Special Robust and Customized SATA Connectors for the First Set-Top Box With Exchangeable Hard-Disk Drive

For a project being conducted by a leading set-top box (STB) manufacturer, SUYIN has developed and manufactured a 22-position Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) female connector adapted to customer-specific requirements in accordance with a strict timeline. This through-hole SATA socket is equipped with 15 contacts for power supply and seven for signaling and is mounted on the printed circuit board together with a exchangeable 2.5-inch hard-disk drive and a plastic insertion guide. Due to the extraordinarily high mechanical loads that can be expected to arise during use by STB consumers, the SATA socket meets particularly stringent requirements. There are specified 5,000 mating cycles. As an unusual additional mechanical feature, the SATA socket housing is equipped with a "bumper," which reliably secures the female connector to the board by locking into the hard-disk drive insertion guide, even when very high insertion forces are applied. The connector's height was also adapted to match the insertion guide exactly at 10.95 mm above the PCB. The time schedule prescribed by the customer for design and manufacturing of this special customized SATA connector was maintained precisely. It took barely four months from the first meeting with the customer through definition of the design and the tool making process all the way to delivery of 200 ramp-up samples. Volume production began right on schedule two months after that. www.suyin-europe.com