Case Brief:
GEMS Manufacturing was authorized to develop a charging enclosure with battery backup “ready-to-go” whereby the phone can be retained and charged safely and securely. The product appearance design was almost fixed featuring a slim and compact shape, but leaving very tight inner space to embody the PCBA, lithium battery, cables, buttons and connectors. Not only above electro-mechanical assemblies needed to be fulfilled, the customer also highlighted to maximize the battery size to extend the phone capacity, as well as increase the venting channels to avoid overheating issue.
How the Story Goes:
The Problem
GEMS Manufacturing was authorized to develop a charging enclosure with battery backup “ready-to-go” whereby the phone can be retained and charged safely and securely. The product appearance design was almost fixed featuring a slim and compact shape, but leaving very tight inner space to embody the PCBA, lithium battery, cables, buttons and connectors. Not only above electro-mechanical assemblies needed to be fulfilled, the customer also highlighted to maximize the battery size to extend the phone capacity, as well as increase the venting channels to avoid overheating issue.
Our Process
The GEMS engineering team was involved in the early stages of developing such enclosure design, and several concept designs were offered to trim off materials while keeping the efficiency of mold making and mass production in mind. One challenging problem was that traditional round connecting cables couldn’t be bent and fit, therefore GEMS came up with the idea of using Ribbon cables (FPC or flexible printed circuit), which allow more flexibility to the particularly tight assembled electronic packages. Many more innovative solutions were raised to bring the project back to track.
The Result
Following an in-depth design review with the customer, a path forward was agreed upon that all of the main critical components being reconstructed, as well as the electrical component integration. Then 10 molds were given permission to cut steel and then sample verification process. Along with certain electronic parts from other manufacturing partners, the mechanical parts were put into mass production of such electro-mechanical assemblies at GEMS Manufacturing. Thousands of final products have been finished and shipped to assigned locations following the client’s instructions.