Significant progress has been made in the in-orbit operational testing of space electric slip rings.

Space electric slip rings are slip rings usedin artificial spacecraft such as satellites, manned spacecraft, and spacestations. They can be classified into two types based on environmentalconditions: those used in unmanned spacecraft and those used in mannedspacecraft. Besides the similarity of operating in a microgravity environment,their main difference lies in the different operating temperature ranges.Electric slip rings inside manned spacecraft operate in a temperatureenvironment that is constant, suitable for human survival, and maintained at astable level of humidity and pressure. On the other hand, electric slip ringsin unmanned spacecraft, although installed inside equipment like attitudecontrol systems and protected by a layer of polyimide, still experiencesignificant temperature variations.

In the conducted testing of electric sliprings in the laboratory, two types were involved: pancake type and column type.The column type electric slip rings employ a brush and wire friction pair,while the pancake type electric slip rings use a carbon brush friction pair.Both of these products used in the experiment lack an outer shell, allowingastronauts to visually observe the wear process of the slip ring brushes in avacuum microgravity state, as well as the generation of metal debris.Additionally, the operation of carbon brushes produces carbon powder, enablingdirect observation of the process of carbon powder generation in orbit,including the formation of clusters or floating phenomena in a vacuum.

According to the naming convention of JINPAT,the electric slip rings used in this experiment can be classified into twoseries: pancake-type LPKS and separate-type LPS. Both of these slip rings havea simple structure, and their design and manufacturing do not presentsignificant challenges. The key breakthrough of this experiment lies inachieving long-term recording and observation by astronauts of the generationof metal debris and carbon powder clusters during the operation of electricslip rings in a microgravity environment. This data, obtained using twocommonly used friction pairs, provides important information on the wearprocess and the generation of debris clusters under vacuum conditions. Thisdata serves as valuable references for the improvement and optimization offuture models of space electric slip rings.

The aerospace industry is characterized bya high level of centralization. Although JINPAT is a leading international slipring manufacturer, they have not yet ventured into this field due to a lack ofvacuum high-low temperature impact test equipment. However, with theparticipation of some enterprises in the aerospace industry, JINPAT, as asupporting manufacturer of electric slip rings, will have increasingopportunities to get involved in this field.