Design and Testing of High Performance Brushes.
Abstract
A new breed of electrical brush, i.e., unlubricated flexible metal brushes, has been developed. Of these, two specific types, namely metal fiber brushes and metal foil brushes, have been constructed and tested, and theory has been developed which accounts for their behavior, based on Holm's theory of electrical contacts. It has been shown that electrical tunneling makes a significant contribution to current conduction in fiber brushes, outside of the areas needed for bearing the brush force. Correspondingly brush resistance is reduced, the more so the finer the fibers are, and brush performance was found to be very superior. Some of these developments plus a number of other novel designs of unlubricated flexible metal brushes have given rise to two extensive patent applications. The most promising of those latter designs have not yet been reduced to practice but they should go far to eliminate most, and perhaps all, of remaining shortcomings of electrical brushes. In addition, some theoretical research in other areas of ancillary interest to brush behavior has been conducted, most of it in metal fatigue.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1982
- Accession Number
- ADA113735
Entities
People
- Doris Kuhlmann-wilsdorf
Organizations
- University of Virginia