PCB Renewal: Iterative Reuse of PCB Substrates for Sustainable Electronic Making
PCB (printed circuit board) substrates are often single-use, leading to material waste in electronics making. We introduce PCB Renewal, a novel technique that “erases” and “reconfigures” PCB traces by selectively depositing conductive epoxy onto outdated areas, transforming isolated paths into conductive planes that support new traces. We present the PCB Renewal workflow, evaluate its electrical performance and mechanical durability, and model its sustainability impact, including material usage, cost, energy consumption, and time savings. We develop a software plug-in that guides epoxy deposition, generates updated PCB profiles, and calculates resource usage. To demonstrate PCB Renewal's effectiveness and versatility, we repurpose a single PCB across four design iterations spanning three projects: a camera roller, a WiFi radio, and an ESPboy game console. We also show how an outsourced doublelayer PCB can be reconfigured, transforming it from an LED watch to an interactive cat toy. The paper concludes with limitations and future directions.
Created by:
Zeyu Yan, Advait Vartak, Jiasheng Li, Zining Zhang, and Huaishu Peng
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Awards:
CHI 2025 Best Paper Honorable Mentions Award
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