Inertia coupling analysis of a self-decoupled wheel force transducer under multi-axis acceleration fields

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 10; no. 2; p. e0118249
• Main Authors: Feng, Lihang, Lin, Guoyu, Zhang, Weigong, Dai, Dong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 27.02.2015; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Acceleration; Aerospace engineering; Algorithms; Braking; Computer simulation; Coordinate transformations; Coupling; Decoupling; Derivation; Design; Inertia; Load; Load distribution; Load distribution (forces); Mechanical properties; Motor Vehicles; Multiaxis; Rangefinding; Researchers; Rotary inertia; Sensors; Signal processing; Simulation; Stress concentration; Three axis; Torque; Transducers; Hong Kong China; China
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0118249

Wheel force transducer (WFT), which measures the three-axis forces and three-axis torques applied to the wheel, is an important instrument in the vehicle testing field and has been extremely promoted by researchers with great interests. The transducer, however, is typically mounted on the wheel of a moving vehicle, especially on a high speed car, when abruptly accelerating or braking, the mass/inertia of the transducer/wheel itself will have an extra effect on the sensor response so that the inertia/mass loads will also be detected and coupled into the signal outputs. The effect which is considered to be inertia coupling problem will decrease the sensor accuracy. In this paper, the inertia coupling of a universal WFT under multi-axis accelerations is investigated. According to the self-decoupling approach of the WFT, inertia load distribution is solved based on the principle of equivalent mass and rotary inertia, thus then inertia impact can be identified with the theoretical derivation. The verification is achieved by FEM simulation and experimental tests. Results show that strains in simulation agree well with the theoretical derivation. The relationship between the applied acceleration and inertia load for both wheel force and moment is the approximate linear, respectively. All the relative errors are less than 5% which are within acceptable and the inertia loads have the maximum impact on the signal output about 1.5% in the measurement range.