Adapter & Converter

Galvanic isolation refers to the interruption of the metallic power line between two components while maintaining the transport of energy or data.

Interface

In the IT sector, interfaces are the connection of two or more components via lines and or plug connections. For this purpose, the data is converted into a mutually understandable form (usually via data protocols) before it is transferred to other components. Since data transfer is usually carried out via power cables or conductor tracks, these transfer paths are exposed to surge voltage pulses and other interference. In order to create an insensitivity here, a form of transmission is chosen that works without a power line.

Transfer principles

In this environment, optical or radio technology methods are usually used for the signal connection. The WLAN segment is often used as a radio method. For optical transmission, optocouplers or fiber optic cables are used.

Technical implementation 

In order to galvanically isolate data cables, the coupling elements are inserted into the circuits. This avoids metallic connections between the circuits. 

These are common for serial cables, USB lines and twisted pair lines in LANs. SMD chips are used here which are installed on the conductor tracks in the housings to save space. Depending on the type, such adapters must also be supplied with operating voltage. For USB 2.0 the connection must be equipped with 5V 500mA voltage. Therefore additional power supplies are used here.

Ferrite or iron cores have an enormous potential for avoiding electrical interference and are often used in broadcast devices and other electrical components or products. Many of these devices couldn’t even be manufactured or used in everyday life without the protective properties of a ferrite core. 

Regardless of their use as transformers, ferrite cores are particularly known in connection with computer equipment at the end of many cables where they are contained in a plastic cylinder or something similar to reduce interferences. This is particularly important for longer cables that are laid in the wall and must always provide a clean, interference-free image. A classic example of this is a projector driven by a long VGA cable laid in the wall: without ferrite cores, the video can quickly become jerky or noisy because the cable is inadequately protected from the many sources of interferences found in offices.

The increasing use of optical fibre cables will not replace the use of ferrite cores in video transmission even in the long term.  

Although these cables are insensitive to sources of interference, they are much more expensive and fragile than conventional cabled made of copper. For reasons of space, particularly high resolutions or simultaneous sound transmission an active optical cable with HDMI interfaces is much more suitable than a conventional VGA cable with ferrite cores. The fiber optic cable is of course much lighter than its copper and iron counterpart. 

At SECOMP we off you either individual ferrite cores as cable attachments for your existing installations and cables with integrated ferrite cores for the expansion of your structures. We supply the individual ferrite cores with either 6.5mm or 10mm diameter for the best possible performance of your cables.