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10 Questions You Should to Know about custom Connectors for Consumer Electronic devices

Dec. 23, 2024

10 things to consider when selecting a connector

When it comes to reliable system operation, choosing the right connector is key. The right connector can make your system smaller, lighter and easier for the user to handle. It isn&#;t a place to take shortcuts, as the right connector system can help avoid the high price of recalls, repairs and lost customers.

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Conducting adequate research on the connectors and cable must be done at the beginning of a systems design process to produce the optimal design. Follow these 10 steps to research the ideal connector early in the design phase and you can positively impact the design, usabilit and cost structure of your entire device.

Electrical needs

Defining the electrical voltage and current requirements each contact will carry is the first step to selecting the ideal connectors for your device. You have to ensure that you not only have the right number of contacts, but that the contacts can carry the power demands of your application. The size of the contact and the size of the wire dictate the current-carrying capability of a contact. Contact spacing, insulation materials, and the geometry of the insulator used to isolate the contacts dictates the voltage rating.

To ensure you design in the proper connector, it is your job to dig deep and understand how a manufacturer specifies their connectors&#; current ratings and operating voltages. Their test data should reference a test standard, informing you exactly how their testing was conducted.

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Not everyone uses the same testing criteria, so ensure you understand how these specifications were derived. When you are reviewing current ratings, take note of the temperature rise specification. This specification indicates how much heat will be dissipated at a specific current value. You also want to confirm that the contact will support the conductor size you have selected. A non-compatible conductor could cause overheating issues, leading to premature connector failure.

Adding functions

After you identify electrical requirements, determine whether other functions can or should be added to your connector. Hybrid connectors are usually custom designed, but if you have the time to work with a manufacturer to develop a specific hybrid connector to exactly meet your needs, it can be worth the effort. The results will provide the end user with fewer connections and cables to manage. See if you can source a single connector that can carry more than one of the following: power, signal, coax, fiber, liquid and/or gas.

Termination types

Termination types have a direct effect on the assembly process and the ability to seal a connector. Connectors with solder contacts are typically easier to seal against moisture ingress, while crimp contacts may offer better field reparability. There is a trade-off between the two, so the final decision on which termination type to use is often made after discussions with your manufacturing and design groups. It&#;s important to know exactly how and where the connector will be used, and whether field reparability is a requirement, as this decision has a significant impact on the assembly equipment and processes used in manufacturing.

Environmental sealing

If the connectors will be used in harsh operating environments, check the manufacturer&#;s IP (Ingres Protection) rating for sealing to dust and water at various depths and operating time frames. Make sure you understand the end use environment for your connectors, and then compare that scenario with the details behind the manufacturer&#;s IP rating. Most of the IP designations have specific conditions, but the IP68 rating may be defined by each manufacturer differently. When looking for a connector with an IP68 sealing rating, inquire exactly how the manufacturer&#;s IP68 rating is measured. A system being submerged at two meters for 24 hours has a different impact on the connector than at 120 meters for 24 hours, but both situations can be defined as an IP68 rating.

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Materials

What does the connector housing material need to be? Can it be plastic? Can it be metal? Select the material wisely, as this may impact reliability, weight, and cost. Brass connectors with nickel/chrome plating are traditionally more wear resistant and have longer lifecycles than many other materials. If weight is an issue, aluminum connectors may be an option. Consider plastics for limited reuse and disposable applications. If you are considering plastic, ensure you conduct adequate testing to confirm it will withstand the end use application. If used in medical applications, make sure your connector will withstand the sterilization processes used by the end customer. For aggressively corrosive environments or some food industry applications, stainless steel may be required. Don&#;t sacrifice reliability for cost when deciding what material you select.

At this point, you should also review the operating temperature of the insulating materials used in the connectors you are evaluating. This includes contact insulators, potting materials and o-rings.

Tables A and B can guide you in your selection process.

Reliability Needs

Now that you&#;ve investigated the electrical, termination, sealing, and material requirements, it&#;s time to take a look at the frequency your user will connect and disconnect the device over its lifetime. If you require a very high number of mating cycles, consider a connector with 5,000 to 10,000+ mating cycles. This is especially important if a failed electrical connection can put lives at risk, such as in the medical or military environments. Another requirement to have a look at is whether your connector will be able to stay stable in harsh and extreme environments. Many connectors work for example well indoors, but they will lose their performance when they are used under extreme outdoor conditions.

