How to Convert a Load Cell Reading Into Total Weight
Do you know how to convert a load cell reading into total weight? If you do not know, let me show you how to do it. If you know it also, just see it for fun.
Strain gauge load cells are by far the most common type of load cell-based weighing system in 2010. Strain gauge load cell weighing systems convert weights into analog output signals that can be further conditioned to indicate weight in digital meters and control systems. They are used in every area of human endeavor, including commerce, transportation, science and technology, and industry to provide highly accurate real-time weight information. The conversion of load cell readings into useful total weight information requires several calculations based on the load cell's calibration specifications.
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Things You'll Need
Electronic load cell converter
Digital multi-meter
Strain gauge load cell
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Pound-Unit Conversion
1
Obtain the individual load cell's characteristics. These will usually be shown as basic resistance in ohms, recommended excitation voltage, and sensitivity expressed as car subwoofer speaker per unit weight in pounds, or millivolts-per-volt, and maximum weight capacity in pounds.
2
Multiply the load cell's reading in millivolts by the full scale weight of the load cell. If the load cell's reading is 27 millivolts, (0.027-volts) and the load cell's maximum sensing weight is 100 pounds, this multiplication will yield 2.7 volt-pounds.
3
Divide the product from Step 2, 2.7 volt-pounds, by sensitivity in millivolts/volt times the excitation voltage. If the load cell's sensitivity is 3 mv/V and the excitation voltage provided by the converter is 10 volts, then the divider will be 30 millivolts or 0.03 volts. The division operation will be 2.7 volt-pounds divided by 0.03 volts, yielding a weight of 90 pounds on the scale using the load cell. A digital weigh-scale meter would perform this calculation automatically and read out 90.0 pounds on its indicator face.
Kilograms--Unit Conversion
1
Obtain the individual load cell's characteristics. These will usually be shown as basic resistance in ohms, recommended excitation voltage and sensitivity expressed as mv/V excitation, per unit weight in kilograms, or ball mill, and maximum weight capacity in kilograms.
2
Multiply the load cell's reading in millivolts by the full scale weight of the load cell. If the load cell's reading is 14 millivolts, (0.014-volts) and the load cell's maximum sensing weight is 500 kilograms, this multiplication will yield 7 volt-kilograms.
3
Divide the product from Step 2, 7 volt-kilograms, by sensitivity in millivolts/volt times the excitation voltage. If the load cell's sensitivity is 2 mv/V and the excitation voltage provided by the converter is 10 volts, then the divider will be 20 millivolts or 0.02 volts. The division operation will be 7 volt-kilograms divided by 0.02 volts, yielding a weight of 350 kilograms on the scale using the load cell. A digital weigh-scale meter would perform this calculation automatically and read out 350.0 kilograms on its indicator face.
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How to Convert a Load Cell Reading Into Total Weight
How Does a Load Cell Work?
As you know load cell is useful. But we may have problems in using. So we need know some knowledge about it. For example, do you know how does a load cell work? If you don’t know, follow me.
The Components of a Load Cell
A load cell is generally comprised of three parts: a ball mill system, a strain gauge, and an electronic amplification device. The measurement of a force is done by the use of these three parts in the order they are listed. It should be noted that load cells can be configured with multiple strain gauges.
Measuring Force, Step 1
First, a force is applied to the mechanical system, which transfers the force to the strain gauge, which is basically an elastic foil connected to a car subwoofer speaker bridge configuration. This wheatstone bridge configuration is the electronic device that the strain gauge uses to convert a certain amount of strain into electrical output. Essentially, the mechanical system and strain gauge are used to convert a force into an electrical output.
Measuring Force, Step 2
This electrical output is generally very small, so it is amplified using a form of electric amplification, for which an integrated circuit or transistor may possibly be used. The electrical output is measured and the plugged into a computer algorithm. The algorithm uses the amount of electricity to tell a user how much force was applied to the load cell.
