If precise mixing is a crucial process variable, viscosity measurement may be the most accurate way to ensure optimum performance. But rotating mixers can lead to very tangled wiring, so here Mark Ingham of Sensor Technology looks at wireless options.

An innovative TorqSense wireless torque sensor from Sensor Technology provided an effective solution to an interesting engineering challenge when Advanced Design Innovations (ADI) was asked by Bristan to develop a new durability test rig to help optimise product performance.

Sensor Technology has set new benchmark performance standards for optical rotary torque transducers, with the launch of the digital ORT 230/240 series. These new optical rotary torque sensors are well suited for applications when the demand is for low torque and/or high bandwidth, providing precise, dynamic measurement of rotary and static torque of less than 100Nm and for bandwidths of up to 50kHz.

Non-contact torque sensors from Sensor Technology are reportedly playing a key role in the development of commercial-scale in-stream tidal turbines produced by Irish company, OpenHydro. The company is using these sensors, which are based on surface acoustic wave (SAW) technology, to measure rotational speed and frictional forces in a simulator for the turbine bearings.

Innovative TorqSense wireless sensors from Sensor Technology are playing an important role in new product development for Hydraulic Projects Limited (Hy-Pro), one of the UK’s developers and suppliers of hydraulic drive units for marine steering and autopilot systems.

The aerospace sector is renowned for its safety standards and a whole industry has grown up to provide equipment and services for testing aircraft and their subsystems. Airliners are subject to tremendous loads as they land and take off, from the touchdown of the undercarriage, to the back-thrust of the jet engines as they slow the aircraft on the runway and the wind pressure on the flaps and flight control surfaces when they are lowered to ...

Saietta Group, a UK based research and development company which designs motors for lightweight electric vehicle (EV) propulsion has been working with Sensor Technology. The company’s latest innovation is the ‘S-AC’ which is an ultra-efficient brushless axial-flux AC motor. It boasts extreme efficiency levels at high torques from low speed onwards.

Sensor Technology has made a pre-emptive move to build a strong business base in the Indian city of Chennai, where one of the world’s largest high technology business zones is currently under construction. Called Mahindra World City, the zone already employs over 25,000 people and hosts companies like Infosys, BMW, Braun, TTK Group, Capgemini, Njmestronics, Renault-Nissan, Tech Mahindra, Wabco, Lincoln Electric, Wipro, Timken, cyber vole an...

Wireless rotary torque transducers from Sensor Technology are at the heart of a test rig to develop next generation technologies for electric and hybrid vehicle powertrains. With expertise in the electric motors and electronics used across the key powertrain technologies, AVID Technology relies on the innovative torque transducers as part of an automated approach to motor characterisation.

The current phase of the economic cycle, recovery from a slowdown, is always difficult and frustrating, as Mark Ingham of Sensor Technology identified: "Companies are seeing their markets improve, but don’t have the reserves to finance all the activities that will kickstart their sales. What money there is has to be used carefully, which usually means funding some projects but not others. As a result opportunities have to be missed.”

  For an engineering education competition, called Formula Student, high performance electric cars are being developed across Europe. The team from Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal may have a secret weapon in the form of a test bench based upon a wireless torque sensor.

New benchmark performance standards for optical rotary torque transducers has been set by Sensor Technology, with the launch of the digital ORT 230/240 series. These new optical rotary torque sensors are suitable for applications when the demand is for low torque and/or high bandwidth, providing precise, dynamic measurement of rotary and static torque of less than 100Nm and for bandwidths of up to 50kHz.

At the forefront of electric vehicle design and development for over 20 years now, the company Tirius, has supplied a test rig based on a wireless torque sensor to a world renowned UK University automotive research facility. Based in Fareham, Hants, Tirius has been built on pioneering work on an all-electric single seat racing car and a series of record breaking vehicles. It continues to bring the latest technology to clients in the form of ...

  Adopting radio frequency based torque transducers from Sensor Technology, serial innovators Manchester-based Bifold Group is going to use them to analyse the long term performance and reliability of hard working valves and pumps for two of its specialist test rigs.

Wireless rotary torque transducers from Sensor Technology are at the heart of a test rig to develop next-gen technologies for electric and hybrid vehicle powertrains. With expertise in the electric motors and electronics used across the key powertrain technologies, AVID Technology relies on the innovative torque transducers as part of an automated approach to motor characterisation.

Designed to put the next generation of controls for medium altitude long endurance (MALE) drones through their paces, a test rig is being developed by an independent electronics design company on the Welsh borders. Although this rig is being developed just for this project and will be dismantled after use, the precision torque sensor which performs the critical task of collecting data from the rig for analysis will almost certainly be reused...

Designing and manufacturing high-quality motor controllers and system components for hybrid electric vehicles Sevcon has driven efficiency into its equipment testing regimes by standardising TorqSense transducers from Sensor Technology. The stakes are high in the race to develop electric and hybrid vehicle technologies, with the winners likely to become leading suppliers to a global market worth literally billions.

A wireless torque sensor is at the heart of a test rig supplied to a world renowned UK University automotive research facility. The rig has been developed by a company that has been at the forefront of electric vehicle design and development for over 20 years. Based in Fareham, Hants, Tirius has been built on pioneering work on an all-electric single seat racing car and a series of record breaking vehicles.

Helping a helicopter services company to pluck trees from forests where there is no access by tractor, the innovative wireless load sensing and monitoring technology from Sensor Technology plays a key role. Based in Oxford, Heli-Lift Services provides a helicopter-based extraction service in forests where the ground is wet or boggy, or in environmentally sensitive expanses and areas of special interest, ensuring minimal disruption to the env...

As more and more wireless devices come to the market, concerns have emerged within the standards body responsible for managing the radio spectrum allocation and wireless device conformance that more guidance is needed to help ensure spectrum sharing. Tony Ingham of Sensor Technology reviews the situation.