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US 5,664,638 AGranted
Sensing tilt-column steering shaft torque
AssigneeEaton Corporation
InventorSanto A. Padula
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A torque transducer has a circumferentially magnetized sleeve press fitted on the user-tiltable portion of a vehicle steering shaft and disposed axially intermediate the shaft support bearings. A stationary pickup coil is mounted over the sleeve and located with respect to the sleeve by a second pair of bearings. In an alternate embodiment, two circumferentially magnetized, axially spaced sleeves are utilized.
Claims5
A tiltable steering column assembly for a vehicle comprising:
- (a) lower support column means rigidly mounted on the vehicle structure;
- (b) upper support column means tiltably mounted on the lower support column for user selected pivotal movement about a generally horizontal axis transverse to the vehicle;
- (c) a lower steering shaft received through said lower support column;
- (d) an upper steering shaft received through said upper support column means and journalled thereon for rotation in a pair of axially spaced bearings;
- (e) swivel joint means interconnecting said upper and lower steering shaft and operative for transmitting torque therebetween;
- (f) a magneto elastic active element fixedly attached to said upper shaft at a location axially intermediate said pair of bearings, said element operative to be torsionally strained by application of torque to said upper shaft;
- and
- (g) electromagnetic means disposed on said upper column means adjacent said magnetic elastic element and operative to detect torsional strain of said element and provide an electrical signal indicative thereof.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.