Your industry may demand that you determine the best way to weigh liquids with high precision. Whether you manufacture paint or sensitive chemical mixtures, you likely require a special level of precision from your analytical balances and weighing devices at higher resolutions than other manufacturers.
If you use liquefied gasses as part of your industrial process, you’re also going to want an easy and reliable way to monitor the amount of material in your drums. The right equipment can determine weight with higher accuracy.
Why Common Technologies Aren’t Good Enough For Measuring Accurately
The average industrial scale, which uses strain gauge load cells to determine the weight, won’t meet these requirements. While this technology meets the needs of many manufacturers, it does not have the precision or sensitivity characteristics that you need.
Magnetic force restoration (MFR) scales do provide the high resolution and precision you need. Nevertheless, they can be expensive and have certain limitations and vulnerabilities.
For example, from a practical perspective, they have a very low maximum capacity of about 50 lbs (often less). They’re also likely to experience drifts within accuracy due to changes in temperature, air currents, and vibrations – common conditions in a manufacturing environment.
So where does that leave you? The first major breakthrough in weighing technology in the last four decades: Arlyn Scales’ surface acoustic wave technology.
A New Technological Breakthrough
Load cells are the internal component responsible for determining weight. They generally use strain gauges to detect the tension caused in the scale’s spring element when weight is applied to the platform. The strain gauges are wired together to form a Wheatstone’s bridge and when the resistance of the gage changes, so does the voltage output of the bridge.
This analog signal must be converted to a digital one before the weight can be displayed. The conversion and the spring characteristics of the element limit the accuracy and sensitivity of the measurements taken with this technology.
Ultra Precision With Analytical Balance
Instead of reinventing the wheel, we took the same basic theory of load cell design and applied our ultra-precision scale technology to it. Our Ultra Precision Scales feature uses two surface acoustic wave (SAW) transducers that measure the displacement of the spring element rather than strain.
When an object is placed on the scale platform, it changes the frequency of a bulk wave in the substrate of the spring element. This wave gets passed through the transmitting transducer and sent to the receiver where it gets amplified and sent back to the transmitter, creating a feedback loop between them.
The frequency at which this wave oscillates between the two transducers depends on the distance between them. This distance is directly related to the bending of the spring element, which changes in accordance with the weight applied to the platform. This frequency is measured digitally and the signal is sent to the indicator where you see the numeric weight of the item.
Advanced Design Means Better Precision and Higher Resolution
We use semiconductor-grade crystalline substrates to fabricate our SAW transducers and deposit the electronics on these substrates using the same photolithography process used in the manufacture of advanced semiconductor devices. This advanced design creates a superior product that’s inherently more accurate than strain gauges because it provides a fully digital output stream that results in precise, high-resolution measurements.
We also designed these analytical balances specifically for tough industrial environments and eliminated the design vulnerabilities found in MFR balances. Sophisticated digital algorithms flawlessly compensate for changes in temperature, air currents, and vibrations caused by other machinery. So while they produce extremely sensitive measurements, they don’t have to be handled gently.
Seeing The Difference When Measuring Volumes
Readability is a term scale manufacturers use to describe the performance characteristics of our products. It’s calculated by dividing the scale’s maximum capacity by its resolution.
So, for example, a strain gauge scale with a maximum capacity of 10 lb. and a resolution of 0.002 lb. would have readability of 1 part in 5,000. This is the average readability of any strain gauge scale. It simply means the balances can display 5,000 unique weights between0.000 lb. and 10.000 lb. They also have an average accuracy of 1/10 of 1%, which means measurements will be within ± 0.1% of the object’s true weight.
Our Ultra Precision Scales have impressive readability of 1 part in 100,000 and accuracy of 1/100 of 1%! This means they have readability that’s 20 times better than a standard industrial scale and an accuracy level that’s 10 times better than strain gauge load cells.
Unlike MFR scales, our Ultra Precision models can have a large maximum capacity of 500 lbs. or higher. And while a strain gauge scale at this capacity has a resolution of 0.1 lb., our SAW scales have an unrivaled precision of 0.005 lb. at the same 500 lb. capacity.
System Automation, Liquid Gas Monitors, And Programmable Alerts
When combined with our optional setpoint controller, Ultra Precision allows you to automate certain manufacturing processes and monitor the level in your liquid gas cylinders. You can use any of the controller’s 8 target weights to signal the start-up or shut down of other equipment such as feeders, mixers, motors, valves, pumps, solenoids, and other computerized devices.
For example, a paint manufacturer can attach the setpoint controller to a vat of dye and use it to add the exact amount needed to a base of white. The setpoint controller can also be used to clear the pumps and pipes that feed liquid substances into the larger mixing vat.
By setting two target weights, you can use the first to slow the feed down to a trickle and use the second to shut the pump off completely. This means you’ll get exactly the amount of liquid you need without leaving anything in the system.
Measuring Density And Volume With Gases
While some liquids can be monitored using a simple drum scale and the scale’s tare feature, this method doesn’t work for liquefied gasses because the drum will appear full until the container is very nearly empty. This doesn’t leave operators a lot of time to refill or change the container.
Our set point controller can also be used to create an alert system that lets workers know in advance when a container is running low on the material so that there are no hiccups in the manufacturing process.
Get Accurate Measurements With Tools From Arlyn Scales
Do you need weight measurement equipment that can work with liquid volumes? Arlyn Scales knows how to provide analytical balance with these volumes. Our experts find new ways to measure mass with liquid, gas, and solid that change with temperature or pressure.If you’d like to learn more about Arlyn’s Ultra Precision scale technology and how it can benefit you, contact us today! Let our team match you with the ideal analytical solution for accurate weight.
