Research on the Dynamic Calculation Model for a

DC Solenoid Electromagnetic Contactor and its

Contact Characteristics in Break Process
You Jiaxin, Liang Huimin, Ma Guangcheng Chen Shuqing, Cai Zhaowen
Harbin institute of Technology Department of Product Design
Harbin, China G&A Technologies Co. Ltd
E-mail: [email protected] Guilin, China

Abstract—DC solenoid electromagnetic contactor is widely Based on the static calculating results, the dynamic numerical
used in electrical vehicles, airplanes, trains and other 270v high calculation model of contact system and spring system is
voltage DC power supply system. Due to its special working established combining with the straight solenoid
environment, the limitation of the volume and weight of the electromagnetic mechanism dynamic characteristics. The
contactor is strict. This requires the contactor to have excellent
shock absorption and breaking capacity. The static
Runge-Kutta method is adopted to solve the dynamic
electromagnetic calculation model of one type of solenoid equations, and the dynamic calculation results are compared
contactor is established using the finite element method (FEM). with the test data. The validity of the model is verified. Using
Then the dynamic numerical calculation model of the contact this model, the dynamic characteristics of the electromagnetic
and spring system is established and further combined with the mechanism under different spring parameters are analyzed.
solenoid dynamic electromagnetic characteristics. The Runge-
Kutta method is adopted to solve the dynamic differential II. STRUCTURE OF THE DC SOLENOID ELECTROMAGNETIC
equations, and the dynamic calculation results are compared CONTACTOR
with the test data. The validity of the model is verified. Using
this model, the dynamic characteristics of the electromagnetic A. Macrostructure
mechanism under different spring parameters are analyzed.
A typical DC solenoid electromagnetic contactor contains
Keywords—component; Dynamic model; FEM; solenoid about these parts: Shell, Rod, Coil, Armature, Recover spring,
electromagnetic contactor; Contact Movement Iron core sleeve, Yoke, Rebound spring, Moving contact and
Static contact. The section view of DC solenoid
electromagnetic contactor is showed in Fig.1 (the contactor is
I. INTRODUCTION
held horizontally with dimension Φ60mm×100mm, rate
DC solenoid electromagnetic contactor is widely used in current 200A 28V d.c., overload currents 1000A. ).
electrical vehicles, airplanes, trains and other 270v high
voltage DC power supply system[1]. Due to its special working
environment, the limitation of the volume and weight of the
contactor is strict which requires that the contact system of
contactor has an excellent absorption and breaking capacity[2].
In recent years, many experts have carried on the analysis
and research work on this type of contactor. Usually in the
process of the research and analysis, the CAD model for the is
built first, then the CAD model is imported into the FEM
software to calculate the static force of the electromagnetic
system[3]. Based on this static calculation results, the dynamic
characteristics can be analyzed based on dynamic software
1—Shell 2—Rod 3—Coil 4—Armature 5—Recover spring 6—Iron core
including the breaking speed and contact force. This analysis
sleeve 7—Yoke 8—Bounce damping spring 9—Moving contact 10—Static
of the contact process is used to improve the contact
contact
performance, and to predict the electrical life of the DC
solenoid electromagnetic contactor[4]. Fig. 1. The structure of a type of DC solenoid electromagnetic contactor
The dynamic characteristics analysis model is the key
point to accurate and fast calculation to improve the design B. Analysis for Key Parameters
efficiency. So how to build a theoretical calculation model of
dynamic characteristics for fast analysis is the key of the In the making process of the contactor, under the initial
calculation[5]. state, the static contact and moving contact is in a state of
This paper focuses on a certain type of DC solenoid separation, the armature is in the bottom position, when the
electromagnetic contactor, and the static calculation mode of rated current flows into the coil, the magnetic flux is produced
one type of solenoid is established using FEM. In this paper. by the coil, flux flows through the armature and the yoke and
link the two parts, the armature act under the electromagnetic

978-1-4673-9341-6/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE 191 IEEE Holm Conference on Electrical Contacts

force which overcomes the spring force, the moving contact
moves until the impact between the moving contact and the
static contact, the armature finish its over travel and the main
circuit connected. In the case of coil power cut, the armature
acts under the force of two springs drive the moving contact
return, and the circuit breaks.
III. MODELING AND CALCULATION OF THE STATIC
ELECTROMAGNETIC SYSTEM
Firstly, electromagnetic calculation model is built based on
the finite element method to calculate the static
electromagnetic force and the magnetic flux of contactor coil
values. Part of the FEM electromagnetic system model is
simplified including: the removal of non-magnetic conductive
parts, the fine meshing for gaps, passivation of acute angle
Fig. 4. The FEM solved static electromagnetic character
part. In this process, it needs to solve the equivalent treatment
for the convergence of narrow gap. FEM mesh model of the
DC solenoid electromagnetic contactor is set up as shown in IV. MODELING AND CALCULATION OF THE DYNAMIC MODEL
figure 2.
A numerical analysis model of the contacts movement
process is built. Focus on the breaking speed which is the
most relevant features, the mathematical model for the whole
process of contact movement is built using the dynamic
differential equation.
Using the Runge-Kutta method to solve the dynamic
process of differential equations, the whole dynamic process
of electromagnetic institutions (including making,
maintaining, and breaking process) is divided into a number of
time steps, for each time step of the displacement of the
armature and moving contact, velocity and other parameters,
so the calculation results will change with the time step size, it
Fig. 2. FEM mesh model of the DC solenoid electromagnetic contactor
was found that when the time step is less than 5 μs after the
results have only a very slight difference. The main equation
is showed below
 d xx
 d t  vx

