housing design
TRANSCRIPT
Industrial Housing Design
for your Electronics
A Case Study: from concept to product
Dr. Jürgen KienhöferCEO Wireless Cables Inc.www.aircable.net
Presentation at thewww.makersfactory.comDecember 2, 2011
Wireless Cables Inc.
• WCI makes intelligent, long range Bluetooth modules
• WCI designs products using these modules
Housing Designs over the years
Workflow Housing Design
• Product design ideao how does your final product look likeo how is it used
• Electronic parts determinesize and shape
Workflow1. electronics modeling2. housing concept3. design for the mold4. prototype before production
1: Electronic Modeling
• hold electronic in place• design actuators• ergonomics and use case• lights or displays• sensors and power connectors
example: AIRcable Serial5X
2: Housing Concept
Simple: a square box with holes
• multi part design: A-side, B-side: d-cide
• joining parts
• hinges
• thickness
• shrinkage and other blemishes
Joining Two Parts
• Screws• Glue• Hooks and Snaps• Friction• Ultrasonic Welding
3: Design to the Mold
What is a Mold?It's about costs:
simple straight pull mold designif you have to: side action molds
first prototypefiles to manufacturing
An Injection Molding Machine
watch the video
Injection Mold Cavity and Core
Click image to see the machine producing this part
© OME International Injection Molding, with permission
Watch a bucket being formed...
Design for the Mold
DRAFTING• 0.50 draft is minimum• 20 is safe, 30 for light
texture, 50 for heavy texture• reduce stress to take outUNDERCUTS• molds are made out of two
pieces: A-side and B-side• side action
COSTS MONEY!(a lot)
UNDERCUT (cont.)
Example: AIRcable Serial5X
• snap together design• no undercuts• matched mating parts• uniform thickness• Polycarbonate• transparency
Design Process with Solidworks
start with a solid block
add hooks and grooves
shell the part to get uniform thickness
cut holes for the hooksdrafting for snap action
cut holder for the connectorand the screws
fillet for easy mold pull out
Design Process with Blender
??? (to be honest...)
wire frame, give thickness, cloth design
Design Process "AIRcable USB5"
solid block with domed feature
cut and shelled
final two part housingwith friction fit
Materials: most often used
• ABSo cheap, easy to mold, paintable
• Polycarbonate (PC)o does not break, strong, UV resistent o transparent and glass clear
• 33% glass filled Nylono strongest material, solvent resistanto glass fiber makes it heat resistant as wello shrinks quite a bit during moldingo use for sensors and valves
Decide early: the mold is made for ONE material
Prototype
Ergonomic housing design is a challenge!you must make a prototype to test
• electronic fits, actuators work, lights, display• usability, show to others• ease of assembly, time for workers
Quick prototypes: SLA (UV cureable resin), SLS (Selective Laser Singering), FDM (Fused deposit modeling), Polyjet (Photopolymer), CNC (Machining)
4: Finishing
• Texturecreated via sand blast of the mold or polish
• PaintingABS can easily be spraypainted
• Printinglogos via silk screen print, epoxy
• Anodizealuminum gets scratch resistance and color
• Stickersmake indent for sticker
5: Assembly
Putting it all together:
Packaging designPaper insetUPC bar codeFCC and other certifications (UL, CE, ...)
Summary
Topics covered• electronics design• model the inside first• housing design concept• use collision detection• make prototype and test design• tooling, prototype run• manufacturing• packaging• sell your product on the web
ResourcesPlastic Wikihttp://www.plastics.inwiki.orgProspector Plastics Datasheet http://www.ides.comMaterial Properties and Injection
Molding, calculate the detailshttp://www.efunda.comMaterialshttp://www.matweb.com
Rapid Injection Molding http://www.protomold.comhttp://www.quickparts.com
Polyjet prototyping C-Ideashttp://www.buildparts.comBarcodeshttp://www.nationwidebarcode.comCAD Softwarehttp://www.solidworks.comhttp://www.3dcontentcentral.com
http://www.blender.orghttp://www.123dapp.comOnline Machine Shophttp://www.emachineshop.com
Commercial Injection Moldinghttp://www.ome-mould.com
