F/T DAQ Installation and Operation Manual
Document #9610-05-1017-06
ATI Industrial Automation, 1031 Goodworth Drive, Apex, NC 27539 USA +1-919-772-0115 www.ati-ia.com
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3. How It Works
3.1 Introduction
This section provides a functional outline of the F/T system. The F/T system is broken into
three areas: electrical, controlling software, and mechanical. A mechanical description is
shown in Section 3.2. A graphical representation of the electronics and software is presented
in Section 3.3.
3.2 Mechanical Description
The property of forces was first stated by Newton in his third law of motion: To every action
there is always opposed an equal reaction; or, the mutual action of two bodies upon each
other are always equal, and directed to contrary parts. The transducer reacts to applied
forces and torques using Newton’s third law.
Figure 3.1—Applied force and torque vector on transducer
The force applied to the transducer flexes three symmetrically placed beams using Hooke’s
law:
σ = E·ε
σ = Stress applied to the beam (σ is proportional to force)
Ε = Elasticity modulus of the beam
ε = Strain applied to the beam
Aside:
The transducer is monolithic structure. The beams are machined from a solid
piece of metal. This decreases hysteresis and increases the strength and
repeatability of the structure.
Semiconductor strain gauges are attached to the beams and are considered strain-sensitive
resistors. The resistance of the strain gauge changes as a function of the applied strain as
follows:
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