Using external vendors can result in long lead times and higher costs because of queuing and shipping. Through the recent emergence of 3D printers, engineers can now quickly produce plastic or metal prototypes in-house, without the need for outsourcing or purchasing expensive tools for each iteration. In this additive process, material is laid down layer by layer to translate 3D data into a physical object. The entire process can take minutes to hours, depending on the project’s complexity, making it possible to evaluate multiple iterations in a single day. Not only does 3D printing speed up workflow and eliminate bottlenecks, but it also produces high-quality, reproducible prototypes that are good enough for the final product.

For this reason, many companies, including GE, are using 3D printing for manufacturing, a process known as additive manufacturing. This process is becoming increasingly popular as technology advances and equipment prices drop. Using 3D printing for both prototype production and manufacturing, engineers can choose their materials throughout the entire prototyping process, ensuring the functional prototypes meet the industry requirements for the desired application.

Not every application is suitable for 3D printing, however. Materials used for medical devices generally need to be biocompatible because they often come in contact with the human body. And the surface tension of 3D printed parts may be different from the final molded production part such that 3D printing is not a viable option. This means that there is a limited list of plastics or metals suitable for this application, and these materials may also have a preferred manufacturing method. In this case, the alternatives during rapid prototyping should have similar characteristics to the final material. Qualities such as strength, elasticity, durability and resistance to temperature, moisture and impact are essential to incorporate during rapid prototyping cycles as early as possible.

Rapid prototyping technologies such as breadboards can also decrease each prototype’s price and eliminate the initial requirement for expensive equipment cost and even reduce overall development time. Breadboards, aka protoboards or solderless breadboards, are thin plastic boards used to hold electronic components that are wired together. The components are plugged into the board, creating circuit patterns that can be rearranged without damaging the components. Unlike the printed circuit board, breadboards do not require soldering, so expensive CAD software or soldering equipment are unnecessary until the functional prototype stage. These tools are not ideal for commercial products or complicated circuits, but they are helpful for most applications and are reusable for different projects.

Developers must monitor the performance of prototypes throughout the design process to ensure the final product meets the end-user specifications. Test characterization is a baseline performance specification used as a reference point during rapid prototyping, and it plays a vital role in keeping the development program on track. The specifications help developers verify that the changes made to a new prototype did not negatively affect the performance.

Test coupons evaluate an isolated and specific high-risk feature of the final product, assessing the feature’s capabilities, dimensions or design that affect the final performance. Finding ways to assemble the components together for testing on the breadboard is a critical aspect of achieving testable prototypes. Created using prototyping methods, test coupons are assembled using rapid assembly methods and are tested on breadboards, ensuring both the speed and quality of the coupons. These integrated tools focus on strength, welding, corrosion, electrical connectivity or fabrication. For example, test coupons can assess the quality of a printed wiring board fabrication process. In this case, the test coupon represents the actual board conditions for plating, etching and lamination. One coupon is located on each end to verify the quality of manufacturing across the whole panel. Multiple coupons can even be incorporated to test different variables.

While the pandemic has highlighted just how tools such as breadboards and 3D printers have empowered developers to bring more of the early development work in-house, the advancement of these technologies has truly revolutionized the industry moving forward. By embedding test coupons in the prototypes, and characterizing performance and material specifications early on, developers have also been able to simplify the manufacturing transfer process. Rapid prototyping has become invaluable to the development of diagnostic devices by making the process more cost-effective and efficient.