 d xd  v
 d t d
(1)
d v F ( x , x , v , v )
 x  x x d x d
 dt mx
d v F (x , x , v , v )
 d  d x d x d
 d t md
Fig. 3. The Static model and the magnetic vector distribution
where xx、vx、mx、Fx present the displacement, speed, mass
The total number of mesh unit is 86793. Based on the and the force of the armature, xd、vd、md、Fd presents the
meshed model, the vector magnetic potential method is used. displacement, speed, mass and the force of the moving
The boundary conditions are set to infinity magnetic contact.
anisotropy zero. Static model and the magnetic vector Dynamic characteristics solving process is showed in
distribution is shown in figure 3. Fig. 5. The parameters needs to be set firstly, including the
The static electromagnetic force character is solved which calculation time step length, coil power up time, power off
is showed in Fig.4. time and the parameters of the collision, etc.. The
From Fig. 4 (Coil Resistance 40Ω 25℃，Rate Voltage characteristic parameters needs to be initialized, including the
28d.c.), it can be deduced that the force can reach near 80N armature and moving contact displacement, velocity and coil
under the rate coil voltage. The whole force line under certain current, flux, etc. Then the voltage balance equation of
coil voltage has the same shape. The results of FEM model differential form get the next moment flux, check through the
can be the basis data for dynamic characteristics analysis coil current on the electromagnetic chain about current,
model. displacement, displacement and electromagnetic force two-
dimensional data table be coil current and electromagnetic
force to calculate the force of the moving parts. Finally the TABLE II. CALCULATION RESULTS UNDER DIFFERENT SPRING
PARAMETERS CONDITION
fourth-order Runge-Kutta method is used to solve the
differential equations. Bounce damping
Max Speed of Max Speed of
Armature Moving Contact
spring number
（m/s） （m/s）
1 1.568 1.138
2 1.248 0.927
3 1.115 0.918
4 1.267 0.993

-4
x 10
16
 i 1   i  (u  i r )t X: 0.0778
14
Y: 0.001521

12

10

8
X: 0.07903
Y: 0.0005243
6

f  k x  cd v 2

0
 h
Yn 1  Yn  6 ( K1  2 K 2  2 K 3  K 4 ) -2


 K1  G (tn , Yn )
-4
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09
 1 h Time (s)
 K 2  G (tn  h, Yn  K1 )
 2 2 a Contact displacement
 1 h 1.5
 3K  G (t n  h, Yn  K2 )
2 2

 K 4  G (tn  h, Yn  hK 3 )
1

0.5

0
Fig. 5. Dynamic characteristics solving process
-0.5
Using software Matlab to program, trial contact
displacement curve under a certain set of spring parameters is
-1 X: 0.07267
obtained. The velocity data curve of the contacts is shown in Y: -1.273
figure 6 which contains the attract and release (marked by red
dot line) process. -1.5
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09
The parameter of the bounce damping spring and the Time (s)
recover spring are showed below. b Contact speed
Fig. 6. Dynamic characteristic calculation results
TABLE I. PARAMETERS OF THE BOUNCE DAMPING SPRING
No. Start Force End Force Stiffness（ Free Length
V. TEST FOR THE BREAK VELOCITY OF THE MOVING CONTACT
（N） （N） N/mm） （mm）
1 6.25 16.85 10.6 6.59 According to different bounce damping spring, the
2 7.77 21.17 13.4 6.58 separation speed of the moving contact has been test, so as to
3 4.93 16.13 11.2 6.44 analyze the speed and life test results with different spring
4 9.34 16.64 7.3 7.28 parameters.
The experimental system is established taking a high speed
camera as the core device. The whole moving process of the
Different spring parameters condition is calculated using release of the moving contact is recorded. After the image
this model (the recover spring parameter is: Start Force 5.59N recording, the data are processed.
End Force 6.57 Stiffness 0.35N/mm Free Length 26.18mm). The test equipment are as followed: high speed camera,
The calculation results of speed and maximum speed data are high voltage Na light source, Adopting longevity test-beds
shown in Table I. signal excitation coil, assembly the high-power relay on a
special holder (the shell near contact moving area exists
observation window), testing system is shown in Fig. 7.
 TABLE III. SPEED TEST RESULTS UNDER DIFFERENT BOUNCE DAMPING
SPRING

Bounce Max Contact Avg Contact

damping spring Speed Speed
number （m/s） （m/s）
1 1.60 1.23
2 1.34 0.99
3 1.29 0.92
4 1.30 0.91

And the kinetic energy has a close relationship with the

stiffness of two kinds of springs and the over travel distance of
the contact.

Fig. 7. Contact moving test system and part of the image of the record (one VI. CONCLUSION
contact side)
In this paper, the static electromagnetic model of a DC
solenoid electromagnetic contactor is established using FEM
The screenshots of contact release process are showed in
method, the static force and magnetic flux data are solved,
Fig. 7.In order to increase the resolution. The way of single
based on these data, a dynamic calculation model is built
shot with multi-times is carried out. The contact images are
based on the Runge-Kutta method. The contact breaking speed
processed with the image processing software, and the
can be calculated using this dynamic model. Under the same
movement speed of the contact is calculated combination with
recover spring, the breaking speed of the contact with different
the test speed, using the average speed in 1 mm. As well as the
bounce damping spring parameters are calculated respectively,
maximum speed of the contact is measured to equal the static
and the experimental system is established to measure the
contact breaking speed, the test movement curve of the
speed of the contact of a DC solenoid electromagnetic
contact release process is showed in Fig. 8.
contactor. Result comparison of the contact breaking speed
shows that the validity of the dynamic calculation model can
be verified. This model can be part of the calculation basis for
life prediction and contact characteristics analysis for this type
of solenoid electromagnetic contactor.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to express their great thanks to the
support of The National Nature Science Foundation of China
(NSFC No. 51177021) and the HIT Post-Doctoral work
(LRB15-106).
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