An unusual topic heading I think you will agree. So what is it about?
Over the years I have come across equipment that contains complete modules from other manufacturer’s products. We are not talking small components or chips here; we are talking about a complete finished bespoke module that is taken from a finished product and inserted into a new product. Read on to understand what I mean.
As this is an EE forum I thought the practice may be of interest as it obviously makes sense to some manufacturers to do this.
OK to the example that I am going to present.....
As some will already know, I repair obsolete Thermal Imaging cameras. These are strange beasts as they were a relatively small marketplace when compared to consumer equipment. This led to some finished cameras being built in a manner similar to prototypes ! DIY like aluminium chassis, self-adhesive PCB mounts and lots of hot melt glue ! All this protected from view inside a simple fibre glass case. Yes this is what I found in one Fire Brigade thermal camera model. BUT it worked fine.
Now the camera that I will detail is a long way away from what is described above.
The camera is a $40k FLIR PM570 and it is a class of thermal camera that led in the field of thermography during the late 1990's . I have been repairing these and in doing so, reverse engineering their design in order to understand the faults better. Upon disassembling the colour viewfinder housing I was surprised to find a complete, plastic encased camcorder viewfinder module fitted inside. This is not a chassis but an actual camcorder unit complete with labelled case and mounting bracket ! I was not expecting to find this is such an expensive product but it may also be a logical decision?
I purchased another PM570 and that one had a faulty viewfinder. Such a fault was of little concern to me as I already knew what resided inside the metal viewfinder 'pod'
Detail of the viewfinder found in the PM570.
The viewfinder module is very obviously a harvested 'component' that has been removed from a COTS camcorder. It presents as a cased module with labelling, and a bespoke rotary mount that is not used on the 570. The complete viewfinder has been used, including the optical block and eyecup.
Upon opening the plastic case of the viewfinder I noted the extensive use of Sony components, LCD and backlight. The PCBs are all marked as 'NEC 16'. Through investigation I have discovered that the viewfinder actually came from a JVC camcorder and not Sony or NEC. To be specific, the colour viewfinder is a large format (0.55" LCD) unit from a JVC GR-AX series camcorder.
So why did FLIR use this consumer grade part in an otherwise bespoke camera design ?
This is why I am highlighting this matter as it may be of interest to EE's. AGEMA designed the PM570 and it became the forefather of FLIR's later PM series offerings... more on that later. The designers of the camera obviously made a conscious decision to 'buy-in' the viewfinder instead of designing and building their own. You might think that they would approach a specialist OEM for viewfinder modules and build that into the metal camera housing. But no, they identified a suitable viewfinder that was advanced for its time (0.55" high resolution colour LCD), they then sourced the complete finished 'module' and fitted it into their design. Whether FLIR bought complete JVC camcorders and harvested the viewfinders, or brokered a deal with the JVC factory is not known. It is interesting that the module retains its original rotary mount and short ribbon cable though. The FPC (ribbon cable) is extended in length using a small adapter/extension PCB.
The viewfinder offers decent performance and likely saved FLIR the cost of developing their own PCB's case etc. But why not buy in a chassis from an OEM ? Interesting.
A known failure in AGEMA/FLIR PM 570's is the viewfinder ! So the only COTS consumer grade item used in this very expensive industrial camera proved to be its Achilles heel ? Was its use a good idea then ? Well considering that it likely lasted a decent period of time in the field, FLIR would likely argue that it was acceptable. The original deployment of the viewfinder had it housed in a thin plastic case, with some opportunity for air cooling. Once placed inside another case that is almost air tight, such cooling may have been hampered, possibly leading to reliability issues. Viewfinder FPC's were also prone to failure but this is no different to other commercial products that use them in flexible joint applications.
I needed a replacement module due to a power supply failure and worn out backlight tube. I fortunately stumbled upon a repair agent requesting information on repairing or replacing an NEC 16 viewfinder module marked '301' that is used in a JVC GR-AX920 camcorder. I immediately recognised the description of the PCBs and started looking for that model of camcorder as a parts donor. I discovered that the GR-AX 7xx series use this same module so the search expanded and I have found a unit that is perfect for my needs. So in this case, I am grateful that AGEMA used a COTS module as I could buy a donor unit quite easily. If it had been a bespoke design, I may have had to spend more time repairing its faults and making an LED backlight.
As I have stated, I have come across this parts harvesting before. I once purchased a pile of brand new scrap Panasonic VHS-C camcorders sans tape mechanism, as they had been harvested. The seller advised that they manufactured a high end data logging product that used the specific Panasonic VHS-C mechanism contained in that model of camcorder. They bulk purchased the finished products through wholesalers and removed the required mechanism before scrapping the rest of the unit. As the equipment that they were making was very expensive, it made financial sense for them to follow this extreme parts sourcing.
Another case was somewhat different...... A manufacturer of a technical security countermeasures scanning receiver system needed a high performance scanning RF receiver that could be remote controlled by a laptop. The company had written some clever software that just needed a hardware front end to feed it with signal data for processing. The company tested a range of semi-professional scanning receivers and identified the AOR AR3000A as the best for their needs. The AR3000A is a well-respected receiver with excellent performance and it is RS232 controllable. It also offers the advantage of being very compact and built on a rigid metal chassis with the plastic case attached around it.
The 'manufacturer' in this case just removed the plastic case and front panel as these were not needed. They then integrated the complete AR3000A chassis into their 'front end' electronics package. This included a very posh case, aerial switching and a power supply. Once complete, the hardware looked very professional and 'high end' with no hint of what 'lived' inside. The equipment met the market needs and it did use a high quality and expensive receiver as its sensor, but you would not believe the price of the finished product. If you had to ask the price, you could not afford I t! Now this was a savvy decision by the company as they realised that it was better to harvest another manufacturer’s finished product, re-engineer its packaging and present it as a reliable and quality product. Had they designed their own receiver it would have been both expensive and fraught with risk as they were not an RF receiver specialist and would have had to sub contract the work.
The question is.....is it right to harvest other manufacturers modules/products and incorporate them into your design ? Is it even legal without some sort of agreement with the original manufacturer?
There is no issue with using an OEM 433MHz RF module in a design, but this is going a little further.
Finally……..
FLIR developed their own viewfinder using Sony parts in the later PM6xx series thermal cameras. The new module is smaller and built as a bespoke chassis for incorporation into the metal viewfinder housing. It is a better designed and more reliable module.
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