Optical fiber rotary joints can be divided into single channel and multi-channel according to the number of transmission channels. The multi-channel optical fiber rotary joint can transmit more signals than the single-channel optical fiber rotary joint, but its large size, complex structure, low speed, and high cost limit its application to a certain extent. Single-channel optical fiber rotary joints have the advantages of simple structure, small size, and low cost. The signal volume that can be transmitted by wavelength division multiplexing technology can be expanded to more than 100 gbit/s. Therefore, single-channel optical fiber rotary joints have been widely used at present. Optical fiber rotary joints can be divided into single-mode optical fiber rotary joints, multi-mode optical fiber rotary joints and plastic optical fiber rotary joints according to optical transmission media.
Multi-channel fiber optic slip ring is two channels and more than two channels, which can transmit two or four or six or eight fiber signals at the same time.
The core diameter of the glass fiber determines whether the fiber is single-mode or multi-mode. The core diameter of single-mode fiber is 8.3m, and the core diameter of multi-mode fiber is 50 ~ 62.5 m. Single-mode can transmit one beam of light, and multi-mode can transmit multiple beams. Multi-channel optical fiber slip ring has only multi-mode transmission, while single-channel optical fiber slip ring can have single mode and multi-mode.
Single-channel optical fiber slip rings and multi-channel optical fiber slip rings are very different in structure and principle, and their technical complexity is also different. The accuracy of the optical fiber slip ring must be ensured during installation, otherwise it may cause loss.