Collaboration at every level of space technology innovation.
During a two day workshop at the Plexus facility in Livingston, the Plexus Design and Development team were able to watch Hanwha Phasor’s, Mark Radford, New Product Introduction Engineer and their Principal Mechanical Engineer, completely dismantle and reassembly their first prototype unit.
The Plexus team quickly appraised themselves of the complexities of the product and set to work providing design for manufacturing guidance. One of the key recommendations was a change to the Thermal Interface Material (TIM). By changing from a sheet material to a dispenser, it eased assembly application and provided greater margin in the design for the assembly stack up.
Helping to re-shape the design in the early stages ensured repeatability and consistency was built into future manufacturing and that appropriate tooling could be put in place. It also allowed the teams to set up a suitable materials strategy. Collaborating as one team was essential to building a closer partnership and getting the antenna design right. Hanwha Phasor’s review of the workshop was wholly positive, “We know that we have an extended team at Plexus, just as engaged in designing and making this product as we are at Record Hall [Hanwha’s London headquarters]” said Hanwha Phasor’s COO, Dominic Philpott.
The antenna was complex, it combined 27 PCBAs within a highly integrated design. Plexus’ engineering teams carried out Design for Excellence (DfX) across all eight unique assemblies in the first revision and on the fifteen unique assemblies used in the second revision of the antenna design. They provided feedback on material selection and elements at the most granular level, such as the symbols and footprints on the PCB bare boards. Through this process, the Plexus team was able to offer Hanwha Phasor guidance on the best use of design-for-test principles to ensure they achieved the best possible test coverage across all PCBs from the outset.
Having completed the PCB development, Plexus worked alongside Hanwha Phasor to develop and implement a reliable and efficient functional testing processes — with the underlying priority of maximizing reliability through quality.