‘Highest demands’ met on protection and flexibility

The compact and highly flexible circular connectors of binder's 670 series “withstand demanding protection requirements,” states the company. Rated as particularly innovative among more than 100 products, they have now received a prestigious award.

“Form factor, protection degree, signal integrity – these are key features of binder's award-winning NCC series 670 [Not Connected Closed]. Thanks to a special design feature, the extremely flexible, space-saving subminiature connectors can achieve IP54 protection when unmated and IP67 when mated. Thus, they are resistant to physical contact, dust and splashing water on all sides [IP54, unmated] and dust-tight, as well as protected against temporary submersion [IP67] respectively.”

This property is beneficial, for example, in test and measurement, as well as medical applications that are subject to limited installation space and also have special requirements for protection against environmental influences. Other applications include temperature-analysing instruments, lighting, signage and further equipment in wash-down environments.

Award-winning series product

Developed more than 30 years ago as a customer-specific solution, NCC technology soon attracted a great deal of interest. The continuing high demand prompted Markus Binder, general manager of the binder group, comments the company, “to make the wise and forward-looking decision to introduce the initially customer-specific NCC solution as a series product”.

Now the connectors of the binder 670 series have received a prestigious award: the silver medal at the '2021 LEAP Award' (Leadership in Engineering Achievement Program) – an annual competition that recognises particularly innovative and forward-thinking products in the design and engineering space. Twelve independent judges, including engineering and academic professionals, selected the most award-worthy products from more than 100. Sponsor of the LEAP Award is the US media company WTWH Media.

Closed even when unmated

Permanently protecting the pins from contact, dust and moisture under all operating conditions is a challenging task for any supplier of electromechanical connectivity solutions. In general, products achieve their specified degree of protection only when mated. If they are not connected, protective flaps or covers are used as standard market measures. For users, however, this often means restrictions in design or handling.

NCC technology, a special design feature of binder's 670 series, is said to overcome these disadvantages: a spring-loaded plastic cover inside the connector housing protects the contacts from the ingress of particles, dust and splash water. It also ensures that the pins are enclosed in a contact-proof manner and protected against external mechanical impact. “Compared to conventional competitive products, the 670-series male cable connectors and female panel mount connectors enable particularly robust, compact and cost-saving connection solutions in harsh, demanding environments.”

Robust connection features frequent plugging

All 670-series products are housed in a 16-mm-diameter plastic enclosure. The 5-pin NCC connectors, equipped with gold-plated contacts, are specified for a rated current of 2 A at a rated voltage of 50 V. Their bayonet lock ensures a stable connection. Thus resistant to vibrations and shock, they operate reliably at -25 °C to +85 °C. The cable outlet measures 3 mm to 5 mm in diameter, and the wire gauge is 0.25 mm2 (AWG 24).

All product versions are offered with solder termination and the panel mount variants are also offered with dip solder termination. The binder series 670 is especially designed for frequent mating and unmating – up to 1000 mating cycles and beyond. To facilitate identification and organisation tasks, both the male connectors and the female panel mount connectors are available in different housing colours.