Project:

Investigation into the cause of a seal failure resulting in water ingress

This task involved the investigation into why a seal feature in a product was prone to failure, resulting in the ingress of water that will damage electronics. On investigation, reports received from manufacturing operations also suggested that somethimes the parts were difficult to assemble. The investigation took the following form:

• analysis of the design intent: were the sealing features designed in accordance with the guidelines published by the seal manufacturers?
• critique of the manufaturing documentation: did the drawings ensure that what was made met the requirements?
• an inspection of the parts to ensure that they were made to the manufacturing documentation

The analysis revealed that the parts were compliant with the drawings (i.e made correctly) but the parts were not designed in accordance with accepted practices / published recommendations.

A report into the findings was produced and recommendations made with respect to what changes were necessary for the detailed design & documentation.

A sample of specimens were re-worked to the correct design and testing conducted to ensure that the seal could be assembled and that it functioned as intended.

Industry: Industrial

Project completed: Apr-24