原创 EEs, not everything is about you

A few months ago, I went to a BIOMEDevice Exposition and Forum and it was a clear reminder of how electronic-design centric we sometimes are (both circuits and software)—and what a misconception that can be. Seeing the exhibit floor and the conference sessions at the event made it clear, to paraphrase that cliché: it takes a multidisciplinary team to make a real product.

What did I see there? At the exhibit area, there were vendors of countless types of plastics and plastic products (tubing, forms, supports), rubber and rubber-like polymers; liquid-resistant enclosures, display screens, and user-interfaces; gaskets; small valves; sealed electrical connectors for power and low-level signals; metal fittings and formed pieces; cast, molded, and machined parts of various materials; design-analysis software; regulatory compliance experts and tools; medical-product certified design and assembly experts; qualified contract assembly operations; to cite just a few. Actual "electronics" as we think of it, especially active components, was only between 10% and 20% of the exhibit.

The associated courses covered regulatory issues, sanitary assembly techniques, choosing among plastics, quality assessment and control, mechanical and structural design tradeoffs, and other non-electronic topics.

As an added treat, the BIOMEDevice event was co-located with a Design and Device Manufacturing event, where I saw the latest in rapid prototyping (RP) machines, CAD/CAM software and tools, integrated design and fabrication setups, and more. The accuracy, intricacy, and consistency of what is available now in via additive or subtractive RP processes using various plastics (from pliable through rigid) and metals is truly amazing. It upgrades the entire concept of developing quality prototypes while reducing or eliminating tooling cost; it spurs viable low- and moderate-volume manufacturing, as well as custom and semi-custom products.

I'm not saying you need to have a "group hug" with the non-EE members of the design team, vendors, and production people, or all hold hands. I am saying that sometimes—just sometimes—the law of unintended consequences can work to your advantage, if you make the effort.

Perhaps a change in enclosure material will improve thermal dissipation of the overall package just enough so you use a slightly more power-hungry but better component? Or perhaps a simplified bracket using new materials—designed with computer-aided design, verified using finite elements analysis, and made tangible with rapid prototyping—can give you an extra few square inches of PCB real estate for your layout? What does materials science + CAD + CAM + FEA + RP add up to, for you?