A clean connector is thought for food

Manufacturers in the food industry have discovered that the latest connector technology can bring shortened set-up times and reduced production stoppages. The new connectors can also help achieve improved throughput and greater machine and automation flexibility. As a result, HARTING has developed the Han® F+B series of connectors which are specially designed to provide a variety of useful attributes in the food and beverage manufacturing environment. These include a strong resistance to detergents, the ability to function in a wide temperature range (from -40°Celsius to +125°Celsius) and preventing the build-up of dirt. The housings are certified by Ecolab and have FDA 21 approvals.

Hygiene and safety will always remain particularly important in food processing, and machines and equipment must be easy to clean, with a preference for circular shapes and smooth junctions. These, as well as transition surfaces, threads and seals were chosen for the Han® F+B to ensure a hygienic, easy-to-clean design and to make it harder for dirt and bacteria to accumulate. An interface for food production must also be resistant to the water jets used to clean equipment (IP69K) and the Han® F+B meets these requirements. Coupling and uncoupling is said to be fast and easy with the specially designed housing profile, which enables secure handling, even in humid environments.

If machine downtime occurs, users no longer need to open a cable gland on the control cabinet to decouple devices. As a result, costly detaching and re-establishing of hardwired connections is eliminated and machine downtimes can now be greatly reduced.

For secure identification, the connectors are blue (a black version is also available) and the housings can be used with hybrid contact inserts for data, signal and power. This makes it possible to configure future-proof machine design for processing units, including Ethernet. With the use of an adapter, the user can integrate a selection of Han® 3A inserts, including RJ45 interfaces, signal inserts with up to 21 poles as well as power contacts for currents up to 40 A.