Speedy solution to complex latching problem

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jul 24, 2002

When a major electronics manufacturer recently turned to Southco to help in a major redesign of one of its top selling products, it needed it done yesterday.

In today's electronics industries, the pace is beyond fast.

Tomorrow's innovations are practically yesterday's news.

When it comes to a complete system redesign, they need to work in terms of days, not weeks and months.

In those situations, most electronics manufacturers turn to their supply partners to help them get the job done, because they expect their partners to offer everything from design and engineering support to global manufacturing and supply-chain organisation capabilities.

When a major electronics manufacturer recently turned to Southco, global leader in latch and access solutions, it was looking for exactly that level of service.

It needed to undertake a major redesign of one of its top selling products, a rack-mounted server system, which included everything from the outside enclosure to the access hardware.

And, it needed it done yesterday.

Primed for the challenge, Southco engineers met with their customer's engineering and design teams, and got right to work on the access hardware part of the redesign.

The server was designed to provide extreme ease of use for technicians and service personnel.

The entire server module itself can be pulled forward on special glide arms for replacing or upgrading interior components.

A latch in the centre of the top cover securely fastens the cover to the module, compressing EMC gasketing.

The new latch design needed to offer multiple functions.

Quick, intuitive operation was a must.

So was EMC shielding and gasket compression.

Finally, the latch needed to provide panel kick-out so that the service technician would not have to prise the top panel off the module, as was the case with the current latch.

And it all had to be done in a short amount of time, as testing for the redesigned module was already scheduled.

"The current latch works well, but offered some limitations", says Southco Design Engineer, Rick Schlack.

The latch's pawl was hidden under the panel, so re-aligning and latching the cover was a blind operation.

Also, the latch did not provide any mechanical advantage to force the cover and module apart.

The operator had to pull on the latch to remove the cover, which could mean potential damage to the latch, the server, or the interior components.

"Even with directions printed on the cover, many technicians had a hard time with it", says Schlack.

Using one of Southco's newest innovative latching systems as a guide, Schlack worked with the customer's engineering team to develop a latch that would meet all the requirements of the module.

"The new latch is designed along the lines of our door edge multipoint compression system", explains Schlack.

"Instead of offering multiple points of compression, this latch uses the principles of the door edge's actuator mechanism to securely latch the top panel to the module with only one latch point".

The Southco solution consists of a small latch that is flush with the cover panel, and barely protrudes into the interior of the module.

Operating the new latch is fast and easy: lift the handle to unlatch the panel.

As the latch is pulled open, a built-in kick-out feature pushes the panel and the module apart, leaving the technician to simply lift the cover off the server module.

The latch itself also serves as a handle for removing and replacing the cover.

Replacing the cover is just as easy: once the cover is placed on the server module, the technician pushes the handle down.

The latch then grabs the cover, aligning it and drawing it closed, which compresses the EMC gasketing.

The latch is made of a tough, durable plastic that is custom coloured to the customer's specifications.

"The customer wanted a visual cue to service technicians that this is an accessible panel", explains Schlack.

As the electronics manufacturer had worked with Southco before, both the company and Southco engineers were confident the new latch would be the right solution for this application.

In order to get the system to testing more quickly, Southco bypassed prototype tooling and immediately developed production-intent tooling, yielding production-ready parts in time to meet the testing deadline.

The result: the customer received parts for testing in half the usual lead-time (compared with industry standards).

The new Southco latch passed comprehensive product testing and quality requirements with flying colours, and now may be used on additional product lines.