DIN 41612 Two Part PCB Edge Connector

DIN 41612 (EN 60603-2) is a 2 piece backplane/daughter board connector in solder or Press-Fit technology that provides a versatile, high reliability, high density keyed interface between PCBs as used in telecommunications PC mainframes, test equipment, etc.

For over 30 years these DIN 41612 'Euro Card' connectors to IEC 60603-2 have offered a highly reliable system for board interconnects. Precision contact density, low mating forces, a two piece protective design and many contact termination styles offer unlimited design opportunities. Standardisation of the connectors is a pre-requisite for open systems, where users expect components from different suppliers to operate together; ept DIN 41612 are therefore fully intermateable with all other similarly compliant products from other manufacturers like Harting, Erni, Hirose and Tyco, etc.

The DIN 41612 standard describes connectors which may have one, two or three rows of contacts ~ rows a, b and c. Two row connectors can use rows a+b or rows a+c. The connectors will have 16 or 32 columns, which means that the possible permutations allow 16, 32, 48, 64 or 96 contacts to be loaded. The rows and columns are on a 2.54 mm grid pitch.

The most common connector in the DIN product line is type C, which is used for the VME Backplane. In the past, ept used a comb supported press-fit tool for their type C and B press-fit female connectors. To be more competitive, ept has changed to flat-rock technology (just a flat piece of steel pushed on the top of the connector) as used by many other manufacturers, for example Harting.

Termination methods include - straight PC, solder eyelet, wire wrap, crimp, "press fit" and screw terminals. 

Insertion and removal force are controlled, and three durability grades are available. The headline performance of the connectors is a 1 amp per pin current carrying capacity, and 350 volt working voltage. Both these figures may need to be de-rated according to safety requirements or environmental conditions.

The DIN 41612 and sister DIN 41617 remain well proven, robust, reliable and low-cost products, particularly suited to rough, industrial environments. A typical application will have multiple daughter boards mated at right angles to a motherboard (backplane). The DIN 41612/IEC 60603-2 connector line from ept includes standard connectors and customer-specific connector technology solutions.

One ept refinement of the DIN 41612 is the "switching" connector. A principle often used for different bus systems is 'looping-through' of signal lines via module boards i.e. "daisy chaining". This daisy chaining, however, leads to a new problem, which becomes obvious when one of the modules is pulled from the system. The daisy chain signal connection is broken and must be re-established using jumpers. The integration of switches into a standard connector according to IEC 60603-2, e. g. into a female connector type C, is a simple and elegant solution for the problem described. The contact springs of the C female connector are extended by wing-like contact tabs. A gold-plated metal disk is located between the contact springs. In the rest position, with the male connector not plugged-in, the adjacent contact springs are short-circuited through placing of the contact tabs on the metal disk. With the male connector plugged-in, the contact springs are separated from each other through the contact pins of the male connector. The contact tabs of the spring are lifted off the metal disk. This interrupts the connection between the two springs. Due to the switching behaviour of the female connector, the daisy chain connection is automatically closed when the module board is pulled out. Function-wise the closed switching contact between two contact springs corresponds to a jumper automatically being plugged in when the male connector is pulled out. A switch can be integrated between any positions in the a, b and c rows of a C female connector IEC 60603-2 and/or between the a and c rows of a C female connector IEC 60603-2.