Interconnection
Customised connectivity solutions
What happens when a hard-wired product breaks down with an electrical fault? Kevin Canham, Product & Applications Manager, HARTING, talks about a solution to hard-wired products
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raditionally, electrical and electronic equipment was designed and built with the wiring hard-wired straight
to an electrical circuit. While presenting a satisfactory solution during normal operation, hard-wiring presents a number of challenges: not least the question of what happens if the product breaks down and the problem is traced to an electrical fault.
This Plug & Play approach can be applied to any application at either the design or the production stage. With this thought in mind, HARTING has launched HARTING Customised Solutions (HCS), a global operation for producing custom- specific interconnection solutions.
Customised cable assemblies A key part of this operation is the production of customised cable assemblies, combining the company’s market-leading connectors with expert local and global production capabilities (Fig.1). As a result, HARTING is able to produce assemblies carrying any combination of power, control signals, embedded processor I/O, Ethernet
Figure 2. HARTING offers the complete service of design and manufacturing of box builds along with electrical assembly
Under these circumstances, a quick fix is not possible as the product is hard-wired. The customer may be losing money as the product is no longer functioning, and worse still, a qualified engineer has to fix the problem, with a resulting loss of time and consequently further loss of money. This is just one example of the risks associated with hard-wiring. Other examples include maintenance shutdowns at the plant where the products are based and product relocation. When the wiring of a product is permanently connected to an electrical circuit these associated risks of additional time and costs always have to be taken into account.
By wiring the product through connectors, it becomes possible to connect to and disconnect from the electrical circuit with ease. Whether the problem is an electrical fault, a factory shutdown or product relocation, the “Plug & Play” connector solution will substantially reduce the associated risks of increased time and cost.
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communications, and data pulses. Configurations available include: single- or double-ended cable assemblies; multicore or single core cables; modular assemblies; and conduit systems.
Capabilities span the range from short assemblies for electrical
enclosures to 300-foot long multipurpose cables for wind-turbine down-tower applications. These assemblies can include hybrid connectors, mounting brackets, exotic insulation, flexible conduit, or simply pigtail leads.
These Plug & Play solutions are also ideally suited to fixing bulkheads on to boxes. HARTING offers the complete
Figure 1. HARTING produces a range of customised cable assemblies that combine the company’s market-leading connectors with expert local and global production capabilities
service of design and manufacturing of box builds along with electrical assembly. This covers bulkhead mounting, bulkheads with tails and panel wiring, with each box being custom built to users’ requirements with the support of a dedicated project manager and a CAD engineer (Fig.2). In addition, the facility offers a range of services using advanced equipment including AC/DC testing, pull testing, bespoke testing, reporting, crimping and fibre-optic processing services. A kitting service puts related connector parts together into one package, including crimps with inserts; inserts into hoods; hoods with glands; and mating connector sets. As a result, a customer’s requirements are grouped, packaged and supplied with the complete parts list converted into one easy-to-order part number.
Special-purpose assemblies A particular custom speciality is the production of unique I/O cable assemblies, such as those with D-Sub connectors sized from 9 to 78 pins with a variety of connection arrangements (Fig.3). Many other I/O connector types can be used, including those that are EMC qualified, with IP 65, 67 and 68 ratings, and accommodating a wide range of wire gauges. Similar assembly capabilities are available for M12 connectors, fibre-optic cables, and Category 5 to Gigabit Ethernet systems.
Application example Figure 3. An I/O cable assembly based on D-Sub connectors
A classic example of an application of cable assemblies is a range of robust Ethernet jumper cables and customisable connectors that provide sufficient bandwidth to allow expansion to accommodate the demands of future higher- performance communication networks on board rail passenger vehicles (Fig.4). Using HARTING connectors with ground disconnect, these assemblies provide full 10 Gbit/s transmission tested to IEEE
Components in Electronics User benefits
The customised Plug & Play approach to interconnectivity described in this article offer additional benefits in terms of lower costs and reduced installation time. Other advantages are reduced errors in field wiring, no tooling investment required by the customer, and the supply of a 100 per cent tested product.
www.HARTING.co.uk/ customised-cables
December 2015/January 2016 23
802.3 utilising CAT 7 cables. They are compliant with fire regulation EN 45545 – 1, 2 & 5 and EN 50155:2007 to ensure reliable application on rolling stock, and offer industry-leading IP68 and IP69K sealing capability. HARTING connectors also carry IRIS certification to meet the stringent demands of the rail industry.
The use of Han Modular within the Han HPR family gives users the ability to mix signal, data and power interfaces in a single connector, along with the flexibility to incorporate up to six 10 Gbit/s links in the connector.
Figure 4. A robust Ethernet jumper cable with customisable connectors to support high-performance communication networks on board rail passenger vehicles
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