Hi all, I’m constructing a Wheatstone bridge to detect torsional stress/strain on a rotating cylindrical shaft for a school project. I plan to use a full bridge with four active strain gauges, since it’s my understanding four active elements are needed to detect strain due to axial torque. My school has 350 ohm strain gauges and a DAQ with a max input/output of 10V on hand.
As I started calculations to determine my excitation voltage, I realized that I was going to keep getting 0 as all my strain gauges have the same nominal voltage (of course so the bridge can balance when not under strain). So how can I determine my excitation voltage?
Also, should I really have four strain gauges, or am I wrong in thinking four active elements is appropriate? Thank you!
Comments
1 strain gauge 2 fixed resistors and a potentiometer is a bit easier to figure out the output of.
As for your excitation voltage. It’s mostly determined by your detector and what it likes plus the voltage rating of any individual gauge.
Here’s a good primer:
https://www.dwyeromega.com/en-ca/resources/wheatstone-bridge?srsltid=AfmBOooVc68oyC3ugOuiPhFJ4wKzq7wetcQU1c4jsL1tFxv2bYjEVNRK