There is no doubt that the world of electrical design has become more complex in recent years. What was once a simple case of connecting A to B with a wire and making sure the voltage and resistance were adequate has become much more complex, with most electrical products having multiple functions. Add to this the drive to make electrical products as small and compact as possible, and it's clear that there are several new design imperatives affecting the world of electrical product engineering. This guide explains how to deliver successful projects despite these new pressures.
Anticipating problems
If you're starting a new project, you'll want to gather a team of experts around you. These are people who can be trusted to spot where snags might occur as the project progresses. For example, if you work together with a person who has experience with printed circuit boards, they will be able to tell you if your plans are too ambitious or if there are parts of your design that could be modified to make them more effective and successful. Anticipation of problems is exactly what distinguishes experienced engineering teams from those that take much longer to finalize products.
Design for the price
If your project involves mass production of items, you will need to take into account the low-cost manufacturing requirements of all your projects. If you are unable to use the cheapest materials to create a competitive product on the market, you will fail to sell units and all your design ambitions will be thwarted. For this reason, one of the imperatives regarding project design should be to instruct people to find the simpler and cheaper way to build the products. That might mean thinking about ways to use automated manufacturing or 3D printing to make products faster, or using low-cost polymers and metals to make the entire final product cheaper.
Improvement of electricity
Each electrical product requires a certificate and safety test to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and the safety of sale to consumers. In this regard, it is important to note that many regions have different certification requirements and operate under different regulations. The United States and the European Union, for example, operate under slightly different rules, whereby a product must pass through both regulatory regimes to gain approval from the relevant authorities. This means that when your professionals use software to fine-tune the perfect PCB layout, you will need to keep in mind any requirements set by regulatory bodies in the jurisdictions where you hope to sell. Use advanced software that helps you plan your electrical system without wasting money on dozens of prototypes before you can build your first product.
Focus on elegance
While the key to most electrical products is what happens “under the hood”, you should also pay particular attention to the aesthetic appearance of your product, its surface, as this is something that many consumers will pay attention to when will purchase certain electrical products. Household products, i personal fashion products and the products that are used on the go are all items that must be built not only to be functional, but also to be elegant, for this it is necessary to involve the aesthetic skills of the design team to create a product that is not only functional, but also desirable.
These tips are the essential elements that all design teams need to keep in mind when preparing to build a new electrical project.
