Fabricating a market opportunity
01 January 2007
Despite the wide range of products available on the market today, many applications require non-standard components. In this case, bespoke manufacturing provides an invaluable resource.
GTK Taiwan established GTK UK in 1991. The company (www.gtk.co.uk) offers cable assemblies, connectors, optoelectronic components, and bare boards for markets such as metering, gaming and
instrumentation, and delivers a range of standard and custom interconnection components to European and American OEMs. By integrating design, tooling and assembly processes into one single solution, it claims to improve time-to-market for new products while providing cost-effective results.
The company undertook work for a European scanner manufacturer that was using four different cables to link a large industrial scanner to a remote control unit: USB, high-speed 20-way Centronics for an LCD monitor, power supply and a lowfrequency signal cable. Because the remote control unit had to be easy to move around, the four cables had to be incorporated within a single cable assembly, a significant design problem due to their diverse physical and electrical properties. GTK undertook to manufacture each cable separately in 3,000 metre lengths, each with its specific level of screening, and then bond them together in an overall PVC jacket. The LCD cable, for example, consisted of eight twisted pairs, each individually foil screened and insulated, that then had to be formed together, before being bonded with the other three cables. Applying the PVC outer jacket to the unusual cables required the assembly equipment to be specially configured, a complex process that took about three hours. The final cable was then cut to length, the outer PVC jacket stripped back and special mounting points attached to relieve the physical strain on the cables. The final step was to connect the end connectors and run a full continuity check. The end product has not only proved to be more reliable than the four individual cables, but is reported to have delivered a 30 per cent cost saving to the scanner company.
HDMI cables
GTK also supplies HDMI technology that integrates all video and sound signals onto a single, thin cable, making it easy to connect components together. In addition, everything on an HDMI cable assembly remains in its original, uncompressed digital format; signals are no longer converted from digital to analogue (in order to run through the cables) and then back to digital. HDMI also supports standard, enhanced or high definition video at 24bits/pixel, 165MHz maximum clock frequency, as well as bi-directional control signal transfer. The technology offers 5Gbps bandwith, with 55 per cent spared for future expansion, and is backward compatible to DVI hot plug-enabled assemblies up to five metres in length.
The company's range includes HDMI to HDMI and HDMI to DVI converters. Cables come in 28 and 30 AWG, with tinned copper conductors. Operating at up to 80ºC and offering a rated voltage of 30V, devices deliver an impedance of 100+-10Ø and a maximum attenuation of 8dB from 0.3 to 825MHz. HDMI can be implemented on A/V receivers, surround sound processors, video displays (both flat panel and projectors), digital set top boxes and DVD players. The company supplies its cables fully moulded and in various lengths, and customises overmoulds to corporate logos.
Modular jacks
Also available is a line of magnetic filtered RJ45 modular jacks for high-speed Ethernet data applications. Devices are reported to offer improved electrical performance with a maximum contact resistance of 30m at 100mA DC and a minimum insulation resistance at 1000M at 500V DC. Current rating is 3A, with parts operating between -55 and 105ºC.
Incorporating 10/100 Base-TX magnetics, the connectors are supplied with five LED combinations and are available either shielded or unshielded. Containing within them the required transformers, chokes, capacitors and termination resistors, the parts allow for reduced board space compared to traditional designs that usually use separate components. Further, by incorporating the LEDs within the RJ45 socket itself, the size of single-socket devices has been kept down to 15.15 x 15.75mm for the unshielded version, and 13.15 x 13.46mm for shielded devices.
The company supplies 15 different internal magnetic filter designs to accommodate the various chipsets found in 10/100 Base-TX network interface cards. The shielded connectors are supplied with EMI tabs, with shields manufactured from brass with nickel plate, and high temperature thermoplastic housing.
JOHN MORATH is marketing director, GTK.
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