Sei sulla pagina 1di 6

EMT126/2 ENGINEERING WRITING I

Question 1 A process description of developing a Printed Circuit Board (PCB).

INTRODUCTION
A printed circuit board (PCB) is made of insulators called substrates that are usually composed of fiberglass and resin. This board is used to make electrical connections of circuits and devices using printed wires or sometimes better known as the traces. These traces, replacing the usual discrete connecting wires, are etched using conductive elements, generally copper although aluminum, chromium and nickel are also used. Other than providing electrical connections, PCB can be used to supply mechanical structure for the holding of the circuits and components too. In order to develop a PCB, an exact film representation of the designed circuit needs to be generated first. The generated film needs to be photoplotted before being used in the developing of the PCB.

DESCRIPTION
Laminating Lamination is the process where the PCB is laminated with a layer of t dry film photoresist. The PCB surface needs to be clean thoroughly using brush cleaning machine and bench top drying machine before we can start applying the film onto the board. Now, apply the dry film photoresist on the PCB board surface that is coated with copper layer using the laminator. During the lamination, make sure that no bubbles were present. Any bubble that appears on the surface of the laminated printed circuit board is actually a small defect to the board but it does not bring any effect to the functionality of the board except that if the bubble is too big. Exposing Exposing is the process where the laminated PCB is exposed under the UV ray. Place the generated negative film of the designed circuit on the laminated board. Position the film by placing the film toner facing down on the board. Transparent tape can be used to fix the negative film in the correct orientation firmly. Consequently, place the PCB in a vacuum UV exposure unit. Leave the exposure unit to run for the next 20 seconds. The purpose of this process is to harden the resist as the light strikes the film panel. Now, remove the PCB from the vacuum exposure unit. Detach the negative film and the protective film of the photoresist film to reveal the photoresist after the exposure. The photoresist that is exposed to UV ray will turn to transparent purple colour.

EMT126/2 ENGINEERING WRITING I

Developing Developing is the process that is done using the developer machine. The exposed PCB is placed in the conveyor of the developer machine and is left there until it exits the machine. The solution used as the developing solution of the machine is usually potassium carbonate (KCl). This solution works to removes the dry film photoresist that is unexposed while the region that have been exposed is not affected as it is already hardened. As the board exits the machine, take out and wash it under running water for a while. Etching Etching is the process which involves the placing of the PCB into the etching machine. The solution used to etch the PCB is the ferric chloride (FeCl) which is easy to obtain and cheap. Using the same procedure as the developing process, place the PCB on the conveyor of the machine. Let it go through the solution and then exit the machine. The purpose of this process is to remove excessive copper. The dry film photoresist protects the copper that is used in the circuitry of the board. Therefore, the copper circuitry will not be etched. Now, remove the board from the machine and wash it with tap water for some time. Solvent Resist Stripping Solvent Resist Stripping process is the process of removing all the dry film photoresist on the printed circuit board. The PCB is left into the photoresist stripper tank until all the photoresist film are removed. This process takes approximately two to three minutes but a longer time might be needed depending on the nature of the board. After making sure that there is no more photoresist on the board, the PCB is taken out and cleaned with spray wash. After the spray wash, the PCB is continuously wash under tap with Scotch Brite to remove any dirt that might be accumulated. The PCB is then put through the drying machine to dry up. Electroplated Coating Electroplated coating process is the process that involves the coating of the traces on the PCB board to prevent the oxidation of the copper. Tin solder is usually used as the coating. The PCB needs to be put into a flux tanks. The board surface needs to be fully filled with the flux. The PCB is then placed into the platting machine. In the machine, the PCB will be transported into the pool of molten solder. The area that is exposed with copper will be coated with solder while the region that does not have copper will not be affected by solder.

EMT126/2 ENGINEERING WRITING I

CONCLUSION
Manufacturing a PCB involves six major steps. Firstly, the lamination of the PCB base material with the dry film photoresist. Next, the PCB is exposed under the UV ray to harden the resists of the film on the board by placing the negative film of the designed circuit above the photoresist layer. Then, the exposed board will go through the developing and etching process using the respective machines. After etching, the photoresist film layer on the board will be stripped off. Finally, to make sure that the copper traces are well protected and will not be oxidized easily, the PCB will be coated. This marks the end of the process to develop a printed circuit board. The PCB, which is fully developed, needs to be packed carefully. Many PCB could be highly sensitive to statics. Therefore, to pack the PCBs, anti-static bag can be used. With all the necessary care and precaution taken, the PCB, without any malfunction, can be fully utilized by the users.

