Sensors for Measuring Forces and Moments With Application to Ground Vehicles Design and Engineering

Abstract

The paper presents a new family of sensors that can be produced at a relatively low cost and that can measure the 3 forces and 3 moments acting at a point of a structure. The final aim of the research work is to develop measuring hubs and general purpose 6-axis load cells able to enhance the active safety of vehicles by providing information on forces and moments acting at the tyre/suspension system or on different vehicle subsystems, in the low frequency range (up to 100 Hz). Measuring hubs and general purpose 6-axis sensors have been manufactured and tested. The paper presents the concept, the construction issues and the performances of such devices. All of the presented measuring devices are based on a special statically determined structure. Twelve strain gauges measure the deformations at special locations and six signals (linearly related to the forces and moments) are filtered, amplified and digitally converted before they are stored or transmitted to a remote receiver. The sensitivity and the accuracy of such measuring devices are sufficient to exploit them to enhance the active safety of road vehicles.