Spring body for a force transducer, such as a torque-and/or tension/compression-force measuring cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10001419-B2
Application number	US-201514757731-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 23, 2015
Priority date	Dec 23, 2014
Publication date	Jun 19, 2018
Grant date	Jun 19, 2018

Abstract

In a spring body for a force transducer built into a force-transmitting part, a force-input section is provided for receiving a force, a force-output section for transmitting the force, and an elastic deformation body arranged therebetween which couples the force-output section to the force-input section such that the force received by the force-input section is transmitted to the force-output section. The elastic deformation body performs a predetermined elastic deformation movement caused by the force to be transmitted at at least one point. A coding sampling section is provided at the at least one point of the deformation body and which follows deformation movements of the at least one point.

First claim

We claim as our invention:

1. A spring body for a force transducer built into a force-transmitting part, comprising:
a force-input section for receiving a force, a force-output section for transmitting the force, and an elastic deformation body arranged therebetween which couples the force-output section to the force-input section so that the force received by the force-input section is transmitted to the force-output section by the elastic deformation body, said elastic deformation body performing a predetermined elastic deformation movement caused by the force to be transmitted at at least one point defined on an outside of the elastic deformation body; and
a coding sampling section provided at the at least one point of the deformation body and which follows all deformation movements of the at least one point, the coding sampling section being formed on the deformation body itself at the at least one point or being rigidly and immovable fastened on the deformation body at the at least one point using a separate component, wherein:
the elastic deformation body is formed by a first plurality of spring webs configured to couple and transmit the force from the force-input section to the coding sampling section and a second plurality of spring webs configured to couple and transmit the force from the force-output section to the coding sampling section, each of the spring webs of the first and second plurality of spring webs including an elongated rod and being dimensioned to be substantially of equal length and arranged at an acute pitch angle to an axial direction;
the elastic deformation body is structured so that the at least one point performs the deformation movement in a displacement direction which changes as a function of a type of force introduced into the force-input section, and
the at least one point is configured to perform:
a predominantly rotational movement in response to a translational tension or compression force; and
a predominantly translational movement in an axial direction in response to a torque to be detected.

2. The spring body according to claim 1 wherein during the transmission of the torque, an axial spacing between the force-input section and the force-output section remains unchanged in a course of an entire deformation path of the coding sampling section at the at least one point.

3. The spring body according to claim 1 , wherein a profile cross section of the elongated rod is adapted in terms of shape in a longitudinal extent of the spring web to a loading force to be expected so that a substantially even stress distribution is achieved inside a material forming the respective spring webs.

4. The spring body according to claim 3 , wherein the pitch angle is substantially a same size for each of the spring webs of the first plurality of spring webs of the force-input-side deformation body and of the second plurality of spring webs of the force-output-side deformation body in an unloaded state of the deformation body.

5. The spring body of claim 1 , wherein the spring webs of the first plurality of spring webs of the force-input-side deformation body and the second plurality of spring webs of the force-output-side deformation body are arranged in such a manner with respect to one another that when a torque load is introduced, the spring webs of the first plurality of spring webs of the force-input-side deformation body are raised while a pitch angle increases and the spring webs of the second plurality of spring webs of the force-output-side deformation body incline while the pitch angle is reduced.

6. The spring body of claim 1 , wherein the spring webs of the first plurality of spring webs of the force-input-side deformation body and of the second plurality of spring webs of the force-output-side deformation body are arranged in such a manner with respect to one another that when a compression or tension force is introduced, the spring webs of the first and the second plurality of spring webs are raised or inclined with increase of a pitch angle or with a fall of the pitch angle, the coding sampling section performing a pivoting movement about the torsion and/or tension/compression axis.

7. The spring body according to claim 1 , wherein the spring webs of the first plurality of spring webs of the force-input-side deformation body and of second plurality of spring webs of the force-output-side deformation body are arranged in such a manner with respect to one another that when compression or tension force is introduced, the spring webs of the first and the second plurality of spring webs are raised or inclined with increase of a pitch angle or with a decrease of the pitch angle.

8. The spring body according to claim 1 wherein the coding sampling section is configured to perform a pivoting movement about at least one of a torsion and a tension/compression axis.

9. The spring body according to claim 1 further comprising an elastically deformable pivot joint provided at a structural transition of at least two spring webs of the deformation body in a disc-shape central section of the deformation body, said pivot joint defining a horizontal pivot axis about which the respective spring web inclines or raises in a pivoting manner with respect to said central section depending on the force introduction.

10. The spring body according to claim 1 , wherein:
the first plurality of spring webs and the second plurality of spring webs merge into a disc-shaped central section of the deformation body on which said coding sampling section is provided, and
two merging areas which lie parallel in one radial plane into which the spring webs of the first and the second plurality of spring webs merge, and a transition foot section of each spring web of the at least two force-output-side spring webs being substantially axially diametrically opposite a transition foot section of each of the at least two spring webs of the force-input-side.

11. The spring body according to claim 1 , wherein, for the force-input-side deformation body and the force-output-side deformation body, less than six total spring webs are provided, and wherein a number of the first plurality of spring webs for the force-input-side deformation body and the second plurality of spring webs for the force-output-side deformation body are the same.

12. The spring body according to claim 1 in which the coding sampling section comprises at least one hill or valley profile.

13. The spring body according to claim 1 wherein the elastic deformation body is configured to transmit all of the force received by the force-input section to the force-output section.

14. A force transducer, comprising:
a spring body built into a force-transmitting part, said spring body comprising a force-input section for receiving a force, a force-output section for transmitting the force, and an elastic last deformation body arranged therebetween which couples the force-output section to the force-input section so that the force received by the force-input section is transmitted to the force-output section by the elastic deformation body, said elastic deformation body performing a predetermined elastic deformation movement caused by the force to be transmitted at at least at one point defined on an outside of the elastic deformation body, and
a coding sampling section at the least one point on the deformation body and which follows all deformation movements of the at least one point, the coding sampling section being formed on the deformation body itself at the at least one point or being rigidly and immovable fastened on the deformation body at the at least one point using a separate component, w

Assignees

• Samson Ag

Inventors

• Kolbenschlag Stefan
• Oberheim Rainer

Classifications

• G01L3/1421

  using optical transducers · CPC title

• F16F3/023

  composed only of leaf springs · CPC title

• G01L3/1435

  involving magnetic or electromagnetic means · CPC title

• G01L5/221

  to steering wheels, e.g. for power assisted steering · CPC title

• F16F1/18

  Leaf springs {(planar springs in general F16F1/027; "Belleville"-type springs with generally radial arms F16F1/324)} · CPC title