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With the development of slip ring technology, we had some new forms of slip rings arriving on the scene based on the specific set of requirements. Some of them were electrical slip ring, ethernet slip ring and most recently, the mercury contact slip ring. But more than the plain information of a new form of slip ring being introduced, it would be more intriguing to look into the reason for the introduction of mercury contact slip ring.
The relationship between mercury and electrical slip ring
The mercury slip ring is one of the latest inclusion along with the electrical slip ring. The functionality aspect of both the form of slip rings is quite similar and the only difference between both forms of the slip ring is the usage of contact material. As in the case of an electrical slip ring, a usual contact material is used to transmit the required signals. But in the case of mercury contact slip ring, a liquid contact material is used to make the transmission possible which is mainly mercury.
In care of a general slip ring or even for that matter an electrical slip the transmission takes place with the help of a sliding contact mechanism. This form of transmission has its own set of advantages. But at the same time, they do have a certain set of disadvantages relating to friction and noise with continuous contact between the slip ring and brush. However, the mercury contact slip ring effectively removes those drawbacks.
Advantages of mercury contact slip ring
When we talk of a slip ring such as mercury contact slip ring, we need to remember that they were made for carrying a set of functions. As in the case of mercury contact slip ring, the contact material itself is the biggest asset of the slip ring. The metallic element included is a good conductor of electricity and considering the fact that it is incorporated in its base liquid form, it does also serve the purpose of making the slip ring assy set up more compact.
On one hand we have the basic advantage, but on the other hand, we have yet another important advantage of using such a slip ring. They can be easily customized and molded to fit in the elements required without much of a hassle. This factor of customization is not present in another forms of slip rings which render them ineffective when it meets the dynamic conditional requirement.
The mercury slip has been increasingly employed in the military equipment and the other kind of equipment which run on similar lines. Also, they are used in combination of ethernet slip as hybrid slip ring setup, which adds onto the advantages' list of such slip ring. In a nutshell, mercury slip ring made more relevance in the era where customization the need of the hour.