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