Electrical Tests
Corporate Technology Services is accredited for electrical tests in the areas of electrical equipment and industrial low-voltage equipment:
Current-heat test assembly
- Contact resistance and insulation resistance
- Contact disturbances, contact interruptions
- Impulse-withstand voltage
- Electrical strength
- Corona extinction voltage
- Current-carrying capacity (derating curve)
Current carrying capacity
The current carrying capacity of a connector establishes the current that may flow across all contacts continuously and simultaneously.
Derating curve
It is determined experimentally. The standard DIN EN 60512 serves as a guideline.
The total temperature increase, due to the ambient temperature and the temperature increase as a result of the current load, may not exceed the temperature limit of the connector.
It follows from this that the current carrying capacity is not a constant value but that it decreases with increasing ambient temperature.
The relationship between the current, the temperature increase it causes and the ambient temperature of the connector is shown by a curve, the so-called derating curve. The current carrying capacity decreases with an increase in ambient temperature.
The current carrying capacity is mainly influenced by the choice of contact materials, the contact form, the number of contact points, the normal force of the contact, the heat resistance of the housing and the properties of the connected cables or supply lines.
Thanks to appropriate simulation models, it is possible to ensure the current carrying capacity during the design phase.