Handheld force gauges

[Genghis the Engineer]

Afternoon all.

I'm in the middle of a programme looking at control (primarily pitch) forces in production/line fixed wing aeroplanes. The current (admittedly rather basic) handheld instrumentation we have isn't doing a particularly good job of resolving some fairly small control forces (which tells you something in itself of-course!).

Can anybody point me at what is available on the market, if anything, that is quickly installed in an uninstrumented aeroplane and will give a good indication of control forces. Ideally I'm looking for something that'll resolve, and ideally down to around an ounce or so / 0.02daN ish but the smaller forces (and chunkier cockpit readout!) the better.

G

[Olly O'Leg]

Baker have some useable kit

Baker Aviation: Flight Test Instrumentation & Data Acquisition (http://www.bakerav.com/flight-test-instrumentation.html)

[Gerz]

Not sure, but have you thought about a small capacity fishing scale?

[Genghis the Engineer]

Olly - many thanks, I've sent them an Email and am waiting to hear back.

Gerz - that's exactly what we are using. The problem with them however is that they're generally only readable to about 1/4lb and also that they tend to be relatively long and thin which is difficult in a small cockpit.

G

[hello1]

Genghis,

Please report back when you get to the bottom of this. The (somewhat ancient) force gauges round here could do with a refresh before too long.

H1

[Genghis the Engineer]

Hello1

Wilco

G

[Rich Lee]

Hand held forces guages? Makes one long for the days when men were made of steel and pleasure devices were made of wood.:E

[jimjim1]

I did some work years ago with the technology needed to do this, strain gauges, computers, ..., and so had a wee google.

None of these are flight test packages but depending on your budget that might be more suitable:)


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Mecmesin - The Force Gauge and Torque Gauge Specialists - Force & torque testing solutions - worldwide (http://www.mecmesin.com/ucm/home/product_view.asp?proID=193&range=39)
Has REMOTE display

Mecmesin - The Force Gauge and Torque Gauge Specialists - Force & torque testing solutions - worldwide (http://www.mecmesin.com/ucm/home/product_view.asp?proID=166&range=39)
Has hook, plate, or optional remote sensor, can remember 500 readings.
Has rs232.

http://www.mecmesin.com/ucm/admin/upload/documents/10Digital%20Gauges%2007%20EQ.pdf
Brochure

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www.sauter.co.uk | Professional Force Measurement (http://www.sauter.co.uk/)
Categories Digital Force Gauges FK Digital Force Gauges
Categories Digital Force Gauges FT Digital Force Gauges

Categories Software & Accessories Software
Interfaces force gague to computer for graphs.


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Miniature Force Joysticks (http://www.daco.co.uk/html/miniature_force_joysticks.htm)
Specification (http://www.daco.co.uk/html/specification3.htm)
10N full scale - not much

Characteristics (http://www.daco.co.uk/html/characteristics_options3.htm)
Can come with serial interface so would be easy to hook
up to computer.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Problem with all of those I think JimJim is that they're relatively long - much like the fishing scales which I'll admit to using at the moment. With a relatively short movement that inevitably exists between body-sticktop-instrument panel, that tends to make them unworkable once you're into larger stick movements.

The items at BDN, which is I suspect is what Hello1 is using, whilst incredibly old, were great because they had little depth, sitting fairly neatly between the hand and the control plus a display on top, where you can see it quite readily whilst strapped in properly. A serviceable one of those with a good scale, or better still an updated one with a digital display allowing greater resolution and range would I think be the perfect solution for uninstrumented aeroplanes (I suppose I could get really greedy and hope for a data logger as well!, but for manual testing in uninstrumented aircraft not really essential).

G

N.B. Rich, don't knock wooden pleasure devices - I've had much fun flying many of them.

[Windy Militant]

Not aviation kit and I'll need to do a bit of digging, but some people I'm involved with were developing a system for measuring the force applied to dental tools as a training aid. If memory serves it was a piezoelectric set up which fitted into the drill or scaler handle. I'm sure that something similar could be rigged to log data to a pda or similar.

[Rich Lee]

N.B. Rich, don't knock wooden pleasure devices - I've had much fun flying many of them.
Well played Sir! My compliments.:D

[BryceM]

Is this any use?
http://www.futek.com/files/pdf/Product%20Drawings/fbb350.pdf

About 1.5in long, with a strain gauge type readout mechanism (you'd need to buy the readout device separately - would be easy to get the datalogging capability, too). Up to 20lbf, $90.

[Charles E Taylor]

Hi

You won't have to wait too long, there is lots of work going on in the unmanned world.

Please see

http://bleex.me.berkeley.edu/Publication/Fairbanks.Chen.Shin.ICRA.Magic%20Glove.2004.pdf




Charlie