The Product Manufactory team worked with Littelfuse engineers to develop a novel, hinged-carriage design to make the user-experience of fuse removal and replacement more fluid, safe, and less prone to human error.
THE CHALLENGE
In early 2016 The Product Manufactory was approached by engineers working for LIttelfuse at their R&D facility located nearby at the University of Illinois Research Park. One of the more noteworthy LittelFuse products was their high-voltage fuse suited for photovoltaic applications. It came in a larger 10mm diameter by 85mm length package, for which the market was currently only providing one or two touch-safe fuse holder products. Being a leader in the manufacturing and sale of fuses in this particular form factor, Littelfuse wanted to develop their own fuse holder from scratch that would create significant value-add and product differentiation compared to existing market products.
WHAT TPM DID
Littelfuse approached The Product Manufactory with a challenging list of electrical, mechanical, use-safety specifications the fuse holder would need to satisfy to pass multiple product certification tests. To ramp up the challenge even more, they specifically requested the product's function to be unmistakably unique to therefore enhance their sales and brand recognition.
Safe and user friendly
Over the course of many months, the Product Manufactory team worked closely with Littelfuse engineers to develop a novel hinged-carriage design to make the user-experience of fuse removal and replacement more fluid, safe, and less prone to human error. This was a key value add for this product. Particularly for solar-farm applications where fuses are replaced on a regular maintenance cycle.
The Product Manufactory team provided CAD design, prototyping ,and testing services for this product, and continued that support through to final manufacturing of the product.
Available on several distribution channels
Achievement
The product is now for sale on several distribution channels, such as Digikey.
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Industrial design
Prototyping
Testing
Mechanical design
DFM
Manufacturing Support