Expert Details
Electronic and Mechanical Design of Consumer and Healthcare Products for Asian Manufacture
ID: 723004
Massachusetts, USA
He has been designing analog and digital electronic circuits for products for most of his 30+ year engineering career. This includes circuitry for the world’s first portable digital capacitance meter, the first environmentally hardened digital thermometer, a computer-based portable analog and digital test system, and for UV flash based sterilizer and disinfector products, and several electronic toys and sporting-goods products. Many of these circuits were designed for high volume low cost production either domestically or in Asia. He has also designed complete automated test systems for high speed, comprehensive final tests on a production line. These test systems have included capabilities for acoustic measurements, optical measurements, analog voltage and current measurements, machine vision, barcode reading, along with a direct computer interface for data logging. He has also designed data acquisition instrumentation for ballistics and hyper-velocity propulsion system measurements.
In his career he has done both the electronic and mechanical design of a number of electronic instruments and healthcare devices for both professional and consumer applications. These products included the first portable digital capacitance meter, the first environmentally hardened digital thermometer, an early desktop computer system, a diagnostic device for detecting ear infections, a number of UV flash sterilizers and disinfectors and several toys and sporting-goods products. As an entrepreneur and partner in several manufacturing companies, he is acutely aware of the cost of assembling products, and all of his designs are optimized for minimal labor content. In many cases he performed both the electronic and mechanical design of the products, so even the user controls and display components of the products are directly connected to the PC boards for easy assembly. Also the PC boards are specifically designed for automated testing of the completed product and he has designed automated test systems that are used to verify product functionality. He is also very familiar with high volume product manufacturing in China. His designs for Asian manufacture are based on components that are cost effective readily available in China and incorporate manufacturing techniques commonly used in China.
He has designed a number of high volume consumer and professional products for domestic and Asian manufacture. These products included the first portable digital capacitance meter, the first environmentally hardened digital thermometer, and early desktop computer system, a diagnostic device for detecting ear infections, a number of UV flash sterilizers and disinfectors, and several toys and sporting-goods products. He takes pride in researching components for a product to find the lowest cost that meet the specifications, including longevity and reliability. As an entrepreneur and partner in several manufacturing companies, he is acutely aware of the cost of assembling products, and all of his designs are optimized for minimal labor content in assembly and testing. He is also very familiar with high volume product manufacturing in China. His designs for Asian manufacture are based on components that are cost effective readily available in China and incorporate manufacturing techniques commonly used in China.
He has always been a puzzle solver. He often solves puzzles by finding a new or unusual approach to the problem. His thought processes are geared to optimizing the result, and he can't approach a problem any other way. This is the same approach he uses to solve business or product problems, or to generate new product designs. This approach has resulted in 9 issued patents and many more in process. Most of these patents have already been used in the manufacture of products, or licensed to other companies. Much of his consulting work is based on clients looking for a solution to a specific problem. He often provide solutions that are completely unexpected that are the basis for a new product. This include the electronic and/or mechanical design of medical products, infant products, teaching-aid products, toys, and sporting-goods.
He has lead several projects recently involving acoustic noise analysis and reduction in several different consumer and commercial products. This included reducing noise at the source, absorbing noise in specific spectrums, and reducing noise in a high speed air flow system.
In another project he designed and built a test and calibration system for a consumer product that analyzes the trajectory and velocity of a baseball. This involved custom instrumentation for both audio and ultrasonic generation and measurements.
In another recent project he designed and built a low-cost high-speed camera system for photographing the combustion in a running diesel engine. This was done without modifying the engine to get a true picture of the real-world operating.
Regularly analyzes product failures of electronic and electromechanical infant care products. The analysis results in a determination of the failure and typically the cause of the failure. The report provides details on recommended changes to the manufacturing process to eliminate future failures. Developed a wide range of products used for teaching aids. These are typically mechanical or electromechanical products for either domestic or offshore manufacture. The deliverable is typically a complete set of drawings for the components and a functioning prototype. Several patents and patent applications have resulted for the client.Developed a group of UV sterilizing and sanitizing products for professional and consumer healthcare. The products are developed to a manufacture-ready condition and licensed to major manufactures. The work resulted in drawings, specifications, working prototypes, and offshore manufacturing recommendations. Several patents have resulted from this work.Client wanted a battery powered illuminated house number unit with a battery life of at least 6 months. Client had been told by a number of other engineers and consultants that his specifications could not be met. He designed and prototyped a unit that exceeded the specifications and has a battery life of over 2 years. A patent on the electrical and optical design resulted for the client. He also connected client with a Chinese manufacturer for the product.Worked with a healthcare company on the manufacturing engineering of an acoustic based healthcare product for detecting ear infections. Started with company's working conceptual design and developed a manufacturable product design. Also developed and built a complete automated test system to verify accuracy and functionality of the products produced. Test system included acoustic testing, electromechanical actuation, machine vision, bar code reading, and computer logging of results. Six test systems were built for domestic QA and for use in Chinese manufacturing facility.
