122 is parallel to and abutting the inclined surface 136. In addition, a spring 180 is compressed between the center shaft 120 and the annular member 160 to provide a force pushing the annular member 160 toward the sleeve member 110, to avoid undesired relative movement between the sensor coils 138a, 138b located on the bobbin 132 and the sleeve member 110.

As shown in the design of FIG. 3G, in some embodiments, the annular member 160 includes an inclined surface 162, and the sleeve member 110 includes an inclined surface 112a, which is parallel to and abuts the inclined surface 162 of the annular member 160. As shown in the design of FIG. 3H, in some embodiments, the annular member 160 without an inclined surface may be placed abutting the inclined surface 112a of the sleeve member 110. Accordingly, a line contact is provided between the annular member 160 and the inclined surface 112a of the sleeve member 110. As shown in the design of FIG. 3I, in some embodiments, the sleeve member 110 is designed without the inclined surface at the non-drive side 140. The annular member 160 having the inclined surface 162 is placed abutting the sleeve member 110. Accordingly, a line contact is provided between the sleeve member 110 and the inclined surface 162 of the annular member 160.

Accordingly, in the designs of FIGS. 3G-3I, the sleeve member 110, the center shaft 120, the annular member 160, and the spring compressed between the center shaft 120 and the annular member 160 provide a mechanism to avoid undesired relative movement along the radial direction between the sensor coils 138a, 138b located on the bobbin 132 and the sleeve member 110.

Similarly, at the drive side 150, the tubular sensor body 130 may also be coupled, directly, or indirectly, with the sleeve member 110, using different designs of the tubular sensor body 130, the sleeve member 110, or an annular member 170 surrounding the sleeve member 110 at the drive side 150. FIGS. 4A-4F are diagrams illustrating exemplary arrangements of corresponding portions of the tubular sensor body 130 and the sleeve member 110 at the drive side 150, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Similarly, in various embodiments, the arrangements and designs described in FIGS. 4A-4F may be used to modify the torque sensor 100 shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2.

FIGS. 4A-4C illustrate examples of designs in which the tubular sensor body 130 is coupled with the sleeve member 110 indirectly via the annular member 170 surrounding the sleeve member 110. Similar to the annular member 160 in FIGS. 3A-3C, the annular member 170 may be configured to deform to eliminate a gap between the annular member 170 and the sleeve member 110, or a gap between the annular member 170 and the bobbin 132 of the tubular sensor body 130 at the drive side 150.

As shown in the design of FIG. 4A, in some embodiments, the tubular sensor body 130 includes the inclined surface 134, and the annular member 170 surrounding the sleeve member 110 abuts the inclined surface 134 and the sleeve member 110. The annular member 170 also includes an inclined surface 172 (e.g., a conical peripheral surface) parallel to and abutting the inclined surface 134. Accordingly, the inclined surface 172 of the annular member 170 and the inclined surface 134 of the tubular sensor body 130 provide a surface-to-surface contact region to avoid undesired relative movement along the radial direction between the sensor coils 138a, 138b located on the bobbin 132 and the sleeve member 110.

As shown in the design of FIG. 4B, in some embodiments, the annular member 170 without an inclined surface may be placed abutting the inclined surface 134 and the sleeve member 110. Accordingly, a line contact is provided between the annular member 170 and the inclined surface 134 of the tubular sensor body 130 to avoid undesired relative movement along the radial direction between the sensor coils 138a, 138b located on the bobbin 132 and the sleeve member 110.

As shown in the design of FIG. 4C, in some embodiments, the tubular sensor body 130 is designed without the inclined surface at the drive side 150. The annular member 170 having the inclined surface 172 is placed abutting the sleeve member 110 and the tubular sensor body 130. Accordingly, a line contact is provided between the tubular sensor body 130 and the inclined surface 172 of the annular member 170 to avoid undesired relative movement along the radial direction between the sensor coils 138a, 138b located on the bobbin 132 and the sleeve member 110.

Similarly, FIGS. 4D-4F illustrate examples of designs in which the tubular sensor body 130 is coupled directly with the sleeve member 110 at the drive side 150, without the annular member 170, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in the design of FIG. 4D, in some embodiments, the tubular sensor body 130 includes the inclined surface 134, and the sleeve member 110 includes an inclined surface 112b (e.g., a conical peripheral surface) inclined with respect to the radial direction of the torque sensor 100. The inclined surface 112b is parallel to and abuts the inclined surface 134. Accordingly, the inclined surface 112b of the sleeve member 110 and the inclined surface 134 of the tubular sensor body 130 abut each other and provide a surface-to-surface contact region to avoid undesired relative movement along the radial direction between the sensor coils 138a, 138b located on the bobbin 132 and the sleeve member 110.

As shown in the design of FIG. 4E, in some embodiments, the sleeve member 110 is designed without the inclined surface. Accordingly, a line contact is provided between the sleeve member 110 and the inclined surface 134 of the tubular sensor body 130 abutting the sleeve member 110 to avoid undesired relative movement along the radial direction between the sensor coils 138a, 138b located on the bobbin 132 and the sleeve member 110.

