All companies that use industrial scales obviously need accurate measurements, but a growing number of industries require what are known as precision measurements. In the past only certain types of scales, namely force motor scales were able to provide this high level of accuracy. But with this accuracy came a number of problems that left many companies looking for another option.
Industries That Need High Precision Scales
There are a whole host of industries that require high precision measurements, a few of which include:
Paint Manufacturers – Paint formulation can be extremely time consuming. Maintaining a perfect paint mixture is incredibly important to ensure consistent color matches, which obviously can lead to frustrated customers, ultimately causing a company to lose revenue. A high precision scale allows a paint manufacturer to add precisely the right amount of paint mixture to provide consistent colors and satisfied customers.Laboratories – When research is being conducted, accuracy is of the utmost importance. Precision scales are often a necessity to ensure weight measurements are as accurate as possible. This goes for the scientific and medical fields, as well as the semiconductor and petrochemical industries.
Medical Dispensaries – When you’re dealing with medications, accurate weighing can literally mean the difference between life and death for a patient. If incorrect measurements occur, medication batches can be labeled or dispensed incorrectly, and cause disastrous consequences. Precision measurements ensure medications are dispensed properly and accurately.
Problems with Force Motor Scales
Force motor scales, which are also referred to as magnetic force restoration or MFR scales, have been used for many years when high precision measurements were required. While these scales offer precise measurements, there are a number of factors which make them less than ideal for certain industries.
Capacity Constraints
Historically if you wanted precision measurements, you had to sacrifice capacity because most force motor scales are only available at relatively low capacities. Because of how a force motor scale works, large amounts of electrical current would be needed to support a heavier load, which is simply not practical. This means that scale owners who use force motor scales can only take precise readings for loads weighing around 25 pounds, or less in certain instances.
Cost
One of the most critical problems for many scale owners is simply the high cost of force motor scales. While the initial cost of a force motor scale is extremely expensive at several times that of a standard strain gage scale, force motor scales also require much more maintenance over time to remain accurate.
Because of force motor scales susceptibility to changes in vibration, temperature and air currents, they can be error prone. To prevent this type of error, many of these scales use what is referred to as an internal calibration mass. The problem with this approach is that it needs to be calibrated often, which can take the scale out of service, and can render the scale inaccurate if not done often enough.
Arlyn’s Ultra Precision Scales – A Highly Precise Alternative
To meet the needs of its customers, and to shake up the scale industry a bit, Arlyn Scales recently released their Ultra Precision Scales, which offer the best of both worlds when it comes to scale technology: precision accuracy at high capacities. Through its internationally patented Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) technology, Arlyn Scales has created a unique scale that offers many of the benefits of strain gage scales, but with the precision measurement capabilities of force motor scales. Below are just a few of the reasons why SAW technology is the wave of the future for high precision scales:
A New Way of Scale Construction
Most strain gage load cells, measure strain or stress, whereas SAW load cells measure displacement. SAW load cells utilize two transducers that are affixed to either side of the spring element, allowing them to not be dependent on stress being applied to the spring element. This means that our SAW scales can produce more accurate measurements that are less susceptible to distortion.
More Economical Access to Precision Measurements
In the past, if you needed a scale that provided precision measurements, you would need to fork out a significant amount of money for a force motor scale. With our Ultra Precision Scales, you’re able to purchase a highly precise scale that is roughly 1/3 the cost of a force motor scale, and in line with the cost of a higher end strain gage scale.
High Capacities Unheard of With Force Motor Scales
Because of the way our Ultra Precision scales are made, they offer highly precise readings at a wide range of capacities. Our lowest capacity high precision scale features a capacity of 10 pounds, and our highest capacity scale has a capacity of 1000 pounds. Below is the breakdown of our SAW scale models with their corresponding capacities and resolution readings.
SAW-X – 10 lb. x .0001 lb.
SAW-T – 25 lb. x .0002 lb.
SAW-L – 50 lb. x .0005 lb.
SAW-C – 100 lb. x .001 lb.
SAW-H – 200 lb. x .002 lb.
SAW-JL – 300 lb. x .002 lb.
SAW-KL – 500 lb. x .005 lb.
SAW-MXL – 1000 lb. x .01 lb.
As you can see, these capacities would be unheard of with force motor scales. This is largely due to our commitment to constantly innovating and providing the highest quality industrial scales to our customers.
Give Arlyn Scales a Call to Learn More About Our Ultra Precision Scales
If you’re intrigued by our Ultra Precision Scales, feel free to reach out to our team today. We can offer additional information about any of our highly precise scales to show you how they can offer you increased flexibility, without sacrificing the precision measurements that are so important to your company’s bottom line. Give our scale experts a call today by phone at 800-645-4301 or through the contact form on our website. We look forward to exposing you to our internationally patented SAW technology, as well as all of the other industry leading advancements we continue to make on a daily basis to remain a leader in the scale industry.
