Down-Hole Electronic Connectors Go Miniature for “Logging While Drilling” Systems

Miniature connectors perform up to 260°C to help with drilling accuracy.
In today’s oil and gas industry, researchers are pushing further and deeper to reach new supply sources. Drilling tools must work in higher temperatures, reaching 260°C. As with down-hole electornics, these tools must be flexible and durable in order to operate in some of the world’s harshest conditions. In addition to the extreme temperature, these tools must also be able to endure high levels of shock and vibration.
To support these extreme environments, Omnetics have developed the Nano-sized (.025″ pitch) connectors for rugged board-mount applications that maintain reliability of up to 200°C. These are designed to solder down through very thick circuit boards and route signals from one board to another, all inside the drill-control housing. The Nano-D connector format (based on MIL DTL-32139 specification) allows for easy mating and demating while maintaining continuity under extreme shock (100 G’s > 10 nanoseconds) and vibration (20 G’s > 10 nanoseconds).
To meet the more extreme down-hole drilling applications, a new high reliability Micro-D connector family set as .050″ pitch has been designed for use of up to 260°C. Omnetics high-temperature Micro-D’s utilize Omnetics’ unique flex pin contact system, and come pre-wired with wire gauges ranging from 24 to 30 AWG. Omnetics’ gold plated flex pin contacts are recessed into the high-temperature LCP insulator to protect and prevent damage.
Meanwhile, a special nickel alloy is also added to the contact to resist softening and corrosion in high-temperature situations. The contacts themselves are factory-installed and potted with a special high-temperature epoxy to ensure the performance you expect. Pin counts (based on standard MIL-DTL- 83513) range from 9 contacts up to 51. Omnetics’ high-temperature Micro-Ds are also available in solder cup and PCB tails.

Whether drilling, milling, or pumping, these Omnetics connector solutions are opening the door for the down-hole industry to monitor pressure and flow by transferring real-time data at a record rate. High quality interconnections that perform at extreme conditions of deep well drilling allow well service engineers to make adjustments on-the-fly to accommodate the ever-changing well conditions.