Transitioning assemblies from the initial concept and design phase to the production phase often requires the building of prototypes. Circuitsify offers comprehensive services for rapid and complete PCB Prototype, embedded systems, software prototypes and 3D printing prototype of electronics enclosure for box and case building that are tested and delivered to your specifications as fully functional prototypes.
Prototyping is very important in the entire life cycle of an electronic product from design to manufacturing. It is where theoretical design meets practice of engineering and the transition between product development and mass production. It is also the chance where you verify your idea and revise your design. From component selection and ordering to PCB design and fabrication through to board bring-up assembly and testing, — Circuitsify’s team are ready to take on the process supervision at each electronic prototyping stage ,providing tested and fully functional prototypes that are ready for production planning and field testing. Usually the first prototype might not be perfect, and to make a functional prototype takes some iterations.
The nature of today’s electronics product development requires the collaboration between software and hardware, so does prototyping. For example, there is no way to create a workable prototype for IoT products without the firmware programming to enable the functions of the embedded devices, such as sensors, in an IoT ecosystem. When it comes to software prototypes, Circuitsify has decided to use the throwaway model, a strategy sometimes referred to as rapid prototyping. Early working models and wireframes minimize risk by helping us discover unforeseen obstacles ahead of time. They also add a touch of visual appeal to your end product.
Circuitsify’s prototyping service offers designers and engineers the ability to produce conventional and 3D printed rapid prototypes using a variety of metal and plastic materials, which are often the common choice of materials for electronic enclosure. It is always critical to have a functional prototype for the case of electronic product to verify designs, test part functionality, and demonstrate an idea well before investing lots of money in plastic injection mold for mass production. Our services include 3D printed selective laser sintering (SLS), stereolithography (SLA), full-color ColorJet 3D printing (CJP), injection molding, and CNC machining.
The first step of creating an circuit prototype is a proof of concept (POC). We’ll most likely use breadboards and off-the-shelf electronic parts. We will also be using some other existing and more up-to-date development modules like the Arduino, Raspberry Pi,TinyDuino and many others. The POC’s only purpose is to make sure that your product idea is doable using what is technologically feasible at the present moment. We’ll use breadboards, microcontrollers, sensors, jumper wires and other electronic components in order to get a POC.
Once you have success in the circuit board prototype, it’s the time to make your way to creating a production quality prototype. To do that requires creating a printed circuit board (PCB).
A PCB is a custom designed board that holds and connects all of the electronic components. Using special software your electronics engineer will turn the abstract schematic (blueprint) into a real world physical PCB layout. The PCB layout design files are now sent for fabrication and at the end is to assemble the bare board by soldering on all the various components.
In order to activate the functions of microprocessor/microcontroller of the circuit in most embedded system, the software called firmware needed to be programmed. Once you have written the code with either higher-level programming languages such as C, C++ or Python, or low-level assembly language, the code will be complied and burn into the chip. This will finally complete the process of development of a workable prototype that is ready to debug and test.
Software development is now inevitable a important part of an electronics project. Whether it is a application development for mobility or a communication protocol for connectivity, and both of this need to be addressed properly in the software side. Here at circuitsify we help unveil and shape your needs, detail the project scope, and make sure that the future development after the prototyping stage goes in line with your goals. We review your high-level design choices, or come up with an architecture from scratch, choose the right programming platforms and languages, and determine the technologies to suit best for the entire projects.
We take your requirements start with simple sketches and wireframe diagrams to the conceptual design right. You give feedback about the layout, fields, buttons and controls which is incorporated in the mockups. When we achieve full compliance with your vision we move on to the next stage. The wireframe and sketches are later transformed into functional prototypes for your software solution or product that helps check functionality and test the system with your data samples by applying multiple scenario executions.
We develop documentation that precisely and clearly describes your solution’s functionality as well as all use cases and scenarios. The functional specification is the blueprint for your application. It identifies each area of your application and explains what it will contain and how each aspect will work. It includes diagrams to better explain functions, processes and workflows, as well as graphical designs of the user interface. The prototype and functional specification document work together to describe the end product in fine detail. They improve our Quality Assurance process, enabling us to use this high level of detail to ensure everything works as it should.
Clay and foam are two of the simplest materials for creating early looks-like prototypes. Obviously these materials won’t make a functional prototype but they are excellent for experimenting with the form of your product. However, it’s very helpful to use this simplest and cheapest method to gather as much information as possible, such as the size and shape of the product, before moving on to using more complex prototyping technologies like 3D printing.
3D printing is an additive prototyping process that adds material to create the desired shape. The term 3D printing is a broadly used term that actually refers to various prototyping technologies. The following three types of technologies are the most popular ones being adopted.
Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM): This is the most affordable method of 3D printing and is therefore the most common technology used for home 3D printers. This technology can produce prototypes with a moderate amount of detail.
Stereolithography (SLA)?: ?SLA is a more costly process which is used mainly on high-end, home 3D printers and by professional prototype shops. This type of 3D printer works by curing resin with light. The light hardens the liquid resin layer by layer in a process called photopolymerization. SLA is a very accurate method of 3D printing that can make parts with many fine details.
Selective Laser Sintering (SLS):?An SLS system uses a laser to sinter (i.e. harden) powder materials layer by layer to form the desired shape. A big advantage of SLS is it can be used to create metal prototypes.
The opposite of an additive process is a subtractive process. As the name implies a subtractive process removes material to form the desired shape. The process starts with a solid block of plastic or metal. Material is then carved away to form the final sculpted prototype. One of the primary advantages of CNC machining compared to 3D printing is that you have much more flexibility in regards to the material used. Not only can you create prototypes from plastic or metal, but you can select very specific plastic resins which precisely match the material you will use for mass production.
Circuitsify is your trusted partner for Electronics Prototyping.
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