Smart rubber cover for the personal gas detector
Case
Electronics
A personal gas detector is an expensive but vital piece of protection. Vestteknikk has produced a practical rubber cover for the popular device, giving the user extra security against damaging blows and malfunctions.
Application
Electronics / electrical equipment
Gas control
Offshore
Infrastructure
Mining / mineral extraction
The challenge
Vestteknikk is one of Norway's largest suppliers of technical safety equipment. The core areas are gas, breathing and fire - and in addition to selling some of the market's leading brands, Vestteknikk provides advice, training and service/maintenance on safety equipment.
Vestteknikk has had great success selling an advanced personal gas detector made by Blackline. It's a good, solid product in every way, but like any other electronic device, the gas detector can be vulnerable to hard knocks.
Gas detectors are used in confined, exposed areas in close contact with hard concrete floors, wall surfaces, steel ladders, stairs and other rough construction parts. There is a high risk of accidental shocks, and in the unfortunate event of a gas leak, the detector's alarm detector must also function after the impact of a fall.
The solution
Sales Manager Rune Hansen and his colleagues are no strangers to these potential risks and sensed that many customers were concerned about getting the best possible peace of mind. Rune and Betech's Norwegian sales manager met at a trade fair in Stavanger.
Rune had an idea to make a shock-absorbing cover for the gas detector - similar to those used on cell phones, for example. He just didn't know how to do it in practice. Shortly after the fair, the two met again and the idea was quickly turned into a realistic product solution.
A quality detector costs in the region of NOK 5,000, so it's not unlikely that customers will pay something for the extra protection of the device, but there are of course limits to the cost of such an accessory.
With the help of Betech, some technical considerations were made regarding a suitable silicone quality and costs for molding tools, so that the cover can be put into a suitable series production. The feasibility study resulted in a realistic product costing and Vestteknikk quickly decided to start the development task.
Betech carried out a 3D scan of the gas detector for use in the product drawing that forms the basis for the production of the molding tool. The project also produced a cheaper prototype tool, allowing the design to be tested and adjusted before actual serial production began.
Added value for the customer
With the unique cover, Vestteknikk can offer their customers an extra layer of security to their already valued safety equipment. It makes sense for the end user, and the cover has therefore become a popular supplementary product at Vestteknikk - and a product they are the only one to offer.
Injection molding - the production of functional parts from rubber and silicone - can be more or less complicated depending on the shape of the part, functional requirements and the required manufacturing process.
In this case, Betech managed the project from start to finish, including all phases such as solution proposal and market feasibility calculations, selection of a suitable compound, tool assessment, prototype tool manufacturing, final tool manufacturing and stable deliveries from serial production.