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Industrial manufacturing and
production may be the first
to benefit from a new way of
thinking about connections.
Post burn-in, connectors are a major
point of failure of an electronic system
due to mechanical and environmental
stresses, and in some cases, poor
design. This becomes increasingly
significant as electronics, particularly
robotics, permeate industrial and
manufacturing applications where
maximum flexibility must be combined
with minimum downtime.
To meet and overcome these dual
challenges, designers need to
understand the function and failure
modes of connectors and match the
right connector to the application.
Factors to be considered include
environmental, functional, and
mechanical stress requirements. All
conditions and usage models need to
be considered before making a final
connector choice.
While it’s important to understand
the fundamentals to ensure longevity,
it’s just as important to look for
and review the latest advances in
connector technology to help achieve
the optimum balance of performance,
reliability, flexibility and cost.
What exactly is a
connector?
This question can be answered in two
ways, functionally and structurally.
Functionally, a connector provides
a separable connection between
two elements of an electronic
system without unacceptable signal
distortion or power loss. There are
two important parts to this definition,
the “separable connection” and the
“unacceptable” performance. Both
depend on the connector application
and its electrical and environmental
requirements.
The separable connection is the
reason for using a connector in
the first place, to provide easy
repair, upgrading, maintenance or
interconnectability.
Requirements
on the separable interface include
mating-force limitations and meeting
a specified number of mating cycles.
“Unacceptable” performance includes
a large range of characteristics,
but this discussion will concentrate
on the limitations the connector
introduces into the electronic system.
The traditional approach is to use a
standard, full-contact wired power
and signal connector. There are many
advantages and disadvantages to this
Contactless Connectivity Unshackles
Robotic Systems
Benjamin Mang & Rich Miron, Digi-Key Technical Content
Sensors
Special Edition
52 l New-Tech Magazine Europe