Designing Handheld Electronics for Survival

摘要

I dropped my cell phone again, on the driveway as always, then picked it up and expected it to fully perform. It did. I also dropped my electronic Prius car key (replacement cost $185.97 plus $50 programming). Luckily it still works, too. Was I reasonable to hope so?rnThe answer is probably yes, but this hasn't always been the case. It depends a great deal on whether the manufacturer verified those designs for durability. Even 10 years ago, many efforts in this area relied solely on physical drop-testing or vibration on a shaker table. Nowadays, engineers have a wide selection of durability-simulation software available to test preliminary designs in more ways than anyone has the time or money to do in a lab. DE spoke to a number of finite element analysis (FEA) vendors to see how their software helps engineers ensure their handheld electronics products meet today's consumer expectations.