Joint Resistance of Bolted Power Connectors as Influenced by Overlap Area and Tightening Torque of Contact Parts

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Suez Canal University, Egypt

Abstract

Electrical contacts consist of two parts where the surfaces are in contact and where the actual physical contact occur just in a few contact asperity points scattered over the whole apparent contact area. the effect of material resistance on the initial joint resistance of bolted power bus-bar have been investigated experimentally by measuring the current distribution along the over lapping region of bolted joint, moreover the effect of increasing torque on the current distribution along contact area are discussed, in addition, a computer simulation based upon the finite element method was introduced to calculate the ideal joint resistance and compared with that obtained experimentally. Furthermore, the effect of increasing bolted size (hole diameter) on the initial joint resistance was calculated. The study shows that the current distribution is not homogenous along the contact interface and increasing tightening torque has no effect on the current distribution along the contact area.

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