ME 597 Project I

Failure analysis of an LCD assembly

Amanuel M Abebaw

Advisor: Dr. El-Mounayri Department of Mechanical Engineering Purdue School of Engineering and Technology, IUPUI Co-Advisor: Phil Gilchrest Dell inc.

August 30th 2005

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Outline Objective
Identify the root causes of failure Engineering solutions

Limitation
This study only analyze the LCD assembly (the Mg cover and LCD module) of the Notebook computer

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Back ground
Definition of failure

Paint lines , Paint spots, Scratches (light ,deep), dents, Screen discoloration on the surface of an LCD

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Methodology Step 1
Define a bench mark

Step 2
Investigating the characteristics of LCD

Step 3
Finite element analysis
ANSYS Pro|Mechanica

Step 4
Identify failure causes

Step 5
Suggest design improvement
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Step 1- Defining a bench Mark

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Step 2- Investigation of LCD LCD

Polarized filters are most commonly made of a chemical film applied to a transparent plastic or glass surface Molecules in Nematic phase have definite order and arrangement hence external load (temperature and pressure) to this molecules affect the pattern and arrangement

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STEP 3-Finite Element Analysis

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Finite Element Analysis

Identifying resources
contact analysis
Pro| Mechanica ANSYS

Pro| LCD cover

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Contact Analysis

Pro|Mechanica
Capability
MECHANICA allows you to refine the elements on the contacting surfaces in order to improve contact pressure results. This option is only available if the Single Pass Adaptive convergence method is requested. Friction between parts are not allowed Less control of mesh

Fact
Single pass adaptive convergence is valid for small deflection theory Small deflection theory becomes invalid when the model bends beyond 5 degrees. geometric nonlinear analysis (large deflection theory).

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Contact Analysis
ANSYS
Capability
Allows us to refine mesh on contacting surfaces-more accurate results Large deflection theory is valid for contact analysis Allows friction between the mating parts

Fact
contact elements use a "target surface" and a "contact surface" to form a contact pair

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---Contact Analysis Challenge

contact element type
Node to node contact elements
node-to-node contact elements is an extremely precise analysis of surface stresses To use node-to-node contact elements, you need to know the location of contact beforehand

Node to surface contact elements

well-suited for point-to-point, point-to-surface, or edge-tosurface contact applications

Surface to surface contact elements

Provide better contact results needed for typical engineering purposes, such as normal pressure and friction stress contour plots Have no restrictions on the shape of the target surface

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---Contact Analysis Steps used for the analysis

step 1:
Create the model geometry in ANSYS / Import from Pro| Engineer using IGES

step 2
Define element type
Structural solid-brick 8 node 185

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---Contact Analysis
step 3
Meshing
Adaptive volume meshing Triangular mesh (both LCD casing and LCD module)

LCD module LCD cover

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---Contact Analysis
Step 4
Selecting contact surfaces
use contact manager surface to surface analysis

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---Contact Analysis Step 5

Choose contact element types
The target surface is modeled with Target170
3-D target surface element

The contact surface is modeled with elements Conta174

3-D contact surface element

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---Contact Analysis step 6

specify solution controls
Large displacement static Automatic time stepping
It allows ANSYS to determine appropriate sizes to break the load steps

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---Contact Analysis
Step 7
Apply constraints on the LCD assembly and run the analysis
Apply loads (up to 25lbf) Apply structural constraints( zero DOF at the edges of the LCD assembly)
Zero degree of freedom at the edge of LCD assembly

Force distribution at the top of LCD assembly

Step 8
Post process and view the result
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Result
ANSYS FEA result depicts the experimental result accurately in areas of interest

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Result
Areas of deflection (>3.8043mm) on the LCD depicts T and P failure areas on the LCD panel

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Result - contact stress

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Result- contact stress

Areas of Higher contact stress (>4.89MPa) depicts the three types of failure

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Solution specification
Engineering solutions will be based on the following parameters (sustaining) Thickness of the magnesium panel
Thickness of the magnesium panel recommended for the market is 2mm; however this thickness can be changed to +0.5mm/-0.5mm. Due to product feature requirements the shape of the panel need not to be changed.

The Gap between the LCD and the Panel

This parameter can be changed to the desired level, or can be stuffed with material as long as it wouldnt give an extra of 0.5lb in overall weight of the product.

The type of material to be used for the LCD

This parameter is very restricted, at this moment the magnesium can only be substituted with BPL 1000 Plastic panel.

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Gap
Analysis base
Keeping Mg panel thickness constant
Bench: 2mm Mg

Varying the gap distance between the LCD Module and the Mg panel Result
Decreasing the gap shows high resistance for a specific load

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Thickens Change
Analysis base
Keep the gap distance between the Mg panel and LCD module constant
Bench: 2mm Gap

Vary the Mg panel thickness Result

Increasing the thickness of the Mg panel shows less deflection for a specific load

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Changing material type

Due to product cosmetic and DFC issues changing material type was not an applicable option

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Conclusion
Root cause for failure Failures are caused due to structural deflection (>3.8043mm) Contact stress (>4.89Mpa) between the Mg panel and the LCD module
create screen discoloration on the LCD surface

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Conclusion
Engineering solution based on the given controlled design parameters Increasing the Mg panel thickness from a 2mm to a 2.5mm on the product will decrease deflection of the assembly Decreasing the gap distance from a 2.0mm gap to a 0.5mm gap distance will also decrease the LCD assembly deflection. N.B. High deflection creates more stress contact between the LCD assembly and the Key board of the Note book Recommendation for Further study Determining the amount of stress that is developed during LCD contact with the Keyboard

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Thank you

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