SELF-LOCK CONNECTORS Designed to Reduce Installation Time As a leader in civil aircraft interconnection and RF connectors, Radiall introduces a new innovative technology in response to market demands to eliminate locking wires. Radiall’s Self-Lock RF connectors are the perfect solution to provide secure connection-facing vibrations experienced in aerospace applications. For support contact: [email protected] With all the antennas present on civil aircraft, cable assemblies for airborne electronic systems are still receiving plenty of development attention. Coaxial cables remain the transmission medium of choice. It is not uncommon for a single aircraft to contain several hundred coaxial cable assemblies. Often the connection is difficult to reach and even more difficult to secure with tie wire. To expedite the installation of these assemblies into the aircraft, new self-locking connectors have been developed. Eliminating the need for safety wires saves many hours during both the initial build cycle and whenever equipment is removed or replaced for service. Despite the obvious advantage of eliminating tie wires, several constraints imposed by the aircraft manufacturers made this effort a challenge. The envelope dimensions and mass had to remain very similar to those of the original connectors. Although this increased the mechanical complexity for the new design, this requirement has been achieved. Additionally, the ability to resist harsh environments has been maintained. The assemblies provide reliable performance over the -55° to +125°C temperature range from below sea level to 70,000 feet of altitude even when subjected to vibration levels up to 25 gs. An internal engineering test and evaluation program has shown that these designs still meet the stringent MIL-T-81490 and MIL-C-87104 requirements with the self-lock mechanism, all with limited increase in size and mass.

Radiall’s Self-Locking series is the sole existing one step connection solution that simplifies life. The Self-Locking design is intended to eliminate the need for lock-wiring the coupling nut in place with tie wire. The connector will still need to be tightened to the mating connector via the use of a torque wrench. The locking feature is achieved via a spring loaded, corrugated washer. Corrugated washer: anti rotation system similar to 38999 style connectors Self-Locking SMA and N connectors are also available upon request in addition to the TNC and SMA 2.9 connectors illustrated. As shown...