Blog
Download
Videos
Buy Online
Provide High Performance 360°
Rotary Solutions for Worldwide
The basic functionality of both the rotating electrical connector and the electrical slip ring is quite similar. The difference, however, lies in the operational process.
Nomenclature
The rotating electrical connector is also referred as the brushless slip ring. In some cases, they are also referred as the mercury slip ring. Such nomenclature derives the fact that they are devoid of traditional contact mechanism. The process of transmission is carried using the liquid metal, which is quite often mercury. Thus, the rotating electrical are also termed as mercury slip ring.
Purpose
The rotating electrical connectors are used in equipment, which comes with a prerequisite of transmission of high speed and current transfer. Further, the application of rotating electrical connector also seems to be plausible as it maintains the high rotational speed.
The inclusion of liquid metal path for conductance and transmission in the rotating electrical connectors accounts for low resistance, electrical noise, and vibration. Further, with the absence of sliding contact mechanism, the level of friction is reduced to a great extent. As a result, wearing out of important components is controlled. Thus, the need for frequent maintenance is nowhere in the scheme of things.
A suitable maintenance schedule can be chalked out, but, certainly, the frequency of the maintenance and repairs is trivialized.
The comparison
The design cues of both forms of slip rings have a stark difference. Evidently, the level of functionality is also different in both the cases.
Generally, the rotating electrical connectors are preferred over the conventional electrical slip ring. It stems from the fact that electrical connector incorporates liquid metal transmission as opposed to the conventional sliding contact mechanism.
The rotating electrical is considered to be the right fit for transmission of the high-speed signal and data transfer in equipment like a thermocouple, welding and packaging machines. Further, the rotating electrical connectors have an extensive application, which includes heater roller, textile equipment, and semiconductor products.
The use of mercury as the liquid metal transmission agent has also limited the application of rotating electrical connectors. For instance, it cannot be used in food processing equipment, which is quite a given fact considering the shortcomings of the mercury metal. In such cases, the electrical slip ring gains an upper hand as it can carry out the operational process quite effectively without affecting the integrity of the output. Further, the rotating electrical connector is not designed to transmit high power signals, and the transmission of power signals is innately outside the purview of such connectors. Thus, the equipment that requires a continuous transmission of power and high-frequency signal incorporates an electrical slip ring in combination with other forms of slip ring as per the requirement.
In a nutshell, both forms of transmission device have their own set of advantages and disadvantages, but the design consideration of rotating electrical connectors provides it with an edge over the conventional electrical slip ring.