REFERENCES
1. Sabri Bin Zakaria, Halim Bin Harun, Shahrul Fazly bin Sulaiman, Lab Module ECT 200 PCB fabrication, Engineering Center UniMAP, 2010, pp 3 17. 2. Wikipedia, Printed Circuit Board, March 6, 2011. *Online+. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printed_circuit_board [Accessed on March 23, 2011]. 3. Mike Harrison, How to make really really good homemade PCB?, August 22, 2007.*Online+. Available: http://www.electricstuff.co.uk/pcbs.html [Accessed on March 23, 2011] 4. Ozan Cakmakci, Kristof Van Laerhoven, Developing A PCB, *Online+. Available: http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/~kristof/research/notes/pcb/index.html [Accessed on March 23, 2011]
3

EMT126/2 ENGINEERING WRITING I

Question 2 A Process Description of How to Play Congkak.

INTRODUCTION
Congkak is the two-player traditional game that is still played by most Southern-Asia country. This game is often said to be the other version of mancala (the count and capture game). Both this game have almost identical rules. Unbelievably, congkak is actually originated from Africa. Sources states that the word congkak is derived from the word congklak which means mental calculation. In Indonesia, the name congklak is used but in other Asia countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Southern Thailand, and some parts of Sumatra and Borneo, the name congkak is more common. Before starting the game, a congkak board and congkak seeds is needed. The usual material used for making the congkak board is mahagony or teak wood while cowries shells, pebbles, rubber seeds, saga, tamarind seeds or marble is selectively used as the seed of the game. The congkak board is carved with 14 holes that are subdivided into two sets of seven and two bigger holes which acts as store-holes, better known as the home, for each player.

DESCRIPTION
Filling the seed Filling the seed is done by placing the correct amount of seeds in each hole. The game begins by filling the small holes with seven seeds each. The home or store-holes needs to be left unfilled. Therefore, 98 pieces of seeds are needed in order to play the game. The players need to decide which side of the congkak was to be their territory. Each player control only one side of the board and the store-hole located at their left side will be their home. Distributing the seed Distributing the seed is the step where the seeds are dropped into the holes one after another until the player runs out of seed. The game starts with both players scooping all the seeds from the hole nearest to their home. Then, the players drop one seed at a time into the next hole in the clockwise direction. As both players start the game by distributing the seeds simultaneously, the first player that has his last seed on an empty hole marks the end of his turn. That player will have to wait for the other player to finish his opening turn before starting the next round.

EMT126/2 ENGINEERING WRITING I

Sowing Sowing is the step where the player distributes the seeds of any of the seven holes, randomly chosen by himself, located at his side when it is his turn. The player will drop the seeds in the clockwise direction, one at a hole. The player drops the seed when he reaches his own storehole but skip the opponents store-hole. If the last seed of the player falls into a filled hole (whether at his own side or the opponents side), all the seeds are removed from the hole and sown in the same way. Besides that, if the players last seed stop at his own home, he can scoop seeds from any holes within his own side and start sowing again. Additionally, if the last seed of the player falls to the empty hole at his own side, the player will be able to capture his last seed as well as the seeds at the directly opposite hole, if there is any, to his own home. However, the players turn ends if his last seed fall in an empty hole of the opponents side. The game continue until there is no more seed in any small hole of the board. All the seeds will be deposited at the home of the players. The players can choose to end the game by calculating the number of seeds in their stores-hole. The player with the most number of seeds wins the game. However, the game can be continued for a second round. The player start the second round by filling up the seeds into the small hole from left to right but this time, they fill up the holes with the seeds that they have captured in their homes. Sunog Sunog which means burnt occurs when the player does not have sufficient seeds to fill up his own hole. The rules state that each hole needs to be filled with seven seeds. In the second round, while the players redistribute the seeds, a hole is considered burnt or sunog if it does not have 7 seeds. The remaining seed will be sent back to the store-hole. The players will continue the second round of the game with all the steps mentioned above but this time, the holes that are burnt will be bypassed. If any player accidentally drops his seed into the burnt hole, his turn will be forfeited and all the remaining seeds in his hand will be confiscated into the home of the opponent. For this round, the player who has lesser amount of seeds during the first round will start the game. The game will go on until all the holes of any one player become burnt.

EMT126/2 ENGINEERING WRITING I

CONCLUSION
Congkak is a very easy-to-play game and can be master by anyone as long as the players are enthusiastic about it. In olden days, congkak are seen to be played only by most women but today, schools and parents have a different approach towards it. They encourage students and kids, girl or boy, to practice playing this game. Congkak is a game can that develop their childrens logic skill and provide opportunity to learn the ways of creating winning strategies in defeating the opponent of the game. Likely to be said, adults should also not miss their chance in tasting the fun of playing this game. It is definitely good game to play during leisure moments.

REFERENCES
1. Nancy Shaw, Travis Derouin etc., How to Play Congkak, July 5, 2010. *Online+. Available: http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Congkak [Accessed on March 23, 2011] 2. Sally E. D. Wilkins, Sports and Games of Medieval Culture, Greenwood Publishing Group Inc., 2002, pp 52 53. 3. Malaysia : Congkak.*Online+. Available: http://www.vtaide.com/ASEAN/Malaysia/congkak.html [Accessed on March 23, 2011]
6

Potrebbero piacerti anche