Rotating contactor mountable between steering column and steering wheel of road vehicle - uses conducting wire wound on conducting drum, tension and frictional force of which is controlled to provide reliable contact with non-rotating part of device

摘要

The contactor consists of a fixed part (2) with at least one input track (6,10) and a moving part (1,3) with at least one output track (32,33) and an electrical friction contact device (4,8). One part of the contact device consists of an electrically conducting drum (4) connected to the output track and fixed to the rotating part. The other part consists of a flexible electrical wire (8) held by a tensioning device by being wound on the drum. It is connected to a rigid piece (6) carried by the fixed part and belonging to the input track and creates a band friction device of controlled tightness. ADVANTAGE - Eliminates problems of existing designs such as limited number of turns of steering wheel, fragility particularly at low temperatures and restricted number of tracks.