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US 6,668,659 B2Granted
Load detecting device
AssigneeDenso Corporation
InventorsKenji Morikawa, Tetsuo Imamura
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In a load detecting device, a hermetically sealed sensor chamber is constituted by a sensor head, a bellows, a housing and a stem. A sensor chip for detecting pressure is housed in the sensor chamber that is filled up with liquid. When load is applied to the sensor head, the bellows contracts axially to vary pressure of the liquid. The sensor chip senses the pressure of the liquid so that the load applied to the sensor chamber is detected with higher detecting accuracy.
Claims17
A load detecting device comprising:
- a bellows unit which expands and contracts axially according to a load applied to an axial end thereof, the bellows unit including a sensor chamber therein, the sensor chamber being hermetically sealed from outside and whose pressure is variable according to an expanding and contracting movement thereof;
- and
- a pressure detecting element accommodated in the sensor chamber,
- wherein the pressure detecting element detects the pressure of the sensor chamber and generates a signal representing magnitude of the load applied to the bellows unit, and
- the pressure detecting element is made of semiconductor substrate and is provided with a diaphragm portion formed by partly thinning the semiconductor substrate, an element portion for generating an output signal corresponding to pressure acting on the diaphragm portion and a process circuit portion for processing the output signal of the element portion.
2 more elements
A load detecting device comprising:
- a bellows unit which expands and contracts axially according to a load applied to an axial end thereof, the bellows unit including a sensor chamber therein, the sensor chamber being hermetically sealed from outside and whose pressure is variable according to an expanding and contracting movement thereof;
- and
- a pressure detecting element accommodated in the sensor chamber,
- wherein the pressure detecting element detects the pressure of the sensor chamber and generates a signal representing magnitude of the load applied to the bellows unit, and
- the sensor chamber is filled up with liquid so that the pressure detecting element detects pressure of the liquid.
2 more elements
A load detecting device comprising:
- a load transmission member for receiving a load, the load transmission member including a spring for elastically deforming when the load is received;
- and
- a sensor portion operatively connected to the load transmission member, the sensor portion including a sensor head for receiving the load from the spring, a bellows for contracting axially in accordance with the load and for expanding, and a sensor chip for detecting a pressure change resulting from the force and generating a signal representing a magnitude of the load, wherein:
- the bellows includes a sensor chamber therein hermetically sealed from outside, the sensor chamber containing a liquid;
- and
- the sensor chip is positioned within the sensor chamber, and the sensor chip detects the pressure change of the liquid in the sensor chamber resulting from the bellows contracting axially.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.