1. Interconnect Cable Design and Assembly

2. The Ideal Interconnect Cable Assembly
For High Performance I/O Applications
Fault Free: Form, Fit and Function
100% Electrical Continuity
Corrosion-Resistant Materials
Maximum Flexibility and Durability
Minimum Size and Weight
Abrasion-Proof Coverings
Crush-Proof Conduit
Hi-Rel Crimp Contact Connectors
Precision, Gold Plated Contacts
Harsh Environmental Protection
EMI Immunity

3. “Acceptable” Performance and Cost Dictate Design
The Compromise
“Acceptable” Performance and Cost Dictate Design
Fit and forget vs. frequent mating cycles
Exposed environmental vs. enclosed mounting
Commercial vs. military
High power vs. signal (or combined)
Crimp vs. solder
Shielded vs. unshielded

4. Factors That Impact Cable Design and Construction: (1) Environmental and Mechanical
Fluid Immersion
Chemical Resistance
Abrasion
Clamping
Flame/outgassing
Corrosion
Impact/crush
Shock and Vibration
Temperature Cycling
Altitude
Fungus
Pressure Extremes
Pull Forces/Elongation
Bend Radius
Aging
Strain-Relief

5. Factors That Impact Cable Design and Construction: (2) Electrical
Current rating
Wire voltage rating
Wire AWG and Number
Wire material/finish
Insulation/dielectric
EMI/EMP
Impedance requirement
100 ohm pairs (Ethernet)
90 ohm pairs (USB)
75 ohm coax
50 ohm coax

6. Size, Weight, Flexibility, Routing, Cable Management
Factors That Impact Cable Design and Construction: (3) Usability and Ergonomics
Size, Weight, Flexibility, Routing, Cable Management

7. Interconnect Cable/Conduit Design, Materials and Construction

8. Connectorized System-to-System I/O Cabling
From One Box to Another Box

9. For Non- or Partially-Connectorized Applications
Feed-Thru Cabling
For Non- or Partially-Connectorized Applications

10. (Non-Connector) Feed-Through Accessories
Complete range of functional types: shield termination, strain-relief, environmental sealing etc.
Split shells enable easy assembly and maintenance at any stage in the project.

11. Open Wire Bundle Cables
Lightweight and Flexible Cable Harnesses
Appropriate where no noise or crosstalk from adjacent wires is expected
Prevalent for data transfer with tightly twisted pairs
Shielded pairs might be inside of an unshielded cable assembly
Great for routing

12. Open Wire Bundle Cables
Used in Internal Box Wiring
and Other Enclosed Non-Environmental Systems
Low cost compared to overmolded or jacketed solutions
Field repairable
Non-Environmental
Not particularly durable

13. Management of Open Wire Bundles
Wraps/tapes
Cable ties
Cable clips
Spiral Wrap
Split tubing
Expando braid
Broom Stitch
Others

14. Standard Jacketed/Shielded Cables
Backshell Equipped for External Harsh Environments
Shields added to twisted pairs, or multi-conductor cables, to help prevent EMI (victim or source).
Jacketing extruded, shrunk on or blown on
Types of jacketing based on environmental conditions such as immersion, chemical or caustic fluid exposure, corrosion potential, temperature or radiation exposure.
Field maintainable, user installable backshells

15. Wide Range of Choices to Meet Every Need
Jacketing Styles
Wide Range of Choices to Meet Every Need
Extruded jacketing is the best environmental sealing option
Blown on jacketing—soft rubber tubing is overfilled with compressed air, cable inserted, and tubing allowed to collapse for sealing fit
Both options offer a wide range of material types.
Heat-shrink tubing is inexpensive, lightweight and ideal for short runs and prototypes

16. High-Performance Jacket Materials

17. Environmental Sealing for Jacketed Cables
Typical exploded view of cable sealing backshell

18. Shield Termination Options for Jacketed/Shielded Cables
Dozens of different styles
Conical ring backshells
Tag ring backshells
Cable Sealing Band in a Can Backshells
Tinel-Lock Backshells
Sealtite/Liquidtite Conduit Backshells
Band-It Clamping System
Conductive epoxy potting for EMI shielding and grounding in tight space applications

19. Jacketed/Sealed Cable Applications
External Wiring Requirements
Battlefield electronics
Under vehicles
Long cable runs connecting field equipment
Soldier systems

20. Overmolded Sealed Cables
Ultimate Environmental Protection
Use of encapsulating plastic medium to cover backshells, adapters and transitions
Effectively isolates conductors from contamination and protects from abrasion
Mold geometries for unique applications
Can integrate mounting brackets and other hardware right on to the cable assembly
Tamper resistant

