Many engineers, myself included, often overlook just how essential connector technology is to the performance of their designs. Of course we recognize that a connector has to stay put until it's intentionally disconnected, but we sometimes fail to remember that the electrical performance of the connector can have a significant impact on system operations. That's a lesson that was first driven home to me when I worked with a military subcontractor who supported Naval operations. Both military and contractor put heavy emphasis on ensuring connector reliability and electrical performance under the harsh conditions of the ocean environment. There's no way you could afford to have connector problems when you were hundreds of miles from shore and had to be prepared to launch guided missiles at a moment's notice.
I've recently been assigned responsibility for interconnection technology here at Electronic Products , and one of my first in-depth encounters with today's connector designs was with WAGO's new picoMAX connector. More properly, it's referred to as a connection system, and that's actually a better description for a family that has over 300 parts in it. And by parts we means separate connectors with a wide variety of options: numbers of pins, whether it's board mounted or not, what kind of wire/cable it's connected to, voltage/current rating, and so on. Looking at the spec sheet for the connectors gives you more data than for most passive devices and many active ones as well; looking at a cutaway of an individual connector, you can see the complex yet ruggedness of the design, as well as the effort that went into maximizing performance and reducing impedance. The path from wire to pin is about as short and solid as it can get. In short, it's no small feat of engineering, and yet it's a very small connector.
A cutaway view of a picoMAX connector.
Having been thoroughly impressed by the picoMAX, I'm really looking forward to finding out what other great things connector designers are up to. If there are any connectors you've encountered recently that have really impressed you, let's talk about it. rcomerford@hearst.com
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