Case Studies
xMacchina has tackled projects big and small across many industries. From IoT home health care systems to automotive diagnostic devices, we've got the experience and know-how to help you build your product.
Below is just a small sample of projects we have tackled and can publicly display. For more information, please get in touch here.
Developing a custom solution based on our existing products
Designing automotive computer systems is never easy, but when the product requirements call for an unusually small form factor and an unusually large number of active RF radios it doesn’t hurt to call in a second opinion! That’s the situation we found ourselves in when a customer came to us and asked us to develop an extremely integrated cellular/WiFi/Bluetooth communication system based on our existing M2 automotive interface, so we leaned on our relationship with major antenna manufacturer Antenova and RF specialists F3 Wireless. Read more about the collaboration here.
Custom connectors and stamped metal
The client wanted a specific form factor for the product, but all available off-the-shelf OBD2 connectors had a plastic shell that was too deep for the desired PCB placement.
We designed a custom shell that was nearly half the depth of typical connectors, and we designed the metal pins that populate the shell, all while maintaining full compatibility with the OBD2 specification.
The RF shield in this image (funny looking rectangle on the left) actually goes to the complicated rigid-flex RF PCB shown below.
Rigid-flex PCB interconnect
The client needed to connect many signals from one PCB to another, but wanted to avoid the cost of custom cables and PCB connectors, as well as allow for the assembly process to be automated in large volumes. An 8-layer rigid-flex PCB was designed to interconnect the two FR4 PCBs. The rigid-flex PCB was folded over to save space, and was soldered directly to each FR4 PCB, which eliminated an interconnect on each side and allowed for a fully automated assembly.
The custom RF shield for this board is shown above (“Custom connectors and stamped metal”) as an example of stamped metal work.
Squeeze a product into ¼ the usual volume
Customer wanted passthrough AC power measurement, complete with a 2.4GHz mesh LAN and a cellular modem, in a physical form less than one-quarter the size of a typical power monitor (such as KillAWatt)
The electrical design used all three dimensions to great advantage, with an 8-layer main PCB, 6-layer daughter PCB mounted at a 45 degree angle, buried and blind vias, thru-hole components with leads bent to allow them to straddle other components, a custom case design that conformed to the physical placement of the large components, and entirely custom male and female AC connectors designed for maximum space-savings.
Customized LiIon battery
Customer wanted to use an off-the-shelf LiIon battery pack in a very space-constrained device, but couldn’t find the desired cable length from any vendor’s catalog.
We contacted a company that manufactures the type of LiIon pack desired, and worked with them to specify a custom cable length.
Yes, that simple. The moral of the story is just because someone designs a product for mass-manufacture doesn’t mean they won’t customize it for the right customer, especially when that change is just some production planning that costs virtually nothing.
Watchdog power controller
Customer’s high-end automotive product used a CPU that consumed far too much power in “sleep mode”, which would lead to a very short runtime on battery operation and could easily lead to draining the car’s battery in mere hours.
A custom CAN watchdog circuit was created that uses an extremely low-power ARM microcontroller to switch power on and off to the entire system, thereby greatly extending the vehicle’s battery life. The circuit was triggered by CAN/J1939 activity, large changes in battery voltage, preprogrammed timed events, and many more.
Assembly fixture
The contract manufacturer informed us that they could not automate the soldering of the customer’s large OBD2 connector because it would not lay down at the correct angle on the PCB, thus requiring more expensive and time-consuming hand soldering as an extra assembly step.
A 3D-printed jig was designed that physically positioned the connector correctly on the PCB for automated soldering, saving time and considerable money.
