• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.53-63
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• 2016

Wheel dynamometers are used to measure dynamic load that is conveyed from the road to a vehicle while driving. In this paper, two types of six-component wheel dynamometers utilizing shear deformation and bending deformation were designed and evaluated. Prior to designing the shear and bending type wheel dynamometers, the shear and bending deformation behaviors of the basic structure of the wheel dynamometer itself were analyzed using finite element analysis. Strain analysis was performed repeatedly in order to obtain a similar output sensing strain for each load component. The design was modified with a bridge circuit in order to minimize coupling strain. The results indicated that the shear type dynamometer was expected to obtain stable characteristics due to uniform strain distribution while the bending type dynamometer was expected to obtain high-quality sensitivity performance due to consistent output sensitivity.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.771-780
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• 2010

This paper describes the design process of a six-component force/torque (F/T) sensor. The new six-component F/T sensor having leaf spring ends has been developed using a cross beam structure as the basic sensing element. Fundamental strain analysis of both ends fixed beam having a leaf spring structure is performed by finite element analysis. In order to obtain similar output sensing strains from the six component loads and minimize coupling strains, the optimal location of strain gages is determined and the strain gages are connected so that the bridge circuits with four strain gages would be balanced. Using leaf spring ends instead of rigid fixed ends, remarkable increment in output sensing strain can be achieved for two component forces. Several modifications in design result in a similar sensing strain of approximately $400\;{\mu}m/m$ for the six-component forces and moments, and a reduced coupling strain of $0\;{\mu}m/m$ between the forces and moments.