Altair Case Studies Optimizing Smartphone Housing Design: A Case Study of Samsung Research Institute – Bangalore

	Optimizing Smartphone Housing Design: A Case Study of Samsung Research Institute – Bangalore Altair

Optimizing Smartphone Housing Design: A Case Study of Samsung Research Institute – Bangalore

Altair

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Digital Twin / Simulation Other - Battery
Applicable Industries	Electronics Glass
Applicable Functions	Product Research & Development
Use Cases	Digital Twin Virtual Reality
Services	Hardware Design & Engineering Services Testing & Certification
Challenge	Samsung R&D Institute India - Bangalore (SRI-B), the largest R&D centre outside Korea for Samsung Electronics, faced significant challenges in the mobile devices industry. The industry is fiercely competitive, with companies constantly being pushed to innovate their hardware design. The design cycles are becoming shorter, and cost margins are narrowing, leading to a greater emphasis on virtual testing using computer simulation. Traditionally, an analyst would use Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to iterate a design until a feasible solution is reached. However, due to the limitations of manually exploring the complete design space, the acquired solution is not always necessarily an optimal one. One of the critical tests to determine the reliability of a mobile device is the drop test, which often reveals weaknesses in the housing design. Read More
About Customer	Samsung R&D Institute India - Bangalore (SRI-B) is the largest R&D centre outside Korea for Samsung Electronics. With over 3000 engineers, SRI-B works across diverse domains, projects, products, clients, people, and countries, and conducts research in new and emerging areas of technology. The Mobile division, one of the oldest research and development divisions at SRI-B, is particularly focused on pushing the boundaries of hardware design in the fiercely competitive mobile devices industry. Read More
Solution	To address these challenges, SRI-B adopted Altair HyperWorks OptiStruct® Software for shape and topology optimization to arrive at a detailed definition of a smartphone front & rear housing. A typical Samsung smartphone was used to demonstrate the optimization approach. The phone has a plastic over molded magnesium die-cast front housing and a polycarbonate rear housing. The lens-display module is adhered to the front housing, while the PCB and the battery are constrained to the rear housing, which is screwed to the front housing. The device is dropped in various orientations and the deformation of the internal components is monitored through simulation. It was observed that the drop reliability of a phone correlates to its stiffness; the higher the stiffness the greater its degree of reliability. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Digital Twin / Simulation

Other - Battery

Applicable Industries

Electronics

Glass

Applicable Functions

Product Research & Development

Use Cases

Digital Twin

Virtual Reality

Services

Hardware Design & Engineering Services

Testing & Certification

Challenge

Samsung R&D Institute India - Bangalore (SRI-B), the largest R&D centre outside Korea for Samsung Electronics, faced significant challenges in the mobile devices industry. The industry is fiercely competitive, with companies constantly being pushed to innovate their hardware design. The design cycles are becoming shorter, and cost margins are narrowing, leading to a greater emphasis on virtual testing using computer simulation. Traditionally, an analyst would use Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to iterate a design until a feasible solution is reached. However, due to the limitations of manually exploring the complete design space, the acquired solution is not always necessarily an optimal one. One of the critical tests to determine the reliability of a mobile device is the drop test, which often reveals weaknesses in the housing design.

About Customer

Samsung R&D Institute India - Bangalore (SRI-B) is the largest R&D centre outside Korea for Samsung Electronics. With over 3000 engineers, SRI-B works across diverse domains, projects, products, clients, people, and countries, and conducts research in new and emerging areas of technology. The Mobile division, one of the oldest research and development divisions at SRI-B, is particularly focused on pushing the boundaries of hardware design in the fiercely competitive mobile devices industry.

Solution

To address these challenges, SRI-B adopted Altair HyperWorks OptiStruct® Software for shape and topology optimization to arrive at a detailed definition of a smartphone front & rear housing. A typical Samsung smartphone was used to demonstrate the optimization approach. The phone has a plastic over molded magnesium die-cast front housing and a polycarbonate rear housing. The lens-display module is adhered to the front housing, while the PCB and the battery are constrained to the rear housing, which is screwed to the front housing. The device is dropped in various orientations and the deformation of the internal components is monitored through simulation. It was observed that the drop reliability of a phone correlates to its stiffness; the higher the stiffness the greater its degree of reliability.

Impact #1	The adoption of Altair HyperWorks OptiStruct® Software has significantly improved the efficiency of the design process at SRI-B. The software allows for a more detailed and accurate definition of a smartphone's front and rear housing, leading to a more reliable and optimal design. The use of this software has also enabled a more effective approach to testing the reliability of the devices, particularly in terms of their performance in drop tests. This has resulted in a higher degree of reliability in the final products, as the stiffness of the phone, which correlates to its drop reliability, can be more accurately controlled and optimized.

Impact #1

The adoption of Altair HyperWorks OptiStruct® Software has significantly improved the efficiency of the design process at SRI-B. The software allows for a more detailed and accurate definition of a smartphone's front and rear housing, leading to a more reliable and optimal design. The use of this software has also enabled a more effective approach to testing the reliability of the devices, particularly in terms of their performance in drop tests. This has resulted in a higher degree of reliability in the final products, as the stiffness of the phone, which correlates to its drop reliability, can be more accurately controlled and optimized.

Benefit #1	The quasi-static load based optimization takes 30 minutes to run, compared to a single drop simulation that would typically take 7 hours to run.

Benefit #1

The quasi-static load based optimization takes 30 minutes to run, compared to a single drop simulation that would typically take 7 hours to run.

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Overview

Optimizing Smartphone Housing Design: A Case Study of Samsung Research Institute – Bangalore

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit