Slip ring brush assembly and method
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsGerald Burt Kliman, Lembit Salasoo, Manoj Ramprasad Shah, Konrad Roman Weeber, Melvin George Johnson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An assembly for transferring current comprises at least one electrically conductive slip ring; at least one electrically conductive brush for supplying current to the at least one slip ring; and an electric or pressure actuator driven vibration source for changing the position of the brush with respect to the slip ring. If desired, brush current can shared by using inductance variations or by selective coupling of rotor windings to the slip rings.
Claims49
An assembly for transferring current, the assembly comprising:
- at least one electrically conductive slip ring;
- at least one electrically conductive brush for supplying current to the at least one slip ring;
- and
- at least one electric actuator for oscillating the position of the at least one brush with respect to the at least one slip ring.
An assembly for transferring current, the assembly comprising:
- at least one electrically conductive slip ring;
- a plurality of electrically conductive brushes for supplying current to the at least one slip ring, each of the electrically conductive brushes being coupled through an electrical connection to adjacent ones of the electrically conductive brushes through a common electrical interface;
- at least one electrically conductive lead coupled to the common electrical interface;
- a plurality of inductors, each situated on a respective one of the electrical connections.
An assembly for transferring current, the assembly comprising:
- a rotor shaft;
- a rotor coupled to the rotor shaft;
- a plurality of rotor winding regions each including respective rotor windings wound through the rotor;
- a plurality of electrically conductive slip rings coupled to the rotor shaft;
- rotor winding leads coupling the rotor windings to the slip rings, at least some of the rotor winding leads coupled directly to respective ones of the slip rings.
An assembly for transferring current, the assembly comprising:
- at least one conductive slip ring;
- a plurality of electrically conductive brushes for supplying current to the at least one slip ring;
- and
- at least one electric actuator for oscillating the position of the brushes with respect to the at least one slip ring, the at least one electric actuator comprising at least one induction motor or at least one voice coil actuator mechanically coupled to the support frame.
A method for transferring current comprising using at least one electric actuator for oscillating the position of at least one electrically conductive brush with respect to at least one electrically conductive slip ring while the at least one electrically conductive brush supplies current to the at least one slip ring.
A method for fabricating an assembly for transferring current, the method comprising:
- coupling a plurality of electrically conductive brushes for supplying current to at least one electrically conductive slip ring through a plurality of respective electrical connections to adjacent ones of the electrically conductive brushes through a common electrical interface;
- coupling at least one electrically conductive lead to the common electrical interface;
- situating a plurality of inductors, each on a respective one of the electrical connections.
A method for fabricating an assembly for transferring current, the method comprising:
- providing a rotor coupled to a rotor shaft and having a plurality of rotor winding regions each including respective rotor windings wound through the rotor, and a plurality of electrically conductive slip rings coupled to the rotor shaft;
- and
- coupling at least some rotor winding leads from the rotor windings directly to respective ones of the slip rings.
An assembly for transferring current, the assembly comprising:
- at least one electrically conductive slip ring;
- at least one electrically conductive brush for supplying current to the at least one slip ring;
- and
- at least one pressure actuator for oscillating the position of the at least one brush with respect to the at least one slip ring.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.