Analysis of the behaviour of charged particles in electrical relay devices

This paper presents the results of analytical and experimental studies on the motion of a charged foreign object in an electrical relay. In the numerical approach, the motion of the lower and upper electrodes was solved by the finite element method. The colliding force between the foreign object and the electrodes was calculated by Hertzian contact theory. The electric field strength in the electrical relay was solved by the finite difference method. In the experimental approach, a spherical particle with a radius of 0.097mm made of polystyrene divinylbenzene was used as the foreign object. The validity of the analytical method was examined by comparing its results with the experimental results. It was shown that the motion of the particle is considerably affected by the electrostatic force.