Electronic Science Lab Equipment list
Planning to set up an electronic science laboratory but don’t know which electronic science lab equipment is required? An electronic laboratory only needs some standard equipment and tools to start with. Though special equipment is essential for various applications to get precise results, customary tools can also complete the job quite efficiently and accurately.
Read on to understand most basic electronic lab equipment is required to make the journey begin.
Electronic Science Lab Equipment list
To better understand the equipment required for setting up an electronics lab equipment, you can start by considering a simple circuit on your general-purpose PCB. First, you’ll need a soldering iron tool to solder the parts. Then you have to use wires to connect several components on the boards.
You’ll also require some hand tools like a wire stripper or wire cutter to strip or cut the wires. After wiring up the circuit, you’ll have to use a multimeter to ensure the continuity of the circuit.
The power supply in most electronics is DC and uses regulated DC power supplies. Then you have to employ a functions generator to check the circuit performance for the input waveforms.
If you find the circuit functioning properly, the next tasks you have to do are measure and record the intermediate result. In addition, you have to depend on some measuring tools like a voltmeter, multimeter, or ammeter to measure the current or voltage. You’ll also need power analyzers or oscilloscopes to check the waveforms.
In short, you’ll need all that equipment for a simple circuit. And you’ll need more advanced equipment along with the growth of the complexity of the circuit.
Let’s get a basic idea of these common electronic lab types of equipment:
Multimeters
Both analog and digital multimeters are essential for electronics labs to measure current, voltages, and resistance. Whether you need to do troubleshooting or debugging on your electronic lab, you’ll need a multimeter to check the continuity.
This electronic science lab equipment is also handy for testing transistors, diodes, and temperature sensors. A multimeter is a reliable equipment to get accurate, flexible, and precise results. Hence it’s crucial equipment for any electronic lab.
Oscilloscopes
An electronic science lab needs to check the output and intermediate waveforms of a circuit while performing experiments or checking various circuit stages. In this, you’ll find the oscilloscope handy and effective. This electronic lab equipment shows waveforms with time on the x-axis and amplitude on the y-axis.
The waveform’s graphical representation in this format offers a better understanding of the signal and aids in tracking the error of the circuit. It also helps monitor the circuit’s performance for parameter or input variations.
Hence oscilloscope is a common piece of equipment for most electronic labs. Like multimeters, oscilloscopes can also be analog or digital. You have to consider the type, number of channels, bandwidth, and included accessories while choosing the right oscilloscopes.
Compared to the analog oscilloscopes provide options for measuring frequency, peak-to-peak voltage, waveforms, and pulse width.
Power Supplies
DC power supplies are vital for testing electronic circuits. The types of power supplies used in electronic labs are:
- Switched-mode power supplies
- Linear regulated power supplies
This electronic science laboratory equipment works in constant current and constant voltage mode to allow the checking of circuit stages and components without building a power regulation circuit. So, if you are planning to set up an electronic lab, don’t forget to have a regulated DC power supply.
Optics
There are plenty of tiny electronic science lab components that are a bit difficult to hold using precision tweezers. In this case, you may find basic laboratory optics like large articulated magnifying lenses and magnifying loupes helpful enough. However, these tools don’t offer a decent deal of magnification.
Magnifying lenses and loupes are suitable for most basic lab needs. But if you need to do inspection and mount assembly work properly, opt for a stereomicroscope.
This lab equipment offers between 25x and +90x magnification for surface mount work. Stereomicroscope comes in both variable and fixed zoom along with extra optical paths and multiple lighting options.
Function Generator
The function generator is now commonly used in place of various typical analog circuit-based generations of waveforms including rectangular waves, sine waves, and triangular waves. This electronic science lab equipment generates waveform quality more excellently than analog circuit waves.
Soldering Iron
It’s another essential piece of equipment for the electronic science laboratories to assemble electronic parts on printed circuit boards. This equipment melts the solder and sets up physical and electrical connections between 2 surfaces. A modern soldering iron is typically highly powerful and has better control over temperature. So if you are planning to rig a PCB, you should have a soldering station in your electronic lab.
Precision Mechanical Tools
Mechanical hand tools are common for every laboratory to do basic tasks like cutting, stripping, twisting, and picking. Some effective precision mechanical hand tools for these jobs are pliers, wire strippers, ESD-safe tweezers, wire cutters, and screwdrivers. Apart from these basic electronics laboratory equipment, you may also need programmable power supplies, power analyzers, and spectrum analyzers for your advanced lab.
Another vital piece of equipment for the electronics laboratory is the circuit design software. In this case, you can opt for Cadence software as it provides PCB design and recreation tools that can handle any level of design.
LCR Meter
Though a multimeter is versatile electronic science lab equipment, it can’t measure inductance or capacitance. In this case, you’ll have to use an inductance, capacitance, and resistance meter. There are two types of LCR meters out there including a lower-cost version which used to measure a component’s total impedance. The other model is a bit expensive and used to measure any component’s equivalent series resistance, impedance, and quality factor.
Compared to the expensive model, the low-cost version offers quite poor quality accuracy and up to 20% tolerances. It can cause issues in designing and troubleshooting electronics as many capacitors also have 20% tolerances.
Final Words
The list of electronic science lab equipment doesn’t end here. You may also need a Transistor tester, Function generators, Pattern generators, and other equipment for your certain works at the lab. However, the equipment we’ve discussed above will let you start working in the electronic lab. Then you can upgrade the lab equipment based on the needs and problems faced during work.
