You will have seen load cells in action, if you have been on a public weighbridge or seen a concrete mixer batching station with the tall silos on a large site. Load cells, in very many applications in the Engineering and Processing Industry sectors to measure force (or weight), torque or bending moments in structures sometimes generally referred to as transducers, can be found.
These days, to continuous digital monitoring of dynamic forces in real time using industry-standard protocols so that they can be used as part of an integrated process control system, sensor technology has moved on from single measurements that are recorded manually. Electronic crane scale is also used predominantly.
Largely based on resistive strain gauges that are usually set in a diamond pattern is the technology for the sensors, slightly along the axis of the load being measured, bonded to a metal body that deforms. In a Wheatstone (or Ohm) bridge arrangement, the resistance of the strain gauges are measured. Before being transmitted to the digital display and/or on to the remote control or recording system, the output signal needs to be conditioned and amplified.
Throughout the Engineering Industry, let us now canter through the various types of load cells in common use. First, at tension force sensors, let us look. Where the force is transferred from a cable shackle to a load pin attached firmly to an "S" beam or pancake type force sensor or position sensing, these can be found typically on cranes and other hoisting equipment.
From a few kilograms for small applications to over 1.5 tonnes, this type of sensor typically measures forces on a continuous basis. In the control cabin via a remote digital display, the sensor's output is commonly linked to the craneage's overload alarm system as well as any necessary load monitoring. In the materials testing laboratories where "S" load cells are incorporated into test machines tensioning metal samples to destruction is another well-known application.
Usually in fixed equipment or structures where their low profile can be easily incorporated into the equipment's structure, pancake compression load cells are, as the term implies, used to measure compressive loads. Batch process weighing of liquids or granular solids and monitoring bridge loading for long term research, typical applications include weighbridges.
In a doughnut shape, a beam crane load cell has a deforming body and they have wide use where small scale axial compressive and tensile forces need to be measured, these are at the small end of the scale. Where a slim, compact and accurate load cell are typical applications, laboratory, testing facilities or small suspended hoppers are available. By incorporating it into a cantilever beam load arrangement, this load cell can be made more sensitive.
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