As shown in the design of FIG. 4F, in some embodiments, the tubular sensor body 130 is designed without the inclined surface at the drive side 150. The sleeve member 110 having the inclined surface 112b abuts the tubular sensor body 130. Accordingly, a line contact is provided between the tubular sensor body 130 and the inclined surface 112b of the sleeve member 110 abutting the tubular sensor body 130 to avoid undesired relative movement along the radial direction between the sensor coils 138a, 138b located on the bobbin 132 and the sleeve member 110.

In the embodiments of FIGS. 3A-3C, the annular member 160 surrounding the sleeve member 110 is located between the sleeve member 110 and the tubular sensor body 130. In the embodiments of FIGS. 4A-4C, the annular member 170 surrounding the sleeve member 110 is located between the sleeve member 110 and the tubular sensor body 130. The annular members 160 and 170 may be deformed, such as expanded or contracted, in response to a force applied to the annular members 160 and 170, which can be achieved by various designs. For example, the annular members 160 and 170 may be elastic members that undergo an elastic deformation when a force is applied thereto.

FIGS. 5A-8C illustrate examples of deformable ring structures 500a, 500b, 600, 700, and 800, which can be applied for the annular members 160 and 170, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In various embodiments, features disclosed with respect to the ring structures 500a, 500b, 600, 700, and 800 in FIGS. 5A-8C may be combined with the annular members 160 and 170 shown in the above embodiments depicted in FIGS. 1-2, FIGS. 3A-3C, and FIGS. 4A-4C.

As shown in FIG. 5A, in some embodiments, the deformable ring structure 500a is formed in one piece and includes a slit 510, which provides a deformation margin and allows the expansion or the contraction. In the deformable ring structure 500a, an inclined surface 520 (e.g., a conical peripheral surface) is provided for abutting the tubular sensor body 130. In the embodiments of FIG. 6, the deformable ring structure 600 may be formed of suitable flexible or elastic materials.

As shown in FIG. 5B, in some other embodiments, the deformable ring structure 500b may also have a closed annular shape without any slit. The deformable ring structure 500b with the closed annular shape may be formed by an elastic member to permit elastic deformation. Similar to the embodiment depicted in FIG. 5A, the deformable ring structure 500b may provide the inclined surface 520 for abutting the tubular sensor body 130.

As shown in FIG. 6, in some embodiments, the deformable ring structure 600 is formed in one piece and includes concave patterns 610 on both external and internal sides of the ring alternatingly to permit expansion or contraction of the deformable ring structure 600. Similarly, an inclined surface 620 (e.g., a conical peripheral surface) of the deformable ring structure 600 may be provided for abutting the tubular sensor body 130.

As shown in FIG. 7, in some embodiments, the deformable ring structure 700 includes a deformable portion 710 and a connecting portion 720 coupled to the deformable portion 710, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some other embodiments, the connecting portion 720 may be optional. The deformable portion 710 may include a slit 712 providing a deformation margin and permitting expansion or contraction of the deformable portion 710, while the connecting portion 720 has a closed annular shape to support the deformable portion 710. Similarly, the deformable portion 710 may provide an inclined surface 714 (e.g., a conical peripheral surface) for abutting the tubular sensor body 130.

As shown in FIGS. 8A-8C, in some embodiments, the deformable ring structure 800 may also include multiple deformable portions 810, 820, and 830, and a connecting portion 840 with a closed annular shape coupled to the deformable portions 810, 820, and 830. Similar to the embodiments discussed above, the connecting portion 840 may be optional. The deformable portions 810, 820, and 830 may be mounted on the connecting portion 840 and spaced apart from each other by respective slits 812, 822, and 832 between any two of the deformable portions 810, 820, and 830. Accordingly, the slits 812, 822, and 832 permit expansion or contraction of the deformable ring structure 800. Similarly, the deformable portions 810, 820, and 830 collectively provide a conical peripheral surface as the inclined surface for abutting the tubular sensor body 130.

It would be appreciated that the designs shown in FIGS. 5A-8C are merely examples and not meant to limit the present disclosure. In various embodiments, other designs are possible for the annular members 160 and 170 to achieve the elastic deformation to eliminate gaps between the annular members 160, 170 and the sleeve member 110, or between the annular member 160, 170 and the bobbin 132 of the tubular sensor body 130, by the expansion or the contraction of the annular members 160 and 170. Similarly, in some embodiments, a deformable ring structure may have more than the three deformable portions depicted in FIGS. 8A-8C. In other embodiments, a deformable ring structure may have two deformable portions.

FIGS. 9-11 respectively illustrate exemplary torque sensors 900, 1000, 1100 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, which are merely examples and not meant to limit the present disclosure. Similarly, in various embodiments, features disclosed with respect to the arrangements of components at the non-drive side 140 in FIGS. 3A-3I, the arrangements of components at the drive side 150 in FIGS. 4A-4F, and the ring structures 500a, 500b, 600, 700, and 800 in FIGS. 5A-8C may be combined with torque sensors 900, 1000, 1100 in the embodiments of FIGS. 9-11.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of another exemplary torque sensor 900, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Similar to the embodiments of FIG. 1