Customized connectivity for mobile machines

Mobile machinery in agriculture and construction challenges automation specialists. Proven technologies such as Deutsch DT or AMP Superseal meet state-of-the-art automation components here. The Plug&Play portfolio offered by binder provides individual connectivity solutions with robust, ready-to-connect and, as required, pre-assembled connectors.

binder, a leading supplier of industrial circular connectors, offers ready-to-connect connector solutions for the Deutsch DT, AMP Superseal and AMP CPC model series – in combination with connectors from the binder portfolio – as part of its Plug&Play product selection. Connectors pre-assembled with cables are also available if required. In addition, cable switches with wiring options particularly tailored to different applications enable connector systems of different designs to be combined flexibly with one another. In this way, customized connectivity solutions can be created for use in mobile machines. On the user side, these reduce the cabling effort and ensure tamper-proofness.

The challenge: Integrating the well-established with the new
With their increasing degree of automation, agricultural and construction machinery is becoming a more and more important field of application for advanced sensors and actuators. In addition to inclination, position, or level detection, typical applications include actuators or valve controls. Furthermore, displays, lighting, operating devices, and diagnostics modules have to be connected within the mobile machines. From tractors and their attachments to combine harvesters and crop choppers to excavators, cranes, or dump trucks, the safe and fast connection of all these automation components is becoming immensely important.

Connector types such as the Deutsch DT, and the Superseal and CPC series from the manufacturer AMP have become established in such applications. The ISOBUS according to ISO 11783, which is standardized worldwide in agricultural technology, also defines certain interfaces here. Consequently, integrating advanced sensor/actuator technology with the industry-proven connection technologies is a key challenge for machine engineers.

In order to ease this task for system integrators, binder offers both Deutsch-DT, and AMP Superseal and CPC connectors as part of its Plug&Play portfolio, in addition to its own series. This provides the user with the ability to combine a wide variety of connector types as needed. For use in agricultural and construction machinery, the products meet IP67 protection degree requirements when mated. They are equipped with a process-safe cable overmold to relieve the wires from tension forces. Featuring cables suitable for power track chains, the connectors are perfect for use on moving assemblies.

The demand for individual solutions, tailored to the respective field of application, is very high in this market. The Plug&Play portfolio provided by binder supports this individualization by allowing various connector systems – in overmolded form – to be combined to create customized solutions. This already applies to quantities as low as 1. Since splitter cables are often in demand in addition to simple patch cables, the range also includes cable switches with a wide variety of wiring options.

Flexible Plug&Play solutions
The binder Plug&Play portfolio offers the possibility to realize overmolded Y distributions with ratios of 1:2, 1:4, 1:6 and 2:6. Users are free to choose the connector types. The variability of connection provides them with a wide range of options. The maximum possible pin counts vary, depending on the distribution ratio, between 8 and 18. Cable diameters range from 3.5 mm to 10 mm, and the largest possible wire gauge is either 0.5 mm² (1:2) or 1 mm².

About binder
binder, headquartered in Neckarsulm, Germany, is a family-owned company characterized by traditional values and one of the leading specialists for circular connectors. Since 1960, binder has been synonymous with the highest quality. The company works with more than 60 sales partners on six continents and employs around 2,000 people worldwide.

The binder group includes the binder headquarters, 16 affiliated companies, two system service providers as well as an innovation and technology center. In addition to Germany, the binder sites are located in Austria, China, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and the USA.