Designing Electronic Product Enclosures

This text explains the process of the design of product electronic enclosures. These products typically contain a printed circuit board. The text takes the reader from the original idea for a product, through the shipment in quantity to a customer. For the product enclosure designer, this proceeds through design layout, material selection, prototype building, testing, and ongoing design improvement. The book presents a substantive and lucid treatment of the structural, thermal, user-interface, assembly, quality control, and cost considerations of the product enclosure. Of special note is a discussion on the regulatory issues involved with the design of a product. A main thrust of the text is on the "commercialization" aspects of electronic products, that is, when an enclosure is needed for the product to meet environmental and certification requirements globally. The book targets the broadest audience tasked to design/manufacture an enclosure, from mechanical/industrial engineers to designers and technicians. While the intent of the text is not to provide a complete understanding of relevant physical phenomena addressed (strength of materials, shock and vibration, heat transfer), the book provides a ready reference on how and where these key properties may be considered in the design of most electronic enclosures.