Contacts for security, performance and reliability

ODU has designed a range of single contacts for applications requiring very secure contact coupled with low insertion force.

ODU has designed a range of single contacts for applications requiring very secure contact coupled with low insertion force.

Typical uses are in power supplies, testing and monitoring equipment, medical apparatus, docking systems, lighting and aeronautics.

Three systems are available - slotted, lamella and Springtac - with contact diameters ranging from 0.6 to 50mm.

Solid pins are common to all three but each socket has a different contact performance.

In a typical 4mm contact the slotted contact will offer two or four pin-to-socket contact points, the lamella will provide 18 and the Springtac 38.

Single contacts can be used without housings or insulators but can also be integrated in to panels, connectors and modules where power and signal are required.

They are capable of handling very high voltages and in some instances up to one million mating cycles.

Offering the largest number of contacts between pin and socket, the Springtac contact has a number of spring wires inside the socket each contacting the pin surface independently.

A very high number of mating cycles (100,000) are standard and an excess of one million is possible in some applications.

This, combined with its low contact resistance, is one of the major advantages of the design.

The lamella, or louvered, contact has many contact points and one or more of the stamped contact bands can be used in the same socket.

It can be manufactured cost effectively and provides low contact resistance.

Slotted sockets in their simplest form have one slot with two contact points between socket and pin but are also offered with two slots to provide four contact points.

These are generally suitable for lower mating cycles and diameters up to 3mm.

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