Connector Design for Wearables
As electronics continue to shrink and their performance capabilities continue to grow, they are becoming more and more integrated into our daily lives. The next step is the Internet of Everything and wearable electronics. Communication between devices and providing power through the use of connectors is critical as connector sales are a $50 billion/year industry. As critical as they are, separable connectors are often the first item to fail in electronics. This problem is only expected to worsen as electronics are used in increasingly challenging environments.
This paper will discuss contact physics, contact plating options, normal force requirements, and general tradeoffs that frequently occur when designing or selecting a connector for an application. Physics of failure, along with a number of connector failure examples, will be presented as well.