My Engineering Portfolio
Audrey Darland
Electric Vehicle Panel Plugs
Completed: August 2021 for Echo Engineering & Production Supplies

Why?
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Rise of electric vehicles have generated increased demand for panel plugs, specifically those that are watertight over 1 meter (IPX8-rated), dampen sound, and are easy to install
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Only a few of Echo's previously-designed plugs actually pass these tests
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No design patterns existed that guaranteed watertight sealing
Objective
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Design 8+ catalog-ready panel plugs on SolidWorks and perform in-house testing
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Develop measurement ratios and formulas to allow for easy, scalable sizing while still meeting all testing requirements
Market Research
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No competitors in market offer ready-to-order, catalog panel plugs that satisfy popular customer needs

Design
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Each plug went through 3+ redesign phases due to failure to pass water column testing
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Molds were created using SolidWorks, then injected in-house


Results
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All 8 plugs sent to labs & passed official testing
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Design pattern established for easy scalability, should the need for other sizes arise
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Sample marketing material/catalog pages found below (new plugs highlighted in orange, old plugs that passed testing highlighted in grey)

