LEMO USA Uses Autodesk Inventor Software to Design Connectors for HDTV Cameras

LEMO USA Inc. uses Autodesk Inventor software to design and customize high-quality precision connectors for the medical, instrumentation, military, automotive and broadcast markets. In the broadcast market, LEMO’s “3K.93C” is the industry standard for high-definition television (HDTV) cameras—helping with the wide delivery of HDTV programming.

Creating digital prototypes with Inventor software enables LEMO to design and customize its connectors in significantly less time, and Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK), a world leader in 2D and 3D design, engineering, and entertainment software, has named LEMO as the December Autodesk Inventor of the Month for the Swiss company’s innovative design efforts.

Designing a custom connector could take LEMO up to three weeks, from designing the part, building a physical prototype and shipping it to the customer for approval. By using a Digital Prototyping workflow, LEMO can now simply produce and share 3D models with the customer, completing the entire design process within a week.

“Every time someone sits down on Sunday to watch football in high definition, they are likely watching the game through one of LEMO’s hybrid connectors,” said Erik Gammon, engineering manager at LEMO. “Autodesk Inventor software has been instrumental in helping us design, visualize and simulate precision connection solutions that deliver the high-quality results our customers expect.”

Virtually any advanced piece of electronic equipment requires several types of connectors to interface with power sources and other devices. HDTV cameras need high-voltage, fiber-optic and low-voltage contacts all within the same connector, rather than as three separate connectors. Using Inventor software enables LEMO to design a hybrid connector that combines all three contacts onto a single interconnect solution.

The hybrid connector is challenging to design because of the many different types of male pins that need to connect with the corresponding female sockets in a relatively small amount of space. With Inventor software, LEMO has the ability to first check for interferences among all the different components. It then enables tolerance checks on the contacts to help them mate with just the right amount of insertion—producing a reliable connection.

“Companies like LEMO are using Digital Prototyping to respond to customer needs quicker and bring their innovative products to market sooner,” said Robert “Buzz” Kross, senior vice president, Manufacturing Industry Group at Autodesk. “In a global economy, these are practices that serve manufacturers well.”