I currently consult on and have done a great deal of design work in that area of electronics packaging, for boards, assemblies, and equipment for both industrial and consumer use, in all manner of environments, but am not aware of any good books that target the enclosure aspect and all its concerns. Much depends on the specific electronics being enclosed, your industry, and the end use. If possible I have always coordinated my efforts with the design of certain aspects of the board layout, such as connector locations if appropriate to enable the best final product.
Other times I performed the opposite function, where a third party was designing a single board that had to fit within a variety of spatially constrained locations, depending on the specific product it was used in. In that case, a 3D profile of the available space that would fit all the applications was created so that the maximum height of components was mapped out for various board locations and then the components were arranged accordingly. So that was kind of reverse packaging I guess.
In general just a few of the general concerns are: functionality and appearance, robustness required, environmental considerations (where will it be used?, waterproof or washdown proof?, dust proof?, ambient temperature range, etc), mounting considerations, projected quantities, material, method and cost of manufacture, and so on.
Then there are the more specific concerns such as: insulation and/or grounding, shielding in all applicable senses of the word, thermal considerations (typically regarding heat load of the electronics and the amount of active or passive cooling required), approval and/or certification requirements from various agencies, and so on.
Be aware that this area typically demands a level of knowledge and expertise that can not be casually gleaned from a handbook or even a number of specialized references. This is not to say that it can't be learned of course, only that it is not a trivial endeavor if a successful outcome is to be expected. Assuming you have at least some engineering and design background, along with the ambition to move into this area, you will likely have to educate yourself from a wide variety of sources.
For instance this is a link I came across for one of the books on shielding that seems like it might be useful to you, although in perusing it, I disagree with his "insistence" on the necessity of building an actual model out of hobby materials if you are competent in 3D CAD modeling or can create clear 2D assembly drawings:
Specialty Tapes has a new Polyester Anti Static Mask that we believe has excellent characteristics for PCB Board packaging purposes. The pet is 1.5 mil and is coated with a low tack removable adhesive system. The Anti Static coating on the other side provides constant surface resistance of 1x10 to the 5th power ohms/square. Have the options of thicker or thinner PET as well as other adhesion levels with the right quantity.
1) Kudos to Greg for the clarity of his response...
2) The only things that I can add to that (EMI/EMC being separate issues) are that any Mechanical Design effort must consider three (3) basic elements:
- Shock
- Vibration
- Thermal environment.
3) To this date, beyond the basic Timoshenko, Dave Steinberg still has the best text out there. It is called:
PREVENTING THERMAL CYCLING AND VIBRATION FAILURES
IN ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
4) As a practicing M.E., I've had the pleasure and enlightenment of attending his lectures at both the U.Wisconsin, and as a seminar series. The book (a John Wiley publication) even made my own notes clear after 10-15 years in the binders.
5) Count on this: Dave's engaging style and 'down-to-earth' examples will provide more than sufficient preliminary guidance.
A Farraday cage is something else....
REM: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indishtinguishable from magic" RAH
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“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Sir Arthur Charles Clarke
This can be one of the more challenging aspects of a design. Many designs for smaller companies will never see the volumes that would make a custom enclosure feasible. You must comb the numerous vendors that make standard enclosures and then render the design into a form factor that can be accommodated by a standard enclosure. Many vendors provide custom machining to modify standard enclosures in small to moderate volumes and this can produce an acceptable end result. It may also be possible to design a custom metal enclosure that can be fabricated by a competent sheet metal fabricator. Depending on your intended audience, sometimes you can get by with no enclosure as many IC manufacturers have discovered to offer low cost development tools that are nothing more than a board with four stick-on feet.
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The hardest thing to overcome, is not knowing that you don't know.
Electronics Packaging for PCB Boards
Re: Electronics Packaging for PCB Boards
