Is there not like a bunch of electronic components that would get twisted and ruined of they just kept spinning? Or is there a limit to how many rotations they can do before needing to counterspin?
In: 88
You have a Slip ring at the bottom axis of rotation that can transmit electricity even if you rotate it around freely.
The way to think about it is a common 3.5mm headphone connector. It can rotate freely around one axis and still work because the contact surface is round and the connector push against it to make contact.
You can do the same thing on a larger scale and it can include a hydraulic connection.
Google “Slip ring” and like at image hits and you find lots of examples
When I worked with some Armoured Fighting Vehicles some years ago, the signals from below passed upwards to the rotating turret via slip rings, basically two facing conducting circles connected by conducting fingers. There was no limit to the number of rotations in any given direction.
I don’t recall the exact mechanics of the solution (how the turret was permanently affixed to the body) but the electronics were essentially separated via the slip rings.
I actually work for a company that manufactures slip rings. The concept is deceptively simple – have a ring with a certain number of “channels”. This ring touches a “broom”. Each bristle of the broom touches one of the channels. This is your connection for power or data. As the ring spins. It always maintains contact with one of the bristles. It actually has less wear and tear than having a wire bundle twist and untwist over and over. It’s more expensive, but ultimately longer lasting and provides continuous rotation.
Imagine there is a train track going in a circle under the turret/cabin/ECT. The turret has little gears or wheels that run along that on either side of it lined up with the circle track. As they go along the track, it makes the turret spin.
In excavators and aerial fire ladders a large stationary gear with a small planetary gear that rolls around it. So wish can add pics…
On excavators there are no electrical circuits that need to go from the cab to the undercarriage, only the hydraulic circuits that drive the tracks and blade (if it has one).
There is hydraulic equivalent to a “slip ring” but the actual name of it eludes me at the moment. It works the same way, but instead of electrical pathways there are fluid passages and seals to keep them separate. On my excavator there are five separate circuits that go through this connection.
There is no limit to the number of turns it can make.
A scientist friend of mine, donating plasma(?), got curious about the centrifuge used to take out the desired stuff before putting the leftovers back in his vein. Why don’t the hoses get tangled with the first turn? The answer to *his* question is related to [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_trick), but it seems the answer to *your* question is cruder.
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