High Voltage Contact With Spherical Surfaces For Geometric Tolerance
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Solution Overview
Problem
High-voltage plug connections with geometric imperfections, such as angular errors and radial offsets, lead to reduced contact areas, increased contact resistance, and decreased reliability and service life, making it difficult to replace defective high-voltage modules due to the need for specifically adapted plug and socket pairs.
Innovation Solution
A high-voltage contact with a concave first contact surface and a convex second contact surface, along with a deformable electrical conductor like metal foam, which compensates for geometric imperfections and maintains a large current-transmitting area, even when plugs and sockets are not adapted to each other, ensuring reliable and efficient high-voltage connections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional high-voltage plug connections are manufactured with standard manufacturing tolerances, then production cost and complexity are reduced, but geometric imperfections lead to reduced contact area and increased contact resistance
Solution Approach 1:
The contact surfaces are designed with spherical curvature instead of flat surfaces. The first contact surface has a concave spherical shape with radius R1 and the second contact surface has a convex spherical shape with radius R2. This spherical geometry allows the contact surfaces to self-align and maintain optimal contact area even when angular errors or radial offsets occur during assembly, thereby ensuring reliable electrical connection without requiring extremely tight manufacturing tolerances.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the geometric parameters of the contact surfaces from flat to spherical with specific radii (R1 and R2). This parameter change transforms the contact mechanism from point/line contact to surface contact, increasing the effective contact area and reducing contact resistance. The spherical parameters are optimized to accommodate expected manufacturing tolerances while maintaining electrical performance.
2Reliability
If plugs and sockets are manufactured as individualized pairs to compensate for geometric imperfections, then connection reliability is improved, but device complexity and inventory management become problematic
Solution Approach 1:
The spherical contact surface design with standardized radii (R1 and R2) creates universal compatibility between plugs and sockets. Any plug with the specified spherical parameters can be reliably connected to any socket with matching parameters, eliminating the need for individualized pairing. This universal design maintains connection reliability while simplifying inventory management and replacement procedures.
3Manufacturing precision
If the contact area is reduced due to angular errors and radial offsets, then manufacturing tolerances can be relaxed, but contact resistance increases and temperature at contact areas rises
Solution Approach 1:
The spherical contact surfaces increase the effective contact area from a point or line contact to a distributed surface contact. The concave-convex spherical geometry ensures that even when angular errors or radial offsets occur, a sufficiently large contact area is maintained. This distributed contact area reduces current density and heat generation at the contact interface, preventing excessive temperature rise while allowing relaxed manufacturing tolerances.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution allows for reliable high-voltage connections despite geometric imperfections, increasing the contact area, reducing contact resistance, and enhancing the service life of high-voltage connectors, enabling easy replacement of defective modules without the need for customized plug and socket pairs.
Implementation Method 1
a deformable electrical conductor like metal foam, which compensates for geometric imperfections and maintains a large current-transmitting area
Implementation Method 2
a first contact surface connected to a first electrical conductor and a second contact surface connected to a second electrical conductor
Data Source
Figure 1~2
AI summary
The invention relates to a high-voltage contact (2) for a high-voltage connection (1) tolerant of geometric imperfections, comprising a first contact surface (3) connected to a first electrical conductor (6) and a second contact surface (4) connected to a second electrical conductor (8), wherein the first contact surface (3) has a concave basic shape and the second contact surface has a convex basic shape. The invention further relates to a high-voltage connector with such a high-voltage contact (2).