Enhanced position signals in optical torque sensors
US5523561A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 11, 1994 |
| Grant date | Jun 4, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 11, 2014 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01L3/12
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A torque sensor, or relative angular movement sensor, capable of measuring the angular displacement of a component in a power-assisted steering system, comprises an input member coupled to one end of a torsion bar, an output member coupled to another end of the torsion bar, LED light sources, a pair of photodetector units adapted to receive light from the LED light sources, and signal processing means adapted to receive output signals from the photodetector units, the output signals of the photodetector units being dependent upon the light signals which they receive, and wherein the signal processing means is adapted to produce a modified output signal which closely matches and is representative of the angular position of a chosen portion of the torsion bar. The signal processing comprises various stages in which the output signals from the photodetector units are processed to generate possible estimates of the instantaneous position of the chosen portion of the torsion bar and the best estimate is calculated and processed to provide a complete position estimate representing the angular position of the chosen portion relative to an arbitrarily chosen zero position.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.