Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1442799
Trust Comes from the Inside Out By Markus Sonderer, Senior Director Product Marketing and Development PCC, Phoenix Contact GmbH & Co. KG, Blomberg In the past five years, "the intelligent factory" has driven the industrial production and automation sector more than nearly any other buzzword. Although markets in the U.S., Europe, and China are otherwise diverse, they can agree on the implications: Industrial production must become more networked, more efficient, more intelligent, and ultimately, more internationally competitive. Robust board-to-board connectors are an important step along this path (Figure 1). Enhanced versions of production resources can result in higher performance, more flexible production lines, and lower manufacturing costs. For the year 2020, various analyses forecast almost 20 billion (IDC, 2016), almost 30 billion (Gartner, 2017) or even up to 50 billion (CISCO IBSG, 2011) IT-networked "things." So even the most cautious forecast means that in just two years, there will be almost three times more things communicating with each other than people. In addition to the ubiquitous smart personal devices, these things also include the intelligent devices used in industrial production: Controllers, power supplies, I/Os, HMIs, and many more. Like consumer devices, industrial devices have also become more intelligent in recent years. Because electronic components, such as processors, can be produced at substantially lower cost, industrial devices are becoming more powerful and numerous. These industrial electronic devices have become increasingly smaller, and so have the components within them. As a result, intelligence is becoming less centralized and hierarchical, and moving into the field (Figure 2). Stringent Requirements As the number of field devices increases, so does the need to network them using information technology, equip them with appropriate electronics and interfaces for signal, data, and power transmission, and shield them from harsh environmental conditions. Electromechanical interfaces are the key to further miniaturization potential and making devices more reliable and flexible in industrial applications. However, dirt, vibrations, Figure 1: Intelligent solutions for the intelligent factory: Board-to- board connectors allow connections in new dimensions. (Source: Phoenix Contact) | 17 |