The heating power of some electrical connector contacts of high-voltage equipment depends on load current

so the influence of load must be considered in fault diagnosis of the contacts via temperature. In this paper

the heating mechanism and the temperature change laws of the electrical connector contacts were analyzed theoretically with the Joule-Lenz’s law and the theory of heat transfer. Then experiments were conducted to obtain the temperature change of heating position of disconnector with time under varying load current and the relationship between steady-state temperature rise of the heating position and load current.Results show that the temperature change speeds of disconnector contact and terminal are related with thermal time constant

and the steady-state temperature rise has exponential function relationship with the load current.This study may provide reference for fault diagnosis of electrical connector contacts in different load conditions.