21. The Advantage of Overmolding
Outstanding environmental protection for harsh and caustic environments compared to unjacketed solutions
Polyurethane, Viton, EPDM, Polyamide and Glenair proprietary materials provide robust protection for connectors and cables in harsh/caustic environments
Injection molding/transfer molding is a simple, reasonably priced solution to physical protection
Design flexibility: from simple point to point, to complex multiple branch assemblies—even fiber-optic and hybrid electrical/optical designs

22. Top Ten Overmolding Bullet Points
Superior, water-proof environmental sealing
Robust mechanical protection of the connector
Superior mechanical/strain-relief protection of wire/contact terminations.
Superior resistance to chemical exposure damage.
No induced cold flow stress to wire insulation or terminations compared to cable clamps
Superior electrical isolation and insulation
Reduced exposure of metal parts to wear damage
Flexible routing/cable entry angles
Superior performance compared to boots and backshells
Tamper proof

23. Connector Overmold Cross-Section

24. Typical Overmolded Cable Construction

25. Old School Overmold Tooling
Manual injection tooling serves a broad range of standard connectors.
Provides savings to customers and faster time to market.
All classes of rectangular connectors
Mil-Spec and commercial cylindrical

26. Production Overmold Systems
Numerous other materials, besides Viton, are suitable for injection molded protection of connectors and terminations.
Polyamide provides “good” levels of solvent resistant, abrasion resistance and temperature tolerance compared to Viton
New equipment and production system adds speed and reliability to catalog point-to-point or pigtail assemblies for the Series 80 “Mighty Mouse”.

27. Backshell Devices Used in Overmolding
Banding backshells, used for shield termination and the attachment of heat shrink boots are also employed in Overmolding.
The parts are blast abraded to facilitate overmold material bonding.
Design shown at right incorporates a threaded section for easy repair and maintenance or terminations.

28. Overmolded Cable Applications
Preferred technology for fuel cells
Advanced F-18 E/F Fuel Cell Assembly with integral fiber optic media
F-22 Overmolded Fuel Cell Assembly and Wheel Well Assemblies
V-22 Fuel Cell Assembly

29. Cable Routing and Packaging Capabilities
Essentially unlimited range of breakouts and layouts
Straight, 90 and 45 degree angular specifications.
Existing tooling for many common molding adapters and connectors.
Breakout, bulkhead and transition tooling for many configurations

30. Imbedding PCB’s with Overmolding
A Unique Application of Injection Overmolding

31. Overbraid and Tubular Fabric Braid
Strength Plus Chemical and Abrasion Resistance
Fabric braid for improved cosmetics, wire management, tensile strength, chemical resistance, abrasion resistance, and flammability reduction

32. Fabric Braid Material Comparison

33. Low-End Tubular Fabric Braid Products
Polyethylene -54°C to +121°C used for abrasion, cut through and overall protection also very flexible.
Polyethylene is very standard and used extensively.
Halar (E-CTFE) -73°C to +150°C provides higher temperature and better mechanical toughness.
Materials are quite common and highly competitive with “Expando” braid type products.

34. Less Common Non-Metal Braid Products
PEEK °C High temp, high performance
Teflon (FEP) °C chemical and fluid resistant
Kevlar Extremely tough
Dacron (Polyester) °C
Nomex

35. Overbraid and Tubular Fabric Braid
For mechanical protection and EMI applications
Electrical Continuity of a cable or EMI/RFI shielding is the primary purpose but strain relief, cable strengthening and armoring are also provided.
Used for EMI/RFI shielding to prevent “conducted” signals from interfering with sensitive electronics; and to keep intended electrical signals and power from “radiating” and affecting adjacent cables or devices.
Standard braiding materials include bare copper, tinplated copper-covered steel, copper plated with tin, nickel or silver; bronze, stainless steel, copper-covered steel, aluminum wire

36. Overbraid and Tubular Fabric Braid
Mechanical Strength and EMI Protection
Metal braiding physically protects cable conductors while adding tensile strength and integrity to the assembly.
Metallic braids shield cable conductors from line-of-sight EMI penetration or escape, and by taking EMI to ground.
Bulk braid size range from 1/32” to 2-1/2”
Overbraids up to 3” diameter
More than 50 braiders

37. Ultra-Lightweigth Composite RFI/EMI Braided Shielding
Nickel Plated AmberStrand Composite Shielding Offers Unique Solution to Electromagnetic Compatibility
Expandable, flexible, high-strength, conductive, elastic composite material
Provides abrasion resistance and EMI shielding at a fraction of the weight of metal braid

38. Lighter Weight and Less Costly Than Braid
Foil Shield/Tape Wrap
Lighter Weight and Less Costly Than Braid
Foil shields: aluminum foil laminated to a Mylar, polyester or polypropylene film.
Film gives the shield mechanical strength and added insulation.
Provides 100% electrostatic shield protection.
Can shield individual pairs of multi-pair cables to reduce crosstalk.

