Choosing the Right Load Cell

Load cells are used to test and confirm the design of hardware, components, and fixtures used across industries and by consumers. From the structural integrity of an airplane to the sensitivity of a smartphone touchscreen, there’s a load cell available to measure force. In fact, here at Interface we have over tens of thousands of products used in force measurement, for all types of different applications.

Load cells seem like an extremely basic piece of equipment used to measure different forces such as weight, compression, tension, torsion, or a combination of these. It can be on a single axis or across multiple axes. However, there are many distinct types of load cell models that are designed for a variety of environments and force measurement testing requirements.

Getting Started in Choosing the Right Load Cell

How do engineers and product designers go about choosing the right?load cell ?for a specific application or testing project? The basic questions you need to consider when selecting a load cell include:

• What are the expected loads? What is the minimum and maximum load you’ll be measuring?
• Is there any potential for higher peak loads than what you intend to measure? What are these expected peak forces?
• Is it?tension, compression , or both?
• Will there be any off-axis loads? If so, what is their geometry? Do you want to measure them too?
• Will it be a static, dynamic or fatigue measurement?
• What is the environment in which you’ll be conducting your test? Will the load cell need to be sealed?
• How accurate do your measurements need to be? Do they need to be at the highest accuracy of ±0.02-0.05% or within ±0.5-1%?
• What additional features,?accessories ?and?instrumentation ?does your application require to complete a test?
• Do you need standard electrical connectors or customized options? What about additional bridges or amplifiers?
• How are you planning to collect and analyze the data output from the load cell?

Key Factors Influencing Load Cell Accuracy

Next, these are the most important factors affecting accuracy, which will have a heavy influence over the load cell you choose. It’s important to understand how your application and the load cell will be affected by each of the factors, which include:

• Mechanical?– Dimensions and Mounting
• Electrical?– Output and Excitation
• Environmental?– Temperature and Moisture

Specifications of a measurement sensor validate the design capabilities and capacities, including the amount of measurement that can be used for a particular device before you exceed the limits.

Be sure to watch the online video,?Load Cell Basics , that highlights key factors of consideration when choosing the right load cell for additional insights.

The major difference in strain gages is the base material used in the manufacturing process. Varied materials are used when a load cell needs to perform optimally in a variety of temperatures, humidity levels, and elevations. Matching the correct strain gage and a load cell to the customer’s needs is critical to accuracy. It is why Interface has excelled in building precision load cells for five and half decades and continues to be a trusted supplier to industry market leaders, innovators, engineers, and testing houses around the world. It is what we do best. It is what we know.

Our team of engineers and manufacturing experts use expertise that has built over time, applications, and load cell experience. A load cell starts as a raw piece of steel, aluminum, or other metal. It is machined, gaged, wired, finished, and calibrated by experts in load cell production, machinists, and quality engineers.

If you are just beginning to work with products that require accurate force measurement, we would suggest that you speak with an application engineer who can help you understand the load cell that will fit best for your use case.

When shopping for a load cell it is important to know the type of force that you need to measure, the size of the application, the environment in which you will be measuring the application, the accuracy of data needed, the type of communication output that will work with your current test system and if there are any unique details about your application, like extreme or hazardous conditions.

The field of force measurement has the same types of constraints as any other discipline. It starts with considerations of weight, size, cost, accuracy, useful life, and rated capacity. This also means considerations for extraneous forces, test profile, error specifications, temperature, altitude, pressure, and environment are particularly important when choosing a load cell.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Interface Load Cell Field Guide

Interface Presents Load Cell Basics

LowProfile Load Cells 101

Load Cell 101 and What You Need to Know

Technical Library

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