LW9.5 wheel force transducer 35.6 kN

LW9.5: wheel force transducer for ATVs and small vehicles, 35.6 kN

The LW9.5 measures all the wheel forces and moments on ATVs, utility and other lightweight vehicles: vertical, lateral and longitudinal forces, and camber, steer and torque moments. Its 4-arm strain gage bridges are rated 35.6 kN (8,000 lb) on Fx and Fz, 17.8 kN (4,000 lb) on Fy and 5.4 kN·m on all three moments, with non-linearity of 0.25 % of full scale or less. The stainless steel transducer is weatherproof and temperature compensated, operates from −40 to 125 °C and adapts to 10 in and larger wheels. A matching amplifier adds X and Z accelerations and digitizes the signals before the slip ring; angular resolution is 0.17°.

The hub adapter bolts to the transducer with thirty-two 1/4-20 screws and the rim adapter with twenty-four, torqued crosswise to 13 N·m; four more hold the amplifier, sealed by O-rings and matched to its transducer. The slip ring, with a 512-pulse encoder, stays on the amplifier; a magnetic restraint and rod hold its stator on non-steered wheels, a stator angle corrector on steered ones. The CT3 box, powered at 9 to 36 V DC, zeroes the transducer on a hoist or on the road, checks the shunt calibration and gives the loads in vehicle coordinates.

The Michigan Tech Blizzard Baja team fitted an LW9.5 to its off-road car on custom adapters. On a utility vehicle, it records the force falling to zero in flight and peaking at landing after a ramp.