designing marine electronics

Hey all,

Anyone have any experience with embedded marine electronics? I have a product I'm developing which might be exposed to salt spray, sun, rain, splash and the worst a marine environment can dish out. It will be above decks and could be subject to a good bath.

Is the solution a gasketed enclosure? That and / or dipping the board in some kind of sealer?

Reply to
JohnH
Loading thread data ...

An IP68 enclosure and connectors are what you need.

Leon

--
Leon Heller
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller
Reply to
Leon Heller

Firstly, become familiar with IEC 60529 which deals with the degrees of protection afforded by electrical enclosures.

Having been involved in a sonar fish design we had a number of issues about proper sealing faces and special threads to ensure that the electronics would stay dry. The weakest points will always be where you need to break out of the enclosure with a cable connection. Proper feedthrough design would help the most in this respect.

If you make the enclosure a pressure vessel you could always pressurise the containment with dry nitrogen gas to ensure that the innards stayed dry. Alternatively, on the presumption that you didn't need to make adjustments after closing up, you could always pot the electronics in potting compound.

--
********************************************************************
Paul E. Bennett ....................
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Paul E. Bennett

True, but even this is not trivial. Most potting compounds do not bond with the insulation on wires. Also, you need to clean the board exceptionally well before potting because any acid residue will migrate along the potting boundary and attach the traces. And some potting compounds expand so much they will lift surface-mount components off the board.

-Robert Scott Ypsilanti, Michigan

Reply to
Robert Scott

I've been doing electronics for oceanographers for many years now. The basic rule is: Separate the electricty and the seawate (or even the salt spray). Do not rely on board coatings or such. Put your electronics in a waterproof enclosure if it will be out on deck. Use waterproof connectors it the device will be out on deck. The connectors will cost you about $50 to $100, so it is an issue that will require good engineering.

Mark Borgerson

Reply to
Mark Borgerson

Potting your electronics also requires careful attention to thermal design if your product dissipates more than a few Watts. Fault diagnosis and repair also becomes a non-starter.

Mark Borgerson

Reply to
Mark Borgerson

If you're not running off your own batteries or AC, be careful with ships power. It can be extremely noisy and have a wide range and huge transients. Devices I have worked on were usually spec'ed for 10-48 VDC, which is a tough range to handle with small switching supplies.

Scott

Reply to
Not Really Me

You can never be too safe. A company I worked for produced three large power converters for Naval use, each in a 6' enclosure approp[riate for the environment. A swabbie decided the units needed cleaning, and he turned off the converters, opened the doors, hosed them down with sea water, then closed the doors and turned them back on. The enclosures were such that not only was he not harmed, but he was not even aware of the damage he caused - until a little later.

Good thing he wasn't in the army - it would have taken him a while to pay for the replacement of the units.

--
#include 
 _
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Kevin D. Quitt

Thanks, all, for the replies. You've all been quite helpful!

Reply to
JohnH

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.