With today’s handheld and wearable devices, there is not much room left for connectors, especially in the thickness dimension. Devices in this category include the ubiquitous smartphones, as…
The post Where are super low profile mezzanine solutions used? appeared first on Connector Tips.
Most people think of edge card connectors as being the Neanderthals of the connector industry; old, primitive and crude. I disagree with that and will show you that…
The post Can edge card connectors be exciting? appeared first on Connector Tips.
The majority of connector designs use stamped and formed contacts. These are made from reels of flat stock material. Copper alloy producers combine precise amounts of copper, nickel,…
The post Stamped versus screw machine connector technology appeared first on Connector Tips.
In my last post, I wrote about the Bendix—Amphenol Bristle Brush connectors that had mating forces of 1.5 oz per contact. (To compare, most dual beam contact designs…
The post ZIF – A creat connector idea appeared first on Connector Tips.
Some connector applications put a high priority on very low mating forces. Examples include: Connectors with very high numbers of conductors Insufficient room in a system for injector/ejector…
The post Bendix Bristle Brush connectors keep planes flying appeared first on Connector Tips.
As they say in Minnesota: “You Betcha!” In the mid-1950s, a Frenchman, Francois Bonhomme, invented a new connector to address the unique needs of the rail industry. The…
The post Would you trust your life to a 50-year old connector design? appeared first on Connector Tips.
One of the breakthrough connectors of the 20th century was the Berg PV contact. Some of you will know that Quentin Berg started Berg Electronics back in 1950….
The post Breakthrough contact design spawned $500M+ connector company appeared first on Connector Tips.
The invention of the modular jack and plug by Edwin Charles Hardesty, Charles Krumreiich, et al of Western Electric is, I believe, one of the most important moments…
The post The Mighty Modular Jack appeared first on Connector Tips.
Wouldn’t it be nice if one could actually add mezzanine cards in the field to upgrade systems without powering down the system or removing the host card? This…
The post Hot pluggable mezzanine cards appeared first on Connector Tips.
In previous postings, you have heard about using mezzanine connectors to enhance system level flexibility and provide a variety of options for IO configurations. This approach can cost…
The post Mezzanine connectors as cost reducers appeared first on Connector Tips.
Mezzanine connectors have been an important enabling technology for 1U packaging. Several electronic functions can conveniently fit into a 1U box. If you recall from previous posts, the…
The post Mezzanine connectors in 1U packaging are your friends appeared first on Connector Tips.
Mezzanine connectors are among the most useful in the connector arsenal to solve packaging problems. They come in many forms. This article focuses on the IEEE 1386 Mezzanine…
The post The little connector that could – the IEEE 1386 mezzanine connector appeared first on Connector Tips.
Beam design is a very important part of the job of any connector design engineer. Not being an engineer myself, I will grossly oversimplify, but I hope you…
The post What makes contact beams work appeared first on Connector Tips.
Connectors are almost always composed of two mating halves; a plug that mates with a receptacle. Connector manufacturers go to a lot of trouble to make sure that…
The post Connector gathering and mating designs appeared first on Connector Tips.
Innovations needed by the connector industry have consistently stimulated the development of engineering plastics. The proliferation of different resins has been incredible as suppliers work to develop the…
The post What plastics are in my connectors? appeared first on Connector Tips.
When the price of gold shot up in the ’80s, many connector manufacturers funded research into gold alternatives. In the early days, much of that work was focused…
The post Gold alternatives in connector designs appeared first on Connector Tips.
We have all been in the doctor’s exam room and have probably looked at, or even played with equipment available in the room. Fortunately, in the operating room…
The post Special Considerations for Connectors in Medical Applications appeared first on Connector Tips.
A colleague in the standards community once pointed out that “The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them.” Military standard connectors clearly illustrate…
The post Special considerations for military connectors appeared first on Connector Tips.
Many electronic connectors are gold plated. Gold plating increases conductivity, especially at low voltages, protects the surface from corrosion, and increases the connector cycle life. But with gold…
The post Are tin-plated connectors OK for my application? appeared first on Connector Tips.
Wouldn’t system design be a lot easier if everything were in one box, on one board? The schematic becomes the board design and the world can be much…
The post Why have connectors at all? appeared first on Connector Tips.
