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Bill's Work at Icebox Icebox is a wholly owned subsidiary of Salton, a Fortune 1000 marketer and distributor of small appliances, most notably the George Foreman™ Grill. Icebox manufactures a line of kitchen entertainment appliances that incorporate TV, DVD/CD player, FM stereo, internet browser, and home security features.
Icebox Flip Screens (above left) are in production now. The Icebox product is differentiated at every level of its design by the fact that it is not a computer. It is an information and entertainment appliance for use in the kitchen. The Icebox features a touch screen rather than a mouse, washable wireless keyboard and remote, instant on, and the simple user interface of an appliance. My work has largely been on the Counter Top Icebox (above right). I was hired in November, 2002, to pick up the alpha electrical design done by a Seattle contract design house. I was tasked with addressing the issues identified in the alpha design, rolling a beta board spin, achieving CE mark and UL listing for the product, and supporting production release.
There are seven circuit board assemblies in a Counter Top Icebox. Two are complex, 8 layer boards, stuffed with fine pitch ICs and tiny 0603 passive components. One of my achievements at Icebox is the fact that the first 10 of my beta Processor and IO boards fired up, out of the box with no modifications, and worked beautifully. Electro-magnetic compatibility pre-scans show no immunity issues and only a few emission issues, which we think have been addressed by changes in the upcoming beta mechanicals. At present (April, 2003) our Asian contract manufacturer is building a beta run of 60 complete units. |
