Reliability of spring pressure contacts under environmental stress

Spring contacts are an excellent solution for connecting a power module with a printed circuit board (PCB). They can be applied in a wide current range from sensor currents of a few milliamps to load currents of several amps. They offer many advantages like easy assembly without soldering and also easy disassembly for maintenance purposes. The reliability of spring contacts under environmental stress by mechanical wear, rapid temperature change and corrosive atmosphere is significant for the application. The experimental results presented in this paper certify that spring contacts are reliable even under harsh environmental conditions. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.