A Model for Performance Evaluation of Low-Frequency 3D-Printed Electronic Filters

Additive manufacturing is a method that opens the way to new technologies in the electronic industry. Among these, Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) allows embedded circuit fabrication, offering versatility in electronic design. In this work, the FDM is used to manufacture 3D-Printed Circuit Boards (3DPCBs); in particular, the combination of Polylactid Acid (PLA) and Protopasta materials is used to design and test 3D-printed resistive-capacitive components. Ideal values are compared with real values, obtaining 10.84% and 1.55% maximum relative errors for resistors and capacitors, respectively. These estimations are then used to design four low-pass filters. The RC values chosen for these filters are 80 kΩ and 160 kΩ for resistors, and 4.7 pF and 9.3 pF for capacitors. Finally, a Design-of-Experiments (DoE) approach based on linear regression allowed the obtainment of a mathematical model that expresses the cut-off frequency relative error with respect to RC components. The model shows a 0.299 mean value.