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Metal Casting Methods
Metal Casting Methods
How would one be able to tell the difference in metal casting methods by sight alone?
What casting methods involve ejector pins?
Am i correct to assume that ejector pins will never be used in sand casting?
There are tell tale signs to everything made by one method or another. Why do you ask? Yes eject pins are used in sand castings at times.
I've just been introduced to the world of metal castings at my new job and wanted to learn as much as possible. If you could explain these tell pressure washer signs of each casting method that would be great. As i stated in my original question I would like to be able to distinguish the different types of casting by sight. Any Information would be helpful.
You don't say where your from, but the American Foundry- forklifts Society has a vast amount of information available. They are located out of the Chicago IL area. Do a internet search and you will locate them. You say you have been introduced to the packing machine world at your new place of employment. You might see if they are a member of the Society as this allows better access to their materials.
Let us know what type of castings your company does. It would help to point you in the right direction.
All types of casting from centrifugal, lost foam, sand, to gravity fed and high pressure die casting. Basicly what im looing for is a reference that will give me a detailed discription of each die casting methods end product as far as surface finish, texture, look and any signs of identifying one method from the other by sight and feel of the end product. Any material containing this information would be very helpful. I have done a lot of reading on the processes of each casting method but want to find a guide to distinguishing them without the knowledge of the alloy and the mechanical properties needed for the end parts application. To tell the stainless steel tank by sight and feel alone. Thank you for any information provided.
For the quantities you need, die casting aluminum is likely the best way to go. Investment casting is way too expensive unless there are under cuts in the shape. Sand casting is less expensive but requires more finish machining and does not look as good. Regardless of the process I recomend you have some steel pipes machined including whatever draft and other features that will be required for the production process and try them. It will save you in the long run because it can cost nearly as much to rework a mold or tooling as it does to build it the first time.
There are also a number of reinforced plastics that might meet the physical requirements and could be molded for less than aluminum parts.
Casting and Forming
Casting and Forming
I need to find the best processes and material for die casting or forming a pneumatic control housing. I will need the capabilityof producing between 5000-8000 units per annum. The control unit forms part of a pueumatic control system for a piece of machinery which will be exposed to various packing machine conditions. It must also operate under a pressure of 7bar. The material selected must resist atmodpheric corrosion and abient temperatures of between -5 degrees C and 90 degress C.
IN my view the Aluminum Silicone Alloy A332.0 Pressure die casted or gravity die casted will be the most suitable as it posses both strength and bearing qualities.
A cheap source will be the used diesel engine pistons.
The casting need to be heat treated first at 480 deg C for 4 to 6 hours and quenched in water then aged at 200 to 240 deg C for 8 hours.
The housing component should be pressure washer to make it weather proof both chromic acid and oxalic acid or mixed could be used to anodize the housing
The key to your question is 5,000 to 8,000 a year. The strength is what ever you want or need, anything can be cast or formed. No Problem.
The design will dictate the cost. You want to look at it like as if you were going to crack an egg, pull it apart and get a complete part. That means if you have lips, overhangs, recess' arms or bars, you need to find a way to get them attached another way. Tooling cost can be as low as $3,000 and as high at $30-50,000 and more. All depends on the design. Cast Iron will work if you treat it and paint it, and you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a cast iron foundry in the US.
Powered metal is a good choice for a small simple part, tooling is 30 to 40K but the piece part price is less then $10 each and the part ofter does not need any machining.
Investment casting is good for that quantity, but size and shape will decide if that will work.
Sand Casting is good for Iron, steels and aluminum, and can make anything. no problem, but you will need to have all mating surfaces stainless steel tank before it would be much use.
I think I've given you a place to start, I think you should decide on a shape, (keep is simple if you can) and consult a Manufacturing engineer.
