Lifetime prediction for electrical connector under the action of random vibration loading

Abstract

Electrical connectors play a critical role on systems' reliability and vibration loading is the critical environmental factor which affects the reliability and lifetime of them. The existing methods to study the lifetime of electrical connectors under the action of vibration loading cannot quantify the response of the electrical connectors, cost high and time-consuming. To solve these problems, the method combined finite element (FE) simulation with failure physics equation was proposed. It can not only be used to quantify the vibration response, predict the lifetime and quantify the limited vibration loading of electrical connectors, but also analysis the reliability and optimization of electrical connector. The response of electrical connectors under external vibration excitation was quantified by FE modeling and simulation first. The relationship between external input vibration loading and local vibration response was established by multiple sets of vibration simulation and data fitting. Then the equation between lifetime of electrical connector and external vibration excitation was established combined with the failure physics equation. Finally, the test data was used to validate the lifetime of electrical connector.