Oil and gas exploration equipment is a crucialcomponent of high-end equipment manufacturing industry. Many pieces ofequipment in this field require the installation of slip rings. As aprofessional slip ring manufacturer, JINPAT frequently designs and manufacturescorresponding slip rings for the offshore oil and gas exploration industry.This time, we will delve into the slip ring assemblies used in the lower deckof oil and gas exploration equipment.

In the equipment industry, devices on drillpipes typically need to descend thousands of meters into deep-sea waters. Tomeet the power output requirements of drill pipes, a high voltage of at least2500V is necessary for long-distance transmission. Slip rings similar to thoseused on oil drilling platforms are also used in deep-sea exploration robotcontrol centers on oil and gas exploration vessels. To ensure the power supplyfor underwater robots operating at depths of several kilometers, the ratedoperating voltage of the slip rings is also increased to 2500V.

Whether it’s the slip rings used indeep-sea exploration robots or those on the drill pipes of oil drillingplatforms, both belong to the category of high-voltage slip rings and utilizecarbon brush and copper ring contact methods. However, the required ratedcurrent for both is relatively small. For instance, the slip rings on drillpipes of drilling platforms have a current of only 120A, while each circuit ofthe deep-sea exploration robot slip rings carries about 20A.

In the oil and gas exploration industry,the slip rings for podded electric propulsion systems are high-voltage andhigh-current slip rings. Podded electric propulsion, also known as azimuththrusters, is commonly used on luxury cruise ships, research vessels, oildrilling platforms, and other marine platforms. These are called poddedpropulsion slip rings because the propellers are directly driven by motors, andthe motor, along with the propeller, is suspended and installed at the stern ofthe ship. The name azimuth thruster is due to the slip ring's ability to enable360° wireless rotation.

The slip ring installed on the poddedelectric propulsion system must meet the high-power requirements of thepropulsion system. The rated current of the podded electric propulsion sliprings typically reaches several thousand amperes. For example, the 3MW poddedelectric propulsion slip ring developed by JINPAT is designed with a ratedcurrent of 4000A.