Low/High Time-In-Service Behavior of Falsely Locked Automotive Electrical Connector as Demonstrated in a Bench Test

摘要

False locking of an electrical connector in an automobile can cause intermittence or open circuit, and is one of major factors that impact customer satisfaction. We have built a bench device to test how a falsely locked connector that initially was 'good' with low contact resistance would change resistance over time and finally be open circuit. In the test, a small pulling force was applied to one end of a falsely locked connector which was set on a vibration table to simulate vehicle usage. Data were collected with different pulling forces and vibration parameters. Unsealed and sealed connectors were used. Some data showed that a faulty connector might become open in a few hundred cycles, a few thousands cycles, or a few ten thousands cycles, simulating the low-time-in-service condition. Other data showed that a faulty connector might get loose only after about a million cycles, simulating high-time-in-service condition.