I recently stumbled upon the story of Stephanie Kwolek, a DuPont chemist who discovered the technology behind Kevlar® almost 60 years ago. This lightweight fiber is five times stronger than an equal weight of steel, withstands high heat and is resistant to harsh chemicals (kind of like Superman except for that whole kryptonite thing). Most notably, Kevlar is found in body armor and bulletproof vests used by police and the military.
One could argue that the level of something’s ruggedness is determined by what must be prevented or saved. Kevlar protects optical cable underwater, suspends bridges and most importantly, saves lives. Kevlar has become a piece in the puzzle of rugged solutions from athletics to space.
Another piece in that puzzle is Samtec’s ultra rugged and flexible power interconnects found in the new Rugged/Power Design Guide. Solutions are available for any application, from industrial automation to military and aerospace where reliable performance and durability are critical.
The chemical breakdown of Kevlar is a bit over my head, so here is a highlight of Rugged/Power products and roadmap items you can find in the Guide.
ULTRA RUGGED SOLUTIONS
This new Guide dives into Samtec’s Ultra Rugged products and testing, which provide quality and flexibility in small form factors with a robust roadmap to meet or exceed extreme/harsh application and industry requirements. Product solutions include:
- URSA™ I/O Rugged Power System
- NovaRay® I/O 38999 Rugged I/O System; contact RuggedPower@samtec.com for information
- FireHawk™ Ultra Rugged/Compact Optics
- VITA 90 VNX+ Solutions
- FireFly™ Extreme Environment and Extended Temp Optical Systems
- SureWare™ Ultra Rugged Hardware
- High-Reliability Plating; contact RuggedPower@samtec.com for information
Ultra Rugged testing entails Samtec’s Severe Environment Testing (SET) with qualified Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) and modified COTS products to get solutions to market faster. Visit samtec.com/set for additional information and test reports. Lot screen sample testing also is available to ensure products meet required specifications; contact map@samtec.com for details.
POWER SYSTEMS
Power systems are available for up to 60 Amps per blade, including power and signal options for board-to-board, cable-to-board and cable-to-cable applications. Also featured in the Rugged/Power Design Guide are AcceleRate® mP power/signal arrays with rotated power blades for improved performance and simplified breakout region (BOR).
Samtec offers Power Integrity Services, as well as support and strategies to optimize system power architectures (contact SIG@samtec.com for details). A new power simulation tool is available at samtec.com when searching a product for your specific application; calculate temperature increase in the connector area, in real time.
RUGGED I/O SYSTEMS
Rugged I/O systems include optical and sealed cable assemblies, as well as URSA™ I/O ultra rugged power cable system. Featuring a micro-hyperboloid contact with 4 points of contact, this rugged I/O system provides an extremely reliable connection and extremely high mating cycles. An extensive URSA™ I/O roadmap can also be found in the Guide, which includes power/signal/RF combination assemblies, a shielded vertical header, rugged latching and more.
RUGGED BOARD-TO-BOARD, RUGGED HIGH-SPEED & DISCRETE WIRE CABLE SYSTEMS
In the Guide are many of Samtec’s long standing rugged/power products. From Tiger Eye™ contact systems rated to 1,000 cycles and Edge Rate® rugged high-speed systems to a wide variety of discrete wire cable assemblies, a rugged solution is available for any application:
- mPOWER® 2.00 mm Pitch Ultra Micro Power
- Tiger Eye™ Rugged Contact Systems
- Mini Mate® and Power Mate® Shrouded Power Systems
- Razor Beam™ Hermaphroditic Connectors
- Edge Rate® Rugged, High-Speed Systems
- Generate™ High-Speed Edge Cards & Micro Edge Cards
- Discrete Wire Systems
Below is a sampling of additional blog posts for more about Samtec’s Rugged/Power solutions and services. For any Rugged/Power product questions, please contact RuggedPower@samtec.com.
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