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Studies of connectors for electric and electronic automotive systems have been and still are being pursued. The electrical connector reliability mainly depends on the connector insertion force. This force is related to the contact force which is imposed by the connector design. A nonintrusive technique for contact force determination by deflection measurement of the contact spring during insertion phase using a laser device has been developed. The following insertion parameters during the insertion stroke can be measured: contact deflection which yields the contact force, insertion force, and contact resistance. Regarding the results for real connectors, an experimental sample of a connector based on a cylindrical pin crossed with a cylindrical spring is proposed in this paper. With this simple setup, an mathematical model was developed and permits analysis of the influence of each parameter (width, spring radius, etc). Based on analysis of the influence of the spring width and of the gap, this study offers the possibility of optimizing the design of such connectors for use in the automotive industry.

Automotive connector ageing has been studied in the literature, but none of these studies is completely satisfactory for finding the relation between the insertion force, the contact surface, and the spring deflection and wear after several insertion phases. The main objective of this work is to find and establish a correlation between insertion parameters and wear behaviour using numerical and experimental approaches. This study is concerned with automotive connectors made of copper with a tin coating of thickness 2 μm. The evolution of the insertion force, spring deflection, and contact surface versus the insertion—extraction operation number will provide information about the connector wear behaviour. Using a microbalance, the mass of the sample was determined before and after the experimental insertion test, to quantify the mass loss and the wear evolution. In addition, the wear shape was analysed. The connector includes four spring lamellae on each side and the pin has a flat shape. Owing to the friction effect and after several insertion—extraction tests, eight tracks are visible. Using a scanning profilometer, the length, the depth, and the width of the track can be measured. At the same time, a numerical analysis using the finite element code Ansys is used with an elastoplastic behaviour law to find the fatigue law, to measure the contact surface, and to predict the wearing surface for the materials employed, which can support a long connector use period. The selected assumptions introduced in the numerical modelling lead to a good correlation with the experimental results.

Comfort, safety, communication, control with assistance (antilock brake system, seat heating, multimedia, etc.), and safeguarding the environment are many factors that are included in the new generation of vehicles. The increase in the number of electronic and electric systems leads to a high level of vehicle control. To answer this high electric power demand, it will be necessary to triple the voltage of the batteries (from 14 to 42 V). The objective of this work is to study the arc phenomenon that can occur in an accidental way during the use of a high electric power and particularly during the extraction phase of the male part from the female part of the automotive connector. It was observed that this can be characterized by both its energy and its temperature. The amplification of the contact current from 14 to 42 V d.c. considerably increases arc damage.

International audience; A connector provides a separable interface between two subsystems of an electronic system. The main function of the connector is to transmit a signal or distribute power. For power connectors, heating can lead to an increase in contact resistance and sometimes even to contact surface melting and thus to connector damage. In this study, the mechanical behaviour and heat evolution of a commercial power connector used in the automotive industry was undertaken. Using an experimental set-up, the mechanical insertion force, the temperature and the resistance evolution were measured. To quantify these parameters at the contact zone, two numerical modellings, using the finite element software Ansys, were employed to give the change of the insertion force during several insertion-extraction cycles and to solve the differential equations for heat transfer in a transitory mode. Adapted values of thermal and electrical contact conductances introduced into the numerical modelling, resulted in good values for both contact resistance and contact temperature, which were verified by experiments.

Studies of connectors for electric and electronic automotive systems have been and still are being pursued. The main criterion for the electrical contact reliability is to minimize the connector insertion force, which mainly depends on the contact force determined by the mechanical design. A non-intrusive technique for contact force determination by deflection measurement of the contact spring during insertion and extraction phase using a laser device has been developed. We have access to the following insertion parameters during the insertion stroke: contact deflection /spl delta/ which yields the contact force F/sub c/, insertion force F/sub i/ and contact resistance R/sub c/. Regarding the results for real connectors, an experimental model of a connector based on a cylindrical pin crossed with a cylindrical spring, is proposed in This work. With this simple setup, we have made an analytical model, which permits analysis of the influence of each parameter (width, spring radius etc). Based on analysis of the influence of the spring width and of the gap, this study offers the possibility of optimizing the design of such connectors for use in the automotive industry.