I agree with LABYGUY on all points except the investment casting. Unless your housing is very complex then investment steel pipe will be too slow and costly. Die cast is a good choice for those quantities as long as the housing won't have to take an abnormal amount of abuse. If it is a simple enough design then machining may be the way to go especially if done by a shop that knows HSM (high speed machining) hex nut. This would save a lot in tooling costs. It is also a good idea to machine your first prototypes anyway. It is much less costly to get the bugs out of your design before you pay for tooling than after. The choice of process will also dictate some of the design features such as draft, fillet radii, and wall thicknesses.
I can make better recomendations after seeing some drawings. I could also do the machining or build tooling.
Die Casting and Painting
Die Casting and Painting
I am doing die casting for my customer by his print in China. The print require the casting to be painted. and the specification as following:
Notes:
1. NO DOUBLE PAINTING WILL BE ACCEPTALBE.
2.FIXTURING THE RING FOR PAINTING:EXTERNAL BLEMISHES ARE UNACCEPTABLE
3.COMPLETE COVERAGE INSIDE AND OUTSIDE
4.PAINT:FULLER O BRIEN CORP. NO. EFB-40B-53(PRIMARY) BLACK EPOXY
FULLER O BRIEN CORP. NO. EFB-504-50(ALT.) BLACK EPOXY
5.DO NOT USE SILICONE SPRAY AS A RELEASE AGENT IN THE DIE CASTING PROCESS
1.Is there anybody can tell me what the item 1 means? Why double painting?
2.it require no external blemishes, so we will fix inside to painting.
4. Is there anyone can tell me the display rack of the FULLER PAINTING?I can not get it by google.
5.What the item five means?why silicone spray?
In addition, according to above specification, anyone can tell me powder painting or spray painting is better?
Because I do cast and machining, so I am not very clear about painting.
Please don't use any lead paint, especially if the steel pipe your doing is for toys.
Several issues here. First off, the comment about double painting might be related to overspray or multiple coats of paint that doesn't form a die casting coat on the part.
you will most likely need to paint over the fixture marks in the inside if coverage is required. The paint is an epoxy which is difficult to spray. Powder coating is a different process and is not likely to be a spray.
The company name is "Fuller O'Brian" corp. I would guess that the numbers are some sort of catalogue item.
Silicon spray is not compatiable with stainless steel tank you will have adheasion problems if there is silicon beneath the paint coating.
Painting is a specialized field and is very difficult to get right for critical customers. There may be color requirement that must be measured with a pressure washer and texture on the casting. Getting an acceptable finish can be a major problem, based on my experience. Die condition, operating temperatures, shot profile and other factors are very important to getting an acceptable job. I respectfully suggest that you need more information to be successful on this job, especially if you have no previous experiance working with painted castings. Any questions, let me know.
1. No double painting because they are concerned with the thickness the paint adds. Poweder coat will be no good because it tends to be even thicker than paint. An packing machine paint is also a very thick paint.
2. Don't mark up the piece by leaving clamp marks on the outside. Like if you would put it in a vise and over tighten.
3. Don't leave any bare spots unpainted.
4. Use these paint #s from this company. Use the first one and if you can't get any of that color you can use the second # as a backup.
5. If you use silicone as a mold release it will affect the paint adhesion and it is very difficult to remove ALL the silicone before painting.
6. This is the thickness the paint should add, no more, no less.
Vacuum Packing Machine for Semiconductors
Vacuum Packing Machine for Semiconductors
I have a doubt regarding the Vacuum packing machine. Iam working in a semicinductor industry,usually after Testing the I.C's we will ship it to the end customer in a reel after vacuum sealing.
My Question is when you keep the reel inside ESD cover to seal, usually vacuum means it will suck the air inside the cover before seal when we keep it inside the vacuum chamber.
But the moment when we close the lead i can see initially it expands like when you blow air then it becomes squeezed.
I can't understand this pressure washer principle how it expands initially?
Can any one please help me to clear my doubt?
