Microstructured Contact Element with Embedded Lubricant
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electrical connectors in motor vehicles face issues such as fretting corrosion, high wear resistance, and excessive plugging forces due to temperature variations and vibrations, leading to reduced operational life and malfunction.
Innovation Solution
An electrically conductive contact element with a microstructured contact surface featuring caverns filled with an auxiliary material, such as lubricants or corrosion protection agents, which reduces friction and corrosion by embedding the material beneath the surface, preventing resinification and enhancing wear resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Force
If contact surfaces are oiled or greased to reduce friction and wear, then plugging forces are reduced and wear resistance is improved, but the grease or oil is lost during operation and forms resins over time
Solution Approach 1:
The contact element incorporates a porous body with pore openings at the contact surface. These pores act as reservoirs that store lubricating substance, allowing it to be released gradually during operation. This prevents complete loss of lubricant while avoiding resin formation that occurs with conventional greased surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The lubricating substance is pre-loaded into the porous structure before the connector is put into service. This preliminary action ensures that lubrication is available from the start and continues to be supplied during operation, eliminating the need for repeated application and preventing the loss problems associated with conventional greasing.
2Reliability
If special alloys are employed on the contact surface to reduce friction corrosion, then wear resistance is improved, but the cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The contact element uses a composite structure combining a base material (such as steel or copper alloy) with a porous coating or treated surface layer. This porous body provides the wear resistance and lubricant retention functionality without requiring the entire contact element to be made from expensive special alloys, thus reducing manufacturing cost while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using expensive special alloys throughout the entire contact element, the invention applies the porous lubricant-retaining structure only at the contact surface where wear and friction occur. This localized approach provides the necessary wear resistance at the critical interface while keeping the bulk material cost-effective.
3Duration of action of stationary object
If contact surfaces are made with high wear resistance materials, then operational life is extended, but plugging forces become excessive
Solution Approach 1:
The porous body acts as an intermediary between the hard wear-resistant base material and the mating contact surface. It stores and releases lubricating substance that reduces friction during plugging, allowing the use of hard materials for wear resistance without experiencing excessive plugging forces.
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
The solution effectively reduces friction and corrosion, lowers plugging forces, and extends the operational life of connectors by embedding auxiliary materials within microstructured caverns, preventing their loss and maintaining conductivity.
Implementation Method 1
An electrically conductive contact element for an electrical connector has a contact surface having a plurality of caverns arranged under the contact surface in a microstructure and an auxiliary material filled in the plurality of caverns
Implementation Method 2
an auxiliary material filled in the plurality of caverns... reduces friction and corrosion by embedding the material beneath the surface
Data Source
AI summary
An electrically conductive contact element for an electrical connector comprises a contact surface having a plurality of caverns arranged under the contact surface in a microstructure and an auxiliary material filled in the plurality of caverns.