The world of industrial production is facing major upheavals. New problems, risks, but also challenges and great opportunities need to be overcome and exploited. In uncertain times, reference points and role models are needed – sometimes too little heroes. Hartings "Captain IX" is a pioneer and symbolic figure for a new generation of Ethernet interfaces and for a cooperation that supports the new IX Industrial Connectors can establish itself worldwide as a new standard.

Contents

• New generation of Ethernet interfaces
• The Ethernet interface so far
• The Ethernet interface of the future
  • Easy integration and solid anchoring
  • Robust than the larger predecessors
  • For at least 5000 mating cycles
  • More performance – also with regard to EMC
  • Crosstalk between pairs of data is minimized

New generation of Ethernet interfaces

The development of Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet of thinks (IIoT) ensures the constant spread and connection of more and more components and participants in the industrial environment ethernet networks. Ethernet is conquering more and more areas of our lives and will penetrate into the last structures of a company in the future. The path leads away from co-existing Ethernet and bus systems for data and sensors towards a consistent Ethernet system from the cloud to the last corner of industrial production.

In addition to uniform protocols, this also includes the corresponding Infrastructure, which due to ever smaller end devices and Sensor-/actuator systems with must shrink. The demands on the neural pathways and synapses of tomorrow's industry are clear. The device interfaces and system cables have to be smaller, more powerful and at the same time more robust. Enough challenges, but also opportunities await users and manufacturers. The new Harting IX Industrial^-Connector is a clear commitment to miniaturization, setting a new standard in ruggedness and performance for IP20 Ethernet connections.

The Ethernet interface so far

The previous epitome of the Ethernet interface in an IP20 environment is the RJ45 Connectors. This connector, which is probably the most used worldwide, is present everywhere and is therefore so loved by users. In view of the lack of robustness due to broken locking levers or occasional contact problems, however, many users tend to have a love-hate relationship with the RJ45.

With a view to ever smaller devices such as flat mobile devices, displays, smaller Automationdevices, cameras and sensors, the size of the RJ45 sockets limits the possible miniaturization. A smaller and more robust connector is therefore on the wish list of many users and developers who also want Cat 6A performance 1/10 Gbit / s Ethernet in the control level.

The Ethernet interface of the future

The new Harting IX Industrial Ethernet consistently meets all of these requirements. Its compared to the RJ45 order 70% reduced size of the sockets allows device manufacturers to use them in significantly smaller devices, which are thus easier to cope with miniaturization. This can be camera systems that are constantly shrinking, where conventional RJ45 sockets already take up most of the space in the housing, or control units and small ones industrial computer. Fast Ethernet is also required here via a small interface, as is the case in Switching, WLAN access points, routers and other network components.

But the small IX Industrial Ethernet Superhero can also demonstrate its strengths outside of industry. In railway vehicles and buses in public transport, displays and passenger information systems can be fed with data and information simultaneously via the IX interface via PoE/PoE+ also be supplied with power. Vibrations or other mechanical stresses are not a problem. A small but robust socket with five THR shield contacts for maximum stability on the circuit board is available for device integration. The data contacts are designed as SMD contacts. This means that the PCB sockets can be processed with all other standard components in the normal reflow soldering process and no separate manual or wave soldering step is necessary.

Easy integration and solid anchoring

Thus, the developer and device manufacturer can easily integrate the new IX Industrial System into new devices and also has the security that this interface is very firmly on the Circuit board is anchored and can withstand rough handling. Overall, the end devices can be made smaller more easily due to the reduced installation space of the socket, since miniaturized sockets and plugs have a significant higher packing density make possible. In the illustrated upright and angled socket, the pitch between sockets is just 10mm.

In the foreseeable future there will also be a socket in one flat angled design for very flat devices. Even wall ducts, which complete the range of applications, will be included in the IX portfolio and complete the new IX ecosystem. The little heroes have everything their predecessors lack.

