In power systems, a busbar refers to the conductive copper or aluminum lines used in power distribution panels, distribution boxes, substations, and other electrical systems. In industrial applications, busbars are critical for the stable operation of systems. This article will introduce you to the busbar interconnection solutions provided by Molex in industrial automation applications, including the features and advantages of connectors, wiring, and related products.
Providing a comprehensive busbar connector interconnection system
Busbars are made of highly conductive materials such as copper or aluminum and are used for transmitting electrical energy. They are products with the ability to collect and distribute electrical power, serving as the main conductors for transmitting electricity in power stations or substations. In power systems, busbars play a pivotal role in conveying the electrical energy generated by generators, inverters, or rectifiers to various users or other substations. Busbars connect various current-carrying branch circuits in distribution equipment, serving as a hub for collecting, distributing, and transmitting electrical power.
From state-of-the-art data centers to smart factories, safe and reliable electrical power is crucial for achieving efficient operations. In today's world of power distribution, when power needs to be supplied from point A to point B, busbars and busbar connectors form the backbone of many modern distribution networks.
Molex recognizes the critical importance of flexibility and reliability in modern distribution networks. Leveraging decades of experience in busbar solutions, Molex collaborates closely with customers to provide design feedback, recommend solutions, prototype designs, and work collaboratively to deliver dependable busbar solutions. This approach aims to enhance the performance of the customer's end products, simplify manufacturing processes, reduce costs through suggested design improvements, offer front-end design support to shorten product development times, and provide consumption flexibility through extensive global manufacturing services.
Molex provides customers with a wide range of high-performance, high-power busbar solutions, primarily encompassing the following product lines. Firstly, the Sentrality pin and socket interconnection system offers high-voltage, high-current board-to-board, busbar-to-board, and busbar-to-busbar connectors. It also features a ±1.00mm radial self-alignment to overcome tolerance stack-up issues. Next, the PowerWize high-voltage, high-current wire-to-board/wire-to-busbar connectors are available in two sizes, 6.00mm and 8.00mm, suitable for applications requiring up to 1,000V and 190.0A. Additionally, the header can be mounted on printed circuit boards or busbars.
The PowerWize BMI blind mating panel-to-board/panel-to-busbar connector from Molex utilizes Molex's COEUR socket technology, which helps ensure low contact resistance at the mating interface, minimizing heat generation, and achieving high current-carrying capacity. It is available in three sizes: 3.40mm (75.0A), 6.00mm (110.0A), and 8.00mm (175.0A), supporting blind mating designs to ensure accurate connections in hard-to-reach and visually obscured spaces.
The SW1 wire-to-board/wire-to-busbar interconnect also employs COEUR socket technology and offers high current-carrying capacity in three sizes: 6.00mm (120.0A), 8.00mm (185.0A), and 11.00mm (300.0A). It features a unique positive locking design for secure mating and can operate in temperatures ranging from -40°C to +125°C.
PowerPlane busbar power connectors and cable assemblies provide high current performance and offer various configuration and feature options. These power connectors and cable assemblies are highly reliable, enhancing performance for various power-distribution applications. Additionally, PowerPlane cable assemblies comply with the OCP ORV3 standard, meeting the requirements of more efficient and flexible data center power-distribution architectures.
Optimized material for busbars and grounding jumper solutions
In the realm of materials, Molex offers equipment and expertise for producing complex busbars with the highest efficiency, optimizing materials and applying best practices. They provide a range of busbar solutions tailored to meet specific power and design requirements.
Molex's rigid busbars offer an efficient and effective means of delivering high power. They come in copper and aluminum variants, with options for sheets, bars, and rods. These busbars feature swaging of rod edge bend and complex forming, and they can be plating with materials such as tin, nickel, and silver. They support powder coating for insulation, as well as brazing and welding methods.
Molex's flexible busbars employ braided cables to provide flexibility and are capable of 360-degree movement in rounded rope braiding. They are often used in industrial applications for fuses, grounding, and electromagnetic interference elimination (EMC). Versions with compression terminals are robust and capable of withstanding vibrations. Flexible busbars are available in round and flat braided versions, as well as insulated and uninsulated variants, stacked braiding versions, and flexible/rigid combination solutions.
