Title :
A Load Cell for Grain-Propelled Ballistic Rocket Thrust Measurement
Author :
De Lucena, Samuel E. ; De Aquino, Marcelo G S ; Caporalli-Filho, Angelo
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng., Sao Paulo State Univ., Sao Paolo
Abstract :
A 1000-kgf resistive strain-gauge load cell has been developed for quality testing of rocket propellant grain. A 7075-T6 aluminum alloy has been used for the elastic column, in which 8 uniaxial, 120-Omega strain gauges have been bonded and connected to form a full Wheatstone bridge to detect the strain. The chosen geometry makes the transducer insensitive to moments and, also, to the temperature. Experimental tests using a universal testing machine to imposed compression force to the load cell have demonstrated that its behavior is linear, with sensitivity of 2.90 muV/kgf plusmn0.34%, and negligible hysteresis. The designed force transducer response to a dynamic test has been comparable to that of a commercial load cell
Keywords :
aluminium alloys; force measurement; rockets; strain gauges; transducers; 120 ohm; 7075-T6 aluminum alloy; ballistic rocket; compression force; dynamic test; elastic column; force measurement; force transducer; full Wheatstone bridge; load cell; load measurement; quality testing; resistive strain-gauge; rocket propellant grain; thrust measurement; universal testing machine; Aluminum alloys; Bonding; Bridge circuits; Geometry; Propulsion; Rockets; Temperature sensors; Testing; Transducers; Uniaxial strain; Load cells; force measurement; force transducer; load measurement; rockets; strain gauge; thrust measurement;
Conference_Titel :
Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference, 2005. IMTC 2005. Proceedings of the IEEE
Conference_Location :
Ottawa, Ont.
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-8879-8
DOI :
10.1109/IMTC.2005.1604475
