ABSTRACT
Science instruments, antennas and solar arrays are elements needing rotary power transfer for certain spacecraft configurations, such as a spin, stabilized. There are problems in using slip rings for long life and high reliability: contact wear, noise, and contamination. Existing approaches to rotary power transfer use square wave converter technology. The rotary transformer is essentially the same as a conventional transformer, except that the geometry is arranged so that the primary and secondary can be rotated, with respect to each other with negligible changes in the electrical characteristics. A converter transformer is normally designed to have a minimum of leakage inductance. The voltage spikes that are normally seen on the primary of a square wave converter transformer are caused by the leakage inductance. The rotary transformer has an inherent gap and spacing of the primary and secondary. The gap and spacing in the rotary transformer result in a low primary magnetizing inductance.
