Circular sensor connectors protect critical elements in motorsport
Breakway collars on the Vivern family of connectors prevent damage to critical element, claims Harwin. The connectors are intended for use in telemetry systems, vehicle controls, pit lane equipment and automotive energy recovery system management, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), radar equipment and robot joint linkages.
The circular sensor connector is designed to meet the demands of the most challenging of operational environments.
Members of the Vivern family come in a 10-contact 1.45mm pitch format and have an insulation resistance of over 1GOhm. Contact current rating is 2.0A per contact. They can be supplied in both cable-to-cable and cable-to-board configurations. The contacts are made from a copper alloy with gold plate finish to augment their durability.
The compact connectors have an external diameter of 10.6mm and are lightweight but rugged, says Harwin. The use of polarised components means that the connectors are suited to high performance automotive applications (such as motor racing), as well as other potentially high impact applications, where there are also weight and space constraints, such as robotics and avionics. The breakaway collar incorporated into the bayonet locking mechanism can be removed to protect against wired connector damage caused by adverse loads and external impacts.
The Vivern connectors have been designed for use with 24AWG and 26AWG network cabling and each have an IP67-compliant sealed housing to combat liquid ingress. The identifiable three-colour coded keyway options avoid the accidental incorrect mating of adjacent cables in densely packed electronic systems, says Harwin.
An operational temperature range of -65 to +150 degrees C is supported, along with the endurance to enable completion of at least 1000 mating cycles. The PCB connector version features stainless steel board mount fixings to ensure that board retention is maintained, even when subjected to heavy vibration (exhibiting the resilience needed to withstand 20G for a period of over six hours).
Because of their combination compactness and strong current carrying capabilities, these units will be of value in relation to a wide array of different tasks where sensor/data acquisition hardware is involved.
