Thermal Analysis of a Sliding Electric Contact System Using Finite Element Method

Authors: Adrian T. Pleșca

Abstract:

In this paper a three dimensional thermal model of a sliding contact system is proposed for both steady-state or transient conditions. The influence of contact force, electric current and ambient temperature on the temperature distribution, has been investigated. A thermal analysis of the different type of the graphite material of fixed electric contact and its influence on contact system temperature rise, has been performed. To validate the three dimensional thermal model, some experimental tests have been done. There is a good correlation between experimental and simulation results.

Keywords: Sliding electric contact, temperature distribution, thermal analysis.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1332660

References:

[1] D. Bansal, Tribological investigation of electrical contacts, Doctoral thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009, ch.3.
[2] M. Bahrami, J. R. Culham, and M. M. Yovanovich, "Modeling thermal contact resistance: a scale analysis approach," J. of Heat Transf., vol. 126, pp. 896-905, 2004.
[3] M. H. Shojaefard, M. Ghaffarpour, and A. R. Noorpoor, "Thermal contact analysis using identification method," Heat Transf. Engineering, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 85-96, 2008.
[4] C. Fieberg, and R. Kneer, "Determination of thermal contact resistance from transient temperature measurements," Int. J. of Heat and Mass Transf., vol. 51, pp. 1017-1023, 2008.
[5] A. L. Wang, and J. F. Zhao, "Review of prediction for thermal contact resistance," Science China Technological Sciences, vol. 53, no. 7, pp. 1798-1808, 2010.
[6] M. P. Paisios, C. G. Karagiannopoulos, and P. D. Bourkas, "Model for temperature estimation of dc-contactors with double-break main contacts," Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory, vol. 15, pp. 503 - 512, 2007.
[7] N. Du, Y. G. Guan, W. D. Liu, S. Z. Jin, and M. Collod, "Current distribution and thermal effects analysis on the sliding contact arrangement in circuit breaker," in Proc. of the 11th Int. Conf. on Electrical Machines and Systems, Wuhan, 2008, pp. 447-451.
[8] R. Bosman, and M. B. de Rooij, "Transient thermal effects and heat partition in sliding contacts," J. of Tribology-Trans. of the ASME, vol. 13, no. 2, 2010.
[9] B. H. Chudnovsky, "Electrical contacts condition diagnostics based on wireless temperature monitoring of energized equipment," in Proc. of the 52nd IEEE Holm Conference on Electrical Contacts, Montreal, 2006, pp. 73-80.
[10] B. Vick, and W. C. Schneck, Estimation of the real area of contact in sliding systems using thermal measurements, J. of Tribology-Trans. of the ASME, vol. 133, no. 3, 2011.
[11] A. Collina, and S. Bruni, "Numerical Simulation of Pantograph- Overhead Equipment Interaction," Vehicle System Dynamics, vol. 38, pp. 261-291, 2002.
[12] S. Walters, A. Rachid, and A. Mpanda, "On Modelling and Control of Pantograph Catenary Systems," in Int. Conf. on Pantograph Catenary Interaction Framework for Intelligent Control PACIFIC, Amiens, 2011.
[13] W. Wang, A. Dong, G. Wu, G. Gao, L. Zhou, B. Wang, Y. Cui, D. Liu, D. Li, and T. Li, "Study on characterization of electrical contact between pantograph and catenary," in 57th Holm Conference on Electrical Contacts, Minneapolis, 2011, pp. 1-6.
[14] V. Mihalcea, L. Cantemir, C. G. Cantemir, and G. Chiriac, "The necessity of current collecting study at the pantograph of the electric locomotive in real conditions," Buletinul Institutului Politehnic Iasi, vol. L (LIV), no. 5, pp. 1159-1164, 2004.
[15] C. Ni┼âucâ, L. Cantemir, G. Chiriac, and A. Gheorghiu, "Aspects regarding the influence of the temperature range over the contact line," Buletinul Institutului Politehnic Iasi, vol. L (LIV), no. 5, pp. 1165-1170, 2004.
[16] A. Musolino, "Electromagnetic analysis in devices with sliding contacts," Int. J. for Computation and Mathematics in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 463-472, 2001.
[17] B. G. Watkins, and J. Streator, "Simulation of thermal effects in stationary and sliding electrical contacts," in Proc. of the STLE/ASME Int. Joint Tribology Conf., Miami, 2008, pp. 661-663