Simulation Study on Influence of Environmental Temperature on Current-Carrying Capacity of Automotive Electrical Connector

The purpose of this article is to reduce the adverse effects of temperature rise on the electrical connector, reduce the failure risk of electrical connector due to the mismatch of current-carrying capacity selection, and improve the service life of the electrical connector. This article takes a certain type of vehicle electric connector as the research object. An accurate contact pair model of the electrical connector is established by SOLIDWORKS software. The force and thermoelectric coupling simulation analysis of the 3D solid model with reasonable load and boundary conditions was carried out by ABAQUS software. The results show that the insertion force and positive force of the electrical connector terminal are in line with the values specified in the standard. When different currents are applied to terminals connecting wires with different cross-sectional areas, the maximum temperature rise of the terminal is always located at the contact position of the male and female terminals, and this maximum is recorded. Based on the simulation analysis, the relationship curve between current and temperature rise is plotted. Considering the safe use of wire and its maximum current-carrying capacity, the quantitative relationship between ambient temperature and terminal current-carrying capacity is obtained by a method. This method can be used in any automotive electrical connector.