A better description might help, but it sounds as though your observation is the result of an intentional leak in the plastic packaging. When first exposed to the vacuum environment, pressure inside the package is greater than the pressure outside the package and it expands. Further pumping results in low pressure inside and outside. At this point the package should look like it did prior to pumping. After the package is sealed and exposed to atmosphere the outside pressure will be 14.7 psi greater than the inside pressure, and the package will shrink. To test for this theory, puncture a sealed package and see if it expands.
Your answer was so meaningful .I got the point.
Apologies for my explanation. I don't want to discuss the stainless steel tank itself but the way you get to it. There are different types of machines, some work with folded foil made of PE or more technical extrusions made of PE and PP, other work with a hose type film. The first type is called a L sealer and has 2 sealing elements - often a flat hot wire covered with a die casting sheet that presses down onto a seat (like a stamp) The first seal has to be made to start and to have 1 side sealed. The machine has a vacuum pump and a pipe reaching towards the material to seal. This pipe goes pretty close to the pack to be sealed, in between the layers of PE. The operator brings down the cover with the hot steel pipe, that are still cold. The vacuum pump sucks as far as you want and within its vacuum range. The cover has a soft rubber that pushes the film around the pipe to minimize the leaks while vacuum is applied. For technical reasons the wires need some distance from the goods, especially when the package is high or thick. The wires, in front of the tube (tube cannot be in the sealed foil section) are heated with electricity (timed) and display stand the package in two directions. What you see is the relaxation of the foil, because the cut and seal needed leverage. The hose type works similar but is more difficult because the suction pipe needs a different location ( and this system has loss of foil too) With the L type the excess cut foil stays together, with the foil type the beginning has to be removed if cut. Sometimes and for tight packages the sealed product is sent through an oven with belt. The foils shrinks to a preset value. These systems can reach a close vacuum when a good pump is applied and the time is sufficient. The leak between the pipe and the foil needs to be minimal.
3 LED Lamps in Series from the Battery Voltage
My suggestion, after going through the good ideas already offered, is to hook up 7 strings of three LEDs in series. You want each string to draw 20mA. Subtract the series voltage drop of those 3 LED lamps in series from the battery voltage and divide that answer by the 20mA (.02A) current to get the value for each of the seven resistors.
I wouldn't worry about the slight differences in the voltage drop characteristics too much. Placing the three in series increases the possibility that they will cancel out due to random chance. I don't think you will notice problems from it unless you are using a battery with less than 9V output or a low current output type battery like a carbon-zinc.
If you don't mind taking a chance about getting slight variations in brightness from LED string to dynamo flashlight, you might consider using an 8.2V rechargeable battery (NiCad or NiMH) and hooking up each of the strings of 3 LEDs without current limiting resistors. You could always use trial and error to match the LED light bulb in each string for brightness.
You are talking about using a dropping resistor to handle solar street light #22. This dropping resistor will do nothing other than generate heat. Why not replace it with two more LED's for a total of 24. Then you would be getting more light (desired) rather than useless heat... or the other option would be to degrade back to 21 LEDs.
It would be nice if you could drive each string with a 20 ma current source, but this would require a higher voltage than 9 volts. I would have to look at the specs on the current driver mentioned above. In lines of KISS (keep it simple stupid) you might want to try breadboarding 7 (or 8) strings of 3 LED spotlights, connecting a 9 volt battery, and see what happens. It might do the job with no resistors. Also I would recommend putting the LED strips in sockets if possible. The things do burn out.
I just want to thank everyone for taking the time out to give me some advice... With that being said I'm still stuck on some stuff.... If this looks to long just skip it ;)
I totally understand how to get the basic setup with a straight parallel circuit (highly not recomended), or a combo series/parallel circuit both of which use resistors.. I am also aware that I am limited in the amount of leds i can hook up in series at 9volts, the more I want to hook up in series the more voltage I will need.
