Hirose Electric’s New BM50 Series Has Been Selected
as a CES® 2022 Innovation Awards Honoree
November 11, 2021
Hirose Electric’s New BM50 Series Has Been Selected as a CES® 2022 Innovation Awards Honoree
- Small Size with 15A High Power Supply Capability -
We are pleased to announce that Hirose’s newly released compact FPC-to-board connector, the BM50 Series, has been recognized as a CES® Innovation Awards*1 Honoree in the Mobile Devices & Accessories category. Selection for the CES® 2022 Innovation Awards program was held prior to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2022, the world’s largest trade show. The BM50 Series is an innovative connector with 15A high power supply capacity and a compact size that reduces the PCB mounting space by approximately 30%*2 compared to our existing products. This is the third time Hirose products have been selected as Innovation Awards Honorees, following the FX26 Series and BM46 Series at CES 2020.
● About CES® 2022 Innovation Awards
Selection for the CES® 2022 Innovation Awards program occurred ahead of CES, the world's largest consumer electronics trade show, which is held every January in Las Vegas, USA . The awards program is an international competition hosted by the Consumer Technology Association® (CTA) that honors outstanding design and engineering in 27 product categories. A panel of experts in the consumer electronics industry consisting of media members, designers, and engineers evaluate submissions based on engineering, functionality, aesthetic, design, and what makes the product unique and innovative. This year’s honorees were selected from a record number of over 1,800 submissions.
● About the BM50 Series
As power consumption increases along with advances in smartphone functionality, the capacity and mounting space of the installed battery has also increased. At the same time, demand for smaller, thinner smartphones is on the rise, making it difficult to balance both device size reduction and larger batteries. Larger battery capacity results in longer charging times, and demand for fast charging is on the rise. For these reasons, connectors used for battery connections are required to be small and have high power supply capacity.
Hirose has developed the BM50 Series to meet these demands. We have succeeded in reducing the mounting area by approximately 30% and the mated height by 0.1mm compared to our existing connectors. This contributes to a significant reduction of both the space used inside the device and the size of our customer’s end products. While compact, the BM50 supports a high current of 15A. The unique board mounting design suppresses heat generation to 30°C or less even when 15A is applied. It also supports USB Power Delivery, which allows up to 100W of power to be delivered via USB for fast charging. In addition, the fully armored design covers both ends of the housing with metal for enhanced robustness and a significant reduction in the risk of housing damage when mating with misalignment.
■Approximately 30% Reduction in Mounting Area Compared to Our Existing Product
■Temperature Rise of 30℃ or Less When 15A High Power is Applied
Fully Armored Power and Signal Hybrid FPC-to-Board Connector that Supports Up to 15A
1. Compact design with high power supply capability
- Rated Current: Power contact 15A, signal contact 0.3A
- Mated Height: 0.6mm, Depth: 2.0mm
2. Fully armored design ensures high robustness
3. Minimized contact resistance contributes to power savings
● Future Developments
The newly developed BM50 Series solves the battery connectivity issues of smartphones. We are planning to release the BK22 Series, another compact FPC-to-Board connector with the same performance as the BM50 Series but at a different size, within 2021 in order to meet evolving device needs. Hirose aims to expand the use of the BM50 beyond smartphones to new markets, such as wearable devices, in the future.
● Corporate Profile and Related Information
*1The CES Innovation Awards are based upon descriptive materials submitted to the judges. CTA did not verify the accuracy of any submission or of any claims made and did not test the item to which the award was given.
*2The approximate mounting area reduction of 40% has been corrected to 30% on January 27, 2022.