to previous literature, most of the parameter estimation methods used only one parameter estimation method, which is not sufficient for identifying two explicit parameters of Weibull distribution. Moreover, the bad parameter estimation method cannot achieve reliable analysis results. Therefore, this paper presented the four methods of estimation in both graphical and analytical methods for estimating parameters of Weibull distribution. These methods have measured the accuracy by using mean square error (MSE). In addition, the real data set confirmed that there is the Weibull distribution by using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The simulation results found that the maximum likelihood method (MLM) can outperform the other estimator because it can provide a minimum MSE, there is an optimal parameter in which the shape is 4.3881 and the scale is 86.8207. Finally, the two optimal parameters are applied to real data sets of the CCTV. As a result, the optimal parameter fits with real data sets, and it can evaluate the lifespan of CCTV by using the mean time to failure (MTTF) as 6.6 years.

Design of a Multi-Mode Hybrid Micro-Gripper for Surface Mount Technology Component Assembly.

In the last few decades, industrial sectors such as smart manufacturing and aerospace have rapidly developed, contributing to the increase in production of more complex electronic boards based on SMT (Surface Mount Technology). The assembly phases in manufacturing these electronic products require the availability of technological solutions able to deal with many heterogeneous products and components. The small batch production and pre-production are often executed manually or with semi-automated stations. The commercial automated machines currently available offer high performance, but they are highly rigid. Therefore, a great effort is needed to obtain machines and devices with improved reconfigurability and flexibility for minimizing the set-up time and processing the high heterogeneity of components. These high-level objectives can be achieved acting in different ways. Indeed, a work station can be seen as a set of devices able to interact and cooperate to perform a specific task. Therefore, the reconfigurability of a work station can be achieved through reconfigurable and flexible devices and their hardware and software integration and control For this reason, significant efforts should be focused on the conception and development of innovative devices to cope with the continuous downscaling and increasing variety of the products in this growing field. In this context, this paper presents the design and development of a multi-mode hybrid micro-gripper devoted to manipulate and assemble a wide range of micro- and meso-SMT components with different dimensions and proprieties. It exploits two different handling technologies: the vacuum and friction.

A Wireless Sensor Array System Coupled With AI-Driven Data Analysis Towards Remote Monitoring of Human Breaths

The development of low-cost point-of-care sensor systems is essential for the screening and diagnostics of different diseases. However, this type of application requires effective integration of different sensor hardware and electronics in a portable, wireless, and reliable platform. We report herein the development of such a platform by integrating a nanostructured chemiresistive sensing array (CSA) with a low-current multichannel electronics board (MEB) and a Raspberry Pi board (RPB). The system allows collection of data from the sensor array responses to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and human breaths, then transfers the data through a serial connection from MEB to RPB. After processing and restructuring the data, RPB will wirelessly upload it to MongoDB Atlas cloud database (MDBA). A workstation periodically retrieves the data from the MDBA cloud database and trains them with customized machine-learning models. The best result feeds back to the MDBA cloud server, providing a pre-trained model for future prediction or disease identification. At the same time, the real-time sensor response data are displayed on Thing speak portal. Once programmed, the system runs in an independent mode without a PC connection with various functions, including remote monitoring services and ad hoc applications that are typically not accessible from traditional stationary monitoring systems housed in hospitals and laboratories. Some of these functions are demonstrated by testing the performance in sensing human breath samples with and without simulated lung cancer-specific VOCs, showing promises for potential applications in remote breath monitoring and screening of lung cancer.

Use of additive manufacturing for the development of functional testing devices in notebook motherboards

The use of additive manufacturing for printing mechanical parts makes it possible to create mechanisms with a higher degree of complexity, due to the resources of filament deposits in three dimensions that this technology makes available, something that if compared to conventional machining systems is limited. The objective of this work is to develop a methodology that uses additive manufacturing for the development of functional testing devices, commonly used in the electrical testing of Notebook motherboards, inside the mechanical core of the development laboratory of a company from the Industrial Pole of Manaus (PIM). In which it was necessary to perform analysis and survey of requirements of the testing steps as well as the machining process, used for making functional devices. Resulting in new functional testing devices, which were implemented in the production line, enabling this methodology to be validated and replicated for other types of electronic board models.

