An Evaluation of Three Technologies for Rotating/Non-Rotating Data Transfer

Under the Mission Adaptive Rotor (MAR) program, a comprehensive trades study was conducted in order to determine the best combination of technologies for overall system benefit. Given the basic requirements of an active rotor system, reliable data transfer between the fuselage and rotor was quickly identified as crucial to enabling nearly all other MAR devices under consideration. A wide range of different devices ranging from all-wireless technologies to conventional systems currently employed for blade de-ice were considered. After a coarse down-select, three technologies were selected for further, more detailed investigation: metal-fiber brush slip-rings, rotary transformers, and fiber optic rotary joints. The main risks associated with each technology were identified, prioritized, and investigated experimentally in the work presented here. Results of vibratory testing while transferring data are given for each technology. Other experiments were performed to address risks specific to each technology. The findings are collected and summarized to provide an overall comparison of these technologies.