Torque Sensing with Tunable Millimeter Wave Metamaterial and a FMCW Chip

Real-time torque sensing in power trains and robotics is still a major challenge for state of the art sensor technology. We present a new torque sensor concept based on tunable millimeter wave metamaterials. The concept is to mechanically translate torque signals into a shift of the metamaterial resonance frequency which in turn leads to a tuning of its reflection spectra. This tuning is detected using a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) chip. We show the feasibility of the sensor concept by means of numerical simulations and provide the proof of concept by means of a demonstrator. It gives a measurement range from 0 N m to 7.58 N m with an accuracy ≤ 2.37 % full scale. We believe that our concept is potentially the basis for a new torque sensor technology.