Circuit Board Miniturisation

michealkc

Hi All
I have a college project and need some advice. I have a circuit board with components that collectively performs a function. I need to get this circuit board inside a limited space (casing). The circuit board is too big and needs to be reduced in size. My lecturers keep talking about miniturisation. I am from a mechanical background and am not too proficient in this area. This project is directed at self learning so I need to do this for myself BUT would be grateful if someone could advise me on how to begin this task.

Thanks

Irish Stones

Mostly it depends on how many components there are on the circuit board and how small the case is.
Can you be more precise?
I am an electronic techician and miniturisation is my favourite game :P

michealkc

Hi Irish Stones.

Thanks for getting back to me.Here is what I want to do. I am trying to have a device which operates as a remote control dog "correction" collar. From what I know this collar is fitted with 2x 6 volt batteries. There are 2 circuit boards within the dog collar casing. The first circuit board is related to the handheld remote control. This circuit acts as a receiver when the remote control is pressed to apply voltage to the animal.
The second circuit board is related to generating the voltage that is applied through two electrodes making contact with the animals skin. What I think is in this circuit board is an inverter which changes the power from DC to AC. I also think there is some type of transformer with many windings to bring the voltage from 6 volts to 2000 volts. The board dimensions are 3.5 by 4.0 cm approx. There are probably some more components required on a board to perform the dog collar function.
I hope to somehow squeeze down the size of the circuit board and integrate this into a bull ring (worn on bulls nose). Then if a farmer is ever in a situation where a bull is attacking him/her they can press the remote control and the voltage would startle the animal and allow the farmer time to escape the scene.
Does all this sound crazy???????

Keplar240B

There is an electronic sub forum as well here
Might try there although its a bit quiet!
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1570

michealkc

Hi Keplar.
Thanks for your help. I clicked into that link but it tells me that it is not valid. Maybe you could send it again?
Thanks. Also is there anywhere else I could look for advice on miniaturisation of eircuit boards.

Regards

Keplar240B

michealkc wrote: »

Hi Keplar.
Thanks for your help. I clicked into that link but it tells me that it is not valid. Maybe you could send it again?
Thanks. Also is there anywhere else I could look for advice on miniaturisation of eircuit boards.

Regards

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1570

michealkc

Hi Keplar.
Thanks for your help. I clicked into that link but it tells me that it is not valid. Maybe you could send it again?
Thanks. Also is there anywhere else I could look for advice on miniaturisation of eircuit boards.

Regards

Irish Stones

michealkc wrote: »

Hi Irish Stones.

Thanks for getting back to me.Here is what I want to do. I am trying to have a device which operates as a remote control dog "correction" collar. From what I know this collar is fitted with 2x 6 volt batteries. There are 2 circuit boards within the dog collar casing. The first circuit board is related to the handheld remote control. This circuit acts as a receiver when the remote control is pressed to apply voltage to the animal.
The second circuit board is related to generating the voltage that is applied through two electrodes making contact with the animals skin. What I think is in this circuit board is an inverter which changes the power from DC to AC. I also think there is some type of transformer with many windings to bring the voltage from 6 volts to 2000 volts. The board dimensions are 3.5 by 4.0 cm approx. There are probably some more components required on a board to perform the dog collar function.
I hope to somehow squeeze down the size of the circuit board and integrate this into a bull ring (worn on bulls nose). Then if a farmer is ever in a situation where a bull is attacking him/her they can press the remote control and the voltage would startle the animal and allow the farmer time to escape the scene.
Does all this sound crazy???????

I guess you already have a diagram of what you need to assemble, or you have to start from scrap?

michealkc

Hi again Irish Stones

Unfortunately I am expected to begin from scratch. Even if I had a theory to go on would be a great. Space is at a premium though. The cavity is quite small where the circuitry is needed to fit.

Regards

Irish Stones

The dimensions required are really tight to fit the number of components necessary to perform the function. I guess that the two batteries are to be housed in the same casing.
So we need a high efficiency oscillator and a stage to transfer energy to the output.
To elevate the voltage from the battery voltage to 2,000 V we need a pretty big coil/transformer and there's also the issue of the insulation for such voltage.
Furthermore, we need a receiver to activate the oscillator remotely.
I'm afraid to say that fit so many discrete components in that tiny space it's a hard task.
I'll think it over... when is the deadline for this project?

P.S.: Sorry for misusing the word "scrap" instead of "scratch"...

ozmo

michealkc wrote: »

I hope to somehow squeeze down the size of the circuit board and integrate this into a bull ring (worn on bulls nose). Then if a farmer is ever in a situation where a bull is attacking him/her they can press the remote control and the voltage would startle the animal and allow the farmer time to escape the scene.
Does all this sound crazy???????

As its a theoretical paper - this might be enough info to show it is possible with more design using this as the basis for the layout

http://www.dx.com/p/shock-your-friend-electric-shock-handshake-toy-19093#.VudyUuKLQ-U

This is about the size you need? - so its definitely possible. I got one size of chewing gum wrapper from there and the shock is very powerful when the batteries are new. Battery is just a watch battery.

For the Remote part - you could activate via infra red (tiny) - or via an bluetooth chip - they are tiny if you use the ones without the developer board (http://www.banggood.com/buy/bluetooth-module.html)
But would want to be a brave farmer to trust bluetooth connecting in a life or death situation. There are radio transmitters available also (link) you could use with an ATTiny.