Influence of contact surface quality and contact material on the contact resistances of high current connections

At the connection between high current room temperature busbars, e.g. feeders for fusion machines, the contact resistance has to be low to avoid high electrical losses. Otherwise an excessive cooling is needed to prevent the busbar from local overheating caused by these losses. In order to determine the parameters, which are relevant to ensure a reproducible and reliable low contact resistance, detailed tests at room temperature with different high current connection types were performed.The contact resistance of aluminum–copper and copper–copper connection was measured for contact areas with different surfaces as e.g. polished, oxidized and gold plated contact area. In addition the change of the contact resistance during a long time operation and at different current densities was determined. Furthermore the effect of humidity, e.g. condensed water and over temperature, e.g. at an overload or a breakdown of the cooling system, on the contact resistance quality were analyzed.