Binder USA has expanded its angled panel-mount connectors for printed circuit board (PCB) mounting that sit at the edge of the board, flush against it rather than on top.

Typically, connectors sit on top of the board making the height of the assembly higher than the board itself. The M12-A panel mount connector allows a PCB to be added to a cylindrical housing designed for PCB thicknesses of 1 to 2 mm.

This configuration benefits the following applications in PCBs:

• Level, distance and pressure sensors
• Light barriers and position switches
• Measuring transducers in cylindrical housings
• Fieldbus and peripheral devices with tight installation space
• Processing without special steps in manufacturing
• Sensors in tubular housings

An additional benefit is in manufacturing, Binder said, where the technology allows soldering in the standard reflow process to eliminate a separate soldering step for the connector. This makes the component grabbable for the pick-and-place machine resulting in less manual work, fewer process steps and reproducible solder joint quality, the company said.

“Anyone who has to fit sensor electronics into a tubular housing fights for every millimeter,” said Philipp Zuber, head of product management at Binder, in a statement. “With the angled M12-A for centric PCB mounting, we take exactly that millimeter out of the equation – without the customer having to touch their production line. That, for us, is the real point: a design that creates space in the device and requires no special steps in production.”

Other features of the connector include:

• Shielded or unshielded
• Rated voltage 50 V
• Gold-plated contacts
• IP68 protection rating
• Angled, front-mounted, centric PCB mounting