Drop impact survey of portable electronic products

Abstract

A common cause of failure in portable electronic products is drop impact. Electronic products subjected to impact and shock can sustain major functional and physical damagc such as internal component failures and cracking of external casings. This paper examines tlic impact bchavior of several mobile plioncs and personal digital assistants (PDAs) at various impact orientations using an orientation conlrollcd drop tester 111. The drop tester holds the product at a specified orientation and relcascs the product jus1 before impact. A high-speed camera is used to \,e* the impact orientation. Of interest are the strains and shock level induced around key electronic packages within each product_ and tlic impact forcc. An understanding of llic shock induced at different impact orientations will help in the design of more reliable and robust products.