Non-contact torque sensor assesses motor-generator

Elektro Magnetix (EMX), a specialist electromagnetic design company, has developed and tested the motor-generator for Lotus Engineering's EVE (Efficient, Viable, Environmental) Hybrid technology demonstrator. Jonathan Bremner of EMX explains that it was essential to map the torque-current characteristics of the motor-generator, but this could not be done in-house: "We are a design house, so tend to sub-contact testing to other organisations. With this project we needed to plot out the full range of performance, but had only a tight time window to do all the work."

EMX therefore worked with a test house to design a simple yet effective test rig around a TorqSense torque sensor from Sensor Technology.

Bremner states: "Normally when taking torque measurements you can spend more time fitting the transducer, as they have to be mechanically coupled and use either slip rings, inducing drag, or induction coils that can have high inertia, leading to inaccuracies that it can be very frustrating. But TorqSense is different; as it is a non-contact measurement sensor it monitors the sensor by use of a radio frequency (RF) link. It can be set up in moments, leaving us to concentrate on the analytical work in hand."

And because TorqSense is digital, its outputs can be fed directly into a computer so that data is available immediately, which eliminates the time that would otherwise be required for the data processing and assessment phases of the test programme.

TorqSense sensors are non-contact devices that use Surface Acoustic Wave technology. Mechanically simple and fully self-contained, the sensors can be set up in minutes and generate outputs that can be read locally by a technician or transmitted to computers and control systems for analysis.

Use the form on this page to request a callback or more information about Sensor Technology's TorqSense non-contact torque sensors.