Initial study on the drop-impact behavior of mini Hi-Fi audio products

Abstract

Most electronic devices suffer impact-induced failure in their usage. Drop/impact performance of these products is one of the important concerns in product design. It is often time and cost consuming and thus undesirable to conduct drop tests for every design to physically detect any sign of failure and identify their drop behaviors. Finite element analysis provides a vital and powerful tool to solve the problems. The methodology of finite element modeling, simulation, and basic experimental validation should be developed to effectively study the drop-impact effects. Modeling and transient drop analysis for a mini Hi-Fi audio product is considered in this work. The impact analysis of the top-drop with buffer hitting the concrete floor is the main interest and concern of this work. The model is created with Pro-E, and the analysis is carried out with an existing software package, PAM-CRASH. The analysis is focused on the deformation of the bottom plate that is carrying a transformer. The deflection measured using a 3D-probe measurement is compared with the simulated results. Experimental data have also been obtained for drop simulation correlation for the plate and buffer material properties. The G-force and the permanent deformation of the bottom plate during drop are noted. The effects of the material properties to the plate deflection under drop/impact shock have also been investigated. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.