By Garth Bevan
Load cells are important components in the majority of industrial weighing systems. These transducers measure weight through a combination of spring elements and strain gauges, converted into an electric output. They include compression load cells in industry-standard donut designs, miniature models, and beam configurations. Load cell manufacturers can offer standard, modified, or customized products to meet the needs of your applications. Read on to learn more about these three types of load cells:
Donut Load Cells
This type of load cell can feature a compact, smooth thru-hole design for use in applications that require the load structure to pass through the cell. Donut load cells can be provided in either tension or tension/compression models. Depending on your application, these transducers can come in various frame sizes, configurations, and materials. They are most commonly made from stainless steel or carbon steel to withstand significant compressive and tension forces.
With a donut load cell’s unique design, monitoring the forces being applied by loads that pass through the cell can be monitored. The load cells are used for bolt fastening and clamping in the automotive and manufacturing industries as well as fitting operations in assembly machines.
Miniature Load Cells
These versatile low-profile compression units are ideal for applications where space is limited. They are made using alloy steel, aluminum, and stainless steel. These load cells work well in most environments and fit for nearly any application. Miniature load cells are best for application when the accuracy requirements for the scale or test are not critical. Also, they are desirable for portable applications, particularly for bigger capacity sensors.
Beam Load Cells
These load cells are sometimes called bending local cells and ideal for a lot of measuring tasks because of the various types available. They measure the bending moment where the load’s weight puts pressure on the metal spring element of the load cell and causes elastic deformation. Most, beam load cells are employed in sectors where goods are processed, controlled, or produced. These include plant engineering, filling machinery, silo weighing, process weighing, and tank weighing. In platform scales, multiple bending beam load cells are connected in parallel.
In this type of load cells, the output current is calibrated to allow this connection. These load cells primarily use two or three bending beams and are coupled through rigid elements on the clamping and the load application side. With rigid coupling, the load application point and an S-shaped deformed of the two beams are enforced with the rigid coupling.
To correctly install a load cell, installation kits can be useful. They are composed of metal parts encasing the actual bending beam load cell and come in hanging scales, platform scales, and others. A bending beam load cell is available for a range of nominal loads. Before installing it, it is important to check whether the scales must be verifiable. If this is the case, the load cell should also be verifiable. Load cells are available in various IP classes. But, experts recommend an IP68 rating for dependable operation under industrial conditions.
