Schieder Connectors

Schnieder Connectors

2022-2023

Part of the team that designed the bepsoke 2 channel fibre optic transceiver for Schnieder to be used in various applications across their product portfolio.

Main Roles

Mechanical Designer

Responsible for the mechanical design of the product and project peripherals.

What I did

FOT Leadframe Design.
Packaging Design.
Assembly & Test Fixtures .

FOT Leadframe Design

Leadframe design, component placement & tooling.

I designed the leadframes for both the Rx and Tx FOTs for the connector. These leadframes were designed to be manufactured using photochemical etching. I also worked alongside the electronic engineer team to develop the internal layout and circuitry of the transceivers. Cutting and forming tools also had to be designed and ordered for the project. These tools were then implemented into the company's manufacturing plant in China.

Packaging Design

Component, PCB, and FOT tubes, cardboard packaging & shipping prodcedures.

I designed the packing for both the individual formed FOTs, internal PCB assembly and fully formed connecotrs. Each needed their own plastic packaging tube, designed to protect the fragile leads during transit and handling. All cardboard packaging for parts also had to be designed along with the definition of the packaging & shipping procedures and the all labelling specifications.

Assembly & Test Fixtures .

Assembly fixture and test fixture adaption.

I designed some of the tooling used in the assembly process for the connectors. The main part of this was the retaining clip assembly fixture, a single stage hand press that could exert enough force to push the clip into place while ensuring that no damage would come to the housing or electronic components during the process. I was also in charge of making adaptations to the manual fixture fixture to allow the first articles assembled internal PCBs to be tested. This would allow us to review the PCB assembly process effectively as we could check for damage or wire bond breaks due to the soldering/handling process.