20150811 Design for Maintenance

20150811 Design for Maintenance

Postby tahanson43206 » Tue Aug 11, 2015 1:37 pm

The "Knowledge Forum" can make a difference in the contemporary world by encouraging design of machinery for maintenance at a level of modest competence.

The example I offer today is a dishwasher, which I was able to keep running for nearly eleven years, five years more than the manufacturer's warranty.

Today I am having to throw in the towel, because the failing component appears to be a relay on the control board, and I do not want to deal with it. I have designed a small circuit board, had it fabricated by an online service, and populated the boards with components, so I understand the process.

The request I am posting here is for designers of equipment to think about the customer who needs to keep a piece of equipment running when the convenience of the complex civilization we enjoy today is not readily available, for whatever reason.

While "The Knowledge" forum is populated by only a few people at present, it is never-the-less in a position to generate a new meme based upon the concept of "Design for the Apocalypse".

In the case of the dishwasher, if the relay controlling the heater element is a more vulnerable to failure than the rest of the board, then that component could be designed to fit in a socket able to maintain sufficient current flow. In the "good olden days" we built equipment with vacuum tubes that sat in sockets able to handle significant voltages and current flows.

I understand that the convenience of mass produced circuit board manufacturing lines is attractive to keep costs of equipment low. The design changes that would permit a longer service life would require a greater cost, so a related but IMPORTANT component of the meme change is to persuade customers to BUY equipment designed for the apocalypse.

(th)
May every member of The Knowledge forum grow financially, intellectually, socially and beyond.
tahanson43206
 
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Re: 20150811 Design for Maintenance: 3D Print circuits

Postby tahanson43206 » Fri Aug 14, 2015 7:32 pm

In thinking about how to help populations of displaced persons to build viable communities rapidly, it occurred to me that the extreme miniaturization achieved by state-of-the-art manufacturers in 2015 need not be necessary to provide electronics with sufficient speed for practical use in daily living.

3D Printing is coming along nicely. While extrusion of small beads of plastic is well understood at this point, and many home experimenters own machines that operate in this realm, more advanced 3D printing technologies are approaching the market.

A 3D Printer capability I have not yet seen would lay down alternative plastic and conductive material, so that a circuit board with multiple layers could be built up given sufficient printing time.

Availability of such a machine would (presumably) stimulate electrical engineers to design for the capability.

An entire industry of 3D Printed circuit boards can develop to provide the economic driver for "Design for Maintenance".

(th)
May every member of The Knowledge forum grow financially, intellectually, socially and beyond.
tahanson43206
 
Posts: 1660
Joined: Sun Jun 07, 2015 3:38 pm


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