Custom Connector Solutions

Mating pair of cable assembly and PCB header for controlled door entry system

Challenges:
Customer needed a super flexible cable with 11 conductors and shield to allow them to install their equipment into buildings with very narrow wall cavities.
Needed a header that could be flow soldered and then potted.
Needed a latched solution that was easy to use by installers.
Needed to have low pressure ingress protection.

Solution:
Custom cable with super flexible outer and inner conductor jackets.
Custom header made with N66 insert base for heat resistance and N9T body for high flexibility of latches.
Designed to protect against capillary action liquid ingress without use of O-ring or grommet.

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Smart Card connector for ePOS application to work with metal credit cards

Challenges:
The introduction of metal credit cards (AMEX and Apple for example) was causing significant issues with ePOS equipment as it is possible that metal credit cards (with exposed metal edges) can store static electricity which, when discharged, can cause catastrophic failure of the ePOS equipment.

Solution:
Designed a new stainless steel top plate incorporating side springs at the mating face and at the rear of the connector to guarantee grounding out of the card before any contact was made with any sensitive areas.

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OBD Connector for a vehicle tracking device

Challenges:
Power pins need to be first mate, last break for grounding before power applied.

Custom pitch and pin shape.

Space restrictions with components needing to be under the connector.

Solution:
Designed tooling set to produce a part to customer specification. Tooling manufactured with very tight tolerances to guarantee mating with third party mating half. Cavities set into underside of insulator to allow placement on other components.

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Custom fine pitch board to board connector for telematics project

Challenges:
Part was also required to act as a PCB spacer and standard dual insulators were not robust enough to maintain a critical distance over time.
Height of part caused it to be unstable during the soldering process.
PCB layout could not be changed to accommodate a new footprint.

Solution:
Designed a single piece insulator with asymmetrical side stabilisers to fit existing PCB layout.

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USB A 3.0 connector for motorcycle charger point

Challenges:
Customer needed 15,000 mating cycles (industry standard is 5000 cycles) and 3A power rating (industry standard is 1.8A).

Solution:
Tested existing part to beyond 20,000 mating cycles (pass)
Tested existing part at 3.0A (pass)

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Low cost, low pin count, low profile and low mating force USB-C plug

Challenges:
USB Type-C plugs are designed with an inner spring to give a solid mating feel and good retention force. The customer application needed this feature removed.
The customer also required a lower profile and a minimised PCB footprint.
Additionally, the customer was only using the connector for charging so needed the pin count reduced from 24 pins to 6 pins.
Customer needed a very low unit cost and had a high product volume demand.

Solution:
GCT designed a new 6-pin product with a low-profile shell, insulator and contact set without a retention spring. The footprint was reduced by bringing the shill stakes inside the footprint of the base.
The customer contributed up front to the cost of automatic tooling to maximise throughput and minimise unit cost.
Part was later adopted as GCT standard part USB4180 with customer consent.

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Dual Micro SIM connector for solar powered off grid surveillance camera

Challenges:
Customer originally designed in a part from an Asian manufacturer that was not available in high volumes in reliable quality.
Customer had very limited time to find a higher quality alternative part in the same physical envelope with identical features.

Solution:
Re engineered the part and delivered samples within 4 weeks of initial conversation.
Set up manual line and delivered 100Kpcs within 8 weeks.
Designed and manufactured automatic production line to deliver 500Kpcs within 12 weeks.

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Custom connector for thermoelectric device

Challenges:
Part needs to have very tight tolerances and a rough surface on specified areas on the insulator to facilitate a very reliable gluing and sealing process.
Part need to mate with a competitor’s socket (supplied on a sub assembly).

Solution:
By conducting mold flow analysis on the insulator, the GCT team was able to advise customer the most suitable material and how to minimise shrinkage.
Added, via tool design, a suitable textured surface for customer’s gluing/sealing process.
Conducted FAI, tightened tolerances where critical to ensure this connector perfectly fits both the customer’s assembly and the competitors mating part.

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Cable assembly for door entry system with large flat protective disc overmold

Challenges:
Keeping the disk part of the overmold flat as it large (35mm diameter) and relatively thin (3.5mm).
Minimal outer cable jacket to protrude from the disk overmold on the wafer side of overmold.

Solution:
Special attention was paid to the tooling design and overmold process to achieve the desired flatness.

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Mating pair of connectors for a high cycle ePOS docking and charging application

Challenges:
Life of product needed to be minimum 10,000 mating cycles.
Contacts needed to be self-cleaning (wiping).
Product needed to offer charging capability and USB2.0 features.
Very tight tolerance requirements.
Pick and place issues with spring contact part.

Solution:
Spring type design for one of the mating pair to meet 10,000 cycles.
Nipple feature on spring contact for wiping on every cycle.
5 contact design to meet charging and USB2.0 specifications.
Use of beryllium copper alloy to hold tolerances over product lifetime.
Added pick up area to spring contact part to allow accurate placement.

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Custom left- and right-hand header for Metrology Equipment

Challenges:
Customer needed to switch from existing supplier and could not change connector form.
Existing product had cracking issues.
Needed 10N retention force on each pin for at least 50 insertions.
Customer needed location peg that was removable after alignment.

Solution:
Created custom pins with flat sections to ensure pin retention after overmolding.
Designed tooling to use Technyl A218 V30/Vydyne R530H 30% Glass Filled to stop plastic cracking.
Designed removable peg as per customer request.

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