Tom Anderson

"The PolyTect process addresses the market need for an efficient way to environmentally seal complex electronic assemblies," explained Tom Anderson, AVX product manager.

According to Anderson, the PolyTect process eliminates the need to mold polymer housings, as well as the conventional methods of encapsulating electronic components using standard pottings, gaskets or seals.Rather, in what is truly a one-step process, PolyTect produces a finished product right from the mold consisting of a completely sealed unit with an integral connector.In addition to eliminating the need for secondary operations, efficiency is further enhanced by the process' short cycle time and use of multi-cavity tooling.

Anderson explains that the PolyTect materials, developed using Bayer MaterialScience polyurethanes, have been formulated to mold at temperatures and pressures well below the shear stress of surface mount solder joints.This innovation allows the overmolding of fragile components and surface mount solder joints without any degradation of performance.

"The result is mechanically sound and environmentally protected enclosures that offer a range of mounting configurations while also protecting delicate components from a variety of harsh environmental conditions," said Anderson, who points out that the process is ideal for encapsulating electronic devices found in today's automotive, medical, portable electronics, microelectronics and industrial control markets.
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"End-use applications for electronic components continue to grow at a fast pace," said Anderson."With our unique combination of technical expertise, resources, quality Bayer polyurethanes and customizable PolyTect process, AVX is well equipped to meet the demanding needs of electronics manufacturers not only today, but for years to come."

For more information about the PolyTect molding process, call Tom Anderson at 843-946-0351 or email at tomand@avxus.com.

"The PolyTect process addresses the market need for an efficient way to environmentally seal complex electronic assemblies," explained Tom Anderson, AVX product manager.

According to Anderson, the PolyTect process eliminates the need to mold polymer housings, as well as the conventional methods of encapsulating electronic components using standard pottings, gaskets or seals.Rather, in what is truly a one-step process, PolyTect produces a finished product right from the mold consisting of a completely sealed unit with an integral connector.In addition to eliminating the need for secondary operations, efficiency is further enhanced by the process' short cycle time and use of multi-cavity tooling.

Anderson explains that the PolyTect materials, developed using Bayer MaterialScience polyurethanes, have been formulated to mold at temperatures and pressures well below the shear stress of surface mount solder joints.This innovation allows the overmolding of fragile components and surface mount solder joints without any degradation of performance.

"The result is mechanically sound and environmentally protected enclosures that offer a range of mounting configurations while also protecting delicate components from a variety of harsh environmental conditions," said Anderson, who points out that the process is ideal for encapsulating electronic devices found in today's automotive, medical, portable electronics, microelectronics and industrial control markets.
...
"End-use applications for electronic components continue to grow at a fast pace," said Anderson."With our unique combination of technical expertise, resources, quality Bayer polyurethanes and customizable PolyTect process, AVX is well equipped to meet the demanding needs of electronics manufacturers not only today, but for years to come."

For more information about the PolyTect molding process, call Tom Anderson at 843-946-0351 or email at tomand@avxus.com.

Tom Anderson, AVX product manager, looks at the primary forces driving the development trends of next-generation battery connectors.

"The significant reduction in height does not diminish any of the key contact/connector performance requirements," explained Tom Anderson, AVX product manager.

Although AVX and other manufacturers offer FPC/FFC connectors with finer pitch (down to 0.3 mm) and lower profile (0.9 mm), those products typically accept only nonstandard 0.2-mm-thick flex circuits, said Tom Anderson, product manager at AVX's Connector Division.

Since the 6238/6292 connectors return to the standard thickness of 0.3 mm for the flex circuit, they mate with off-the-shelf components, such as displays and keypads.For example, the flex cable in a cellular phone display is generally 0.3 mm thick, Anderson said.

Nobody sells a standard 0.2-mm-flex attached to displays and keypads, which can lead to price and availability issues, he said.So, "even though we can create very low profiles, our end customers had to go back to their display manufacturers and have them make special displays with a thinner flex cable."

Anderson de-scribed the connectors' lead-free contacts as "a continuation of our commitment to manufacturing environmentally friendly products."He noted that major OEMs, particularly global cell phone and PDA customers, are driving the move to leadfree devices.They are already producing most of their assemblies and manufacturing offshore in mainland China and Southeast Asia, which are driving the lead-free initiative with Europe, he said.

"The significant reduction in height does not diminish any of the key contact /connector performance requirements," explained Tom Anderson, AVX Product Manager.

We designed the 9257 I/O connector system with the specific intention of helping portable electronic engineers overcome these constraints by occupying less space on the printed circuit board, giving engineers more room to operate," said Tom Anderson, AVX Product marketing manager.

And in harsher environments such as automotive and industrial, sensors are encapsulated in a molding process to prevent moisture, says Tom Anderson, AVX Corp.For this process, he continues, hand soldering is no longer necessary."We put PCBs and batteries into a mold and seal plastic around them creating a protected device."This protected device is free to be in a chemical environment without the possibility of leakage.

The molding process Anderson described is called Modified Reaction Injection Molding (RIM): a low-temperature, low-pressure procedure (branded PolyTect).Only one temperature spike to 100, to 150,C occurs during the process , below the threshold of components soldered to the board, says Anderson.The result is a void-free polyurethane package durable to UV and salt air, he suggests.

According to Parelec CEO Geva Barash, RTLS holds "the unanswered need for more accurate, reliable solutions."His company, a conductive inks manufacturer for printed circuits, just purchased an active RFID company.He explained that smart agent tags permit high accuracy optical location (one meter); a zone location using a customizable beaconing device of three to 200 m, and a 250-m range.He stated, "It's a low-cost, low footprint device, with no infrastructure needed."

Can active RFID really live up to these kinds of accolades?