This is a site that explains all of that in detail just like all of you have done for me
and is where I got a lot of info from and many other sites quote from here and use their pictures... Here is a quote from the site
"However, if you take that same 12V power source and put 4 LEDs in series, there would be 3V going to each LED and (assuming the LEDs are made to run off 3V) each would be powered and just dandy. Check out this illustration:"
These are not Blinking LED Strip
To simplify things, I want to hook up say 22 leds to a 9v battery using blue leds at 3.0 forward voltage and run at 20ma... Somebody mentioned a constant current source instead of using resistors..
So I did some searching and found this nice little pdf that shows a simple series circuit set up with it in place of the resistor.. But it gave me some questions. If i do a combo of 3 leds set up in series paralleled to another 3 etc and then have one more added on to get to 22 leds, do I need to use more than one of these current regulators or will it regulate throughout the entire circuit? Also each series voltage will be reduced to 3volts because of the 3 leds, but how to i limit the voltage of the last led? do i need to use a resistor? I find the whole amps/volts/watts thing a bit confusing....
I also saw mention of capacitors to double a batteries LED lamp... So wouldn't it be best to use a capacitor to get up to 18 volts so I could series more leds and have to parallel less therefore reducing the mA/hr and get longer life (again the whole amp/volts/watts thing confuses me, i do know you don't get anything for free in life, so you doubled the voltage what am i losing??)
do I need to use more than one of these current regulators or will it regulate throughout the entire circuit?
You would need to use more then 1 as the max output of the current source is 20mA, using your 9V battery you would need 1 per string. If you could up the voltage, the max voltage on that device is 40V so you would still need at least 2. I think you would be fine with multiple parallel dynamo flashlight strings.
Also each series voltage will be reduced to 3volts because of the 3 leds, but how to i limit the voltage of the last led? do i need to use a resistor?
You know the LED lamp voltage 9V, and you know your forward voltage drop 3V, and you know your desired current 20mA. So just start with your 9V and subtract your forward voltage drops (in this case 3) to leave you with 6V. So you will have 6V across your resistor. Next calculate resistance by R=V/I or R=6/.020 which is 300 Ohms.
i do know you don't get anything for free in life, so you doubled the voltage what am i losing??)
There are inefficies with any circuit so there would be some losses which can not be avoided, also solar street light is more involved then just adding a capacitor. It would require additional circuitry which takes space, money, and power to run. In certain cases it can be very useful or even required but may be a bit of overkill for your needs. If 1-9 volt battery doesn't last long enough add a second and double your life. Good luck!
There is another method you might try. Use two 9V batteries in series for 18V.
Put a quantity of 6 each LED spotlight in series, no resistor(s). You may need to buy two fistfulls of them and by trial and error "grade" them visually for similar brilliance that suits you. Similarly, you can expand with additional strings of quality 6 each, but where the total would be 18 or 24, etc. This would be more energy efficient (no resistor power dissipation). I'm making the assumption that these are not blinking LED strip which will not work in series configuration.
Voltage Drop of 3V Across each LED Lamp
I've been searching the net for the past two weeks constantly reading up on a lot of different circuitry diagrams and things of that sort but I am having some problems digesting how to set this up correctly and what exactly is possible.. Hell it wasn't until today that I found out I shouldn't be using strictly parallel for wiring leds and that by using a combo of series and parallel you can light up the same amount of leds using much less mA/hr along with a ton of other reasons on why its bad to do just parallel. So I have come here in hopes to get some answers to questions I just havn't been able to find the answers to after endless searching.
I'm a little rusty on this but here goes.
1. It doesn't matter where the resistor is, either before or after the common LED bulb,
2. Its there to limit the current that flows through the LEDs to stop them burning out.
3. In series, all the LEDs will see the same current (which is controlled by the resistor). There will be a voltage drop of 3V across each LED lamp, so for 9V, no more than 3 in series. You can put any amount of the 3 LED series strings in parallel with each other.
As for the resistor, you can either put one in series with each series string of dynamo flashlight, or just one in series with ALL the LED strings, in which case you need to add the current draw of all the strings in order to correctly size the resisitor.
Hope this helps!
