UK design consultancy, Product Partners used SolidWorks 3D CAD software to develop the first self-adjusting infrared smoke detector. Recently made commercially available, the Fireray 5000 can save lives and minimize property damage by sensing fires in conditions that force other smoke detectors to fail. Bedfordshire-based Product Partners focuses on industrial product development, and has designed everything from an award-winning illuminated bicycle pedal to telephones and silicon chip test equipment. Its customers include GE Healthcare and global motion and control companies such as Baldor Electric Company and Parker Hannifin. Product Partners used SolidWorks software to design a smoke detector that automatically adjusts itself to ensure the infrared beam that detects smoke remains in tact – despite the suffocating temperatures that can cause other detectors’ beams to go out of line.
“We standardized on SolidWorks because it provides the most intuitive user interface on the market, and because it does what it says it’s going to do,” said Steve Gallichan, director of Product Partners. “It has allowed us to reduce our design cycles, and provides a stable environment we did not have with our previous CAD software.”
The Fireray 5000 for Fire Fighting Enterprises is unique in that it operates with a standard automotive wing mirror gimbal that automatically ensures the infrared beam remains intact. To ensure the gimbal would fit in the design, Product Partners shared 3D models of the detector with its supplier using SolidWorks eDrawings® e-mail-enabled design communication tool. The supplier’s engineers viewed, rotated, and manipulated the designs on screen as if they were holding them in their hands.
“eDrawings has been invaluable in creating an open communications pipeline between us, our toolmakers, moldmakers, and the GE team in New Jersey,” said Gallichan. “That dialogue alone has cut weeks out of our development time on drug discovery equipment.”
Gallichan and his team also used SolidWorks to design the Pedalite, a bicycle pedal that emits lights in three directions to ensure the rider’s safety at night. SolidWorks allowed Product Partners to design an ergonomic pedal that uses an energy storage capacitor rather than any form of chemical battery. The Pedalite won the 2005 Plastics Industry Award for consumer product design.
Product Partners uses the COSMOSXpress design analysis tool to conduct benchmark studies on how components will stand up to everyday use. It also uses PhotoWorks™ photorealistic rendering tool to provide clients with lifelike images of their products in development.
“Product Partners is another example of a consultancy that has standardized on SolidWorks to design better products for its customers,” said Simon Booker, SolidWorks marketing manager for Europe. “The Fireray 5000 will have a significant impact on how companies, retail stores, and recreational facilities approach fire alarm systems.”