Dynamic study on the contact bounce of an electromagnetic contactor

Abstract

Contact bounces of an electromagnetic contactor generate contact arc discharge which causes consumption and welding of contacts and shortening of a product lifetime. To reveal behavior of contact chattering and critical parameters of chattering duration, we perform dynamic study on the contact bounce of an electromagnetic contactor by building the 1-D physical model. The parameters of the physical components in the model are referred from designed values of a product and estimated from measurements of products and FEM analyses. We find the contact chattering duration in the simulation is 0.45 ms, which is consistent with result of chattering duration measurement of a product, 0 – 0.6 ms. Finally, we calculate sensitivity of chattering duration to each parameter and reveal that the initial and final load of the pressure spring and the mass of the moving and fixed contacts have some degree of impact to the chattering duration of the electromagnetic contactor.