公开(公告)号：US20180252602A1

公开(公告)日：2018-09-06

申请号：US15756863

申请日：2016-05-31

Applicant: TRI-FORCE MANAGEMENT CORPORATION

Inventor： Kazuhiro OKADA ,  Miho OKADA ,  Nobuhisa NISHIOKI

IPC: G01L3/10 ,  G01L25/00

CPC classification number: G01L3/106 ,  G01L25/003

Abstract: A torque sensor of the present invention includes: a ring-shaped deformation body; first to fourth displacement electrodes deformable due to elastic deformation of the ring-shaped deformation body; first to fourth fixed electrodes arranged at positions opposite to those of the first to fourth displacement electrodes; and a detection circuit that outputs an electrical signal representing torque based on a variation amount of capacitance values of first to fourth capacitive elements formed by the first to fourth displacement electrodes and the first to fourth fixed electrodes, wherein the detection circuit outputs, as the electrical signals representing the acting torque, a first electrical signal corresponding to a difference between “a sum of a capacitance value of the first capacitive element and a capacitance value of the second capacitive element” and “a sum of a capacitance value of the third capacitive element and a capacitance value of the fourth capacitive element” and a second electrical signal corresponding to a difference between the capacitance value of the first capacitive element and the capacitance value of the third capacitive element and determines whether the torque sensor is normally functioning based on the first and the second electrical signals.

公开(公告)号：US20180259404A1

公开(公告)日：2018-09-13

申请号：US15757394

申请日：2016-06-09

Applicant: TRI-FORCE MANAGEMENT CORPORATION

Inventor： Kazuhiro OKADA ,  Miho OKADA ,  Nobuhisa NISHIOKI

IPC: G01L1/14 ,  G01L25/00

Abstract: A force sensor of the present invention includes: a supporting body arranged on an X-Y plane; a deformation body arranged opposite to the supporting body and having a deformation part elastically deformed by an action of a force to be detected; a fixed electrode arranged on the supporting body; a displacement electrode provided to the deformation part of the deformation body in such a manner as to face the fixed electrode with which it forms a capacitive element; and a detection circuit that outputs an electrical signal representing the acting force based on a variation amount of a capacitance value of the capacitive element, wherein the capacitive element includes a first capacitive element and a second capacitive element, and the detection circuit determines whether the force sensor is normally functioning based on a first electrical signal corresponding to a capacitance value of the first capacitive element, a second electrical signal corresponding to a capacitance value of the second capacitive element, and an added electrical signal corresponding to a sum of the capacitance values of the first and second capacitive elements.