Solid-State Lighting Industry Discovers New World - New Connectivity Technology

In the process of rapid development of solid-state lighting, designers used to focus their attention on LED, heat dissipation, driving, and optics. However, connecting components account for only a small proportion of the cost structure of the system. Valued or even ignored. Now, after years of practice, designers have gradually discovered that these seemingly inconspicuous connection components often relate to whether the entire LED lighting system can ultimately meet the design requirements of reliability, waterproof rating, and long-life. The connector has become one of the key components of the solid state lighting system. It directly affects the quality of the product and even the client's overall impression of the design quality. To a certain extent, it can be said that "details determine success or failure". It concerns whether China's Solid State Lighting (SSL) industry can go further in commercialization and achieve greater development. With more than 60 years of design experience in the field of connection, Tyco Electronics continues to innovate, pay close attention to the development of the SSL industry, and strive to create a connection solution that can fully adapt to various LED lighting applications. These innovative connection innovations specifically developed for solid-state lighting cover almost all the major applications of solid-state lighting.

Wire-to-plate/plate-to-plate hand-welding history

A few years ago, in order to reduce costs, wire-to-board, board-to-board manual soldering has been a frustration for many Chinese LED lamp manufacturers. Nowadays, in order to solve the heat dissipation problem of LED lighting, aluminum substrates with better thermal conductivity have been gradually Large-scale use, such as continuing to adhere to manual welding, will greatly increase the risk of connection quality. As we all know, the welding process requires an optimal welding temperature. When the soldering iron head is placed on the pad of the aluminum substrate during manual soldering, the solder joint temperature cannot be rapidly increased due to the good thermal conductivity of the aluminum substrate, and it is very easy to cause the weld, The hidden dangers such as false welding and cold welding seriously affect the quality of products. In response to these problems, Tyco Electronics has developed a series of wire-to-board and board-to-board connectors for high-speed surface mount (SMT) solid-state lighting. The housing is made of high-temperature plastic and meets the reflow process requirements commonly used in the manufacture of LED lighting modules. Connectors can be surface mounted together with LEDs. SMT and through-hole plug-in lighting connectors (Figure 1), whether it is a common plastic plate, or aluminum substrate, can provide fast and reliable cable termination, this small size and low height SMT one and two connections Is ideal for LED light bar interconnections, lighting controllers, and other applications that use plug-in wiring. The connector is RoHS compliant. The terminal uses copper alloy. The nickel layer is the bottom plating. The surface is tin-plated. The shell is made of high-temperature plastic. The flame retardant rating is UL94-V0. Although the plug-in LED connector is the most suitable for the 6~16 core of 18AWG. Stranded wire can also be used for 18~22AWG solid wires and 18~20AWG pre-bonded multiple twisted wires.

With the continuing rapid development of LED lighting applications, lighting manufacturers are committed to continuously developing lighting system solutions with lower installation and maintenance costs. For this purpose, Tyco Electronics has introduced a new non-polarity plug-in socket integrated board-to-board connector and corresponding The line-to-board connector provides customers with a complete set of connectivity solutions.

The plug connector adopts a multi-strand wire diameter of 18-22AWG (0.3-0.9mm2), and the material is made of crimped tinned copper terminals and a thermoplastic shell with UL94-V0 flame retardant rating. Use and provide active locking to ensure a secure connection.

The small-sized board-to-board connector integrated with the non-polarity plug-in socket design can provide more flexible installation between the LED printed circuit boards than the traditional polarity design. The connectors can be combined by horizontal or vertical sliding. Tablets to complete the connection. The vertical sliding connection design makes it easier to replace the circuit board in the middle of the LED light string. Simply lift the circuit board to be replaced and put it into the new circuit board.

Outdoor lighting "reliable safety" and "effective waterproofing" are the key

The outdoor connector between the LED light source module end and the LED drive power source is often a line-to-line or line-to-board mode. In addition to being easy to install and disassemble, reliable safety and safety certification are also increasingly becoming the trend of the industry. In the application process, outdoor connectors also have high requirements for waterproof and moisture proof, ie, sealing performance. Tyco Electronics' IP67-rated small SlimSeal SSL connector is a small sealed single-row LED connector that can handle a variety of harsh lighting applications, meeting the needs of small flat, easy to plug. The products are IP67 sealed and suitable for indoor and outdoor environments such as residential, commercial buildings and other construction applications. They are particularly suitable for applications exposed to wet environments such as billboards, outdoor displays, and street and tunnel lighting. Key features of the SlimSeal SSL connector include UV resistance (line to line) and wire-to-board configuration, SMT and through-hole connectors, positive latching, and pre-installed seals.