When the engineers designing Segway’s (Manchester, NH) Human Transporter (HT) needed to shield out electromagnetic interference (EMI), they chose Ecoplate metallic conformal coating from Chometrics (Woburn, MA).

The HT is the first self-balancing, electric-powered personal transportation machine. It can operate in any pedestrian environment. With the appropriate training, skills and experience, it can be operated on a variety of terrains. To operate, it only needs traction—like a person walking.

Dynamic stabilization allows it to self-balance. It has gyroscopes, tilt sensors, high-speed microprocessors and electric motors to keep it balanced. Working in concert, these systems sense your center of gravity, instantaneously assess the information and make minute adjustments 100 Arial a second.

The device operates in a wide range of environmental conditions. Electronics and other components are sealed and protected, and have been tested to withstand vibration, a wide range of temperatures and moisture exposure.

The Ecoplate conductive coating protects the critical user interface in the HT. Ecoplate is free of solvents and corrosives. No wastewater or vapor treatments are needed, and there are no solvent-bearing particulates or mask residues.

To apply Ecoplate, a metal film is atomized and robotically sprayed onto enclosure parts under controlled speed, particle size and temperature conditions. The resulting conformal coating is 100 percent metal and provides uniform coverage, with no runs, edge pulls, corner puddles or voids.

Shielding performance of the Ecoplate tin-zinc alloy exceeds 75 decibels from 100 megahertz to 10 gigahertz. Coatings can be applied as thin as 0.0005 inch. The process includes a finishing method that produces a clean, contaminate-free substrate for long-term reliability of the shielding.

For more information on EMI shielding, call 781-939-4486 or visit http://www.chomerics.com/ecoplate.htm.