As the altitude increases, the atmospheric pressure gradually decreases. This will affect the mechanical strength, sealing and internal gas flow performance of the relay housing. Low pressure environment may cause the mechanical strength of the relay housing to decrease and the sealing performance to be damaged, thus affecting its electrical insulation performance and long-term reliability.
The oxygen concentration in high altitude areas is low, which will affect the oxidation rate and elasticity of the relay contact material. The reduced oxygen concentration will lead to reduced material hardness and poor contact elasticity, thus affecting the operating characteristics and service life of the relay. At the same time, the low oxygen environment may also aggravate the arc phenomenon between the contacts, resulting in poor or burned contacts.
Although the altitude itself does not directly cause temperature changes, the climatic conditions in high altitude areas are often more extreme, with large temperature differences between day and night. This temperature change may place higher requirements on the thermal stability and thermal design of the relay. However, for this 30A high-power relay, its wide operating temperature range shows that it has certain thermal stability and adaptability.
As the air pressure decreases with increasing altitude, the electric field strength of electrical breakdown will also decrease accordingly. This means that at high altitudes, relays require higher driving voltages to ensure reliable disconnection and closure between contacts. Therefore, when designing and selecting relays, the effect of altitude on operating voltage needs to be fully considered.
Contacts are one of the most critical components in relays, and their performance directly affects the reliability and service life of relays. At high altitudes, due to reduced oxygen concentration and changes in air humidity, contact materials may oxidize, corrode or arc erosion, resulting in poor contact or failure of contacts. Therefore, high-quality contact materials and reasonable contact design are needed to improve the contact reliability of relays.
Low air pressure and low oxygen concentration in high-altitude environments may cause the gas flow performance inside the relay to decrease, local overheating and flashover phenomena to increase, thereby increasing the electrical failure rate. In order to reduce the electrical failure rate, a series of measures need to be taken, such as strengthening heat dissipation design and improving insulation performance.
In areas with higher altitudes, the sensitivity of the relay may decrease due to reduced air density. This may cause the relay to be insensitive or malfunction when it is in action. In order to improve the sensitivity of the relay, it can be achieved by adjusting its structure and parameters. For example, using a more sensitive sensor or increasing the gain of the drive circuit.