Method of and device for detecting torque

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of and a device for detecting torque, and more particularly to a method of and a device for detecting torque which are suitable for use at the time of a high-velocity rotation or for detecting a very small torque. An annular or ring-like elastic member is interposed between, for instance, a drive shaft and a load shaft constituting a torque-transmitting shaft system, and is formed with slits with parts of an outer periphery thereof left unslitted to be divided in the axial direction so that the member is of a configuration easily deformable in the radial direction thereof by means of torque. A non-contact type displacement sensor is provided for measuring the deformation of the elastic member, and a marker is attached on the drive shaft to provide a positional signal for use as a sampling signal. The signal of the displacement sensor is extracted on the basis of the sampling signal to be stored and held. At the time when that value of that deformation signal has exceeded a threshold, an overload signal is output, and further the torque load is released responsively to that output signal.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.