Patent ID: 8069737

Claim:
A force sensing system for measuring a tension load applied to a flexible member, comprising: a load pulley rotatable on a fixed axis, the load pulley arranged to movably engage the flexible member such that the flexible member partially wraps around the load pulley in order to exert a radial force thereupon; a force sensor cell in communication with the fixed axis of the load pulley to sense a physical strain caused by the exerted radial force upon the load pulley and generate an output voltage signal proportional to the physical strain; an analog to digital converter coupled to the force sensor cell to convert the output voltage signal from the force sensor cell into a digital output voltage signal; a memory arranged to store a predetermined correlation between the output voltage signal and the tension load; and a processor coupled to the memory and to the analog to digital converter, the processor arranged to determine the tension load from the digital output voltage signal according to the predetermined correlation.