SolidWorks helps InFocus innovate and design, and stay in mobile projectors

This article introduces the mobile projector industry leader InFocusCorporation using the SolidWorksProfessional suite to easily achieve cutting-edge design, and reduce the size and weight reduction success.

Company Profile

InFocus Corporation is a leader in the mobile projector industry and has introduced the industry's first mobile projection system that projects the display content of a computer onto a large screen. After the company was founded, the combination of notebook computers, demonstration software and mobile projection systems has become a standard auxiliary demonstration method, appearing in large and small situations. Whether in business or education, they are everywhere. As a leader in the industry, InFocus takes the lead in market strategy and introduces new features and technologies ahead of the competition to lead the market.

face the challenge

In order to maintain a competitive advantage, the company evaluated its product development platform in 2000. According to David Mulholland, a senior applications engineer at the company, InFocus engineers used the I-DEAS3DCAD system running on a UNIX workstation, but needed a more efficient way to handle increasingly complex geometries and surfaces.

“The industry trend of projectors is smaller and lighter, which requires the design of curvilinear, cleverly combined shapes and surfaces,” Mulholland explains. “The industrial design and appearance of our products have become important, but We believe that with more advanced CAD systems, it is easier to handle increasingly complex shapes. And we also hope to achieve a higher price/performance ratio after migrating from a UNIX-based system to a Windows PC-based computing platform."

solution

After evaluating many commercial CAD systems, InFocus finally targeted the alternatives on three products: Pro/ENGINEER, I-DEAS, and SolidWorks Professional3DCAD suite software. After another judgement, the company finally decided to use SolidWorks Professional. Mulholland said that InFocus chose SolidWorks software because it is easy to use, powerful, and integrates product data management functions, which is really worth the money.

“It’s harder to do with I-DEAS, which we can do more easily in SolidWorks,” Mulholland recalls. “In general, existing things are hard to replace. But during the evaluation process, We are increasingly feeling that SolidWorks is the best system and the price is very reasonable."

Use result

Easy to achieve cutting edge design

With the deployment of the SolidWorks Professional suite, InFocus engineers had plenty of time to revise during the conceptual design phase, ultimately bringing more innovation to the product, which is what the company needs to stay ahead of the market. The design process involves collaboration between mechanical and electrical engineers. Mechanical engineers use SolidWorks software to develop enclosures, mechanical components, and electrical locations, while electrical engineers develop boards. Does the company use CircuitWorks? The software integrates the assembled board into the SolidWorks model.

“Because the work is more efficient, our work can go back and forth between the mechanical and electrical departments two or four times,” Mulholland said. “With SolidWorks, the work has become much simpler.”

Reduce size and weight

Moving to SolidWorksProfessional helps InFocus engineers solve design challenges and produce smaller, lighter projectors. “We are constantly pursuing smaller volumes, and we have to load 500 to 600 parts in a shrinking space, which requires the use of the best design tools,” Mulholland said. “We work in assembly mode. Then use SolidWorks' dynamic collision detection to find the location of the collision. Our products also use a lot of injection molded parts, so we use SolidWorks tools for a large number of draft analysis to check wall thickness and draft, to minimize possible The mold problem."

InFocus uses the SolidWorks Simulation analysis software integrated in the kit for stress analysis and SolidWorks product data management software to manage design data. “We have greatly improved the ease of use of analytics. SolidWorksSimulation can set loads, limits and critical conditions, and it's really powerful,” Mulholland said. “Using SolidWorksPDM software to manage data within the design team is also very efficient. It's very easy to use and can do everything a user needs."

New projection mobility standard

The LP120 Mobile Projector is the first InFocus product to be completely designed using SolidWorks Professional software. The LP120 mobile projector has a small magnesium metal structure that can be placed in a briefcase with a notebook computer and weighs only 1.98 pounds. The product received the "Editor's Choice Award" from LAPTOP magazine, reinterpreting the mobile projection technology and enabling InFocus to continue to be the number one in the industry.

“We have been very successful in developing LP120 products using SolidWorks software,” Mulholland emphasized. “We don’t want to emulate other companies, but we’re constantly making breakthroughs and innovations. SolidWorks can support our internal goals. Developed higher quality products and brought more innovations. It has helped us launch the smallest and lightest mobile projectors available today and will continue to help us develop next-generation products in the future."

“We have greatly improved the ease of use of analytics. SolidWorksSimulation can set loads, limits and critical conditions, and it's really powerful.” – Senior Application Engineer David Mulholland