Plastic Circuits Designed To Enable Tough, Green Computers 67
DanS writes "Computerworld has an article about two Australian engineers who have invented 'Circuits in Plastic' technology. CIP designs aim to be more environmentally friendly than traditional circuits as they can be made from recycled plastic, don't contain any hazardous substances, and since packaging is part of the base circuit board, there is no need for additional packaging material. As an added bonus, different 3D shaped circuits can be made using CIP, which are also waterproof. No more ruining cell phones by getting them wet! The hope is that the technology will reduce the amount of toxic electronic waste in landfills, as even with lead-free technology, etching of existing printed circuit boards (and disposal of the chemicals) is a significant issue during manufacturing."
Re:switching is going to be a real bitch (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.griffith.edu.au/engineering-information-technology/centre-wireless-monitoring-applications/research/circuits-in-plastic/cost-comparisons
Production costs â" Environmental Sensor $ per board 1000 units 10000 units
Standard PCB $10.12 $9.27
Lead-Free PCB $10.74 $9.90
Circuits in Plastic $9.82* $7.39*
Production costs â" Strain gauge circuit. $ per board 1000 units 10000 units
Standard PCB $18.00 $$13.00
Lead-Free PCB $19.10 $13.88
Circuits in Plastic $13.74* $9.18*
Seems to be cheaper, but seeing as this is the site belonging to the makers I'll give it a good amount of doubt for now.
Further, I'm not entirely sure how long these circuits can last? And also how they handle in high temperatures.
I was confused exactly how this would conduct but apparently it's more or less the same as normal PCBs.
All in all, interesting new tech that's a big step in the right direction.
Re:"No more ruining cell phones by getting them we (Score:2, Informative)
See my point above about heat dissipation, encasing everything in plastic that is very poor conductor of heat is not an option.
saw this on tv the other day (Score:1, Informative)
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/txt/s2616421.htm
Re:When can I start placing orders? (Score:5, Informative)
These guys were on a TV show called "The New Inventors" on ABC here in Australia. The functionality becomes limited at about 5 layers, at least that's what they said. The main concern is the size of the board, then again, you can use the board as the chassis without a worry with this tech.
It was interesting, but I don't see it in it's current form moving us ahead leaps and bounds. It's years from becoming usable I'd suspect.
The inventors were on Australian television (Score:5, Informative)
Re:"No more ruining cell phones by getting them we (Score:3, Informative)
I had to go check and, yep, my current cell phone is completely encased in plastic. It would seem that thermal issues are not the problem you make them out to be. Is there some indication that these new plastics would somehow be less thermally conductive?
Content-free website (Score:3, Informative)
The Griffith university site [griffith.edu.au] has well over a dozen pages sparsely filled and with essentially zero technical information about this. Amazing.
Re:How do they interconnect the devices? (Score:1, Informative)