China Syndrome

Enough enquiries to double its business levels in Asia were generated when UK torque measuring specialists Sensor Technology exhibited alongside their local distributor DMS at “Sensors China 2007”, an exhibition designed to fast track key technologies into that country’s rapidly expanding industrial base.

“We are used to the major continental shows in Europe and America,” says International Sales Manager Mark Ingham, “and we have been exhibiting regularly in the Far East for some years. But the Asian markets are developing so fast that their exhibitions evolve significantly from year to year, and it’s a region we want to expand into.”

The main product of interest is TorqSense, the Plug-and-Play digital torque sensor, which picks up and analyses a radio signal from a miniature piezo electric detector fixed on the rotating shaft being monitored. It is fully self-contained, can be set up in minutes and generates a variety of digital and analog outputs that can be read locally by a technician or transmitted to computers and control systems.

Unlike other torque transducers, TorqSense is mechanically simple with its sensors fixed to the shaft and a rotating RF antenna used to allow coupling with its digital electronics and immunity from magnetic fields, so there is no need for complicated and delicate slip rings or large transformer assemblies to obtain signals and users can have a better representation of the drive system being measured.

“It is simple to set up and reliable in use, characteristics that are much appreciated in industries everywhere, and particularly relevant in China where production engineers strive to be as self-reliant as possible.” says Ingham.

Sensor Technology has been spreading its wings into the global market since the launch of its RWT TorqSense series and has found exhibitions, along with establishing a network of distributors, to be the best way to find new contacts. “Our technology is radical stuff – potential users really need to see it to appreciate it, and tend to want technical discussions immediately. Our distributors also need to have a good understanding and these shows, we find help to make contacts and often orders flow quickly thereafter.”