Molex's laminated busbars offer multiple conductor layers adhered together through heat-activated insulation. They can be easily applied to customer products to provide alternating conductor layers and insulation layers, utilizing various insulation materials. Laminated busbars enhance heat dissipation, offer low characteristic impedance, and come with powder-coated solutions, utilizing plating materials like tin, nickel, and silver.
Furthermore, Molex provides grounding jumper solutions, including UL-certified pre-made grounding jumpers that ensure safe management of high-power applications. Customized versions offer adjustable lengths and terminations. Grounding jumpers protect operators and equipment from electrostatic discharge (ESD) by directing current to a safe ground. They come with fuse-protected terminations, providing secure connectivity, reduced thermal resistance, and improved pull-out strength.
The latest busbar socket for high-power interconnection requirements
Power efficiency is crucial for cost and safety management in power-intensive applications within energy storage systems. Molex introduces the new SW1 socket for industrial applications, featuring Molex's proven COEUR socket design. This socket incorporates multiple contact beams, creating a larger contact surface at the interface, resulting in low contact resistance and voltage drop, minimizing heat generation.
The dense electronics packaging between the cable assembly and its printed circuit board or busbar demands a low mating height. Compared to similar solutions using hyperbolic sockets, the SW1 socket assembly has a height approximately one-third lower and a length approximately one-third shorter. The Z-axis mating configuration is designed to eliminate complex cable bend radius, making it an ideal solution for space-constrained applications.
Ensuring high-current, high-voltage interconnections that can connect to printed circuit boards or busbars, accept various wire gauges, and provide straightforward cable assembly management is a challenge. The SW1 offers locking pins that can connect to printed circuit boards or busbars. The SW1 socket assembly accepts wire sizes from 2 AWG to 4/0 AWG. The unique positive-locking design of the SW1 allows the cable assembly to freely rotate around the locking pin axis after mating, simplifying cable assembly handling. The SW1 finds wide applications in industrial automation, factory equipment, and robotics.
A brand-new design for quick and easy connections that snap in and out instantly
SW1 features a COEUR conical socket with multiple contact beams that provide low contact resistance and low voltage drop, resulting in minimal heat generation at the contact interface. Compared to other contact designs, the COEUR socket design offers higher current-carrying capacity. In comparison to solutions using hyperbolic sockets, SW1 achieves a significantly lower height, reduced length, and narrower width, providing greater design flexibility in space-constrained applications. When compared to competitor's 8.00mm size socket components, SW1 significantly reduces height and length, making the connector more suitable for tight space applications.
SW1 incorporates an easy and straightforward positive-locking feature, with a unique quick connection and "pinch-to-release" design. This helps ensure secure connections during system integration and prevents cable assemblies from unintentionally disengaging due to shocks, vibrations, or mishandling. No mounting hardware is required, reducing installation time and routine maintenance costs. Furthermore, SW1's quick-connect/pinch-to-release cable assembly, unlike competing products that require a second hand to release the locking mechanism, can be mated, locked, unlocked, and unmated with one hand, thanks to its ergonomic locking ribs, providing enhanced functionality in confined spaces.
SW1's positive-locking feature with 360° cable assembly rotation, the stainless-steel spring clamps onto the groove in the locking pin, allows the cable assembly to rotate 360° around the pin during system integration, making cable handling easy. SW1 also features color-coded receptacle housings to differentiate circuits and prevent mis-mating when using multiple cable assemblies in the same application.
SW1 features multiple contact beams, all with optimal current-carrying capacity, providing low contact resistance, low voltage drop, and minimal heat generation at the contact interface. The design flexibility of SW1 offers design engineers options to connect pins to different substrates, whether screw-mount pins for printed circuit boards or knurled press-fit pins for busbars.
SW1 boasts a reliable crimp geometry with high-quality eight-sided crimp profile, ensuring minimal contact resistance at the interface between the wire and the crimp barrel, reducing heat generation in the system to a minimum and offering higher current-carrying capacity compared to other designs.
Conclusion
In power systems, busbars play a crucial role in the transmission of electrical power, and busbar interconnect solutions responsible for collecting, distributing, and transmitting power have a significant impact on system stability. Molex's busbar connector interconnect systems come in various specifications, offering high-quality, high-safety, and easy-to-install products, making them the ideal solution for high-power electrical transmission in industrial automation environments.