电子3D打印是添加剂仍处于起步期的一个区域。有了足够的潜在商业竞争空间，有趣的是，从研究领域注意到该领域的即将发生的发展。
Last month, 3D Printing Industry published an article about a team from theUniversity of Texas at El Paso(UTEP) who demonstrated the potential to3D打印体积电路, including pre-made components, in virtually any design.
Heralded as a “world first” by the researchers, I wanted to gain some insight into how this development relates to other electronics 3D printers that have already made it to the market.
Speaking with Simon Fried, CBO and co-founder of PCB 3D printing companyNano Dimension, I learn how the UTEP study relates to the technology inside theDragonFly 2020and2020 Pro3D printers.
First, prototyping then, production
As discussed in a previousinterview with Fried, electronics 3D printing can be considered as a developing subcategory within the wider additive manufacturing sector. Tipped to follow a similar trajectory as polymers, and now metals, the technology is: first,prototyping然后，生产。
Though still in the prototyping area of applications, non-planar electronics, i.e. three-dimensional, occupying spaces unconventional to traditional electronics, is the area that 3D printing stands to have real impact. With non-planar ability, and integrated circuits, 3D printed electronics can theoretically be made to fill any space, and formany shape.
正如弗里德解释说,“在印刷电路痕迹the body of a part is at the core of what Nano Dimension does.”
CAD for electronics
With the DragonFly 2020 and 2020 Pro systems, it is possible to 3D print PCBs using traditional PCB format files. Such a part is volumetric, “although” Fried adds, “being a PCB it is flat/square/rectangular externally, and the traces are planar internally.”
The overlap between the capabilities of Nano Dimension and the UTEP study however, is the ability to 3D print volumetric circuits using designs that required traditional CAD software. For Nano Dimension volumetric, 3D printable PCB design can be accomplished via a Solidworks add-in launched by the company early 2018.
这种体积设计能力的示例由3D打印的线圈和螺旋形式炸出来 - 一个集成到电池供电的电磁体中，另一种内部印刷的导电痕迹，可以在下面的照片中看到。
Integrated, automated, electronics assembly
弗里德（Fried）对比了Nano Dimension的3D打印PCB，他解释说：“ UTEP案例中有趣和新颖的是该部件的完全3D外部形状。”在这里，炸了UTEP设计电路的类似果冻的形状（如下图），该电路也有一个孔。
油炸补充说：“我们目前不使用支持材料，因此它们产生的外部几何形状/形状与我们的印刷品有所不同。”
此外，炸指的是在UTEP 3D打印部分的外表面上添加电气组件。弗里德说：“这并不是一项创新，因为它已经是模制互连设备（中）的现有过程，但作为3D打印的综合步骤，它是新的。”但是，Fried Notes的这一特殊发展尚未通过其生产的3D打印系统和物理部件的呈现，毫无疑问，毫无疑问将在不久的将来提供的研究中提供。
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Featured image shows a 3D printed conductive coil encased within a polymer. Photo via Nano Dimension
