Torque converter

Abstract

To provide a torque converter which can withstand use in high speed rotation.SOLUTION: A torque converter 1 has a cylindrical rotating portion 3 and a fixed portion 2, and converts the torque acting on the rotating portion 3 into electric quantity. The torque converter includes a transmitting portion provided on the outer periphery of the rotating portion 3 and wirelessly transmitting a detected torque value to a receiving portion 10 of the fixed portion 2, and a power receiving portion 5 provided on the outer periphery of the rotating portion 3 and receiving power in a contactless manner from a power supply portion 7 of the fixed portion 2. The outermost periphery of the transmitting portion and the receiving portion 5 has tightly wound high-tensile fibers and an adhesive layer covering the high-tensile fibers.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a torque transducer that measures torque and converts it into an electrical signal. [Background technology]

[0002] A conventional torque transducer, which has connecting flanges at both ends and a cylindrical strain-generating part connected between the flanges, is known as a measuring device for measuring torque generated on a wheel of an automobile rotating at high speed. This torque transducer includes a rotating part that connects the object to be measured and rotates together with the object, and a fixed part that receives a torque signal from the rotating part and outputs a measured value. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-020582 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] This torque signal is transmitted wirelessly from the rotating part to the fixed part. For example, as shown in Patent Document 1, transmission and reception are performed between a dipole antenna attached to the flange of the fixed part as a hollow disk-shaped annular substrate and a receiving antenna attached to the fixed part. However, when the rotating part rotates at high speed, a large centrifugal force is applied to the transmitting antenna attached to the outer periphery of the rotating part and the receiving coil that receives power from the fixed part, leaving room for improvement in how these are fixed.

[0005] In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a torque converter that can withstand use at high speed rotation. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The torque converter of the present invention comprises: A torque converter having a cylindrical rotating part and a fixed part, which converts torque acting on the rotating part into an electrical quantity, a transmitting unit provided on the outer periphery of the rotating unit and configured to wirelessly transmit the detected torque value to a receiving unit in the fixed unit; a power receiving unit provided on the outer periphery of the rotating unit and configured to receive power from the power supply unit of the fixed unit in a non-contact manner; The outermost periphery of the transmitting section and the receiving section is configured with a tightly wound high-tensile fiber and an adhesive layer covering the high-tensile fiber.

[0007] The high-tensile fiber is composed of at least one kind of fiber selected from the group consisting of aramid fiber, carbon fiber, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fiber, glass fiber, and polyparaphenylene benzobisoxazole fiber. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a torque converter in which the transmitting antenna provided on the outer surface of the rotating part and the receiving coil that receives power from the fixed part are fixed with high-tensile fiber and adhesive, thereby preventing separation even when the rotating part rotates at high speed. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a torque converter according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 2] 1 is a cross-sectional view of a torque converter according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] 3A and 3B are detailed cross-sectional views of a transmitting antenna substrate and a power receiving section of a torque converter according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] A torque converter according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a torque converter 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0011] The torque transducer 1 comprises a rotating section 3 that receives torque from an object to be measured, and a fixed section 2. The rotating section 3 has a strain-generating section 3c, flange sections 3a-3b, and a strain-sensitive resistor G and a circuit board 20 inside these. The fixed section 2 has an electrical equipment box 9, and a power supply section 7, a rotational speed detection section 8, and a receiving section 10 are provided on the top surface of the electrical equipment box 9. The rotating section 3 and the fixed section 2 are configured as separate bodies, and the torque transducer 1 is used by installing both of them at a predetermined position and spaced apart, and converts the torque acting on the rotating section 3 into an electrical quantity.

[0012] The rotating part 3 has a hollow cylindrical shape and has a thin-walled portion in the axial direction. A strain-sensitive resistor G and a circuit board 20 are disposed in the hollow part of the rotating part 3. The flange part 3a is made of a highly rigid annular metal that does not easily deform. The flange part 3a has a plurality of screw holes arranged at equal angular intervals in the circumferential direction, and is connected to the driving member on the driving side by bolts. The flange part 3b is also made of a highly rigid annular metal that does not easily deform. The flange part 3b has a plurality of screw holes arranged at equal angular intervals in the circumferential direction, and is connected to the load member on the slave side by bolts.

[0013] Gear 4 is a spur gear provided on the flange portion 3a side. Gear 4 protrudes radially from the outer periphery of flange portion 3a and is located midway between flange portions 3a and 3b in the direction of the rotation axis.

