Method for calculation of contact resistance and finite element simulation of contact temperature rise based on rough surface contact model

Abstract

Calculation of contact resistance is closely related to the accuracy of switches' thermal simulation, though this issue is still in lack of effective method until now. This paper presented a new method for accurate acquirement of contact resistance and temperature rise based on rough surface contact model and finite element simulation. The relation between contact resistance and contact force was developed with the surface profile and the separation between reference planes of contacting surfaces. An equivalent contact model was built with the separation and real contact area in 3-D thermal-electrical coupled finite element simulation to acquire contact temperature rise. Experiments were conducted to verify this method. The research would provide an accurate and effective method for calculation of contact resistance and simulation of contact temperature rise.