It’s Compact! It’s Automotive-Grade! It’s the Mini50 Sealed Wire-to-Device Receptacle!

In order to overcome the challenges inherent in today’s automotive designs, engineers need connectors that are compact, sealed and reliable enough to handle tough environments. Like matter and antimatter, these three qualities usually cancel each other out—sealing can undermine a connector’s compactness, and compact connectors often sacrifice durability. In other words, today’s automotive designers need a connector with veritable superpowers.

On top of that, automotive manufacturers are looking for a complete product line with a range of circuit sizes and other options to offer flexibility for varying applications. So, they’re seeking not just a “super connector,” but a team of super connectors.

Automotive Developments Affecting Connectivity

Below are three trends in automotive designs that can only be solved by just such a team of super connectors:

1. The growing amount of electrical and electronic content calls for component miniaturization. OEMs need smaller connectors and more contacts in the same amount of space. This will help automotive designers satisfy the demand for more content without taking up too much space and making the vehicle heavier.
2. More sensors are being designed into vehicles, and some of these, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) sensors in particular, will serve multiple functions. Therefore, they’ll need 16- or 20-way connectors. As a result, designers are looking for compact sealed connectors with more circuits.
3. As drivetrain noise, vibration and harshness are reduced, the need to tackle road noise becomes more crucial. Molex responded to this trend by developing its road noise cancellation sensors. These rugged sensors require a 4-circuit sealed connector with a backshell and the right operating temperature.

Small connectors have been in the market for some time, but they haven’t necessarily met the requirements for automotive applications and were often implemented into designs with caveats. For instance, sealing and features that ensure a reliable connection are typically lacking. Additionally, the sealed 0.50 mm connectors that are available are difficult to manufacture and have to pass rigorous automotive standards. As a result, there is less choice in the market.

Mini50 Sealed Connectors to the Rescue!

Available through DigiKey, Molex Mini50 Sealed Wire-to-Device Receptacles, with a 0.50 mm interface and 1.80 mm pitch, offer space savings with compact length, width and height dimensions compared to 0.64 and 1.50 mm connectors. In fact, they’re ideal for a host of applications in which 0.64 and 1.50 mm connectors are currently used, such as various sensors, door mirrors, power steering mechanisms, and lighting and radar devices—any application in which designers battle space constrictions or need to leverage a connector with more pins within the same real estate without sacrificing ruggedness. The Mini50 Sealed Connector also was developed to meet tough design conundrums; it’s smaller, just as robust and offers more circuit sizes than connectors currently used in these applications.

In fact, the Wire-to-Device Mini50 Sealed Receptacle is one of smallest automotive-grade sealed systems in the industry, as well as the only wire-to-device receptacle offering an IP68-equivalent rating adhering to USCAR specifications. There is also an option for devices to have Class 3 sealing when the Mini50 Receptacle is used with the backshell.

Additionally, the Mini50 Sealed Receptacles deliver design flexibility with a complete line of options. The product family offers both single and dual rows as well as 2-, 4-, 8-, 10- and 16-circuit sizes and cavity plugs, along with backshell and CPA options.

Ideal for the demands of today’s automotive applications, the Mini50 Wire-to-Device Receptacle might just save the day—and your design!

Check out other connectivity products Molex has to offer through DigiKey to optimize designs and procurement processes.