[0014] The rotation speed detector 8 uses the gear 4 to detect the rotation speed and direction of the rotating unit 3. The rotation speed detector 8 has two magnetoresistive elements arranged at a predetermined distance from the gear 4 on the circumference close to the tip circle of the rotating gear 4, and detects the rotation speed and direction by detecting changes in magnetic force caused by the tips of the teeth of the gear 4 passing between these magnetoresistive elements. The rotation speed detector 8 is arranged with its sides and bottom covered by a shield base member 17. The shield base member 17 is made of a conductive material and has a structure on which the power supply unit 7 and receiving unit 10 are mounted, and is provided to block noise generated from the power supply unit 7.

[0015] The transmitting antenna board 11, which is the transmitting unit, is used to wirelessly transmit a signal indicating the torque value detected by the rotating unit 3. The transmitting antenna board 11 is, for example, a flat printed wiring board with conductor lines printed on it, and is attached to the entire cylindrical outer surface of the flange portion 3a.

[0016] The power receiving unit 5 is a core material and coil wound around the outer periphery of the flange portion 3b, and is used to receive power from the power supply unit 7. A wire drawn from the power receiving unit 5 is led into the interior of the rotating unit 3 through a hole provided in the cylindrical surface of the flange portion 3b, and is connected to a circuit board 20 fixed inside the rotating unit 3.

[0017] The power supply unit 7 accommodates a power transmission coil for connecting with the power receiving unit 5 at a predetermined distance to form a rotary transformer in order to transmit power to the rotating unit 3 in a contactless manner.

[0018] The lid 6 is provided to protect the components arranged inside the rotating part 3 from wind force and dust generated by high-speed rotation.

[0019] The electrical component box 9 houses a board including a circuit for contactlessly transmitting power to the rotating unit 3 via the power feeder 7. It also houses boards including a circuit that receives a digital torque signal from the transmitting antenna board 11 of the rotating unit 3, demodulates it, and outputs a torque value, a circuit that detects the rotation speed and rotation direction of the rotating unit 3 from the rotation speed detector 8 and outputs the detected signal, and a power supply circuit that converts externally supplied power and supplies power to each circuit. The electrical component box 9 is also provided with external terminals 21 for supplying power to the fixed unit 2 and outputting signals such as torque and rotation speed from the fixed unit 2.

[0020] 2 is a cross-sectional view of a torque converter according to an embodiment of the present invention, with a portion thereof omitted, taken along a plane A parallel to the xz plane including the central axis of the rotating part 3 in FIG.

[0021] The strain-flexing portion 3c is located between the flange portions 3a and 3b in the axial direction and is coaxial with the flange portions 3a and 3b. The strain-flexing portion 3c is hollow cylindrical, and the flange portions 3a and 3b at both ends of the strain-flexing portion 3c are formed as a single member. The diameter of the outer cylindrical surface of the strain-flexing portion 3c is smaller than the diameter of the outer periphery of the flange portions 3a and 3b, and the wall thickness is also formed relatively thin. A plurality of strain-sensitive resistors G are attached to the inner peripheral surface of the strain-flexing portion 3c.

[0022] A circuit board 20 is disposed and fixed in the hollow portion of the strain-generating portion 3c. Wiring drawn from the strain-sensitive resistor G is connected to the circuit board 20. The circuit board 20 includes an amplifier circuit, an analog-to-digital conversion circuit, an arithmetic circuit, a modulation circuit, and a transmission circuit. The amplifier circuit amplifies the analog signal output from the Wheatstone bridge circuit including the strain-sensitive resistor G. The analog-to-digital conversion circuit converts this analog signal into a digital signal. The arithmetic circuit processes this digital signal to generate a torque signal representing the torque value. The modulation circuit modulates the digital torque signal to generate a modulated signal. The transmission circuit transmits the modulated signal on a carrier wave from the transmitting antenna board 11 via the receiving unit 10 of the fixed portion 2 to the receiving circuit in the electrical equipment box 9. The circuit board 20 is also connected to the wiring drawn from the power receiving unit 5, receives the transmitted power, and supplies power to the amplifier circuit, analog / digital conversion circuit, arithmetic circuit, modulation circuit, transmission circuit, and Wheatstone bridge circuit via a rectifier circuit that rectifies the power.

