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Ion-Mask Coating Could Make Waterproofing Electronics Easy
Engadget is reporting that a new chemical coating, originally designed to repel toxic vapors and liquids from soldiers' uniforms, may be the solution to small waterproof electronics. "The Ion-Mask is a special invisible coating that is chemically bonded to the device and repels water. It should allow waterproofing to make it into devices that are too small for the seals that are usually used to do the trick. Devices can have joins and gaps coated for a general level of water repellence, or have individual components treated for even more protection."
This would take all the fun out of the old hairdryer-in-the-bathtub prank.
Considering that I just sent my iPod through a ride in the washing machine, this could be quite useful. Not only for waterproofing, but also for cleaning electronics. Sure you can send your keyboard through the dishwasher, but you still have to let it dry for quite a while. It'd be a nice way to clean more intricate electronics as well.
I guess this could be nice in the "small device" application that they mention, but other bigger devices come to mind:
- Ever ruin a laptop by spilling soda on it? It might still be sticky, but you wouldn't fry the motherboard.
- Ever tried waterproofing an outdoor AP or camera? You have to be very aggressive -- this could make things easier.
It would be great if this stuff came to market like a Rustoleum-type spray.
Having read all the available literature on this process, I feel it's fair to call it vaporware.
How is this is superior to the traditional epoxy dip?
I think part of the problem is that the electronics are hard (i.e. expensive) to seal up like that. And having mineral oil spill out when you wanted to replace batteries, service them, or just break them by accident would not be fun.
Would be interesting to see how well this works for all the little things people carry around, like USB drives.
...when I dropped my phone into the kitchen sink.
Although this coating may make something waterproof, I'd doubt that it makes the device surfactant-resistant. Soapy water (in the shower, tub, sink, or washing machine) does not have the high surface tension or tendency to be repelled by hydrophobic substances that I'd bet this coating depends on.
Of course, I could be wrong and would enjoy an informative post that proves that this coating can survive suds.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
So you're telling me that my cell phone's moisture "pink-dot" sensor won't be able to brick my phone at random anymore? How else are the mobile companies gonna keep ripping me off? Somebody please think of the phone companies!
The lifeguards now carry tasers.
liqbase
This article elaborates on how it would work with shoes/clothing:
"Rather than absorbing water and dirt, moisture will instead bead off the surface of the specially-designed shoes."
And then another advantage (for insurance companies at least) is the insurance angle:
"For electronic devices, protection from water is also important. Water damage is one of the top reasons for insurance claims on mobiles, with more than 1.2 million being dropped in lavatories, drinks or put through washing machines last year."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2007/12/30/scitech230.xml
Perhaps this could also be an eventual replacement to protect servers and other vital machinery without the cost and danger of Halon and similar gases.
Health Insurance Quotes
the linik doesn't lead to anything about mineral oil, it just redirects to something called "myminicity" that I've heard a bit about these days... whether you think it's bad or good or whatever, this just isn't honest. The link has nothing to do with that the text or /. look-up says it is.
*''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
Is this anything like that "Girl Repellent" stuff that Trekkies spray on themselves before going out to singles bars?
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Ever since I saw those mac desktops with the translucent neon backs (G3 era?) I've thought that they would make great fish tanks... Now maybe they will!
As other posters have pointed out, there are ways to waterproof electronics already. Of course these don't work if moving parts are involved. This treatment seems to cover those applications.
One of the big killers of electronics is humidity. Even if the equipment has never been soaked, its performance can deteriorate over time as it absorbs moisture from the atmosphere. I've seen massive repair bills because the manufacturer skimped on 25 cents worth of conformal coating. Since this new treatment is harder to apply than conformal coating, I expect the same cheap behavior and resultant consequences.
This would have been nice to have when my WIFE dropped her PHONE in the TOILET.
Cool! Amazing Toys.
Then you'd be the man in the Ion mask!
Thank you! And have a Happy New Year!
I prefer Flambe as apposed flamebait.
Was she using it in vibrate mode?
I'm sure some would pay a couple hundred extra for an iPod that would survive a six foot drop and a six foot dunk. I wish there were a cell phone that would (damn nokia).
;) It'll cost about the same.
Since you'll probably not get it, stick a bluetooth transmitter on the ipod and stick it in a sealed RF transparent but near invulnerable box.
I'm not sure if the following offers any remote capability, didn't look to close and I'm not endorsing them, just pointing at the first I found
http://www.bluetomorrow.com/content/section/153/255/
Not sure if both would fit in here http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp;jsessionid=NQ0NFJEDBR0IRLAQBBICCOVMCAEFCIWE?id=0037999018340a&type=product&cmCat=perf&rid=0180101070502&xpid=k17401&cm_ven=Performics&cm_cat=Affiliate-click&cm_pla=Nextag&cm_ite=DDI%20Link&afsrc=1&_requestid=121893
but should fit in here, the other one is a bit more portable but Pelican is good stuff.
http://www.pelicanproducts.us.com/detailaspx8.html?gclid=CPTnguLP05ACFQUsPAodBDFxXQ
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
This myminicity shit is giving a bad name to AC's, and chances are its going to hurt people from posting links. Great job, just another step toward ruining a good thing.
