SECTION TITLE
INSTRUMENTATION • ELECTRONICS
meets SAE J211, ISO 6487and FAA data acquisition requirements. Tere is no margin for error. Yet, inside that tiny housing there was a cumulative .91m of wire handled by at least six people. “When a part has a more complicated pin-out, there is a greater risk of getting things crossed. So we always test each piece,” says Neumann.
Te engineering team wanted to trim that lead time, plus eliminate the potential for pin-loading error. Te solution came in one easy piece: a tiny flex circuit. “Now we make a surface-mount style Micro connector, load the contacts into the plastic pin housing and fill it with epoxy. On the Nano side, we do the same thing,” says Neumann, whose background in hybrid microelectronics exposed him to flex circuitry’s potential uses in connector design. “Te flex board arrives 100% tested. When we solder the contacts onto the flex board, our fixtures don’t allow us to put the parts on incorrectly. Finally, we do an IPC visual inspection after they are soldered and then test the parts.”
Below: Back of the dummy’s head
The old version of the connector unit
CONSIDERABLE TIME SAVINGS Te time savings are significant: a 120-piece order can be made in about four hours. “Tis allows us to meet our just-in-time (JIT) supplier goals to reduce inventory and shorten our lead times,” says Grant Newton, Mechanical Engineering department manager at DTS. Te flex board is more costly, but the labour savings are considerable. Plus,
The new version, including a flex circuit
replacing that expanse of wire with the tiny flex board enabled Omnetics to reduce the size of the unit by 3.17mm, which in turn allowed DTS to fit the Slice6 into tighter spaces. “We were surprised that Omnetics was able to fit our requirements into an even smaller space. Tis allowed our customers to fit our products into even tighter locations, so it was a big win for everyone,” says Newton. “Omnetics provided us with details about how the product was being manufactured, which allowed us to discuss the changes from a more informed viewpoint. Te engineering team is always open to discuss new designs with us. We consider them an extension of our design team.” One more advantage of redesigning with flex is, naturally, flexibility. Although DTS originally designed its product for crash dummies, it is now being embedded on helicopter rotors and other devices that gather data that allows manufacturers to make cars, planes, child seats and other vehicles safe. Pretty smart, for a bunch of dummies.
Erica Mutch is with Omnetics.
www.omnetics.com
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