Influence of the electrical resistance and wire size on the current carrying capacity of connectors

Author

Blauth, M. ; Berger, F. ; Jian Song

Author_Institution

Labor fur Feinsystemtechnik, Ostwestfalen-Lippe Univ. of Appl. Sci., Lemgo, Germany

fYear

2014

fDate

12-15 Oct. 2014

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

8

Abstract

The electrical-thermal behavior of an electrical connector is determined by heat generation due to Joule heating and heat absorption by conduction, convection and radiation. Heat flow from the connector to the wire is an important heat absorption mechanism for most electrical connectors. The temperature difference between the connector and the wire at infinity is proportional to the axial heat flow induced into the wire. The purpose of this study is to dimension the electrical resistance of a connector for power distribution by the heat flow into the wire. The heat flow is used as a design factor in order to define the maximum power loss for wires with different cross-section areas. With this approach the maximum acceptable electrical resistance for connectors with different sizes can be estimated in the early stages of the design process.

Keywords

convection; electric connectors; electrical contacts; electrical resistivity; heat radiation; wires (electric); Joule heating; conduction; convection; current carrying capacity; electrical connector; electrical resistance; electrical-thermal behavior; heat absorption; heat generation; heat radiation; power distribution; wire size; Connectors; Heat transfer; Resistance; Resistance heating; Temperature measurement; Wires; design; electrical contacts; heat flow; heating; wire size;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electrical Contacts (Holm), 2014 IEEE 60th Holm Conference on

Conference_Location

New Orleans, LA

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/HOLM.2014.7031043

Filename

7031043