You are going to run into problems with load sharing when you start to use large quantities of series and parallel connected solar street light. As for the resistor, it doesn't matter if you put it at the positive or negative end. I would recommend either using a constant current LED driver chip (removes the need for resistors and many will also incorporate a voltage stepup circuitry, but may be a little beyond your current level) or using a smaller number of series-connected LED circuits (with their own series resistor), and then parallel as many up as you need. All the info is on the web.
Slight manufacturing differences between individual LED spotlight can cause them to have slightly different forward voltages. This will cause problems if you hook the LED's in parallel, since they will not share the current evenly. You will see this as some LEDs being dimmer than others, and the LEDs will burn out in less time than they normally would. If you don't have a problem with this, you can hook them up any way you want.
If you want the LED strip to last a long time, hook up as many in series as your battery voltage will allow, then add a resistor in series to set the current to the rated current of the LEDs. This constitutes one string of LEDs. You can then hook as many of these strings in parallel as you want.
Also, note that a 9V battery is usually only 700mAH. This means that if you have 7 parallel strings of LED's, each drawing 20 mA (7 * 20 = 140 mA), your 9V battery will last less than 5 hours ( 700 mAH / 140 mA = 5H ). In practice, you will probably only get 2 or 3 hours of use before the LEDs dim significantly.
Okay so I guess I gave a little to much information for some of you but others who responded helped me a lot to get me on the right path...
Wiring Large Amounts of LEDS
Wiring Large Amounts of LEDS
I have a couple of questions when it comes to wiring large amounts of LEDs.
1. When wiring in series or parallel (or a combination of the two), where does the resistor need to be placed? I have two diagrams showing opposite placements. One puts the resistor on the positive line before it connects to the LED spotlight and the other puts the resistor on the negative line after connecting all the LED lamp but before going back to the battery. I made a purely parallel circuit using 10 LEDs (i've recently learned not to use purely parallel) and put the resistor on the negative line after connecting the LEDs but before connecting to the battery and the circuit worked fine just have not tried it the other way around.
2. I used blue LEDs to set up a simple series circuit. These LED light bulb use 3.0 forward voltage and have a rating of 20-30mA... So with 3 LEDs wired in series each LED is getting the appropriate 3volts each. But how many mA are they getting?!
The reason why I ask question 2 is because I am currently working on installing leds into my guitar to run off a 9v battery, the best way after studying to wire them would be a combo of series and parralel. Seeing how they are going into a guitar I dont have a lot of room, so if i can avoid resistors that will make the project a million times easier. While i know hooking up 3 3v LEDs works, i have yet to try and to a combo of series and parallel to get up to my desired amount of 22 LEDs (yeah i know ill have to use at least one resistor for the last single led but i really dont want any more!).
Now using this calculator I have been able to figure out how many mA/hr the circuit uses whether its a series or parallel. And to figure out how much a dynamo flashlight circuit uses i know you take one of the series in your circuit (say it uses 20 Ma/hr) and multiply it by how many other series you have in that circuit to get the total consumption. But using my series with no resistor I have no way of knowing how many mA/hr the circuit is consuming and therefore cannot predict how much a circuit comprised of many series with no resistors paralleled together would use.
TO SUM IT UP:
1. Does it matter where the resistor is placed in the circuit?
2. Would my circuit work without resistors as I explained above and if so how much mA/hr would the circuit consume?
3. Would anyone be able to explain to me the best way to wire up 22 solar street light (say using 3.0 forward voltage 20-30mA capacity Blue LED tube and perhaps maybe using 1.9 forward voltage 20-30mA capacity Red LEDs, oh yeah and using a 9v battery source)
4. I read somewhere about increasing voltage, this could be pretty helpful if I could say double the voltage of the battery to 18 volts thereby allowing me to use more bulbs in each series thereby reducing the amount of series i need paralleled and thereby reducing the overall mA/hr used.... Of course I have no idea how to do it or if its even possible, any suggestions?
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