Page 12 - Industrial Technology EXTRA 15th March 2021

CONNECTORS...

Benefits of blind mate connectors

Electrical connectors must often be mated in situations where they are hard to see
or difficult to reach. Combined with the fact that they are challenging to use in
harsh environment applications, installation and maintenance times are longer,
leading to increased costs. Here Shaun Findley, European Director of Product and
Purchasing at connector specialist PEI-Genesis, discusses how blind mate

connectors can help engineers address these challenges.
lind mate connectors achieve a damage and preventing problematic errors caused
connection through a sliding or snapping by incorrect mating.
action or by using guide pins, without Since users might not be able to see if the
Bthe use of special tools. Unlike other connectors are correctly mated, blind mate
connector types, many blind mate connectors have connectors can provide auditory confirmation to
self-aligning features that correct small give the user confidence that the connection is
misalignments when mating and help guide the properly achieved. Again, this is a significant
connectors into the correct mating position. This improvement from merely hoping that a reliable
feature is quite different from the more rigid
coupling mechanisms found on threaded or bayonet
couplings, reducing the chance of connector

March 2021 • INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY EXTRA • p12