Overcoming Aerospace Issues to Enhance Mechanical Efficiency

Overcoming Aerospace Issues to Enhance Mechanical Efficiency

Aerospace has been dealing with serious issues, and this doesn’t only apply to manufacturing digitalization, weekly supply chains, cybersecurity, skills gaps, and others.

This also includes Covid-19 fallout, inability to increase passenger traffic, climate change, and others.

But in this article, we’ll focus on the aerospace issues that can be fixed by enhancing mechanical efficiency.

One of the topics we’ll touch on will be the use of slip rings so keep on reading to learn how a small device can be of huge help to the aerospace industry!

Aerospace Challenges

The aerospace industry consists of everything from manufacturing, distribution, to maintenance.

There are also special issues for Defense which relies on demand to produce warfare tools and systems to run on land, water, and even space, which can be quite challenging.

Therefore, aerospace challenges include anything from manufacturing of anything from commercial airplanes, to manufacturing of space crafts for both business and military purposes.

And on top of that, all of the aerospace equipment should fully work and run in all types of conditions.

Some other biggest challenges include radar cooling systems that have top-notch cooling methods, equipment, and systems in place to keep aircrafts and other aerospace equipment at optimal temperatures.

Spacecraft and satellite robotics also have special requirements since they’re used for space exploration and all of the discovery depends on the working capability of such devices and equipment.

Now on top of that, add some of the newest types of equipment you might not have heard of such as the SPS which stands for space-based solar power system, and you’ll have structures of things that are challenging to produce and maintain and yet are a necessity.

And with that, there’s also regular manufacturing and testing on the ground that can’t be bypassed.

How Slip Rings Help Enhance Mechanical Efficiency in Aerospace Industry

Companies like Moflon have 30+ years of experience manufacturing and producing slip rings for all types of uses, industries, and equipment.

Moflon is also one of the most known slip ring manufacturers that’s got special slip rings for aerospace use.

If you don’t know what slip rings are, they’re small devices that eliminate wire winding, eliminate wires around joints in equipment with rotary parts, and yet they help provide a continuous and strong contact while transmitting power, signal, data, and more.

Wherever there’s an electromechanical device that has a spinning part to it, slip rings can be installed to enhancem mechanical efficiency, remove wires hanging around the joints, and provide a superb contact that can further streamline system functionality.

What’s also interesting enough is that slip rings coming from companies such as Moflon can also be manufactured upon custom request so they can specifically fit a certain type of an electromechanical device with a rotary joint.

Therefore, slip rings are considered as devices that can bridge the gap between the stationary and a rotary part while providing an even better contact point, ensuring there is no hazard (such as wires that could get snapped in the joints), and providing a brilliant way to transfer various mediums.

Other Uses of Slip Rings and Its Variations

Slip rings are very well known for their versatility. While they’re used a lot in the aerospace industry since they make an incredible help, they can also be found used in defense missions, tanks, radars, military arms, and others.

Of course, slip rings can also be found in some of the simplest devices such as the medical equipment (CT or MRI scans), wind turbines, robotis and equipment for factory automation, monitoring equipment, and it’s even a good fit for the food and beverage industry.

There are 6 different main types of slip rings and they include:

  • Pancake slip ring
  • Mercury contact ring
  • Through-hole ring
  • Miniature
  • Fiber optic
  • Ethernet ring

However, while these are 6 main types, there are plenty of variations and sub-types that are made specifically to work in a certain way, transmit a certain medium, or fit needs of certain machine types.

Therefore, besides transmitting electrical power, signal, and data, you can also find slip rings that can transmit fluid, coolant, gas and oil, water, and other medium types.

But what’s most interesting is that except for solving the wire winding problem, slip rings are also very versatile when it comes to their use. They can even be used in equipment such as wind turbines to control and limit the max speed of the blades and the rotor.

Also, slip rings can be used for adding resistance to the AC motors and so many other uses, so don’t be surprised to find them where you least expect it. With custom slip ring solutions, they can also be found in innovative devices and equipment you’d never thought of before.

Would the Aerospace Industry Innovate and Function Without Slip Rings?

Even though slip rings are often an overlooked tiny device, they still have an important role.

Most importantly, slip rings are getting updated and are definitely keeping up with technology, modern demands and needs.

With most innovative slip rings such as wireless power slip rings that provide unlimited RPM or brushless slip rings that have a much longer lifespan and require really none if any maintenance at all.

Therefore, the aerospace industry’s innovations could function without slip rings, but then there’d have to be a different innovation that would have to be versatile just like slip rings to handle all solutions slip rings provide.

But as long as slip rings keep up with the industries and even provide custom fit solutions, both slip rings and the aerospace industry will continue to thrive.

Conclusion

Aerospace can seem like a very distant industry but it’s right there and there is so much happening, and it’s not just commercial or private airplanes.

No one would ever think that tiny devices such as slip rings could have such an important role in some of the most serious industries in the world.

However, now you got to see how slip rings really function at its best and everything they’re truly capable of.

Have you ever come across slip rings in the aerospace industry?


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