【108】After the charger casing had been struggling with the keys in the user's bag for two years

【108】After the charger casing had been struggling with the keys in the user's bag for two years

Huawei's quality director got angry in the workshop today, but not at us - he shouted into the phone: "Stop recommending German suppliers to me! The charging case made by Fuheng has a 20% better drop test data than theirs, and the price is only half of theirs!" After hanging up the phone, he smiled sheepishly at me: "Sorry, but I've been driven crazy by this 65-watt fast charger for the past six months."

I completely understand his pressure. Six months ago, when Huawei came to us, the technical requirements were like a devil's exam questions: This nitrogen-based charging case smaller than a matchbox must be able to withstand 200 drops from a 1.5-meter height onto cement without cracking, the surface temperature must not exceed 75 degrees, and it must pass an 8,500-volt lightning surge test. And the most terrifying thing was that the dense components inside made the wall thickness only 0.6 millimeters - this thickness would shatter an ordinary ABS easily.

The first sample review meeting turned into a denunciation session. Huawei's testing engineers played a slow-motion video: The charger bounced like a ping-pong ball after falling, and the shell showed spider-web cracks at the moment of landing. "Users often put the charger and the keys together in the bag," the product manager said helplessly, "We need to achieve true 'tank-level' durability."

The technical team began a long-term research and development. The materials laboratory tested 47 formulations, and finally settled on a nano alloy of PP and ABS - it was as rigid as ABS at room temperature and would deform like PP when impacted. But new problems followed one after another: This material was difficult to flow, and the 0.6-millimeter thin wall simply couldn't fill. The mold engineer came up with the "ultra-high-speed injection" method: Let the screw accelerate to the limit in 0.03 seconds, and the molten material rushed into the mold cavity at the speed of a bullet. The first trial mold was terrifyingly noisy like a gunshot, but the product was actually formed intact.

The real problem lay in the heat dissipation design. With 65 watts of power concentrated in such a small space, thermal simulation showed that traditional shells would have local hotspots reaching 90 degrees. We tried various heat dissipation fin designs, but the results were not satisfactory. Until one Saturday, electrical engineer Xiao Sun took his child to the science museum and saw the exhibition of honeycomb structures, suddenly he had an inspiration: Why not create a biomimetic heat dissipation structure inside the shell? He drew a sketch overnight: a hexagonal honeycomb network, denser in the area close to the chip, with sparse edges, which could both guide air flow and increase structural strength.

But this design almost caused the project to fail - the honeycomb structure led to a huge increase in the complexity of the mold, requiring the production of 300 micro inserts, each only the size of a needle tip. The master in the mold workshop put on a magnifying glass and used a carving machine to process them, working 16 hours a day for two consecutive weeks. When the first set of molds was completed, supervisor Old Yang's hand kept shaking due to long-term tool holding, he said: "I've never done such delicate work in my life."

On the day of the drop test, everyone held their breath. The charger fell from a 1.5-meter height again and again, and by the 100th time, the shell was still intact. By the 200th time, the tester picked up the charger and carefully inspected it, then raised it high: "No cracks! Even the scratches are very few!" The workshop erupted into deafening cheers. Huawei's engineers plugged it in for testing on the spot, the power output was stable at 65 watts, and the temperature monitoring showed the highest temperature was only 71 degrees.

Now, this charger has been sold to the world along with Huawei's mobile phones. We received many interesting user feedback: Some said the charger could still be used after being crushed by a car, some posted photos of falling from the third floor with only a slight scratch on the shell. And what moved us the most was an email from an Afghan user, who said that in war-torn areas, the voltage was unstable, but this charger had endured dozens of lightning surge impacts and remained firm.

This story has no profound theories, only the relentless pursuit of the word "durability". When that small charger collides with the keys in the user's bag, falls during the bumpy journey, and works in the harsh power grid, the essence it embodies is the relentless pursuit of quality by Chinese manufacturing.

Make the technology held in your hands as tough as diamonds - the Golden Eagle composite shell ensures each charge is full.