A novel parallel piezoelectric six-axis heavy force/torque sensor

The huge heavy-load manipulators are urgently needed to accurately and efficiently manufacture large components in some fields, such as the nuclear power plant, shipbuilding, chemical engineering and national defense. In this paper, a novel parallel piezoelectric six-axis heavy force/torque sensor is designed to realize harmonious control and multi-degree-of-freedom of huge heavy-load manipulator, which is different with conventional tandem six-axis force/torque sensors. Piezoelectric quartz is chosen as force sensing element. This paper discusses special layout of force sensing element, and advances a novel parallel piezoelectric six-axis force/torque sensor. The model of elastic body is set up and analyzed by ANSYS software. A prototype sensor is fabricated to make calibration experiment. The results show that this type piezoelectric six-axis force/torque sensor with four-point supporting structure can accurately measure dynamic six-dimensional force on axis, and has advantages in good rigidity, good linearity, nice manufacturability, and high natural frequency. The interference error is less than 5%. Crown Copyright (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.