The onboard electronics found in today’s airborne vessels, jets, and missiles must meet the challenge of operating in some of the harshest environments ever encountered, which places a high premium on reliability for these critical systems. As a custom manufacturer of specialized connectors and interconnection systems, Connectronics Corp. is well-known for products that function in such harsh environments, especially our high-voltage SCID series.
Modern aircraft and weapons systems operate at stratospheric and even ionospheric altitudes, where conditions can lead to electronic equipment failure from temperature extremes, low pressure, radiation exposure, corona discharge, and other causes. A number of design considerations need to be taken into account to meet the operational challenges in such airborne systems. Among these is the variation of air density and temperature that occurs with changes in altitude. Another is the vibration characteristics of the platform. Manufacturers of electronic components, therefore, must go to great lengths to ensure that the parts they make are rigorously designed, tested and fabricated with these challenges in mind.
For high reliability high voltage interconnections, corona discharge is a major concern. The physics principle behind corona discharge found in Paschen’s Law states that the lower pressure on a gas, the lower the voltage required to ionize the gas molecules. The ionization of the gas molecules deteriorates the insulation system over time resulting in a catastrophic dielectric failure, thus rendering the circuit inoperable.
Our Small Connectronics In-line Disconnect (SCID) connectors provide maximum high-voltage, corona resistant operation in a very small footprint. Their unique gas-exclusion locking interfacial seal and one-piece molded design ensures the highest quality of operation. They are particularly designed for use in the most critical onboard high-altitude electronics systems, such as high-voltage power supplies, airborne radar, and electronic countermeasures.
Salient features of SCID connectors in high-altitude settings include:
- Corona resistant tapered interface
- 15-kVDC operating voltage
- Temperature range of -55°C to +125°C
- Sea level to 70,000 foot operation
- Vibration and shock resistant.
To learn more about SCID connectors in high-altitude operational applications, contact a Connectronics representative today.
