Kinetic sprayed electrical contacts on conductive substrates
AssigneeDelphi Technologies, Inc.
InventorsThomas Hubert Van Steenkiste, George Albert Drew, Daniel William Gorkiewicz, Bryan A. Gillispie
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Abstract
The present invention is directed to electrical contacts that comprise spaced electrically conductive particles embedded and bonded into the surface of conductors in which the particles have been kinetically sprayed onto the conductors with sufficient energy to form direct mechanical bonds between the particles and the conductors in a pre-selected location and particle number density that promotes high surface-to-surface contact and reduced contact resistance between the conductors.
Claims10
A process for forming an electrical connector comprising the steps of:
- a. entraining a plurality of electrically conductive particles having a nominal average particle size of greater than 50 microns into a gas stream having a temperature of from 100° Celsius to 550° Celsius, thereby imparting kinetic and thermal energy to said particles;
- and
- b. directing said gas stream and said particles through a nozzle toward an electrically conductive surface while moving said surface in relation to said nozzle at a selected speed thereby embedding said particles onto said surface and forming a discontinuous layer of spaced particles on said surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.