Primary sensor for magnetostrictive force measurement

Force and torque measurements are indispensable in many areas of technology. The commonly used strain gauges work very well in the laboratory, but are often lacking robustness and are costly. The widely used alternative, piezoelectric force sensors, can inherently only measure dynamic changes in force application. Furthermore, they are not integrated into the loaded structure, but are mounted outside of it, which results in disadvantages in the design of a machine.

Beyond load detection or determination of process forces, the new primary sensor is particularly suitable for direct preload adjustment in the assembly of adjusted bearing arrangements, e.g. for tractor or truck axles, for rear axle diferential sprocket bearing adjustment in cars or similar applications. In contrast to the inovative direct preload adjustment in the bearing assembly, state of the art methods are indirect methods. The preload of bearings is estimated by measuring, e.g. drag torque or bias displacement.