Traceability of torque transducers under rotating and dynamic operating conditions

Abstract

Torque transducers in industrial applications are usually used under dynamic and rotating operating conditions. The present article provides a survey of state-of-the-art studies which describe methods for providing traceability of torque measurements under such operating conditions. The method of investigating the effects of rotation is a comparison of measurements of torque in a rotating shaft train gained simultaneously with two different methods. The first method is using a rotating torque transducer, the second one is with a cradle-mounted absorption dynamometer. The method for investigating the effects of dynamic torque is based on experiments with periodic torque but only minimal rotational motion. Torque is generated by a rotary exciter which forces a setup with a torque transducer and some auxiliary components into a periodic rotary motion. The torque measurement provided by the torque transducer is compared to a reference torque. The reference torque is gained by accurately measuring the angular acceleration of the rotation in conjunction with a priori knowledge of the mass moment of inertia. The developments on the periodic dynamic torque have been performed by the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), the German National Metrology Institute. The investigations on rotating torque transducers have been performed by Hottinger Baldwin Messtechnik (HBM), Germany, a manufacturer of torque transducers with a wide experience in torque calibration.