A torque sensor for a bicycle includes a coil. The torque sensor may include a support that is disposable around a device of the bicycle, such that the support and the device of the bicycle are separated by an air gap. The torque sensor may also include an excitation coil supported by the support, and a sense coil supported by the support at a distance away from the excitation coil in an axial direction of the support. The excitation coil is configured to induce a voltage and/or current in the sense coil via the device of the bicycle when the support is disposed around the device of the bicycle. The induced voltage is related to a torque in the device.

The described techniques are directed to inductive torque sensors that implement independent target coil and pickup coil systems. By utilizing the various principles of inductive angle sensors, and as a result of the specific physical arrangement of target coils, the inductive torque sensor may independently obtain a rotational position (i.e., mechanical angle) of the rotatable input shaft via one pickup coil system, and a rotational position (i.e., mechanical angle) of the rotatable output shaft via another pickup coil system. Combiner circuitry is also provided to calculate the torsion angle using the signals induced in each of two separate pickup coil systems. By using different k-fold symmetry periodicities in the target coils with respect to the coil configurations, the inductive torque sensor advantageously reduces or eliminates mutual coupling between the different target coil systems and provide robustness to stray or external electromagnetic fields.

Systems and methods are presented for cancelling noise from sensed magnetostriction-based strain measurements. A drive signal corresponds to a drive coil, and a sensed signal corresponds to a sensed coil. The drive signal is used to at least partially eliminate noise similar to the drive signal from the sensed signal to generate an output signal.

A torque sensor includes an input rotation component, which rotates with a steering column input shaft and is provided with a first conducting part, an output rotation component which rotates with a steering column output shaft and is provided with a second conducting part, and an electromagnetic carrier positioned in a positionally fixed manner and provided with a magnetic field generating component and a magnetic field detection component. The magnetic field generating component generates a magnetic field penetrating the first conducting part and the second conducting part, the magnetic field detection component detects a change in the magnetic field caused by a change in the positions of the first and second conducting parts in the magnetic field when the steering column is under torsional stress, and the steering torque is determined on the basis of the detected change in the magnetic field.

A rotational speed and/or rotational angle detection unit for detecting a rotational speed and/or a rotational angle of a shaft, in particular a crankshaft, of a working device, in particular a vehicle, that is drivable by muscular power and/or by motor power about a rotational axis of the crankshaft, and designed with a surface structure that is materially and/or magnetically formed on a surface of the crankshaft, and a sensor unit that is designed to detect a magnetic field carried by the shaft and by the surface structure.

A rotation transmission device having a high torque measurement resolution is provided. The rotation transmission device is provided with: a rotary-shaft unit (6) having a first and second rotary shaft (13, 14) combined so as to be coaxial and such that the end sections thereof can rotate relative to each other and a torsion bar (15) that is provided on the inner-diameter side of the first and second rotary shafts so as to be coaxial therewith, has one end section connected to the first rotary shaft (13), and has the other end section connected to the second rotary shaft (14); a first gear (7) fastened to the outer peripheral surface of the first rotary shaft (13); a second gear (8) fastened to the outer peripheral surface of the second rotary shaft (14); a coupling shaft (9) provided on the inner-diameter side of the torsion bar (15) so as to be coaxial therewith, having one end section connected to one rotary shaft (13), and having the other end section protruding from an end of the torsion bar (15) in the axial direction; a first encoder disposed and fixed on the other end of the coupling shaft (9) so as to be coaxial with the first rotary shaft (13) and having a first detected section (39); a second encoder fastened on the other end of the second rotary shaft (14) so as to be close to the first encoder and having a second detected section (40); and a sensor unit having at least one sensor (42a, 42b) that faces the first and second detected sections (39, 40).

Aspects of this disclosure relate to a magnetic sensor system for measuring any desired combination of measuring torque, rotation angle, and turn count of a shaft. The shaft may include two portions connected by a torsion element. The system can measure rotation angle using a magnetic target coupled to the shaft that produces a magnetic field that varies as a function of rotation angle. The system can measure torque applied to the shaft by measuring the difference in rotation angles between the two portions of the shaft and factoring in a torsion coefficient. The system can track a turn count of the shaft using a multi-turn sensor. The magnetic sensor system may be part of an electric power assisted steering (EPAS) system.

The invention relates to a rotation sensor, comprising:—a stator (A) and rotor (B), arranged coaxially and forming a magnetic circuit (10, 20), the rotor being mounted angularly displaced with respect to the stator,—a primary winding, suitable for generating a magnetic field in the magnetic circuit, and—at least one secondary winding, characterized in that the magnetic circuit comprises at least one tooth (220) extending radially with respect to the axis (X-X) of the stator and of the rotor, and at least one notch (12) suitable for receiving said tooth, such that the tooth is separated from the notch by at least one tangential air gap (51) that is variable according to the angular displacement of the rotor with respect to the stator, the tooth and the notch being shaped so that, during a rotation of the rotor with respect to the stator, a variation in the width of the tangential air gap causes an increase or a decrease in the permeance of the air and, respectively, an increase or a decrease in the voltage at the terminals of the secondary winding.

An axially intermediate portion of a spring shaft portion 36 of a torsion bar 14a is provided with a large diameter portion 37, and an outer peripheral surface of the large diameter portion 37 is in contact with or is positioned close to an inner peripheral surface of a hollow output shaft 13a. Accordingly, in an electric power steering device, when one of a pair of coupling shaft portions, which are axially end portions of the torsion bar, to be coupled to a coupling hole of a counter-shaft later is press-fitted into the coupling hole of the counter-shaft, the spring shaft portion of the torsion bar can be prevented from buckling.

A torque sensor can be configured to detect the positions of rotor targets relative to the position of respective receiver structures. A torque sensor can include an oscillator circuit coupled to an excitation coil. The oscillator circuit can be configured to generate a periodic voltage signal and energize the excitation coil with the periodic voltage signal. The inductive torque sensor can include a stator circuit board including receivers with receiver structures that are periodically repeated. The inductive torque sensor can include rotor targets coupled to respective rotors, the rotor targets can be configured to affect the strength of the inductive coupling between the excitation coil and the respective receivers. The inductive torque sensor can include processing circuitry configured to provide signals associated with positions of the rotor targets relative to their respective receiver structures.