[0023] FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of a transmitting antenna substrate and a cross-sectional view of a power receiving unit of a torque converter according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3(a) is a detailed cross-sectional view of part B in FIG. 2. In FIG. 3(a), the transmitting antenna substrate 11 is attached to the cylindrical surface of the flange portion 3a via an adhesive layer 12. The transmitting antenna substrate 11 is a thin substrate, for example, having a thickness of approximately 0.2 to 0.4 mm. The adhesive layer 12 may be, but is not limited to, a double-sided adhesive tape that is attached to the transmitting antenna substrate 11 in advance. The transmitting antenna substrate 11 has conductors laminated on both sides of a base layer 11c, and a protective layer further provided on the surface. A signal layer 11d is provided on one side of the base layer 11c, and a resist 11e is laminated to protect this signal layer 11d. Meanwhile, a ground layer 11b is provided on the other side of the base layer 11c, and a resist 11a is laminated to protect this ground layer 11b. The outermost peripheral surface of the transmitting antenna substrate 11 is tensioned in the radial direction by high-tensile aramid fiber 13, and the transmitting antenna substrate 11 and aramid fiber 13 are sealed and fixed with adhesive 14. The high-tensile fiber is preferably wound multiple times in the axial direction, covering the entire outer peripheral surface of the transmitting antenna substrate 11. In this embodiment, the high-tensile fiber is wound in only one layer, but this is not limiting and overlapping winding may also be used. Therefore, peeling of the transmitting antenna substrate 11 from the flange portion 3a can be prevented even during long-term high-speed rotation.

[0024] On the other hand, FIG. 3(b) is a detailed cross-sectional view of portion C in FIG. 2. In FIG. 3(b), the ferrite sheet 5a is strip-shaped and is tightly attached to the cylindrical surface of the flange portion 3b via an adhesive layer 12 in the circumferential direction. The adhesive layer 12 may be, but is not limited to, a double-sided adhesive tape previously attached to the ferrite sheet 5a. A coil 5b is wound around the outer peripheral surface of the ferrite sheet 5a. The ferrite sheet 5a and the coil 5b are radially tensioned at their outermost surfaces by aramid fiber 13, which is a high-tensile fiber. The ferrite sheet 5a, the coil 5b, and the aramid fiber 13 are sealed and fixed together with adhesive 14. The high-tensile fiber is preferably wound multiple times in the axial direction, covering the entire outer peripheral surface of the transmitting antenna substrate 11. In this embodiment, the high-tensile fiber is wound in only one layer, but this is not limited to this, and overlapping windings may also be used. Therefore, peeling of the power receiving portion 5 from the flange portion 3b can be prevented even during long-term high-speed rotation.

[0025] In this embodiment, an example has been described in which aramid fiber is used as the protective material, but the high-tensile fiber may include at least one type of fiber selected from the group consisting of aramid fiber, carbon fiber, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fiber, glass fiber, and polyparaphenylene benzobisoxazole fiber.

[0026] The present invention has been described above based on a preferred embodiment, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment and various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit of the present invention. [Industrial Applicability]

[0027] As an example of the use of the present invention, it can be applied to a device for measuring torque generated in the wheels of an automobile rotating at high speed. [Explanation of symbols]

[0028] 1: Torque transducer 2:Fixed part 3: Rotating part 3a, 3b: Flange section 3c: Strain part 4: Gears 5: Power receiving unit 5a: Ferrite sheet 5b: Coil 6: Lid 7: Power supply unit 8: Rotation speed detection section 9: Electrical equipment box 10: Receiving unit 11: Transmitting antenna board (transmitting section) 11a: Resist 11b: Ground layer 11c: Base material layer 11d: Signal layer 11e: Resist 12: Adhesive layer 13: Aramid fiber 14: Adhesive 17: Shield base material 20: Circuit board 21: External terminal G: Strain sensitive resistor

Claims

1. A torque converter having a cylindrical rotating part and a fixed part, which converts torque acting on the rotating part into an electrical quantity, a transmitting unit provided on an outer periphery of the rotating unit and configured to wirelessly transmit the detected torque value to a receiving unit of the fixed unit; a power receiving unit provided on the outer periphery of the rotating unit and configured to receive power from the power supply unit of the fixed unit in a non-contact manner, A torque transducer in which the outermost periphery of the transmitting section and the receiving section has a tightly wound high tensile fiber and an adhesive layer covering the high tensile fiber.

2. 2. The torque transducer according to claim 1, wherein the high-tensile fibers include at least one of aramid fibers, carbon fibers, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibers, glass fibers, and polyparaphenylene benzobisoxazole fibers.

Images