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Miniaturization

There are some great things going on with miniaturization today, and you should take advantage of it where you can. It is possible to design in one connector today for an application that would have needed two or three connectors only a year ago, but you have to be careful. Look closely at the details in each connector, since those details become more important as the voltage and current increases. Compare models for pin size, number of pins, and functionality. Miniature connectors are nice packages that fit in small places, but only a few can carry power and signal. These small connectors are extremely difficult to terminate, so often the miniature plugs and receptacles are sold pre-wired to maintain reliability.

Raw cable & assemblies

Once you have identified your connector, it&#;s time to define the raw cable and the cable assembly. Connectors are getting smaller all the time, so it&#;s becoming easier to inadvertently spec a small connector that won&#;t work with the larger cable you would like to use. You&#;ll have to look at both the cable and the connector together to make sure that they compatible. Some companies may have custom raw cable in stock that may meet your requirements, eliminating the normal 4-6 weeks of custom raw cable fabrication time. If time is tight, check with your supplier to see if you can take advantage of stocked material.

Most connector manufacturers will provide assembly services to reduce the number of vendors you have to work with. Check out the facility to see whether the company can provide you with termination only capabilities or complete over molding, sealing, and testing capabilities.

Ask about service and delivery

Check for realistic delivery dates; delivery on custom connectors from any supplier will always be longer than selecting an off the shelf product. If you can use something that&#;s already designed, you will find it has shorter delivery. Reduced lead times may be available by modifying an existing design. If you decide that a custom connector is the solution you require, make sure that your supplier is committed to the
project over the life of your device. Yes, it is possible to get commercial-grade connectors off the shelf, but a 12-week lead time is not unusual to design and build a custom connector.

Engineering support can save time

Ask suppliers about the kind of support you can expect from their engineering and product development teams. Check out details about design and prototyping services available. Letting someone else look at your device early in the design process often opens up options for cost-saving or time-saving ideas.

Electronic device manufacturers shouldn't fear custom ...

&#; they should embrace them

By Chris Beevers, Business Unit Director &#; Device Connectors, Phoenix Contact Americas Business Unit

Devices used in industrial applications are undergoing multiple transformations in today&#;s fast-paced industrial environment. OEMs creating new products are dealing with opposing challenges when trying to design in connectivity. The Internet of Things (IoT) is fueling end users&#; thirst for more data and faster processing. The upcoming 5G network only emboldens that thirst. Pressure to reduce the cost of equipment and systems is driving new products to offer increased functionality. Device manufacturers must take advantage of that functionality to ensure successful future products. However, the pressure to minimize size and make end products easier to integrate and install is always present.

The balance of meeting new trends and the classic needs of the market are a major challenge, and device manufacturers must think differently when creating new products. Standard connectors are not always the best choice to accomplish this. Customized connector solutions can help achieve the balance needed with many of these challenges.

Fast-forwarding to the IIoT

Today&#;s megatrend of the Internet of Things (IoT) is creating new problems. Industrial device OEMs are under pressure to bring new products to market that increase intelligence and functionality, while reducing overall product size. All of this must be done without sacrificing robustness. If new devices in industrial applications like controls, displays, or monitoring systems are not networked and easily accessible, the chance of their acceptance and success in the market is minimal. With the introduction of the IoT in the industrial world, the ever-expanding IIoT is connecting more industrial devices to other industrial things in the field. The upcoming 5G network will &#;hit fast-forward&#; on that trend in a major way.

The only way new devices can accomplish this is by expanding both the I/O counts at the controller and the networking capabilities of all field devices. Additional I/O for an industrial-grade device requires more connections that can be easily terminated in the field. Increasing the number of I/O counts within a device increases the size of that device. The constant pressure to reduce the overall size of devices on the floor and within a cabinet directly opposes this. Adding I/O while reducing size means more high-density connectors must be used.

When trying to increase the functionality of your product, the need for more data to process and the more signals to connect presents itself. The access to additional data of networked devices has only fueled the interest of acquiring even more data. Reports of 40 billion-plus connected devices within the IIoT over the next few years are everywhere.

Link to AIKE Electronics

This increasing appetite for data translates to increasing the number of networked end devices, and more connection points for the controller to manage. Increasing the amount of I/O in a device or integrating a new data connector for different networking protocols would be a simple achievement. However, the robustness of data connectors comes into question. Today&#;s data connectors are fast and inexpensive. But industrial networks require more robust data connectors with wider temperature ranges, higher and vibration protection, and protection against liquid ingress, such as IP67 ratings.