Scanning Probe Microscopy controller with advanced sampling support

A low-cost Digital Signal Processor (DSP) unit for advanced Scanning Probe Microscopy measurements is presented. It is based on Red Pitaya board and custom built electronic boards with additional high bit depth AD and DA converters. By providing all the necessary information (position and time) with each data point collected it can be used for any scan path, using either existing libraries for scan path generation or creating adaptive scan paths using Lua scripting interface. The DSP is also capable of performing statistical calculations, that can be used for decision making during scan or for the scan path optimisation on the DSP level.

Effect of Electronic Rounding Board on Falls and Self-harm Among Psychiatric Inpatients: Quality Improvement Project.

More than 1 million falls are reported in US hospitals each year. Psychiatric inpatients are at high risk for self-harm behaviors with reported suicide rate of 6.5 per 1000 patients. Patient observation is the primary risk management intervention in preventing adverse patient safety incidents. This project aimed to examine the effectiveness of handheld electronic rounding board (ObservSMART) implementation on falls and self-harm incidents among psychiatric inpatients. A retrospective review of adverse patient safety incidents was conducted to compare the 6-month preimplementation period versus the 6-month postimplementation period with staff training and implementation in July 2019. The monthly fall rates per 1000 patient-days were 3.53 versus 3.80 during the pre- and postimplementation periods, respectively. About one-third of the falls resulted in mild or moderate injuries for both periods. The incidence of self-harm was 3 versus 7 during the pre- and postimplementation periods, with incidence of 1 versus 6, respectively, among adult patients, who are more likely to hide self-harm. Although there were no changes in falls, the implementation of ObservSMART markedly increased the detection of patient self-harm, including self-injury and suicide attempts. It also ensures staff accountability and provides an easy-to-use tool to perform timely, proximity-based patient observations.

Ultracompact Microinterferometer-Based Fiber Bragg Grating Interrogator on a Silicon Chip

We report an interferometer-based multiplexed fiber Bragg grating (FBG) interrogator using silicon photonic technology. The photonic-integrated system includes the grating coupler, active and passive interferometers, interferometers, a 12-channel wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) filter, and Ge photodiodes, all integrated on a 6x8 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> silicon chip. The system also includes optical and electric interfaces to a printed board, which is connected to a real-time electronic board that actively performs the phase demodulation processing using a multitone mixing (MTM) technique. The device with active demodulation, which uses thermally-based phase shifters, features a noise figure of σ = 0.13 pm at a bandwidth of 700 Hz, which corresponds to a dynamic spectral resolution of 4.9 fm/Hz <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1/2</sup> . On the other hand, the passive version of the system, based on a 90º-hybrid coupler, features a noise figure of σ = 2.55 pm at a bandwidth of 10 kHz, also showing successful detection of a 42 kHz signal when setting the bandwidth to 50 kHz. These results demonstrate the advantage of integrated photonics, which allows the integration of several systems with different demodulation schemes in the same chip and guarantees easy scalability to a higher number of ports without increasing the dimensions or the cost.

Investigation on Thermal Energy Storage Properties of Polyethylene Glycol with Hybrid Nanoparticles of Al2O3 and CuO for Solar Thermal Energy Storage

The ability to store high latent heat energy makes polyethylene glycol (PEG) one of the most promising materials in the organic phase change material (PCM) family. Nevertheless, the poor heat conductivity limits its potential to a large extent in the real time applications. In this study, polyethylene glycol (PEG2000) was incorporated with nano aluminium oxide (Al2O3) and copper oxide (CuO) composites to develop a hybrid nanomaterials based PCM with higher thermal conductivity. To accomplish the objectives of the study, six (06) samples were prepared. It was ensured that the total mass of both the nano particles remains 3% of the total mass of the sample. For characterization of the samples, FTIR, TGA, DSC, XRD techniques were used to test the thermal and chemical stability of the materials. The results show that the prepared composite has higher thermal conductivity than pure PCM and they are also chemically and thermally stable. Also, the interaction between PCM and nanoparticles is purely physical. The DSC findings showed that the developed nano enhanced PCM possess significantly high latent heat. The developed composites have the potential of being used as thermal energy storage materials for electronic board and various solar based applications.

