Mechanical response of portable electronic products to drop impact

Abstract

The objective of this project is to determine the impact responses experienced by the PCB near a major IC package in a portable electronic product during drop impact. Six handphones and three PDAs are drop tested from a height of 1 m at various impact orientations. The impact responses obtained are 1) impact force, 2) longitudinal and transverse strains, 3) in-plane and out-of-plane accelerations, via load cell, strain gauges and accelerometers mounted on the product PCB. The impact orientations are categorized into five impact groups a?? horizontal, vertical, angled, side and corner. Products cannot be compared against each other due to their varying design and structure and different mounting locations of the transducers. The numerical and experimental modal frequencies of three products are determined by ABAQUS and a FFT program respectively. Comparing these frequencies, the error differs for different products, due to the complexities and uniqueness of each product.