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Contacts
Head Office: MAPOld Market Place Tel: (0121) 544 1400 Northern Office: MAP
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Case StudiesSolid Edge enables design of the world’s slimmest all-in-one multi-media system
Designing and bringing the Cassius Intertainment
Centre, and it's sister product the Cassius Pro., to market on time
and at the right price was a major challenge for Densitron, whose
traditional skills lie in the development of display devices and
industrial computer systems. However, the challenge was eased
considerably through the use of the Internet and Solid Edge from
Siemens PLM Software. It’s a Nicam digital television. It’s a DVD/VCD video player. It’s a CD player and FM radio. It’s a digital stereo system. And it’s a powerful PC. And at a mere 64 mm (2.5 inches) deep, it’s probably the world’s smallest footprint all-in-one PC. Furthermore, it’s British. The Cassius Intertainment Centre, as well as its sister product, the Cassius Pro, has been designed by Densitron Computers, a division of Densitron Technologies of Biggin Hill in Kent and recently went on sale in selected high street stores in the UK, as well as in retail outlets in the USA and Japan. Being Densitron’s first venture into the retail end of the computer market, designing and bringing the Cassius to market on time and at the right price was a major challenge for the company, whose traditional skills lie in the development of display devices and industrial computer systems. However, the challenge was eased considerably through the use of the Internet and the Solid Edge 3D computer-aided design (CAD) software package from Siemens PLM Software. Chris Hill, managing director of SOLID Applications Ltd., one of the UK’s leading Solid Edge value-added resellers (VARs), which supplied, installed and supports the CAD system says, "Having conducted a thorough appraisal of the various 3D solid modelling CAD systems on the market, Densitron selected Solid Edge because of its advanced 3D parts and assembly modelling capabilities and because it is very easy to produce 2D engineering drawings, including sections and details, from the final 3D solid model. This was important to Densitron because many of its suppliers still want to be supplied with 2D drawings from which to work." Edward Price, design manager at Densitron Computers, adds, "Although 2D drawings are still required by many of our suppliers, the design brief for the Cassius demanded the use of the latest 3D solid modelling software technology. The product had to be visually attractive. It had to be as slim as possible. It had to be simple to install, with no tangle of cables to struggle with. And it had to come in at an affordable price – and on time. This was a completely new product that had to be designed from the ground up, both from an electronics and from a mechanical design standpoint, in a very short time-scale. So we needed a design tool that would enable us to package all of the Cassius’ components into the smallest possible space. Solid Edge gave us this capability – and more." Internet collaboration.With the electronics design being carried out in the Far East and the mechanical design and packaging being performed in the UK, the main challenge was to ensure that the two moved forward simultaneously so as to keep the development time-scale as short as possible. And because the mechanical design was driven by the size of the electronic components, tight integration between the two design disciplines was required, as well as regular use of the Internet to communicate design information around the world and to make the most of available time. To enable the necessary electronics and mechanical design integration, SOLID Applications supplied Densitron with a Solid Edge add-on software product known as PCB-to-3D. This is from the Solid Edge Voyager Partners third-party developers programme and enables a 3D space model of a printed circuit board (PCB) design to be created and read into Solid Edge. This provided Densitron’s mechanical design team with the space information they needed for their design work. Eventually, every single component of the Cassius was included in the Solid Edge assembly model to ensure that there was no interference between individual components and that everything fitted into the available space. Solid Edge also enabled the finished unit’s weight and centre of gravity to be calculated so that the team could ensure that, sitting on its stand, the Cassius met international safety regulations for tilt angle etc. "With the high component count involved and with only a millimetre between many of them, the assembly modelling facilities in Solid Edge were a crucial element in this stage of the development process and saved us a great deal of time and re-working," says Edward Price. Driving ‘downstream’ applications.But the use of Solid Edge didn’t stop at product design. The software was also used to create photo-realistic, rendered images of the Cassius for use in the marketing material required prior to its launch. STL files were generated from the 3D product model for use in the production of rapid prototypes, while once the go-ahead had been given for volume manufacturing to begin, Solid Edge was used to send the information required by the mould tool maker in China, over the Internet and to develop many of the flat patterns required by the sheet metal manufacturer in the UK. As Densitron’s Edward Price states, "Without Solid Edge and the support of the SOLID Applications team it would have been impossible for us to design the Cassius in anything like the time we did and to bring it successfully to market - on time. The assembly modelling facilities in Solid Edge and its ability to communicate with other applications were key here. All in all, the system has already paid for itself many times over". About Densitron Computers.Densitron Computers is a division of Densitron Technologies of Biggin Hill in Kent. With offices in the USA, Japan, Taiwan, France, Finland and Australia, in addition to its UK headquarters, Densitron Technologies has been one of the world’s largest and most successful developers and manufacturers of display devices for the past 30 years. Its products include alphanumeric and graphic displays with a variety of fluid, polariser and backlight options for use in a wide range of industrial applications by both end-user and OEM customers. Some 10 years ago and in answer to the increasing requirements of many of its customers for help in interfacing these display devices to their systems, the company expanded its activities into the design and manufacture of mother boards and then complete industrial computer systems. Today these are used extensively by OEMs in the industrial and process control systems, defence equipment and electronics manufacturing industries, among others.
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