ROTARY JOINT HAVING A CAPACITIVE DATA LINK WITH MODULAR SUPPORT

• US 20180333130A1
• Filed: 05/21/2018
• Published: 11/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schleifring GmbH (Wegmann Unternehmens-Holding GmbH & Co. KG)
• Original Assignee: Schleifring Und Apparatebau Gmbh (Wegmann Unternehmens-Holding GmbH & Co. KG)
• Inventors: Knobl, Horst, Worl, Kathrin
• Granted Patent: US 10,433,808 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/032 Transmission computed tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/035 Mechanical aspects of CT
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/56 Details of data transmission or power supply, e.g. use of slip rings
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 39/08 Slip-rings
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/22 Capacitive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer

Abstract

A set of rotary joint components containing stationary part(s) and rotatable part(s) repositionable with respect to each other. The stationary part has a stationary base with means for holding a stationary carrier into a circular-shaped form. The stationary carrier holds at least a stationary transmitter coupler of a contactless data link, such as a strip line. The stationary carrier is made of sheet metal or plastic material, and therefore can easily be prepared on a plane work bench before it is bent to a ring shape.

Claims

1. A rotary joint component comprising a stationary part and a rotatable part configured to rotate against the stationary part,

the rotatable part including a rotatable base holding at least one rotatable receiver coupler,

the stationary part including a stationary base holding at least one stationary transmitter coupler, wherein the at least one stationary transmitter coupler is capacitively coupled to the at least one rotatable receiver coupler,

wherein

the stationary transmitter coupler is mounted to a stationary carrier containing a circularly-shaped sheet of metal or plastic, said sheet being held by the stationary base.

2. The rotary joint component according to claim 1, wherein

the rotatable part comprises at least one sliding track held by the rotatable base.

3. The rotary joint component according to claim 1, wherein

the stationary carrier is held within a slot or groove of the stationary base.

4. The rotary joint component according to claim 1, wherein

the rotatable part holds at least one rotatable transmitter coupler and the stationary part holds at least one stationary receiver coupler that is capacitively coupled to the at least one rotatable transmitter coupler.

5. The rotary joint component according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the at least one rotatable transmitter coupler and the at least one stationary transmitter coupler includes a line or a stripline terminated with a corresponding characteristic impedance.

6. The rotary joint component according to claim 1, wherein

at least one of the at least one rotatable receiver coupler and the at least one stationary receiver coupler includes a lines, a stripline, or a pad terminated with a corresponding characteristic impedance.

7. The rotary joint component according to claim 1, wherein

a distance separating i) at least one of the at least one rotatable transmitter coupler and the at least one stationary transmitter coupler and ii) at least one of the at least one rotatable receiver coupler and the at least one stationary receiver coupler.

8. The rotary joint according to claim 1, wherein a distance separating i) at least one of the at least one rotatable transmitter coupler and the at least one stationary transmitter coupler and ii) at least one of the at least one rotatable receiver coupler and the at least one stationary receiver coupler is shorter than 5 mm.

9. The rotary joint according to claim 1, wherein a distance separating i) at least one of the at least one rotatable transmitter coupler and the at least one stationary transmitter coupler and ii) at least one of the at least one rotatable receiver coupler and the at least one stationary receiver coupler is shorter than 3 mm.

10. The rotary joint component according to claim 1, wherein

at least one of the at least one rotatable receiver coupler and the at least one stationary receiver coupler is galvanically connected to a respectively corresponding stationary carrier, said stationary carrier being galvanically connected to a corresponding stationary base.

11. The rotary joint component according to claim 1, wherein

the stationary carrier comprises a circularly-shaped sheet of metal that has ends connected to each other via a connection.

12. The rotary joint component according to claim 11, wherein

the connection comprises a soldering connection or a welding connection.