Torque sensor for motor vehicle steering shaft compares stored starting value with instantaneous value for each sensor element whilst sensing torque to detect sensor element faults

摘要

The sensor has a control computer stage (230) to vary the stimulation time of a coil and a sample-and-hold point to detect a torque. A memory area (240) stores the starting value for each element of the sensor. A torque detection stage (220) detects the torque based on sampling the coil transition voltage. A device compares the stored starting value with an instantaneous value for each element whilst sensing the torque to detect sensor element faults.