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7 Tips for Connector Design (1)

The demand for electrical connector design has intensified as electronic products such as smartphones and tablets are all being miniaturized and becoming more and more stringent, leaving minimal space for connectors. So there is not much room for connectors.

This trend also appears in the defense and aerospace fields, such as in satellites, guided missiles and avionics systems, where the compactness requirements can only be met by "miniature" connectors.

Smaller and more precise, this is the development trend of connectors worldwide, and such demand is still rising. Design engineers are therefore facing a series of new challenges. Nanominiature connectors require designers to fully consider various factors such as packaging, durability, current load capacity, and interchangeability before designing. In closed enclosures, it also requires designers to consider more convenient replacement.

Tips for connector design:

1. Consider connectors early in the overall design

Many times, engineers are too focused on designing the overall system, but they put the connector design down to the final stage. They think standard power connectors are too simple, so this negligence will occur, the result is likely that they were stuck in their own design in the final stage.

In this case, the designer may eventually have to choose a non-standard connector to complete the design, which not only increases the cost, but also delays the delivery time.

In order to avoid such problems, it is best to consider the connector you will use early in the design, let your design expand around it, and reserve design space for it. This can save a lot of time.

2. Understand space limitations

The thickness of micro board-to-board connectors is usually less than 1 mm, and they are also commonly used in tightly packed applications. Because the spacing is relatively small, the traces and wires must be narrower. In order to solve potential packaging problems, designers need to consider the wiring on the PCB and the additional wires connected to the connector.

Also need to consider is that some connectors (such as flexible cable connectors) can be turned forward and backward.

Finally, engineers also need to be aware that surface mount equipment sometimes cannot handle smaller components, so sometimes they need new vacuum nozzles to solve these problems.