Development of a driveshaft torque transducer for low-cost structural health monitoring of off-highway vehicles

Mechatronic agricultural machines and equipment are continuously increasing their complexity and cost. In order to ensure their efficiency and reliability and preserve their value, it is important to actively monitor the working loads and register damaging and wear occurring on critical components. This approach needs the introduction of sensors on the machine, which allow continuous monitoring and evaluate the residual life of components. The work presents the development and testing of an innovative low-cost systems for monitoring and diagnostic of off-highway vehicles. The sensor measures the torque of a mechanical power transmissions, and it was designed especially for agricultural machinery. The torque transducer monitors the mechanical power flowing from the tractor into the gearbox and the agricultural implement and is fully integrated with the power take-off driveshaft, thus being generally applicable. The design and development of the transducer was performed following a quality function deployment approach. The system is less expensive considering the typical torque measuring system commercially available and, thanks to its wireless module and integrated power supply, it is reliable and generally applicable to many power take-off to implement combinations.