Pretensioned Structures as Multi Axis Force Sensors

Multi axis force sensors have a great range of applications from micro scale force sensing at micro-surgical task to measuring large forces in aerospace and ship industries. Using kinematic structures for the design of the force sensors, the movement of the applied force can be confined in certain direction, thus providing the possibility of measuring specific components of the force/torque. By calculating the stiffness matrix of the kinematic structure the applied force on the payload platform is obtained through measuring the displacement of the joints of the mechanism under the external load. In this paper we investigate application of pretensioned closed kinematic structure for multi axis force sensors applications. Based on the concept provided here a planar sensor is introduced and a suitable design is found based on the mathematical formulation.