Annual National Relay Conference, 26th, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Okla., April 25, 26, 1978, Proceedings

The papers deal with various aspects of relay design, testing, and production. Topics include the use of microprocessors and programmable calculators as aids in relay design, dynamic testing of electromechanical relays by means of a microprocessor-based system, a mathematical algorithm for predicting relay life, life and failure-rate tests for low-power electromagnetic relays, the performance of reed relays with evaporated refractory-metal contact layers, the development of an Fe-Co-Ni-Mo alloy for the remanent reed switch, quality assurance of reed contact units, and the magnetic properties of a multilayer solenoid. Other contributions discuss a study of tin whiskers in soldered electromagnetic relay parts, heat treatment of relay materials, the use of an optical probe to follow armature kinetics in a working electromagnetic relay, a relay contact protector based on a vanadium dioxide polyconductor, an evaluation of several different types of inductance, the behavior of contact resistance in high-voltage pressurized relays, a technique for combined surface-composition and contact-resistance studies, and an example of a permissive contact system.