REAL-WORLD REQUIREMENTS MAY EXCEED STANDARDS FOR CONNECTORS USED IN HARSH ENVIRONMENTS HARRY FENTON, PRODUCT MANAGER CUSTOM CONNECTORS
Aerospace, defense, and industrial customers continually raise the bar for their performance requirements for harsh environments and rugged duty connectors. Not only must the current requirements be met, future requirements for durability and data transfer performance must be anticipated with forward-looking component designs. The design and performance envelope is continually pushed as customers rarely seek “just enough” performance. Their need is always for more performance and for connectors that will support future technology growth. In today’s market, industry technical standards or MIL-Spec standards may not be enough to match real-world technical performance demands. In most applications, standards are more likely to be the minimum criteria for compliance, and the real expectation is performance beyond a standard. MATT TALLEY, DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING CARLISLE INTERCONNECT TECHNOLOGIES
Innovative, faster, and longer-lasting components are needed to meet these customers’ expectations.
The challenges for the connector manufacturer to meet customer expectations are many. Designs must suppress the environmental impact of exposure to humidity, temperature extremes, corrosive fluids, and fine abrasive particulate matter like sand, either individually or in combination. In addition, connectors must survive tens of thousands of hours of low- to high- amplitude vibration, especially in engine, rotorcraft, mining, and downhole drilling environments. The physical stress from crews performing maintenance is another challenge. During routine maintenance activities of component inspections, LRU replacement, or equipment upgrades, connectors will be cycled, disconnected, and
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