Vibration induced at contact point of a tighten-up connector system

For automotive field, the vehicle vibrations induce movements of connector systems, composed of a female part system (springs) which is connected and tighten up with the male part system (pin). There is relative movement of the contact zone between spring and pin which can lead to the fretting corrosion phenomena. Several studies have been performed to investigate vibration consequences on electrical connectors. This work aims to address the influence of a variety of factors such as fretting amplitude, frequency and current on the performance of automotive connectors. An original bench has been designed in order to measure the three dimensional displacements of the connector and the electric contact characteristics at the same time. The velocity is measured with a laser Doppler vibrometer within the excitation-axis and the displacements within the two other axes are measured with laser displacement while a vibration is applied to the system. In this study, a measurement of induced relative displacements for different types of connector systems is undertaken as an analysis of the influence of the connector shapes and the dynamic parameters on the contact area damage and on the connector threshold of use.