Implementation of a unidirectional wireless communication for monitoring Physical variables

This article describes the implementation of a peer-to-peer unidirectional wireless communication between a transmitter unit and a receiver unit, for monitoring temperature and relative humidity (RH) within a greenhouse of 10 m2 gothic type with a curved roof. The transmitter unit consists of temperature and RH sensors, and a wireless monitoring and control electronic board that can transmit and receive information using the XBee S2C module. The receiving unit is composed of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) designed in NI LabVIEW, and an XBee S2C module mounted on the SparkFun XBee explorer dongle board. Within the wireless network, the XBee module of the transmitting unit was configured as the end device, while the XBee of the receiving unit was configured as the coordinator. Monitoring tests were carried out in the laboratory and inside the greenhouse, to verify the proper functioning of wireless communication. This work has inspired the future monitoring and control of climate variables within the greenhouse, using a wireless network with mesh topology

Creation of New Types of Power Supply and Life Support Systems for Spacecraft Powered by a Solar Panel

The work of power supply and life support systems of spacecraft is completely based on consumables, delivered from Earth, the mass, and dimensions of which increase in direct proportion to the duration of the space expedition and the number of crew members. Therefore, today a power supply system is used on board a spacecraft that provides onboard electrical energy for the operation of all on-board equipment (engine, control, communications, and heating systems) by generating direct electric current using a generator, converting chemical energy into electrical energy, using fuel cells, powered by supercritical liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, delivered from Earth. The life support system, used today on the spacecraft, includes: system for regenerating water from atmospheric humidity condensate in a spacecraft cabin, a water regeneration system from urine, system of generating oxygen and hydrogen during the electrolysis of water in microgravity conditions, a system for utilizing carbon dioxide, removing harmful micro impurities, operating at the expense of internal resources spacecraft during space flight. Thus, the task arises of developing new types of power supply and life support systems, including the development of new and improvement of existing technologies for continuous charging of spacecraft fuel cells with hydrogen and oxygen, generating onboard electricity without the use of “Earth tanks” with supercritical liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, improvement of existing oxygen and hydrogen generation systems, regeneration of water from condensate of atmospheric moisture and waste products of astronauts, removal of harmful micro impurities and cultivation of rapidly multiplying microalgae on the spacecraft during a long space flight. The article presents a new type of power supply and life support systems for spacecraft, powered by a solar panel, which includes the developed new technologies: an oxygen and hydrogen gas generator, which makes it possible to economically and easily separately produce oxygen, hydrogen and drinking water to enrich the atmosphere with oxygen and replenish the drinking supplies of the spacecraft cabin, continuously charge the fuel cells of the spacecraft with hydrogen and oxygen, produced for the uninterrupted generation of onboard electricity; a separator for purification of technical wastewaters from harmful solid inclusions and pathogenic microbes and obtaining drinking water from them, regeneration of drinking water from urine, excreted by astronauts, in quantities sufficient for consumption of this water by astronauts during a long space flight; a concentrator that receives a solution with microalgae cells from a space photo bioreactor, growing microalgae under weightless conditions, which utilizes carbon dioxide released during the breathing of astronauts, produces oxygen to enrich the atmosphere of the spacecraft cabin with oxygen through photosynthesis. A concentrator permits to obtain a high-quality concentrate of cells of rapidly multiplying microalgae and supplement the crew's diet by the biggest part of this concentrate, and to replenish the space photo bioreactor with the remainder of the concentrate and nutrient solution in order to obtain enough biomass for a long space flight.