Advantages and disadvantages of off-the-shelf connectors

Today&#;s OEMs face even more challenges than just robustness, functionality, and density. They are constantly battling with competitive pressure. The features of their products alone may make them stand out. When that is the case, the OEM can simply go out and get a connector that works. When speed to market increases in importance, it&#;s great to have an off-the-shelf connector available. But the connector that works won&#;t always distinguish the individual product. Using an off-the-shelf connector comes at the expense of having an individual look and feel. New products are being developed faster than ever, making the market more crowded. With this influx of new devices, branding connectors with an individual look and feel becomes more important and can help a company&#;s device stand apart from the competition.

The risk of quality problems is another concern for OEMs. Going with a new contact system could open unknown problems that an off-the-shelf contact system has already addressed. The validation process of a new contact system can be long and pose unknown problems that could lead to production delays. Given the speed at which the industrial world is moving today, a delay in production could have significant costs, including loss of market share and loss of trust by the customer base.

To bring products to market faster in this global economy, strong communication with development and manufacturing partners is critical. For example, when development is in one country, and production is done by an EMS partner in another country, and distribution centers are in a third country, OEMs need to have better communications and work with partners who can handle global communications.

Addressing concerns

Each of these problems can have a relatively simple solution when taken on its own. However, the balancing between these issues is what poses the greater challenge.

When taking on the challenge of increasing the I/O and reducing the overall size of a device, the only answer is higher density connectivity. That sounds easy enough. But when taking into consideration the installation of your product and its usability, this becomes a significant challenge. For devices that require connection to multiple field devices, discrete wire termination will need to be accomplished somewhere. Utilizing a high-density connector on the controller and pushing the discrete wire connections to another part of the control cabinet only pushes the increased cost to another location that has the same challenge of space constraints.

Some connectors available today can help to reduce size. For example, moving from screw to spring terminations can reduce the overall size of the connection point, while increasing reliability and reducing cost (Figure 2).

Another option might be to move to a hybrid-style connector that contains both power and signal connections, so it reduces the overall size of the connector (Figure 3). But when considering data connectivity, very few options are available. High-density office-grade connectors can&#;t withstand the high temperatures, higher shock, and vibration requirements, and in many cases the ingress protection from liquids, that industrial-grade connectors commonly possess. Standard off-the-shelf connectors just won&#;t meet the needs of industrial devices designed for the future. For example, adding screw flanges to a data connector can help, but the temperature ratings are not the same, and vibration at the contact interface can cause problems when using the thin gold plating often used in office-grade contact systems.

 If you also need to consider the look and feel of your end product and want to create brand recognition, an off-the-shelf connector cannot provide that individual look and feel. Thus, marketing managers must spend time differentiating their products to achieve the brand recognition they need.

Time to market is critical today. Using an off-the-shelf standard connector solution will allow you to design in the connector quickly. But the design process may require additional time due to considerations to make that connector more robust. That means additional time in development and potentially additional costs in production.

Finding balance with custom connectors

When considering all challenges, a customized solution becomes more and more attractive. If one connector met everyone&#;s needs, there wouldn&#;t be thousands of different types of connectors available today. A customized solution can be designed for the OEM&#;s specific application and meet the individual needs better than an off-the-shelf option. Customized solutions can meet the density requirements while integrating the connector into the individual product&#;s packaging. A customized solution can consider usability in various environments and provide the individual look and feel to make end products stand out from the competition and strengthen the OEM&#;s brand.

A customized design can make the most efficient use of space in an application by including the power, signal, and data connectivity needs. By designing a connector for the specific need of a new industrial device, OEMs can achieve the greatest space savings without sacrificing the number of I/O or data connections. Increased robustness for data connectivity can also be achieved. A customized data connector can meet the typical shock and vibration requirements, temperature ranges, and ingress protection of liquids typical in industrial applications. With a customized solution, you can also integrate the connection technology into the electronic housing, ensuring the most efficient use of space and reducing overall assembly costs.

It is a common misperception that customized solutions are too expensive and take too long to design. When looking only at the unit cost of mass-produced commercial connectors and lead times for tooling, a customized solution might be higher. But considering the concessions that are needed in the design to meet the new trends, like increased functionality and reduction of the overall size and robustness in industrial environments, the cost for a custom solution becomes more attractive.