39. Lighter Weight and Less Costly Than Braid
Foil Shield/Tape Wrap
Lighter Weight and Less Costly Than Braid
Lighter weight, bulk and less costly than spiral or braid shields and are generally more effective than braid shields in RF ranges.
Foil shields are often more flexible than braid but have a shorter flex life than spiral or braid.
Drain wires often used with foil shields to make termination easier and to ground electrostatic discharges.

40. Multi-Conductor Cables
Critical element of the harness assembly
Customer defined:
Dimensions
Core Type
Insulation
Conductor, shielding and jacketing
RoHS, UL or other
Electrical (Voltage, etc)
Flame rating
Temperature rating

41. Common Choice for Telephone/Communication Cables
Coil Cables
Common Choice for Telephone/Communication Cables
Specified by “working length,” and “Retracted Length.”
Other design variables include:
Hand pulled or machine pulled
Coil “memory” strength
Orientation and length of straight ends

42. Summary: Application Checklist for Cable and Harness Specification

43. Application Checklist: Step One: Working Environment
Required Information for Fast Design and Delivery
Shipboard
Aircraft
Secure Communications
Ground Support
Rail/Mass Transit
Space
Missile Defense
Telecommunications
Armored Vehicle

44. Application Checklist: Step Two: Electrical/Optical Requirements
Required Information for Fast Design and Delivery
Application defined requirements for cable performance may include:
Current rating
Test voltage
Insulation resistance
DWV
Signal leakage
Attenuation
Voltage drop
Capacitance

45. Application Checklist: Step Three: EMI Shielding Requirements
Required Information for Fast Design and Delivery
Customer defined shielding specifications for the cable may include:
Shielding effectiveness (dB)
Frequency Range (Hertz)
EMP
TEMPEST

46. Application Checklist: Step Four: Key Environmental Requirements
Required Information for Fast Design and Delivery
Customer environmental requirements for the cable may include:
Moisture/chemical Protection
Low Smoke/Zero Halogen
UL94-V0 Flammability
NBC/CBRNE Resistance
UV Resistance
Temperature Resistance
Controlling Specification

47. Application Checklist: Step Five: Key Mechanical Requirements
Required Information for Fast Design and Delivery
Customer mechanical specifications for the cable may include:
Field Reparability
Crush/Abrasion Resistance
Pull (Tensile) Strength
Flexibility/Flex Cycles
Minimum bend radius
Workmanship standards
Strain-relief

48. Application Checklist: Step Six: Packaging
Required Information for Fast Design and Delivery
Customer packaging/construction requirements for the cable may include:
Critical dimensions/tolerances
Required tooling, such as crimp dies, molds and test fixtures
Specific cable management and identification choices
Approved jacket, boot and dielectric materials
Jacket finish
Specifications on length of lay in twisted pairs or other cable construction details

49. Glenair Cable Harness Design and Construction Services

50. ISO 9001:2008 and AS 9100:2009 Rev C Certified
Cable Assembly Factories 100% Vertically Integrated
All Key Processes Under Glenair Control
ISO 9001:2000 Certified
AS9100:2004 Rev. B Certified
Certified soldering (NASA STD )
Source inspection available

51. Testing Services 100% Testing all Cables Testing on Request Immersion
Temperature cycling
Post-assembly filter performance
Component verification (resistors, diodes, capacitors)
X-ray for broken wires, loose strands, mold voids
Return loss (back reflection)
Interferometer measurement (fiber end face geometry)
Contact resistance
Weight separation
Contact retention
Continuity
High voltage
Insertion loss (Fiber Optic Cable Assemblies)

52. Cable Harness Application Development
The Bid Process
During the bid process, Glenair will often add value with superior knowledge of wire and cable layout and assembly, especially in prototypes.

53. Turnkey cables as a standard catalog offering
COTS Cable Assemblies
Turnkey cables as a standard catalog offering
Point-to-Point cordsets and pigtails available for all Series 80, Series 22, D38999 fiber optic and Micro-D connectors
High-speed data transfer cordsets for USB, Ethernet and more using Series 80 Mighty Mouse and other interconnects
Standardized part number development
Accelerated lead times

54. Example Custom Cordset (High Speed 1000BASE-T Ethernet)

55. A Huge Arsenal of Factory Capabilities
Summary
A Huge Arsenal of Factory Capabilities
Wring, connectors, accessories, braiding and sealing all available
Catalog standards and thousands of customs
Soup-to-nuts cable design, assembly and testing rather than multiple vendor sourcing
Engineering staff unparalleled in industry
Can draw from a vast reservoir of cable experience