Rotary force diagnostic tools and methods

• US 10,041,846 B2
• Filed: 03/24/2017
• Issued: 08/07/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Duff, Douglas, Sweigart, Andrew, Yarrington, Evan
• Primary Examiner(s): Noori, Max
• Application Number:
  US15/469,155
• Publication Number:
  US 20170199094A1
• Time in Patent Office: 501 Days
• Field of Search: 73788
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 5/0457 characterised by control features of the drive means as such
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 5/221 to steering wheels, e.g. for power assisted steering

Abstract

An apparatus includes a force sensor including a housing and a support coupled to the housing, where the apparatus can couple to a rotary component. The housing also includes a handle coupled to the support to facilitate applying a force to the apparatus. The apparatus further includes an angular position sensor to sense rotation related to the apparatus, which can include a rotation of the rotary component to which the apparatus is coupled, a relative rotation between the housing and the handle, where the handle is rotatably coupled to the housing, and/or the like. The apparatus also includes a force sensor enabled to measure an amount of force applied to the handle.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a fixture for coupling to a rotary component, wherein the rotary component is rotatable between a first rotational position and a second rotational position about an axis;

a force sensor coupled to the fixture;

a handle operably coupled to the force sensor to enable the force sensor to measure an amount of force applied to the handle in rotating, via the handle, the rotary component from the first rotational position to the second rotational position;

an angular position sensor coupled to the fixture and configured to measure an angular position of the rotary component; and

an output device to output at least one of the amount of force applied to the handle and the angular position of the rotary component.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the force sensor comprises a load cell.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the angular position sensor comprises a gyroscope.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the angular position sensor comprises an input to initialize the gyroscope at a reference position for determining a change in the angular position of the rotary component.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the handle is one of rotatably coupled or fixedly coupled to the force sensor.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the force sensor includes a housing and a shaft coupled to the housing.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the handle is coupled to the shaft to rotate relative to the shaft.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a display to display the at least one of the amount of force applied to the handle, the angular position of the rotary component, or the representation of the combination thereof.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a force profile generator to generate a force profile based at least in part on receiving the amount of force applied to the handle from the force sensor and the angular position from the angular position sensor.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the force profile generator generates the force profile as the amount of force applied to the handle over change in the angular position.

11. A method, comprising:

coupling a rotary force diagnostic tool to a rotary component, wherein the rotary component is rotatable between a first rotational position and a second rotational position about an axis;

applying a force to a handle of the rotary force diagnostic tool to rotate the rotary component from the first rotational position to the second rotational position;

determining an angular position of the rotary component as the rotary component rotates from the first position to the second position;

determining an amount of force applied to the handle to rotate the rotary component to the angular position; and

outputting at least one of the amount of force applied to the handle and the angular position of the rotary component.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the amount of force applied to the handle is based at least in part on output from a load cell coupled to the handle.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the angular position is based at least in part on output of the angular position from a gyroscope of the rotary force diagnostic tool.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising initializing the gyroscope to a reference position to facilitate determining a change in the angular position of the rotary component.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein outputting the at least one of the amount of force applied to the handle, the angular position of the rotary component, or the representation of the combination thereof comprises outputting to a display on the rotary force diagnostic tool.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein outputting the at least one of the amount of force applied to the handle, the angular position of the rotary component, or the representation of the combination thereof comprises outputting a force profile of the amount of force over a change in the angular position of the rotary component.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable code, the code comprising:

code for determining, from an angular position sensor of a rotary force diagnostic tool coupled to the rotary component, an angular position of the rotary component as the rotary component rotates from a first position to a second position;

code for determining, from a force sensor of the rotary force diagnostic tool, an amount of force applied to a handle of the rotary component to rotate the rotary component to the angular position; and

code for outputting at least one of the amount of force applied to the handle, the angular position of the rotary component, or a representation of a combination thereof.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the angular position sensor is a gyroscope.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising code for initializing the gyroscope to a reference position to facilitate determining a change in the angular position of the rotary component.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the code for outputting outputs the at least one of the amount of force applied to the handle, the angular position of the rotary component, or the representation of the combination thereof to a display on the rotary force diagnostic tool.