Considerations on plastic connectors in circuit design

The smaller the plastic connector becomes, the greater its importance

The reason is simple: products are getting smaller. Nowadays, many electronic devices such as smart phones, tablet computers, and blood glucose monitors have stricter and stricter size requirements, and their internal structures have become more and more compact, so there is not much space for connectors. This trend also appears in the fields of national defense and aerospace. For example, in satellites, guidance systems, and avionics systems, the compactness requirements can only be met by "miniature" connectors.

The demand for smaller plastic connectors is on the rise, and design engineers are also facing a series of new challenges. Miniature connectors require foresight. It requires designers to consider various factors such as packaging, durability, current carrying capacity, and replaceability in advance.

Designers should consider the ease of replacement, especially in closed enclosures.

The following are some design suggestions from the supplier of microplastic connectors. These suggestions not only come from experts in plastic connector design, but also the painful experience of designers, so they are worthy of reference for designers.

understand clearly the limitations of space

Although the thickness of miniature board-to-board plastic connectors is usually less than 1 mm, they are usually used in tightly packed applications. In order to solve potential packaging problems, the designer needs to consider the wiring on the PCB board and the additional wires connected to the plastic connector. "Because the spacing becomes smaller, you have to make the traces and wires narrower.

Find out the current load capacity

As the size of the connector decreases, the current carrying capacity of the connector also decreases. Generally speaking, miniature plastic connectors can handle currents between 200mA and 500mA, which is almost half the rated current of larger board-to-board connectors. In order to compensate for the problems caused by the lower current-carrying capacity, the designer may need to increase the number of terminals.