The idea here was to embed an NFC antenna & chip in the lid that contains specific information on the product like expiry date, ingredients, where the ingredients come from, how to best use the product and a counterfeit proof signature. All this information can be accessed via a smartphone and could help to further engage with the user.
To embed or rather to overmold electronic components is quite challenging since the temperature of the injected plastic can damage or destroy them. That is why a lot of research went into optimizing mold flow and to make the electronics parts more resistant to heat.
NFC antennas work best if they have a large diameter. To make them work in a small cylindrical lid, researchers from Infineon developed a miniaturized antenna architecture.
A very reliable, fast and cheap way to produce printed electronics is to use roll-to-roll or screen-printing techniques that deposit different ink formulations onto a flat substrate like clear polymer films.
To explore how conductive inks change their performance after being deformed, researchers from Walterpack vacuum-formed printed sheets and measured the remaining conductivity afterwards.
Together with Hadrien Fouin, Beatriz Lobao, Anna Röder, Amelie Graf, Agatha Sowinski, Nina Eder and Valerie Feiertag
We are grateful for the opportunity to collaborate in this interdisciplinary project. We very much appreciate the contributions of everyone who was involved and would like to mention:
Thomas Herndl
Mladen Pesic
Lionel Tenchine
Tayeb Boudjiet
Katie Beverley
Antoine Latour
Dong-Bach
Infineon
Infineon
IPC
Walterpack
PDR
CEA Liten
University of Glasgow
Austria
Austria
France
Spain
UK
France
UK
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 761112
