CASE STUDY
ROTOCON Low Noise Slip Rings Have a Signal Quality that Remains Clean At All RPMs
Challenge
An American based manufacturer of helicopter blades approached Meridian Laboratory with challenges they faced in using conventional brushed slip rings during dynamic testing. The average slip ring creates electrical feedback that was interfering with readings during test trials. By converting their slip rings to ROTOCON low noise slip rings, the manufacturer received a custom made product to alleviate their problems within eight weeks of concept creation.
Helicopter blades require a high degree of accuracy during the quality assurance portion of testing. Helicopter blades rotate at about 350-500rpm, the outer reaches of what most conventional slip rings can tolerate. At these speeds, there is a significant amount of electrical feedback or “noise” created by conventional slip rings, which registers interference in quality tests and skews trial results data. Without accurate assessment of blades in a dynamic test run, which can run for as long as 18 months straight, there can be no assurance that the blades are free from imperfections that could be fatal under non-laboratory circumstances.
Solution
Faced with this challenge, they turned to Meridian Laboratory. Together a custom built ROTOCON slip ring design was rushed from concept to delivery in 8 weeks, despite the very specific needs required and process limitations.
- The slip ring must be custom fitted to space and size specifications already predetermined by the testing requirements
- The slip rings must produce no electrical feedback that would interfere with dynamic testing measurements
The requirements created by these constraints were more than a traditional slip ring could have met. From RPM range to range of temperature durability, nothing else besides a ROTOCON could have accomplished the task. The result was a successful round of trials, and quality helicopter blades known to be safe.
Google Rating
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Excellent service! We faced Meridian with a difficult part to make and asked for perfection. They took the challenge on … More and through repeated effort and determination, Vance and the team were able to get us the "perfect" product we needed. Although this was undoubtedly a frustrating project for all involved, they saw it through and proved Meridian Laboratory to be exactly the company we needed and want to work with in the future. Great work!
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Adam and the crew at Meridian Laboratory were a pleasure to work with! Adam was extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and responsive. … More A slipring was purchased through Adam for the use of a university engineering capstone project, he was eager to help and very nice throughout the entire process to ensure our needs were satisfied. The slipring shipped and delivered in a timely manner and once the unit was received, all expectations were exceeded. The fit and finish of the slipring was great, and it performed exactly as expected. I highly recommend Meridian Laboratory if you require the use of a slipring, as I cannot say enough good things about the team over there and their American made products
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We contacted Adam Ellingson of Meridian Laboratory about acquiring a high-speed 3 channel ROTOCON slip-ring for our university … More capstone project. Mr. Ellingson was gracious enough to provide our team with a 6 channel slip-ring that performed excellent out of the box. The slip-ring assembly feels precisely machined and spins true with little mechanical resistance. It was the perfect product for testing our axial flux generator design and the extra channels came in handy. We appreciate the ease of mounting and excellent support from Mr. Ellingson.
