Arc-less electrical connector

摘要

First and second matable electrical connectors respectively including a blade terminal (110) and a receptor terminal (150) that can be unmated without previously disconnecting power. The blade terminal includes a main contact (112) having contact blades (114A and 114B) and an auxiliary contact (130) that are shunted by a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) resistor (140) located between the main (112) and auxiliary (130) contact . The main contact (112) will be disconnected first and the auxiliary contact (130) can be longer than the main contact (112). Arcing will not occur at the mating end of the main contact (112), because the current will be shunted to the still connected longer auxiliary contact (130). I<2> R heating will increase the resistance in the PTC resistor (140), so when the auxiliary contact (130) is disconnected, current will be below the arcing threshold. The connectors include multiple latches which permit only discontinuous unmating of electrical connectors, so that the connectors can be disconnected without arcing for a range of currents. <IMAGE>