Electrical connector

An electrical connector is an electro-mechanical device for joining electrical circuits as an interface using a mechanical assembly. Connectors consist of plugs (male-ended) and jacks (female-ended). The connection may be temporary, as for portable equipment, require a tool for assembly and removal, or serve as a permanent electrical joint between two wires or devices. An adapter can be used to effectively bring together dissimilar connectors.

There are hundreds of types of electrical connectors. Connectors may join two lengths of flexible copper wire or cable, or connect a wire or cable to an electrical terminal.

In computing, an electrical connector can also be known as a physical interface (compare physical layer in OSI model of networking). Cable glands, known as cable connectors in the US, connect wires to devices mechanically rather than electrically and are distinct from quick-disconnects performing the latter.

Properties of electrical connectors

Electrical connectors are characterised by their pinout and physical construction, size, contact resistance, insulation between pins, ruggedness and resistance to vibration, resistance to entry of water or other contaminants, resistance to pressure, reliability, lifetime (number of connect/disconnect operations before failure), and ease of connecting and disconnecting.

Interface

Interface may refer to:

Academic journals

Computing

Science

Other uses

See also

Hardware

Hardware may refer to:

Computers

Film and television

Music

Com

Com may refer to:

Academia

Business, politics and culture

Computing

Hardware interface design

Hardware interface design (HID) is a cross-disciplinary design field that shapes the physical connection between people and technology. It employs a combination of filmmaking tools, software prototyping, and electronics breadboarding.

Through this parallel visualization and development, hardware interface designers are able to shape a cohesive vision alongside business and engineering that more deeply embeds design throughout every stage of the product. The development of hardware interfaces as a field continues to mature as more things connect to the internet.

Hardware interface designers draw upon industrial design, interaction design and electrical engineering. Interface elements include touchscreens, knobs, buttons, sliders and switches as well as input sensors such as microphones, cameras, and accelerometers.

History

In the last decade a trend had evolved in the area of human-machine-communication, taking the user experience from haptic, tactile and acoustic interfaces to a more digitally graphical approach. Important tasks that had been assigned to the industrial designers so far, had instead been moved into fields like UI and UX design and usability engineering. The creation of good user interaction was more a question of software than hardware. Things like having to push two buttons on the tape recorder to have them pop back out again and the cradle of some older telephones remain mechanical haptic relicts that have long found their digital nemesis and are waiting to disappear.