Intelligent automation market affects the development prospects of industrial connectors
The industrial industry has transitioned from mechanical control to electronic control, and now we are in the middle of digital transformation. According to the analysis of the connector market survey report, the rise of the smart city, smart grid, smart factory, and smart IoT automation market affects the development prospects of industrial connectors.
Connectors designed for the industrial market have various shapes and sizes, and are subject to various standards and specifications, depending on the type of application and end use. These applications typically include industrial “factory workshop” environments, but also include power generation and distribution, machinery, mining, geophysical exploration and heavy construction, and agricultural equipment.
Industrial connectors can be divided into two basic categories. On the one hand, there are connectors (round and rectangular) defined by military specifications. These interconnections are inherently resistant to mechanical abuse, and many interfaces and interfaces use interface sealing and wire sealing to maintain the integrity of the electrical interface and comply with MIL specifications. On the other hand, commercial-grade connectors have adapted to industrial environments, adding seals, improving contact design, and stiffer or new materials to withstand challenging environments.
Today, environmentally sealed connectors suitable for or used in harsh environments can be used in almost all types of applications in various end-use markets, including input / output (I / O), power supplies, and signals. They take the form of round, rectangular, cable and panel mounting, board-to-board, mezzanine and even coaxial RF connectors. Various types of new connectors are constantly entering the market through innovative gender or elastic contacts.
Although most of these industrial connector interfaces are based on copper conductors, due to their specific characteristics, including high bandwidth and resistance to electromagnetic interference, optical fibers have begun to penetrate into specific markets, such as factory automation networks and “big data” applications .
Commercially available RJ45 and USB connector types are used for industrial environment equivalent products that have been fully compatible with consumer products, while military connectors are compatible with commercially available types (COTS), thereby reducing cost prices and increasing availability. Although the number of connector suppliers participating in the automation market continues to grow, with the emergence of new requirements and applications and the development of new technologies, new connector suppliers will continue to enter the industrial market.
It is expected that the global connector industry market will achieve mid-single-digit growth in the five-year period from 2018 to 2023, and it will be close to US $ 11 billion by 2023. Although the growth of this market is expected to slow in the next three years, it is expected to achieve a higher growth rate again from 2022.
According to the data, the Industrial Internet of Things is expected to continue to have a positive impact on factory automation, bringing growth to the fields of industrial automation and process control, as well as machine tools, machinery and robotics. As automation becomes a long-term trend in the industry, robotics will gain widespread development. In many countries and regions, the implementation of smart grids has made rapid growth in the energy sector and it will continue to be driven by the development of new or other alternative energy sources. Based on this, we predict that the energy industry will grow to the third fastest growing industry at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5%.