Dear Scuttlemonkey,
What is foan rubber? Did you misspell "foam" of "phone", or is this some play off the two?
You haven't started New Year's drinking already have you?
Yours sincerely,
Coldcell
Launchy.net changed my world.
I'd love to take my ipod when I go serfing!!! listen_to_slashdot
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
there is sort of a distributed attack on the a-holes you can join on screwminicity.com
MP3 Search Engine
Or when I spilled water on my game boy advance, killing a button.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
trying to be a leader eh? gathering an army to fight them minicity spammers... well, you gonna loose.
I can not keep a wristwatch water proof after replacing the batteries so I usually buy another watch when the battery dies. It might help if I bought a little more expensive watch but it is too tempting when a watch is around $10. This coating would probably be too expensive for the cheap watches.
Liar. We all know that no one on slashdot has a toilet.
... err, wait, how does that line go again?
Especially as his primary tactic for fighting myminicity is actually generating hits for the spammers....
I thought it was what they didn't spray on, namely deodorant, that was the repellent.
Course - then Nokia/Sony Ericsson/whoever can't sell you a new phone.
Get your own free personal location tracker
I'll bet my eye teeth that it will be rebranded as water resistant before it hits the market, because anything that is being touted as waterproof will be instantly chucked into a sinkful of water as soon as it is out of the packaging, and the company won't want to take responsibility for the ones that fail. I miss the days of "Waterproof."
There are conformal coatings for waterproofing. They're routinely used in automotive and military applications. The main limits on conformal coating come from components that interact with the outside world - connectors, microphones, speakers, displays, and switches. All those parts are available in waterproof forms.
The ruggedized forms of those components tend to be a bit larger. But not by much any more. Check out the Motorola i580 ruggedized cell phone. Note how the speaker and microphone take up more case space than on non-ruggedized phones, and the keyboard is thicker. But most of the extra bulk of the device comes from wrapping the whole thing in about 4mm of rubber for drop resistance.
not really actually, it's just that these 'cities' are standing out like sore thumbs on the bandwidth consumption vs revenue generated. if enough people sign up for the program then myminicity will have a choice between booting the jerks or losing their site completely. I think I know which way that will go.
Nothing new here... They have been doing this with Parylene for decades. The stuff works great if you have lots of $$$$$
Could be used to waterproof people. The man in the Ion-mask would make a good sci-fi series.
> It has handled a couple of drops but dissembles itself.
Er, I had always had the impression that these things are not unconnected. I'd assumed that Nokia designed the phone so that the less valuable and less fragile parts (the covers, and perhaps the battery) absorb more of the energy of the collision, partially by flying off.
I've been using Nanofilm Clarity Defender on my car windshield for years. Similar to RainX, but better. It's a fluoro-functional chlorosilane, which basically coats glass with a somewhat crystalline Tefloney surface. Better than Teflon PTFE, too; pure, amorphous Teflon PTFE is really porous.
What does P2I offer that's new? Looking at patent 6551950, they're doing O2 plasma, followed by a plasma with fluoroinated stuff. CF4/CH2F2 plasma is old hat. Looks like P2I did some experimenting with random other molecules and found one that works better.
I just want to know when I can use this to water proof my PC for water cooling! :D
It is just not kitchen sink - even going out in rain, makes some phones not work. This is particularly a problem in tropics, where there are sudden torrential downpours. These downpours last only a few minutes, but feels like buckets of water are poured on you!
I dropped my cell phone in sea. Hopefully with this technology, really smart engineers would find a way to save a phone under these conditions.
Meanwhile, watercooling geeks around the world rejoice.
"CUT A HOLE ON THE LAKE'S ICE COVER : IT'S TIME TO BREAK THE 10GHZ BARRIER !!!"
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Easy as fuck to save them.
Take out the battery, wash with fresh water, dunk the battery *quickly* in fresh water, dry. Good as new 90% of the cases.
We don't all live in Groenland, you insensitive clod !
(Or have moved over there for obvious overclocking reasons. Cheater !)
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
our phones drop us.
"No fear. No envy. No meanness." Liam Clancy
you do realize that minicity doesn't have users... anyone can create a city without registration. You are just helping them out. Nobody will get booted and you will lose.
High pressure washing delicate electronics devices isn't my idea of useful.
Not to mention, we're talking about a thin film substance here acting as the sealer.
I'm betting, that frequent exposure to high pressure washing is likely to deteriorate any waterproofing. These things will probably need to come with labels stating "hand wash only"
"No abrasive" washing.
You could probably do this yourself by getting some good epoxy,
disassemble your device and apply a thin layer of epoxy at all possible water entry points.
Also placing a thin rubber cover over any exposed surfaces (like the inside of the earpiece).
Of course, it makes maintenance a real killer.