6. Enclosure Design
An enclosure is a plastic or metal casing that hold the PCB and other devices which are interfaced to the PCB. It also provides ports for the interfacing cables that connect the PCB to external peripherals. In many cases, an IP (Ingress Protection) rating defined by international standard EN 60529, may be required for the casing. The IP ratings are used to define the levels of sealing effectiveness of enclosures against intrusion from solid objects (dust, dirt etc) and water/moisture.
Development of a customized enclosure will require the services of a mechanical/industrial engineer, for it would require development of 2D and 3D models, which would be entirely out of scope for an electrical engineer. If appearance and ergonomics are critical, it would require an industrial styling engineer.
Initially the industrial engineer would create 2D drawings of the enclosure. Further to which a 3D model would be created to give you a visualization of the final product. Software that is used to create the above include AutoCAD, 3D Studio, Solidworks, Creo etc. Once the 2D and 3D models of the enclosure are approved, it can be turned into prototypes. 3D printers have made the job of conversion of 2D and 3D designs into physical prototypes much easier. The 3D models can also be used for marketing purposes, before you have the actual prototype in hand. Nowadays industrial designers create 3D walkthroughs that give you the impression of walking through the designed enclosure.
For an electronics hobbyist who is not very particular about the appearance and ergonomics of the enclosure, there are many readymade enclosures available in the market as shown in the image above, which can be made use of. In cases, such an enclosure should be selected before the PCB layout is designed and then design the PCB form factor according to the dimensions of the selected enclosure. This will result in a lot of cost saving in prototyping.
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Final Testing and Conclusion