Education
Year | Degree | Subject | Institution |
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Year: 1974 | Degree: BS | Subject: Electrical Eng./Biomedical Option | Institution: MIT |
Work History
Years | Employer | Title | Department |
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Years: 1992 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: Pres. (Owner) | Department: |
Responsibilities:Product development consulting and prototype fabrication for a variety of clients including healthcare products, infant care products, teaching-aid products, and other consumer products, including toys. Includes both electrical and mechanical engineering and selection of materials and processes. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1998 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: VP Eng. (Partner) | Department: |
Responsibilities:Design of consumer and professional healthcare products including sanitizing and sterilizing devices using flash UV light. Developed a number of patented products for license to other manufacturers. Products were designed for manufacture in Asia and worked closely with Asian manufacturers. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1994 to 1997 | Employer: HyperKinetics | Title: Partner (co-founder) | Department: |
Responsibilities:Developed instrumentation for aerospace research partnership. Instrumentation was used to measure velocity and performance of hypersonic projectiles and hypersonic propulsion system. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1987 to 1994 | Employer: CyberChrome, Inc. | Title: VP Eng. (co-founder) | Department: |
Responsibilities:Developed systems and software for electronic image processing for pre-press applications. Developed and patented first practical system for highquality color separations on PC-based systems using Postscript printer drivers. Licensed system to Polaroid Corporation. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1983 to 1987 | Employer: CyberResearch | Title: VP Eng. (co-founder) | Department: |
Responsibilities:Developed PC-based systems for scientific and engineering applications, including data acquisition, computer aided design, motion control, and other industrial control systems. Authored catalog of technical PC systems and developed PC based publishing system for catalog. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1981 to 1983 | Employer: Analogic | Title: Product Line Manager | Department: |
Responsibilities:Supervised the development of portable computerized test system with analog and digital capabilities to test medical monitoring systems used in hospitals. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1974 to 1981 | Employer: ECD, Corp | Title: VP Eng. (co-founder) | Department: |
Responsibilities:Developed electronic instruments, including world's first digital capacitance meter and first environmentally hardened digital thermometer. Also contributed to design of early desktop microcomputer system. |
International Experience
Years | Country / Region | Summary |
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Years: 1996 to Present | Country / Region: China and HK | Summary: Worked closely with a number of manufacturing companies in China to produce products of his own design and for other product from my client companies. This includes professional and consumer healthcare products, other consumer products, toys, and sporting-goods. |
Additional Experience
Vendor Selection |
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Has worked extensively with Chinese manufacturers. This includes electronic and mechanical design of products for low cost manufacture in China. These designs specifically incorporate materials, components, and processes that are compatible with Chinese manufacturing expertise. Also has relationships with several manufacturing companies in China for consumer products, professional and consumer healthcare products, toys, and sporting-goods. |
Marketing Experience |
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Has significant experience and expertise in the use of UV light for sanitization and sterilization in both consumer and professional healthcare products. This includes UV light generation using flash technology and the use of UV optical materials and instrumentation. Also has significant experience and expertise in design of portable battery-powered devices using either disposable or rechargeable batteries. This includes design optimization for battery life in healthcare devices, infant products, toys, and sporting-goods. Also has significant experience and expertise in product failure analysis. This includes electronic and mechanical analysis of products manufactured offshore. The analysis results in specific recommendations to the manufacturer for product quality improvement. |
Other Relevant Experience |
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Has broad experience in electrical, mechanical, optical, and acoustic product design and manufacture. This broad experience allows design optimization of the complete product or system by trading-off different aspects of the design. This breadth is also important in failure analysis where the source of the failure may include interactions between different aspects of the product. He also has a fabrication facility to make prototypes of the product designs and to fabricate custom instrumentation and fixtures. |
Fields of Expertise
biomedical engineering, biomedical product development, circuit design, electronic circuit design, design for assembly, design for manufacturability, design for manufacture and assembly, design for cost, high volume, low cost product assembly, high volume, low cost product design, new consumer product development, ideation, innovation, acoustic noise abatement, acoustical instrumentation, analytical instrumentation design, combustion measurement, barcode design, commercialization, inorganic material performance, plastic product development, biomedical application, biomechanical engineering, microbial control product development, baby personal care product, rapid product development, biomedical instrumentation, household appliance new product development, optoelectronic circuit, new product design, home health care, biomedical device design review, electrooptics, electrical product development, device product development, electronic equipment, product cost reduction, new product development, new product assessment, medical device manufacturing, electronic product development, product design, design engineering, design process, biomedical device, biomedical instrument, bioengineering, optoelectronics science, infant, biomedical diagnostic instrumentation, biomedical device manufacturing, bioinstrumentation, automatic test equipment