Design of Printed Circuit Board Customized Housing

In September, 2006, this consultant was contacted by a client who needed a plastic housing designed to hold a printed circuit board which in turn controlled a fiber-optic panel. The current design (prototype) was an off-the-shelf purchased plastic box with a cover held by 2 screws. In order to hold the p.c. board, the box had to be machined, drilled, fitted with slots (glued), hand assembled, wired, etc, all of which rendered the unit expensive to produce. It also required additional parts to be purchased and/or made custom to fit three different size connectors.

The client wanted a housing that could be snap-fitted together to enclose the p.c. board but wasn't sure how to address the connector and power line issues. After several attempts to make a design that would snap-fit together and address the list of other needs, this associate came up with 3 relatively simple approaches to the problems afoot. This consultant made a housing that was universal in design that could be rotated 180 degrees and then "ultra-sonically" welded to itself encapsulating the p.c. board. In addition, the housing was designed so that it would have 2 pockets capable of inserting an elastomeric wafer into the pocket such that, depending on the color of the wafer, a square hole would align and permit a comparable sized connector a friction-fit exclusive to the size necessary for the application, a "Chinese-finger" approach.

The last feature eliminated the need for an expensive grommeted cable restraint for the power cord by internally designing a serpentine route for the power line. Once the concept of the features were displayed and approved by the client and engineering staff, drawings were generated. It is also important to note that there were other design features that were required such as precise alignment and fitments which were somewhat proprietary in nature. The client appeared very pleased with the result. The other interesting project parameter - the client allowed 5 days to come up with the design. This expert did it in 4.

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