What are floating connectors

From autonomous driving vehicles to smart household appliances, as technology advances, a computerization revolution erupts across electronic world. Because of the miniaturization megatrend, as designs get more compact, challenges start to surface especially when adding new features. One of the challenges is manufacturing these designs and utilizing automated assembly becomes vital. However, automation requires fine tuning; misalignment could cause traditional interconnects crushed by the robotic force, resulting defects that are often irreversible. Taking advantages of its innovative terminal design, the floating connector emerges to be the solution and it turns out, there are other benefits that floating connector offers.

What are Floating connectors？

The floating connector is an electromechanical interconnect that absorbs misalignments in both "X", "Y" and "Z" axes. Unlike a traditional connector, the floating connector is featured with its mating interface suspended above the PCB by its uniquely designed terminals. The terminals are not straight as the traditional ones, but rather bent in such way that grants them elasticity. This elasticity is critical to the following advantages offered by the floating connector.   

Advantages in using floating connectors

1)Misalignment absorption

With the spring-like terminals, Greenconn floating connectors are capable to withstand up to ±0.7mm misalignment in both the X and Y axes and ±0.5mm misalignment in Z-axis. In addition, one can populate the PCB with multiple board-to-board floating connectors without issues during assembly, which is less likely with traditional ones because of the accumulative misalignment. 

2)Terminal stress reduction

For a traditional connector, when mating misaligned, mechanical stress can build up inside the terminals. Over time, this would cause the solder joints to crack and eventually lead to a defect. On the other hand, because of the degree of freedom allowed by its elastic terminals, which reduce the stress even when a misalignment does occur, this is minimized for the floating connector.

3)Fretting reduction

Another challenge is vibration, whether at high or low frequencies. An interconnection could have the plating of the mating pins wear off gradually, known as fretting. In some cases, the worn off plating exposes the copper alloy underneath to open air and further leads to other issues such as oxidation. Thanks to its elastic terminals, the floating connector resists better against fretting throughout its lifetime.

Application of floating connectors

Industrial Applications PLCs, CNCs, industrial PCs, Sensor Units, and Controllers.

Automotive Applications Car Navigation Systems, Audio Modules, and Wireless Modules.

Medical and Other Applications

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Starting with the automotive industry, a reliable connector is needed more than ever as one failure could result in a severe incident. With the above advantages, the floating connector is not only more reliable but also cost-effective as it improves production efficiency. Seeing the success in the automotive world, other industries such as medical and industrial also start utilizing the floating technology.

For more details, please check our website at www.greenconn.com.