What's a Rotary Joint?

There are two families of PCRs: dynamic reels with rotary joints and storage-only reels without rotary joints. Two common examples employing a rotary joint are the ubiquitous plastic garden hose reel and airhose drum reel found at automotive service centers. In these examples, rotary joints allow the hose to be wound or unwound on the drum while fluid or air is flowing. Our rotary joints pass electrical and/or optical signals through electrical and fiber optic cables while the storage drum rotates without the cable twisting. Signals can be up to 600 volts, low or high current, RF band, serial data, 100BaseT or Gigabit Ethernet, or even single or multimode fiber optic. Units are supplied with virtually any available connector set if they fit inside the ruggedized case.

How do you decide which type? Simple. If it's feasible to deploy (pull out) the working cable before connecting the stationary end of the cable reel, you don't need a rotary joint and should consider a storage-only reel. You'll save money and receive the cable reel sooner.  However, specify a PCR with a rotary joint if you need both ends of the cable connected and signal and/or power flowing while the drum rotates. The last two digits of the model number tell the story: 10 = without rotary joint and 20 = with rotary joint.

Need more information? Contact us.