Tooling lead times must be considered, although new technologies like prototype tooling and additive manufacturing can greatly reduce times. Additive manufacturing technologies are getting close to the same performance of the materials used to make a connector. Printed metals are coming closer to the performance of stamped and formed high-conductivity copper, and plastic materials are also coming closer to the various high temperature ranges and flame retardancy needed for agency approvals (Figure 4).

But it is not just the connector components that can benefit from additive manufacturing. It is also the tooling used to make them. Additive manufacturing can create tooling that otherwise can&#;t be made with traditional machining. As an example, additive manufacturing provides enough flexibility to place cooling lines in an injection mold in places that traditional machining cannot. In addition to how the molds are designed, printing injection molds and inserts can greatly reduce the lead time for injection-molded components, making it possible to get a custom connector solution up and running quickly.

Connector manufacturers today that have additive manufacturing capabilities in-house can be very valuable partners. They can experiment with new metal composites that can be printed and closely match the quality of traditional stamped and formed contact systems, or plastic materials that can come close to the performance of agency-approved plastics used in connector designs. Additive manufacturing is changing the way many OEMs consider custom connector solutions.

Working with a proven supplier with experience in customized solutions can help in multiple ways and greatly reduce the development timeline. By doing the necessary work, such as design validation and mold flow analysis, up front, a partner can reduce the development time by several weeks. In addition to that up-front work, when a connector partner has access to components from other connector designs that can be used in new custom solutions, they can address concerns regarding unknown problems with new contact systems.

A proven supplier with global recognition of the highest quality available is critical. By utilizing the connector components or the know-how of an existing contact system from a broad product offering and redesigning that into a new connector housing, the development timeline and tooling costs can be greatly reduced. That strategy can also reduce the time and cost associated with new agency approvals. The validation of a contact solution is a critical step in making sure you have a high-quality connection. Utilizing that know-how and existing validation is a significant savings.

All quality connector manufacturers have a development process with milestones. However, the typical development process for standard products is much different than one for custom products. When considering a standard product, a connector manufacturer needs to identify a need in the market, develop concepts, and revise and validate those concepts through customer feedback. This is usually done with multiple customers, all of whom have their own needs in mind. Designing a connector to meet multiple customers&#; needs can take several concepts and variations to meet only a percentage of what all customers want. All that work must be done before the manufacturer finalizes the design or orders the component tool and assembly machines. This process could take months and sometimes years to finalize a concept.

When developing custom solutions, that process needs to be weeks, not months. OEMs must find a connector supplier that understands this and can adjust the development process in the concept stages to meet critical timelines.

A good custom connector partner will have a development process designed for customer-specific applications. It should be one that can be adjusted for the OEM&#;s specific timing needs. Providing budgetary proposals quickly with a high degree of accuracy is important (Chart 1). As the design concept becomes finalized and the development process continues, the accuracy of the proposal can increase. A connector partner with experience in developing custom connector solutions is extremely valuable.

When a custom connector solution is the right choice for an OEM, the next decision is choosing the right company to partner with. The wrong partner would only increase costs and development time, and ultimately create frustration.

Given the investment in time and money to develop custom solutions, choosing the right partner is critical for success. A valuable connector partner today should be able to offer consultation on connector design, not just provide the service of acting as a subcontractor for a new connector concept. Just defining the technical requirements can be difficult. But OEMs need to combine the technical requirements along with commercial requirements to come up with a solid business case and the best solution possible. A connector partner should have a deep understanding of not only plastics and contact design, but how those two components come together to make a quality connector that can be manufactured quickly and easily. A connector partner should be able to document a development plan, including a test plan at every step from concept through to high-volume production. The right partner should have a history of innovation and previously established global communication channels with multiple manufacturing locations in low-cost regions or locally in the U.S. and Europe.

Conclusion:

Industrial OEMs today face many challenges. Customized connector solutions offer great benefits compared with off-the-shelf connectors. What may seem like a large investment in time and money is really an affordable option, when considering the costs associated with trying to make an off-the-shelf connector fit in a new application.

When you consider the balance in meeting new trends of industrial devices and the development challenges they pose, a customized connector solution really stands out.

www.phoenixcontact.com/connectorsolutions

For more information, please visit custom Connectors for Consumer Electronic devices.

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