A differential electromagnetic induction torque sensor and its finite element analysis.

Abstract

Torque is an important parameter for condition monitoring and fault diagnosis for rotary machines. This paper describes a new structure differential torque sensor based on the principle of electromagnetic induction. The method involves the construction of a pulsating flux by the excitation winding of the sensor, and the torsion angle produced by the load torque is converted into the angle displacements of the excitation winding and the output winding. Last, the output winding of sensor generates an induction potential force, which is proportional to the load torque as seen through electromagnetic coupling. Sensor sensitivity would be reduced by load effect; therefore, this paper presents a suppression method that can ensure the sensitivity is not affected. The transfer function of the sensor is constructed through Laplace transformation. The sensor characteristics are simulated by finite elements, including the influence of winding coil numbers and excitation voltage frequency. The sensor was calibrated by a torsion testing machine, and the experimental results indicated that the sensitivity of the sensor is about 18.2 mV/Nm, the non-repeatability error is about 2.3%, the non-linear error is about 3.3%, and the hysteresis error is about 2.6%.