Since the components and housing of the systems are constantly shrinking, there is also room for the cabling limited. For device cabling, the manufacturer offers the user flexible and thin system cables with a small bending radius, which can also be installed in miniaturized Housing make possible. They are designed with the IX connector face on both sides or with a combination of IX and RJ45 connectors. The third variant has an X-coded M12 on one side.

In the first step, there is the straight version of the IX Industrial connector. Angled connectors Variants will follow in the future in order to continue to implement space-critical applications with an angled cable outlet. With the mixed system cables from IX to RJ45 connector face in particular, it is easy to gradually integrate devices with the new connector face into existing cabling. The perfectly coordinated system of socket and connector as well as finished system cables guarantees a process-reliable solution from a single source.

Robust than the larger predecessors

A smaller version is usually equated with filigree, finer but also more sensitive. However, since it is precisely these negative properties in the industrial environment that have often led to problems with the RJ45, the IX Industrial significantly more robust constructed.

The new connectors have a stable locking mechanism via two metal hooks, which engage with a clearly audible click when plugged in, giving the user acoustic and haptic feedback about the correct locking convey. They thus guarantee an absolutely secure and vibration-proof connection from the cable to the printed circuit board.

This makes them suitable for industrial applications as well as for railway applications Robotic, in automation and everywhere else where high mechanical loads occur. In order to absorb the forces acting on the cable, the IX Industrial has a robust strain relief that firmly connects the cable to the connector shielding via a robust shield crimp. Starting with the 5 THR shield contacts, this creates an absolutely robust connection via the 2 snap-in hooks in the plug-in point to the cable.

For at least 5000 mating cycles

Due to more and more modular thinking and planning, higher mating cycles are also an issue that manufacturers have to address. Modules such as production units, Tools and other system components are no longer just rigidly wired, but also rearranged and reconnected more frequently. In this way, a few hundred to a thousand plugging cycles can occur within the life of a plug. In order to offer users absolute security here as well, the IX Industrial is designed and tested for at least 5000 mating cycles.

Even after this high number of plugging processes, all relevant parameters such as contact and insulation resistance, dielectric strength and the plugging and unplugging forces are within the permissible limit values. All connectors are manufactured in our in-house, state-of-the-art test laboratory subjected to various tests and examined with the most modern equipment. This applies to all environmental simulations as well as a large number of mechanical tests and various other test methods. The small connector easily withstands even the very demanding shock and vibration tests according to the railway standard EN 50155. It is not only robust but also fast.

More performance – also with regard to EMC

Also transmission bandwidths play a role in the time of more and more data suppliers - even under difficult operating conditions in which EMC is an issue. A high-frequency transmission is always exposed to the problem of interference.

For this purpose, a continuous 360° shielding realized. From the cable to the connection point, there are no more unprotected wires that can affect an error-free high-frequency signal. The cable shield is pressed with the crimped ring directly on the connector housing and thus offers strain relief and continuous shield transfer.

Crosstalk between pairs of data is minimized

In this small design with contacts that are very close together, it is a particular challenge crosstalk between the individual data pairs. For this purpose, a shielding plate is hidden between the two rows of contacts in the socket, which effectively prevents crosstalk between the two opposite rows of contacts.

the ninth Industrial Ethernet has 10 contacts. In each row of contacts, the central contact serves as a shield between the two pairs of wires. For this purpose, this center contact on the printed circuit board is connected to the ground potential. Due to the shielding plate and the grounded contacts, the arrangement of the signal-carrying contacts is similar to that of an x-coded M12 circular connector. Each wire pair is well shielded from its neighbors in its own cable or connector quadrant. This measure effectively protects against crosstalk and perfect data transmission is achieved.

As an answer to the demanding and increasing demand for global digitization technology, the Harting Technology Group from Espelkamp is cooperating with the Japanese company Hirose Electric C. Ltd., Tokyo.

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