Engineers often find themselves choosing between high-power connectors that don’t offer all the features that would be ideal for their designs and are forced to compromise as a result. For instance, if they can’t find a connector that delivers the required current rating in a small package, engineers may settle for a high-current connector that increases their design’s size.
Molex has responded to problems like this with the innovative MultiCat Power Connector System. It solves a multitude of engineering conundrums by delivering a range of often-incompatible features to meet competing needs. Below are three examples of MultiCat Power Connector features that help engineers overcome design challenges:
Challenge #1: Finding a connector that is both compact and rugged
Industrial automation applications call for high-power connectors that fit within motors while withstanding the high temperatures of industrial environments.
Solution: The MultiCat Connector’s compact, lightweight housing makes it the ideal wire-to-wire and wire-to-board component for space-constrained motor designs. Additionally, its operating temperature goes up to 150˚C, enabling it to tolerate harsh industrial environments.
Challenge #2: Combining compactness and reliability with a high-current rating
To meet market demands for rugged, compact products while optimizing profit margins, OEMs need a reliable electrical connection without increasing production costs and design dimensions. But locking mechanisms, which ensure a reliable connection, are typically made of metal, increasing both connector size and cost. Therefore, OEM design engineers often are forced to sacrifice cost effectiveness and compactness when they choose a connector with a locking mechanism.
Solution: Because its connector position assurance (CPA) feature is not metalized, the MultiCat Connector provides both a reliable connection and a compact, lightweight package without increasing costs.
Challenge #3: Designing for high-mating-cycle applications
Products such as medical diagnostic equipment, drones and industrial motors require connectors capable of both a high-current rating and high-mating cycles while decreasing assembly and maintenance time.
Solution: The MultiCat Power Connector’s CPA and positive lock are activated by hand, making it easy to mate and unmate, which simplifies assembly and maintenance processes. Additionally, it withstands at least 500 mating cycles, providing longer life and making it effective for high-mating-cycle applications while delivering current ratings from 14.0 to 40.0A per contact.