Design007 Magazine

Design007-Nov2021

Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1426508

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 69 of 117

70 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2021 IPC APEX EXPO Jan 22–27, 2022 San Diego Convention Center San Diego, California Altium Live 2022 Jan 26–28, 2022 San Diego Convention Center San Diego, California PCB East 2022 April 11–13, 2022 Marlborough, Massachusetts Spread the word. If you have a significant electronics industry event that you would like to announce, please send details to stephen. chavez.pcea@gmail.com, and we will consider adding it to the list. Conclusion Back in September, I posed a question: "Could we be looking forward to any big announcements?" Like you, I could not have imagined such an opportunity would mate- rialize so quickly for the PCEA. Whether it has to do with the laws of physics, karma, or both, the PCEA is metamorphosizing before our very eyes. Let us not only watch as a new PCEA begins to emerge, but jump in and find ways to connect, engage, learn, and grow with the membership which will certainly benefit because of all this. It has been an honor to keep in touch with you by way of this monthly column. But for now, I'll stop typing, and look forward to put- ting on my glasses to start reading about all the great things to come by way of the PCEA—of which I am a proud and grateful member. So long for now! DESIGN007 Kelly Dack, CIT, CID+, is the communication officer for the Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCEA). To read past columns or contact Dack, click here. When most people think of wearable devices, they think of smart watches, smart glasses, fitness track- ers, even smart clothing. These devices, part of a fast-growing market, have two things in common: They all need an external power source, and they all require exacting manufacturing processes. Until now. Yanliang Zhang, associate professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering, and Ph.D. student Yipu Du have created an innovative hybrid printing method—combining multi-material aerosol jet print- ing and extrusion printing—that integrates both func- tional and structural materials into a single stream- lined printing platform. Zhang and Du, in collaboration with a team at Pur- due University led by Professor Wenzhuo Wu, also have developed an all-printed piezoelectric (self-powered) wear- able device. Using their new hybrid printing process, the team demonstrated stretchable piezoelectric sensors, conformable to human skin, with integrated tellurium nanowire piezoelectric materi- als, silver nanowire electrodes, and silicone films. The devices printed by the team were then attached to a human wrist, accurately detecting hand gestures, and to an individual's neck, detecting the individual's heartbeat. Neither of the devices used an external power source. "The biggest advantage of our new hybrid print- ing method is the ability to integrate a wide range of functional and structural materials in one platform," said Zhang. "This streamlines the processes, reduc- ing the time and energy needed to fabricate a device, while ensuring the performance of printed devices." Vital to the design, said Zhang, are nanostruc- tured materials with piezoelectric properties, which eliminate the need for poling or sintering, and the highly stretch- able silver nanowire electrodes, which are important for wearable devices attached to bodies in motion. (Source: University of Notre Dame) A New 3D Printing Frontier: Self-Powered Wearable Devices

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Design007 Magazine - Design007-Nov2021