New Vapor Coating Technique Lets You Run A Computer Under Water
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
HZO specializes in thin film coatings for electronic devices. At CES 2024, the North Carolina-based company demonstrated the effectiveness of its coating process by submerging a Raspberry Pi board. Remarkably, the board continued working just fine and no one got electrocuted.
HZO offers innovative coating services using parylene, applied as a film at the "molecular level" through a vacuum deposition process. Parylene, thinner than other coating materials, is capable of uniformly and reliably covering electronic devices, including bare circuit boards. The company showed the parylene coating protection at work during CES 2024, suggesting that hardware companies could turn Raspberry Pi 4 boards into proper waterproof computer projects.
[...] The CVD process has diverse applications, including automotive electronics and sensors, smart home devices, consumer electronics, biosensors, and more. The parylene-coated Raspberry Pi 4, displayed at CES 2024, functioned in a water tank, connected safely to a USB-C power cable and a microHDMI cable for video output, both also coated with parylene.
Waterproof Raspberry Pi systems have been demonstrated before, using a widely available lubricant (CorrosionX) as a slimy bathing solution. This coating method isn't permanent, in contrast, HZO's CVD solution offers a more durable alternative. An company rep mentioned that electronic devices like the Raspberry Pi would need approximately 15 hours in the deposition chamber.
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