Liquid metal rotary connector apparatus for a vehicle steering wheel and column
AssigneeDelphi Technologies, Inc.
InventorsScott D. Brandenburg, Shing Yeh, Mark W. Gose
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AssigneeDelphi Technologies, Inc.
InventorsScott D. Brandenburg, Shing Yeh, Mark W. Gose
Estimating the term…
A liquid metal rotary connector for a vehicle steering mechanism utilizes a conductive alloy comprising Gallium, Indium, Tin and Zinc to electrically couple stationary and rotary terminals of the connector. The alloy is a liquid at ambient temperatures, and has a melting point of −36° C., though testing has shown that it operates satisfactorily at temperatures as low as −40° C. In a preferred arrangement, the rotary connector provides a two-wire connection through which power is supplied from the steering column to the steering wheel, and electronic modules located in the steering column and the steering wheel support bi-directional data communication through voltage and current modulation of the supplied power.
A rotary connector apparatus comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.