With its own advantages in design and combination, heavy-duty connectors occupy a very important position in the modern industrial market segment. Modular design, flexible combination, high-level protection, more and more industries and solution providers choose heavy-duty connected machines to solve complex power and signal transmission problems for them. This makes how to choose the appropriate heavy-duty connector to adapt to the final application an urgent problem. So let’s make it clear to that how to select a heavy-duty connector. And before that, you can check what is heavy-duty connector is also in our blog.
1. Select the male and female inserts
Male inserts and female inserts of the heavy-duty connectors are just as the most important parts of the whole body. Male inserts and female inserts mainly determine the electrical performance of heavy-duty connectors, such as voltage and current. When your application requires high voltage, you must choose a high-voltage insert combination. Sometimes, High voltage also means high current. Generally, HSB or HK series heavy-duty connectors are selected.
In addition, when choosing the male and female inserts, one must also pay attention to the material of the pins. Generally speaking, the material of the pins is copper plated with silver. However, if the voltage is less than 5V and 5mA, gold-plated copper is usually used for circular connections.
The Inserts of the heavy-duty connector also directly determine the number of cables and the height of the hoods. If the connector has a lot of pins, such as 108 pins, 216 pins, then you need to have multiple cable entry ports or you need to increase the height of the shell to facilitate Cable connection as design below.
For the inserts, you also need to clarify the terminal types. Different inserts have different terminal ways. At present, screw terminals and cold crimping terminals are the most commonly used methods, but there are many other termination methods for heavy-duty connectors. For example, spring contacts are faster and safer than the previous two termination methods, and have become a new trend in termination methods. However, different termination methods have their advantages, and they cannot be considered separately when choosing; other factors must be fully integrated to make the selection. Below are the basic terminal types of heavy-duty connectors, which are presented by Harting.
2. Select the hoods and housing
After selecting your inserts, the inserts’ dimensions and PINs will help us to decide which hoods and Housing of heavy-duty connectors can be used. Generally, Hoods and Housing more reflect the mechanical performance, physical performance, and environmental conditions of the heavy-duty connector.
Hoods & Housing usually uses aluminum alloy or zinc alloy material, and the surface will be treated with sandblasting and paint spraying, so that the heavy-duty connector has high strength and an anti-corrosion effect. However, sometimes due to the different use environment, plastic hoods and housing are also adopted, but they are not equipped with metal shells in terms of mildness, anti-corrosion performance, and IP rating, and they are usually used in indoor environments.
When choosing the heavy-duty connector Hoods&Housing, pay attention to special requirements such as the number of cable inlets, the height of the housing, and the number of lock levers. These details will be explained in the following sections. You can also check the similar articles on Connectorsupplier.com.
3. Check your Cable lines for the heavy-duty connector
After choosing the hoods and housings, we need to consider the elements of the cable connection system. First, we must determine the number of cables. If a conventional single cable is used, it is easy to choose the corresponding hoods and housing. It is enough to have a cable connection hole. However, if there are multiple cables, additional custom designs are required. For example, several cable connection holes are required; the positions of the holes and the size of all holes need to be considered. Only in this way can the heavy-duty connector be perfectly connected with the cable to achieve the purpose of the applications.
4. Selecting the cable connectors
After determining the number of cables and the number of holes, we need to consider the type of cable connector. The cable connector connects the cable to the heavy-duty connector, so that the heavy-duty connector and the cable can be completely sealed directly, to achieve waterproofing. Dustproof effect. Generally speaking, the cable joints of heavy-duty connectors mainly have the following forms:
- Cable Glands
- Flexible Coupling and Hose Connectors
- Other Special Connectors
Put the cable in the corrugated pipe and then connect it with the heavy-duty connector. This way, the cable is loosely distributed inside the corrugation, and the connection and sealing effect with the heavy-duty connector is realized through the corrugated pipe joint. This method is often used in harsh working conditions to double-protect the cable.
When choosing a heavy-duty connector, the appropriate connector type should also be selected according to different conditions.
5. Consider the heavy-duty connector locking system
The heavy-duty connector locking system is also a critical part of the whole body. The lock system connects the hoods and Housing, also equipped with a seal gasket to make the heavy-duty connector with High Ingress protection. Generally speaking, the design of a heavy-duty connector will adopt a single lock form. This form will have a pair of parallel connecting rods on the front or side of the shell of the heavy-duty connector for locking.
If a double-lock design is adopted, there are two pairs of locking systems on the front or side of the heavy-duty connector. The material of the lock is generally hot-dip galvanized iron to improve the overall corrosion resistance. Sometimes stainless steel or plastic parts are used. When used in a high-vibration environment, to prevent the lock from falling off, a pulley lock method is generally used to improve the stability of the overall lock system.
6. Select Protection Ratings
The protection level is also a key feature of a heavy-duty connector. And when selecting heavy-duty connectors, you need to choose the right standard. Normally, there are IP and NEMA; IP and NEMA are different standards and have different test items and details. You can check my post IP Rating for Heavy Duty Connector, and also check what NEMA to figure out NEMA enclosure types . Normally, heavy-duty connectors apply IP65, IP68, and IP69k for normal types.
7. Select heavy-duty Connector manufacturers
Heavy-duty connectors have already been developed for a lot of years. There are a lot of branded heavy-duty connector manufacturers. Such as
1.Harting heavy duty connector.
3.weidmuller Rock-star heavy duty connector.
UMER CONNECTOR is one of the top heavy-duty connector manufacturers in China. Provide OEM and ODM service, and also free sample is available. Quality control, 7-day delivery, and cost reductive. Connect and find more about UMER heavy duty connectors.
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