STIFF TORQUE TRANSDUCER WITH HIGH OVERLOAD CAPABILITY AND DIRECT FREQUENCY OUTPUT

T. Yan, B. E. Jones, R. T. Rakowski, M. J. Tudor, S. P. Beeby, N. M. White

Abstract

A new torque transducer with high overload capability and direct frequency output is reported. It employs the recently developed metallic triple-beam resonators with thick-film printed lead zirconate titanate (PZT) drive and pickup elements. The new torque transducer has been tested in a torque range of up to 20 Nm, resulting in a strain level of 400 microstrain on the measurement shaft surface and giving a large frequency-change output of 800 Hz. The strain level required by the new torque transducer can be much lower (~100 microstrain) than the level (~1800 microstrain) usually required by conventional metallic resistance-strain-gauge-based torque transducers, thus increasing the transducer overload capability by a large factor. Nevertheless, under such a low strain level, the new torque transducer can still output an adequately large frequency change of 200 Hz for measurement. Having a large overload capability is very important in many torque measurement applications where rapid and large overloads can occur.

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IMEKO-TC3-2005-047u.pdf

DOI

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IMEKO TC

TC3 - Measurement of Force, Mass, Torque, and Gravity

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