Investigation of Contact Materials in 42VDC Automotive Relay

摘要

Automobile makers have revealed plans to increase the voltage of car batteries from 12V to 42V in order to use high-power electrical components and improve fuel consumption. It is said that the total power supply to various electrical components of a car will reach to 7 - 8 kW around 2010. Because the total power conventional DC14V battery can supply is limited to about 2.5 kW, it is considered necessary to increase the voltage of car batteries to DC 42V. Here in this experiment, using various Ag-based contact materials for relays that were planned to be mounted on real cars at DC 42V, their durability was tested under conditions which they would be actually used. As a result, it was found that AgZnO contact materials had excellent durability, low contact resistance and high erosion resistance, which coincided with the result obtained from the previously reported simulation test.