INTERCONNECTION
Signal meets power meets data
Harting’s har-flex hybrid connectors
Niklas Wittler, Global Product Manager, Harting
Hhar-flex HD Card Edge connectors
By Niklas Wittler, global product manager toard to board solutions, Harting Technology Group
he megatrend of miniaturisation and flexible PCB connections are two key aspects, connector specialist, Harting is focused on. Especially as there is no place where miniaturisation takes greater effect than inside a device. In this regard, the company has built its har-flex series of connectors to be flexible and compact solutions. Now this series is being enhanced with two further important building blocks for a wide range of applications, with its har-flex Hybrid & Power for compact applications with power, and har-flex HD card Edge in an 0.8mm pitch for transferring high data rates. To enable the simultaneous transfer of signals and power from one PCB to the other, the company is expanding its har-flex family with a new Hybrid variant. The Har-flex Hybrid range enables signal and power contacts to be combined in one insulator. A current carrying capacity of 18A permits the desired power to be space-savingly transferred by way of few contacts. In the past, several signal contacts needed to be combined in this for power transmission, which was linked with greater space requirements, as well as the use of a separate connector just for the power supply. And the throughput times in production are also improved as the placement of an additional power connector can be avoided.
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To prevent the power from inductively interfering with transferable data, adjoining pins can be earthed. If there is further room and the need to transfer power in a small space then the separate har-flex Power connector is a suitable choice here. This is of the same type as the har-flex Signal
26 MAY 2021 | ELECTRONICS TODAY
connectors and thus offers the ideal complement.
Besides the pin counts, users can choose between SMT fixing or with additional hold downs in the Hybrid or Power variant, depending on the application. The power pins are all available as THR or SMT contacts. While the SMT contacts will leave the back of the board virtually untouched, the THR contacts offer a better heat dissipation and higher stability. The new har-flex Hybrid & Power variants have been created in already familiar designs and thus offer solutions for mezzanines, motherboard-to- daughterboard and extender card connections.
Har-flex HD card edge for high data rates
Advanced Ethernet for IIoT applications is also an important topic on the circuit board. With the introduction of the har-flex HD (high density) card Edge, this is now advancing into even smaller ranges of board connectivity and bringing GBit Ethernet to the PCB from autumn 2020. Starting with the har- flex HD card series Edge in a 0.8mm pitch, this can transfers up to 25Gbit/s from board to board. The series is designed as a single connector with pin counts from 20 to 140 contacts, meaning that the mating contacts are directly integrated in the board layout and no further connector is required. For the stability required in industry, there is a solution with additional hold downs in SMT und THR. These boost the mechanical robustness in general, and particularly against transverse forces.
To cater to the increasingly automated production, all har-flex connectors are pick & place capable and contactable in the reflow soldering process. To also support users in their processing, Harting ensures absolute precision with its components.
To achieve this the company’s connector range offers coplanarity. This describes how parallel and evenly signal contacts and retaining pins are mutually oriented in a SMD connector, which is difinitive for the later quality of the solder connection. If connecting pins deviate too much from one another, the connection can be of a low quality or faulty. To ensure good solderability, the coplanarity of all contacts is thus continuously monitored in the production already. This guarantees the high quality and Harting’s own claim to reliable interfaces. Besides an optical monitoring in keeping with IPC-A-610 Class 3 standards, which is based on externally visible criteria such as the wetting angle and filling degree, Harting’s labs also use metallographic specimens and radiotechnology to monitor the quality of soldered joints. Also of relevance for a good connection
besides the correct position of the contact pins is their coating. Har-flex contacts are equipped with a tin coat that forms a reliable bond with the solder pad in the reflow process. The great variance, new heights, and continuous monitoring of its high quality standards make har-flex an ideal interface for circuit boards inside the device.
Harting Technology Group
www.harting.com
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