For modern day automotive plant installation, it is becoming more and more important that functional line control equipment can be installed and maintained as easily and quickly as possible, to minimise downtime. Such operational features are critical for all sections of the full supply chain of OEM, Systems Integrator and automotive plant manufacturer. One example where valuable automotive plant installation time has been significantly reduced is with Motorised Safety Roller Shutter Door Guard systems, which are applied at the robotic assembly cells in an assembly line. These ensure the safety of workstation operators through integrated light curtains that detect and prevent personnel being present in a functioning Robot Work Zone.
One manufacturer of such Machine Guards has chosen a range of automotive production assembly approved HARTING connectors for their key I/O power and control circuits.
The OEM’s key reasons for choosing HARTING was that the termination features of the different connectors satisfy fast build-up within the control panel and corresponding simple line cabling installation for the Integrator/Installer. As a result, for the critical connector I/O feed to the Roller Door 415 V Brake Motor application, HARTING’s Han ES Press connector was chosen.
Han ES Press offers fast tool-less termination based on an innovative high reliability cage-clamp design. The Han
ES Press’s cage clamp is supplied in an open state, so that a pre-stripped wire conductor can be inserted directly and without effort on the rear. A moveable blue plastic plunger is integrated in the insert, just to the side of the cage clamp cavity. If this is pushed down, it provides the closure of cage clamp chamber for ensured electrical termination of the wire conductor. The plunger can also be very quickly screwdriver lever released, should a wire need to be removed for maintenance purposes. An assembly time saving of as much as 50% can be achieved by utilising this intuitive cable termination technique over others like screw or crimp!
There are other connector application areas within an automotive plant, which could also benefit from some additional unique design features of the Han ES Press. For example, Han ES Press allows certain contacts within the connector to be “Commoned” or “Bridged” together through bridging/multiplier/jumper links that are hand plugged into the rear of the connector insert. These Jumpers are available in a range of pin configurations and different colours to suit different wiring conditions, e.g. linking out 24VDC or neutrals. Such functionality can be very useful in automotive production line situations where certain key equipment is wired together in a “Daisy Chain” configuration. In this case it could be important that the last unit sends a closed made circuit signal back to the PLC, indicating that the circuit is complete. A two-way Han ES Press bridge link enables two required pins to be connected across each other, to give the necessary feedback signal.
The Han ES Press rear contact bridging link design feature can also be very useful for the commissioning of production line machinery and robot cells. Often line manufacturing/installation engineers will need to be able to short out the E-stop circuit. The Han ES Press bridge link can be used to replicate the closed circuit. For example, on a motor circuit, where they need the coil circuit to be completed to energize the contactors, two dedicated pins will be linked across to each other.
In conclusion, HARTING HAN ES Press connectors combine fast tool-less termination and rear contact bridging functionality to provide significant production process improvements to modern automotive plant assembly lines.