Din41612 connector

The DIN 41612 connector is a standardized family of high-density, rectangular electrical connectors widely used in European electronic and electrical equipment. It is most renowned for its application as a backplane connector in VMEbus (Versa Module Europa bus) systems and other Eurocard format modular systems.

Defined by the German national standards organization Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN), this standard (now superseded by the international IEC 60603-2) specifies the connectors' mechanical dimensions, pin arrangements, and mating characteristics. Its robust design, reliable multi-pin connectivity, and versatility made it an industry staple for decades, particularly in telecommunications, industrial control, computing, and military systems.

Key Features & Design:

• Three Contact Styles: A key feature is its three standard configurations, differentiated by the size and current-carrying capacity of the contacts:

  • Type R (Rund/round): Round male pins. Less common.

  • Type B (Buchse/socket): Female sockets. Most common type for the header on the backplane.

  • Type M (Mutter/nut): Female sockets with a higher current rating and larger size than Type B.

• Standardized Layout: Pins are arranged in a grid on a 0.1" (2.54 mm) pitch. Common configurations include 32, 48, 64, or 96 pins in two or three rows.

• Gendered Parts:

  • Plug (Male Header): Typically mounted perpendicularly on the printed circuit board (PCB) of a daughter card.

  • Receptacle (Female Socket): Typically mounted on the motherboards or backplane. It contains the spring-loaded contacts that mate with the header.

• Polarization: The connector housing is designed with a keying slot to prevent incorrect mating. User-installable keys allow for custom polarization in systems with multiple identical connectors.

• High Reliability: Designed for repeated insertion and removal cycles, making it ideal for modular card systems.

Common Applications:

• Backplane Interconnects: The primary use was connecting daughter cards (CPU, memory, I/O cards) to a passive backplane in modular systems.

• VMEbus Systems: It was the definitive connector for the VMEbus standard, a once-dominant architecture in industrial computing.

• Telecommunications Equipment: Widely used in routers, switches, and transmission hardware.

• Industrial Control Systems (ICS): Found in PLCs, automation controllers, and data acquisition systems.

• Military and Aerospace: Its reliability led to use in ruggedized and mission-critical applications (often in higher-specification variants).