Chemical Characterization of an ARDUINO® Board and Its Surface Mount Devices for the Evaluation of Their Intrinsic Economic Value

The remarkable technological development observed in recent decades has led to an exponential increase in the production of electrical and electronic devices. Regardless of their field of application or the type of device, electronic boards are a common feature of all these devices. For this reason, electronic boards represent a constant in electrical and electronic equipment waste. Knowing their composition and intrinsic economic value is essential for identifying sustainable disposal and valorization processes. In the literature, several articles report typical compositions of electronic boards, but it is rare to find a component-by-component characterization. This procedure is important to determine the components that need to be removed to increase the recovery yields of materials or to identify components with high concentrations of hazardous substances. For this reason, in this scientific article, we propose to examine the chemical composition of all the components of the Arduino® electronic board using advanced chemical analysis techniques. Arduino is a popular electronic board mainly used to prototype electronic projects rapidly. The chemical composition of the Arduino board has yet to be entirely determined to date. The decision to use the Arduino board is due to the fact that this board is widespread globally and could represent a reference study.

Intrinsically modified self-extinguishing fire-retardant epoxy resin using boron-polyol complex

A novel fire-retardant epoxy thermoset, containing boron polyol complex, was prepared and characterised. The fire-retardant additive was a stoichiometric mixture of boric acid and glycerol. Flame retardancy of the epoxy resin was improved by the formation of stable char layer that protected the underlying epoxy from further burning. Phonon transport through the polymer matrix via hydrogen bonding was identified. The hydrogen bonding acted as a thermal bridge for intermolecular phonon transport to gain improved thermal conductivity resulting early char formation. The hydrogen bonding between the complex and the epoxy matrix was demonstrated using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. The phonon transport and a high degree of graphitization was confirmed using Raman Spectroscopy. Thermogravimetric analysis was used for polymer decomposition to confirm a char yield of over 20%. Reaction to fire test revealed enhancement in fire retardancy and self-extinguishing properties of the blend compared to the neat epoxy. Cone calorimetry testing confirmed decreased peak heat release rate and total smoke production by the effect of boron compound in the epoxy matrix. Hydrogen bonding, formation of thick stable layer of char at the polymer surface, and a blowing out effect caused by pyrolytic gases escaping to the gaseous phase, were attributed to the improved fire retardancy. This research may find applications in thermal insulation material of electronic circuit boards, coating in aerospace materials, as well as building and construction industries.

The Machine Vision Dial Automatic Drawing System—Based on CAXA Secondary Development

Whether the pointer recognition of an SF6 (sulfur hexafluoride) density controller is correct or not is directly related to enterprise security. Therefore, a pointer recognition system that is highly efficient, precise, and secure is required. In this paper, we set up a detection platform for efficient detection of pointer readings. To detect the pointer with high accuracy, we propose a dial pointer angle detection method based on OpenCV that obtains high-precision dial pointer angle information. We then use Socket communication to transmit the dial pointer information to the secondary development program. Finally, we use the ObjectCRX development software package based on Visual Studio 2015 to quickly access the CAXA electronic drawing board graphics database, carry out secondary development of the CAXA electronic drawing board 2021, and comprehensively apply various functions to draw the overall outline of the dial. Finally, we read the dial pointer angle in order to draw the current test product dial CAD drawing. After verification, the average error rate of pointer angle recognition is 0.69°, which is much lower than the enterprise standard of 2.7°. Based on machine vision technology, we researched and designed an SF6 density controller dial automatic drawing system, and after many tests, the system runs stably and the accuracy meets the needs of enterprises.

Rapid extraction of gold from complex solutions by metal sulfides

The industrial application potential of current adsorbents for Au(III) recovery is limited due to their high costs, poor adsorption capacity, and complicated preparation processes. This study introduces a novel approach to address these challenges by synthesizing metal sulfides through a one-step hydrothermal method. The synthesized metal sulfides exhibit exceptional adsorption capacities, exceeding 1500 mg/g. Particularly, petal-shaped CuS demonstrates outstanding performance in extracting gold from complex solutions, including fresh water and simulated leaching liquid of electronic circuit boards. With an impressive adsorption capacity of 2536 mg/g in a 700 mg/L Au (III) spiked solution, CuS achieves a remarkable 90.6% removal efficiency. The adsorption process of CuS on gold can be well described by a pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir model. Furthermore, CuS is successfully loaded onto sodium alginate (SA) aerogel for large-scale applications. The layered structure of SA overcomes the challenge of solution retrieval, making it a promising material with outstanding removal performance for industrial use. In cases where a high specific surface area does not confer advantages, CuS demonstrates superior performance compared to numerous gold ion adsorbents. This observation motivates us to emphasize the content of active functional groups during the design of gold ion adsorbents. This research significantly advances the field of Au(III) recovery by providing cost-effective and efficient adsorbents with simplified synthesis processes and strong adsorption capabilities.

