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Consider robustness, flexibility, and processing requirements in your design to be confident that you are choosing the right board-to-board connectors on your application. A primary concern for machine designers is learn how to get signal and power to the gadget in a way that doesn’t interfere with purposeful goals, reminiscent of portability, wearability, or measurement. Many choices can be found for connectors that assist obtain these targets. PCB terminal blocks and headers are commonly used connectors for medical system functions. It is vital for designers who choose terminal blocks to contemplate how the PCB is related inside of the gadget. In markets akin to medical devices, process automation, industrial automation, and building automation, items often comprise a number of circuit boards within their end merchandise (Figure 1), which provides complexity to the system structure. Figure 1: Medical and industrial devices typically comprise multiple circuit boards. Many connectivity products are available in each of these configurations, however for essential purposes like interface and i/O modules, controls, communication units, and patient monitoring devices in medical equipment, PCBs should also meet three requirements: robustness, flexibility, and processing ability.

First, let’s take a look at robustness. Board-to-board merchandise should be very rugged and sturdy to endure the operation rigors of industrial and medical use. In high-vibration environments, the contact connection points should be stable with no intermittencies. A technique to achieve this is by rising the number of connection factors on the contact interface. Figure 2: Bifurcated contacts have two individual contact points to offer an additional measure of confidence in high-vibration environments. Next, a robust mating interface will stop contact injury if the mating connectors turn into misaligned (Figure 3). High-tolerance compensation, whether for single or multiple mated pairs on a board, is crucial. Keying of the mating halves and indication of the first pole on the connectors is important to prevent mismating of the connector halves. Finally, gold plating on the contact interface allows for a excessive variety of mating and unmating cycles with out damaging or degrading the contact interface.

Figure 3: If the mating connectors are misaligned, high-tolerance compensation is essential. Flexibility can be important. For medical equipment, constructing system, and industrial automation purposes, designers need flexibility in terms of how they orient the PCBs inside of their enclosures. Figure 4: Connectors that allow for all three PCB configurations – mezzanine, coplanar, and orthogonal – will enhance the design flexibility. Additionally, depending on the area constraints of the machine, having a alternative of different pin sizes and centerline spacings is important. Common centerline spacings, like 1.27mm, are necessary, but smaller centerline spacings, like 0.8mm, are increasingly widespread in today’s increased-density PCB designs. Perhaps of even larger significance is the power of the board-to-board connectors to have an allowance for the dimensional differences between circuit boards. This is named stack height. Figure 5: Connectors that allow for various stack heights do not need to hold very tight tolerances on PCB stacking dimensions.

Another essential consideration is the allowable tolerance if there may be multiple connector on the board. Due to the tight centerlines, tolerance stack-ups can cause points with multiple connectors on a board. If you are you looking for more information in regards to High-density PCB connector; https://www.metroflog.co/, take a look at the web site. Fortunately, connector manufacturers can take this under consideration when designing their connectors, so that even with misalignments up to 0.3mm, the connector can nonetheless provide a strong connection to the mating halves. Lastly, given the high information rates board-to-board connectors can handle, shielding is important for defending in opposition to electromagnetic interference within units. Parts processing and SMT PCB connector manufacturing are one more critical consideration. Given the numerous advances in PCB designs, the automatic placement of parts, akin to connectors, onto the PCB is important. For this reason, excessive-pace board-to-board products must be accessible on tape-and-reel or tray packaging to facilitate automated assembly processes. Further, since most PCBs comprise not less than some surface-mount parts, board-to-board connectors need to withstand the temperature profiles of a high-temperature reflow course of. Connector plastics, comparable to liquid crystal polymers, are perfect for one of these process. Finally, board-to-board connectors should allow for automated optical inspection or different inspection techniques. While unshielded parts are simply checked with computerized optical inspection, shielded elements pose a challenge, as their contacts are underneath the half to enhance shielding. Computed tomography provides a great solution for these types of merchandise. By contemplating robustness, flexibility, and processing in your design, you can be assured that you’re selecting the best board-to-board connectors on your application. Visit Phoenix Contact on-line. Like this article? Try our board-to-board, terminal blocks and The way to Specify articles, our Medical and Industrial Market Pages, and our 2020 and 2019 Article Archives.