My Engineering Portfolio
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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 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
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/870701_bfb26217091c492bb03fe4c0474e9571~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_600,h_241,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/870701_bfb26217091c492bb03fe4c0474e9571~mv2.jpg)
Market Research
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No competitors in market offer ready-to-order, catalog panel plugs that satisfy popular customer needs
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/870701_7c5c6ba6ce5d42298379a9bfb665ac65~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_600,h_264,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/870701_7c5c6ba6ce5d42298379a9bfb665ac65~mv2.jpg)
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
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/870701_82e2826a7d554b2795791a37db9d2a0e~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_266,h_241,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/870701_82e2826a7d554b2795791a37db9d2a0e~mv2.jpg)
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/870701_622ccc5009424159815ffa287be16471~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_0,y_0,w_677,h_485/fill/w_336,h_241,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/870701_622ccc5009424159815ffa287be16471~mv2.jpg)
Results
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Each of the 8 plugs were sent to labs where they passed official testing
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Sample catalog pages can be found below (new plugs are highlighted in orange, old plugs that passed testing are highlighted in grey)
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/870701_0aede5523a2e4cdda5eaa05a0b353ec0~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_477,h_616,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/870701_0aede5523a2e4cdda5eaa05a0b353ec0~mv2.jpg)
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/870701_d8a5f3b8b3e04dd4b98152e2857dba6f~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_472,h_289,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/870701_d8a5f3b8b3e04dd4b98152e2857dba6f~mv2.jpg)