Faced with the challenge of designing a critical component of a new device intended to improve body makeovers, engineers used CAD to shave design time as well as meet stringent design and FDA requirements.

Compass Product Design, Pleasonton, CA, took on the assignment from Reliant Technologies. The product: The Fraxel SR, a laser "skin-rejuvenation system." The Fraxel was designed to restore skin without the pain, trauma, and extended healing period common with other high-impact laser peeling and burning systems, Reliant engineers said. The technology produces tiny, microscopic sites of thermal impact-as many as 2,000 per square centimeter-separated by areas of unaffected, healthy tissue. Like digitally altering a photograph, the Fraxel SR creates tiny micro-wounds that heal to produce rejuvenated skin surfaces.

Engineers used SolidWorks CAD software to design the Fraxel's wand. The hand piece weighs less than eight ounces and incorporates a patented intelligent optical tracking system to ensure a consistent treatment-zone pattern by adjusting to velocity. If a doctor moves the wand at 2cm per second, it lays down the predetermined grid of microthermal zones at the same speed it would if it were moving half as fast or twice as fast.

The CAD software helped engineers develop several design iterations to find the optimal one. That, in turn, allowed them to go from concept to production in two months, 40 percent quicker than would normally have been the case.