Drop tests and impact simulation for cell phones

Abstract

This study conducts drop tests on cell phones according to related test standards. It is shown experimentally that damage to the inner LCD modules of cell phones occurs mostly when the cell phone drops with its front or back facing up. The probability of the aforementioned damage can be effectively reduced using the Taguchi method to modify design. Using Taguchi modified designs can increase survival rates of LCD modules of cell phones after drop tests from 70% to 90%. Our experiments have indicated that horizontal impacts cause the most damage in cell phone drop tests. They often lead to cracks originated near the midpoints of one edge of the module, as indicated by our results, analyzed by ANSYS/LS-DYNA.