11–17 of 17 posts
It might reduce the obstacles for getting more kids into science and engineering.
For the real stuff, I am not so sure...
How is this different from a Circuit Trace Pen [0]? [0] http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0002BBVQO
From the article they published in Advanced Materials, it seems the ink actually contains silver (the element) nanoparticles in a colloid. I'm surprised that the resistance is still that high.
Neat, but seems like a novelty. As far as usage in teaching circuits, it wouldn't be very useful after the first class. The bulk of learning about circuits is math.
Neat, but seems like a novelty. As far as usage in teaching circuits, it wouldn't be very useful after the first class. The bulk of learning about circuits is math.
That's because it is a novelty. You're pretty much restricted to planar circuits with this approach and the resistance is pretty bad.
The resistance will not be an issue either for signal traces. Only those receiving or delivering power such as Vcc or the output of an audio amp or cable drivers.
I'm looking to enhance it with software for another KS project WaterColorBot, a very low cost plotter. With that, multi-line overlapping traces can be created to lower resistance and it could even automatically implement their suggestion of rubbing over a dried trace with something hard to compress the colloidal silver in it into making better contact between particles.
I can see this as part of one of those electronic kits ( http://www.kosmos-shop.de/Elektronik/easy-elektro-start/kosm... ) that I got as a kid. Instead of having physical metal rods to connect all the circuit elements, they would supply a couple of these pens and a stack of papers. It might reduce the obstacles for getting more kids into science and engineering. For the real stuff, I am not so sure...
They did some experiments with HF antennas like for WiFi or cellular and it didn't work so well but I think there is a HF limit with it that FM should fall far below.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, it will be fine for high impedance signal paths, which are by far the majority of traces, but not so much for power. I'm not sure what to use for the power traces and hope they come up with some solutions or suggestions. As an EE I know where it is appropriate and where it's not and would hope that design/layout software could make that mechanical just because it's easy to do. I jumped on the project as soon as…
drawing over a given trace several times depositing more material might do the trick.
With regard to this question they responded,
"2. There are ways to reduce the ohm rating when dry, simply rubbing the trace with a hard, smooth surface like a rounded pen cap will decrease the resistance by increasing particle to particle contacts 3. The ink can support a maximum current of about 175 mA on standard copy paper. Higher currents cause joule heating and a subsequent drop in resistance due to sintering the particles (up to around 8x decrease in resistance if controlled). Currents exceeding 400 mA may break the trace on standard copy paper. High currents can be achieved with photo paper, near 800mA. 4. Currently, the ink will only be available via rollerball pen, but this can be adapted to be used in various plotters. We will have videos and demos of this shortly. 5. Conductive adhesives will work with the ink"