CircuitGlue

We present CircuitGlue, an electronic converter board that allows heterogeneous electronic components to be readily interconnected. Electronic components are plugged into an eight-pin programmable header on the board, and the assignment of each pin in the header is configured in software. CircuitGlue supports a variety of connections, including power, ground, analog signals, and various digital protocols at different voltages. As such, off-the-shelf electronic components and modules are instantly compatible no matter what voltage levels, interface types, communication protocols, and pinouts they use. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of CircuitGlue to ease and expedite prototyping with electronics and we explore new opportunities enabled by CircuitGlue. Finally, we reflect on the results of a preliminary user study evaluating the usability of CircuitGlue for people new to electronics.

Numerical Investigation of Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics over Double Backward-Facing Step with Obstacles

Many engineering device, including nuclear reactors, heat exchangers, and electronic circuit boards, exhibit flow separation and reattachment. To reduce thermal stress impacts, the components of these devices, which resemble stepped channel designs and are susceptible to high heat flux, must be properly cooled. The present work numerically investigates the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics through a double backward-facing step with elliptic obstacles located after each step. For this purpose, equations governing fluid flow and heat transfer are solved in a Cartesian framework using an in-house code based on streamline upwind/Petrov-Galerkin finite element method. The effect of various parameters (axis ratios (0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1), vertical location of obstacles (0.38, 0.577, 0.769), Reynolds number (300, 500, 800, 1000)) on fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in the channel with and without obstacles are compared and quantified. The recirculation region length of the double backward-facing stepped channel with obstacles decreases after the first and second steps when compared with no obstacles. The local Nusselt number distribution along the corner regions of the stepped wall is enhanced due to obstacles. The axis ratio of obstacles has less influence on the convective heat transfer enhancement than the vertical location of the obstacles.

Remotely Controlled Electronic Goalkeeper: An Example of Improving Social Integration of Persons with and without Disabilities

Social integration is an essential part of the life of every human being, but for people with disabilities, there are many situations in which it is still very low. For instance, in sports and outdoor gaming, there is a barrier between players with and without disabilities. Individuals with disabilities play sports almost exclusively with disabled players, not only during official events such as Paralympic games but also in occasional sports groups, while the mixing of people with and without disabilities in sports activities is a key factor of social inclusion. In order to allow a person with motor-skill impairments to play on the same ground as their non-disabled peers, we developed a novel piece of Assistive Technology that lets a person with motor-skill impairments to control a system acting as a goalkeeper during a non-professional football match, with approximately the same performances as a goalkeeper without motor-skill impairments. This electro-mechanical system is composed of a three-meter-long metal guideline and a human-shaped dummy sliding along it. The system is equipped with a high-torque battery-powered direct-current motor and it is controlled by means of electronic boards and sensors to ensure safety and good usability also for players with severe mobility impairments. The results of a pilot testing demonstrated the robustness and high degree of usability of the system, enabling people with motor-skill impairments to competitively participate in matches with non-disabled peers.

A new approach to the design of surface subsystems of polymeric insulators for HV and MV apparatus under AC voltage

AbstractThe design of high voltage and medium voltage AC and DC standoff insulators, and, in general, of insulation systems where surface and interface properties are predominant factors, is based on specifications and standards that rely upon long‐term experiences and lab testing. Surface insulating properties depend on electrical and thermal stresses, besides environmental factors, and the inception of extrinsic ageing phenomena, such as partial discharges, can be already a cause of reduced reliability and premature failure (for organic insulating materials). An innovative approach, based on field simulation, discharge modelling, and partial discharge inception measurements is presented by the authors, which can establish a solid basis to optimise insulation design for any type of supply voltage waveform. This method, the three‐leg approach, is applied here to a cable system under AC sinusoidal voltage, but it can work for any type of insulation system, such as bushings, switch gears, transformers, rotating machines, and power electronics boards.