In the pharmaceutical industry, accuracy is incredibly important to ensure medications are always formulated correctly. One errant measurement could spell disaster and even lead to sickness, or death in patients due to incorrect medication dosage. Because of this need for highly accurate readings, many pharmaceutical companies look to precision scales when it’s time to purchase a new scale for their facilities. 
Precision scales are able to provide highly accurate readings, which is a necessity in the pharmaceutical industry. In the past however, precision scales were extremely expensive, which is why Arlyn Scales pioneered a new scale technology that is revolutionizing the scale industry.
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For precise scales that use SAW technology, explore Arlyn’s ultra-precision scales.
Problems with Current Scale Technology
For decades, the two most popular scale technologies were strain gage and force motor restoration scales. Both of these scales come with their own shortcomings, which prompted Arlyn Scales to develop their industry leading Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) technology. Before we delve into the details of our SAW technology, we first will explain a bit more about strain gage and force motor scales to help you understand why our Ultra Precision Scales are superior.
Problems Solved by SAW Scales from Arlyn
Strain gage scales are arguably the most popular scales in use in industrial environments today. The strain gage scale gets its name from its load cell, which is called a strain gage because it measures the strain or stress of an object placed on a scale platform. This load cell is attached to the scale platform and measures the weight of the load when an item is placed on the scale platform. When an item is placed on the platform, the load cell bends and generates an electrical signal that the scale’s digital indicator converts into a reading that is displayed.
One of the main limitations of a strain gage load cell is that it must be constructed with relatively thin metal sections known as flexures, because its sensitivity is directly related to how accurate a reading it can generate. This thin metal is more susceptible to shock loading, which is when an object is dropped onto a scale platform from a height, and overloading, which is simply placing an item onto a scalable platform that far exceeds the scale’s capacity. When either shock loading, or overloading begins to occur, the scale can begin to lose accuracy, and if not detected can cause major errors over time. Removing the scale from production can cost a company significant time and money.
Another drawback to strain gage scales is because of how they’re made, they’re not able to offer precision readings. This in turn eliminates them from most pharmaceutical applications.
Force Motor Restoration Scales
For many years, if you were looking for precision readings, your only real option was a force restoration scale. These scales are often also called magnetic force restoration (MFR) scales. They use electromagnetic force to measure the weight of a load on a scale platform. While MFR scales are highly accurate and can offer precision readings, they do not come without their shortcomings. These scales are highly sensitive to temperature and air currents that may come in contact with your scale. In addition, these scales are only practical at low capacities (typically 25 lbs. and under). Finally, force restoration scales are extremely expensive making them cost prohibitive to many.
Benefits of Internationally Patented SAW Technology
The challenges that exist with force motor and strain gage scale technology is exactly what prompted Arlyn Scales to develop our patented Surface Acoustic Wave technology which is used to power our Ultra Precision Scales.
Our SAW scales feature a load cell that measures displacement as opposed to strain or stress. This way it requires a much smaller amount of movement to generate highly accurate weight readings. Because of this, our designers were able to create a load cell that can be manufactured out of a much thicker metal that helps to prevent it from damage due to shock loading and overloading. In addition, because of how these scales are constructed, they’re not nearly as susceptible to drift inaccuracy due to temperature changes or air currents.
These design changes have allowed our SAW scales to not only offer precision accuracy at low capacities, but at capacities up to 500 lbs. as well. No longer will users have to purchase two different scales if they’re looking for precision readings, as well as high capacity. Our SAW scales can allow organizations to save money by purchasing one scale to meet both of these needs.
As if the benefits of SAW scales listed above weren’t enough, the affordability of these scales should also be highlighted. SAW scales are priced comparably to strain gage scales, and much less than force restoration scales.
Arlyn Scales’ Busy at Work Continuing to Shake Up the Scale Industry
As you can see with our Ultra Precision Scales, our company has never been comfortable with the status quo. We’re constantly looking for additional ways that we can provide the highest quality industrial scale to our customers, regardless of the industry in which they work.
Arlyn Scales is headquartered in Long Island, New York where our design and manufacturing teams are both based. This means that each one of our scales is not only designed in the US, but manufactured here as well. We’re confident that this focus on keeping jobs in the US, has allowed us to pioneer innovations such as our patented SAW technology.
Should you have any questions about our Ultra Precision Scales, feel free to give our team a call today at 800-645-4301 or fill out our online contact form and we’ll follow up shortly. We’ll be happy to help you navigate the complex process of purchasing the right industrial scale for your pharmaceutical formulation needs.
