About Industrial Scales and Industrial Scale Manufacturers Including: Balance Scale, Counting Scales, Digital Scales, Medical Scales, Portable Scales & Truck Scales.

Industrial scales can be used to measure the weight of virtually anything - from products, manufacturing components and tools to human beings and animals. Scales in the industrial sector ensure that companies meet weight specifications and adhere to safety standards. Industrial scale manufacturers make their products in all shapes and sizes and with measuring units ranging from micrograms to tons.
 
The size, shape and durability of the industrial scales vary according to the item that needs to be measured. For example, materials in the scientific community require special purpose laboratory scales. Laboratory scales are very sensitive and are able to measure the weight of substances like gas that would normally remain indiscernible on a larger scale. On the other hand, truck scales are designed to handle the weight of extremely large vehicles and are quite sturdy when other scales would break under the pressure. Counting scales are used to count money and other items in the food and hospitality industries. These industrial scales are able to tell the amount of money based on the weight, as they are pre-programmed to tell how much various bills and coins weigh individually.
 
Industrial scale manufacturers are utilized in numerous industries, such as food service and processing, retail, hospitality, automotive/trucking, agriculture, railroad, engineering and construction, among many others. Agriculturalists use industrial scales to weigh their livestock and other animals, as well as to measure how much grain and various produce is harvested every season. On the other hand, packagers and companies will weigh products before shipping to clients to ensure that the maximum load amount is not exceeded. Such diverse places as airports, post offices, supermarkets and hospitals all use scales to help further the safety and efficiency of their various businesses.
 
There are many factors one must consider when selecting industrial scale manufacturers since some of their products are highly specialized. First of all, one must determine the weight of the maximum and minimum capacity loads that will be required of the scale. Also, one must consider the acceptable margin of error in weight determination. How accurate must the measurement be? Additionally, to what environmental conditions will the industrial scales be subjected? Will the scale be stationary or mobile? Answering all these questions beforehand will help ensure that the right scale is purchased.

Industrial Scales and Industrial Scale Manufacturers Image Provided by IRD (International Road Dynamics, Inc.)

Industrial Scales and Industrial Scale Manufacturers Image Provided by International Road Dynamics, Inc.

Types of Industrial Scales

• Animal scales are specifically created to weigh pets and livestock. Different scales are designed to weigh different animals; for example, scale makers have created a special apparatus for weighing eagles that keeps the eagle more relaxed and comfortable, and thus provides a more accurate weight-reading environment.
  
• Balance scales is an apparatus that measures an object's mass.
• Bench scales are used in many industrial environments for a wide variety of applications, including shipping andreceiving. The scale's durability makes it useful in weighing a wide variety of heavy objects.
  
• Counting scales are used to count coins and currency in industries, such as retail and hospitality. Counting scales often contain a memory component that stores the number and weight of various manufacturing parts.
  
• Crane scales are hanging scales that measure the weight and tension of heavy, lifted objects and aid in the prevention of overload.
  
• Digital/Electronic scales offer high precision by using complex systems, such as load cell technology. Load cells translate the weight of an object into electronic signals, which are conveyed to the user in digital form.
  
• Filling scales measure liquids and gases in a variety of industrial applications. The size, shape and purpose of these scales range from large filling scales - used to measure bulk material, such as sand and gravel - to small gas cylinder filling scales used to measure gases like hydrogen and to create gaseous mixtures.
  
• Floor scales are general-purpose scales used in industry operations, such as in shipping and receiving. Floor scales are useful in weighing heavy objects such as drums and objects that require the use of equipment, like dollies or carts, for transportation.
  
• Laboratory scales are sensitive lab instruments often found in organizations in the medical and scientific communities. Lab scales can measure one-millionth of a gram and are capable of measuring small particles, such as dust or lint.
  
• Mechanical scales do not require a power source, and objects are either weighed by a balancing instrument, as in the case of beam scales found in doctors' offices, or by a mechanical lever or spring. The mechanical spring flattens as an object exerts pressure upon it, and the spring's deformation, which depends upon the weight applied, determines the weight reading
  
• Medical scales are used to measure weight in hospitals, doctors' offices, and other medical settings.
• Portable scales can be moved from one place to another.
• Retail scales provide a convenient way for customers and employees to measure the portion size of various goods.
  
• Solar scales are powered by energy from the sun. The sun's power is converted into electricity through silicon semiconductors, called solar cells, and the cell's absorption of light particles releases energy from the silicon.
  
• Truck scales are heavy-duty scales used to measure vehicles like rigs or tankers. Although the use of load cells remains a common weight-sensing technique for vehicles, truck scales also use bending-plate and piezoelectric weighing systems.
  
• Wall scales provide a convenient way to measure an assortment of objects ranging from grocery store items to animal carcasses.

Industrial Scales Terms

Analog Electronics - The part of the scale that operates the measuring cell and circuits in an electronic system.
 
Balance - The mechanism in a scale used to determine the weight of an object.
 
Batching - The counting, weighing and preparation of industrial components.
 
Bending-Plate System - The method of weighing an object on metal plates by determining the amount of force applied to the plates.
 
Calibration - The process of testing a scale to ensure accurate weight readings.
 
Calibration Error - The amount of error between what an object's weight on a scale appears to be and what the true mass of the object is.
 
Checkweigher - A device that monitors the weight of objects, as in a production line.
 
Display - Expresses the weight of an object in various formats, including dial, analog, digital and balance beam form.
 
Drift - The change in a load cell's output.
 
Hysteresis Error - The process of weighing an object many times, but getting a different reading for it each time.
 
Indicator - A tool that uses the signal from a junction box to display the weight of an object in a readable format.
 
Instability - A term for the number displayed that will vary randomly and sporadically rather than progressively.
 
Junction Box - A tool that uses the electronic signal from a load cell to determine the weight of an object.
 
Light-Emitting Diodes (LED) - Semi-conductors that provide the display on digital scales and produce light through their reaction to electrical current. When electrical current is supplied in a particular manner, the diodes illuminate in numerical shapes.
 
Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) - The display provided on digital scales. LCDs block light through the reaction of liquid crystals to electric current; thus, the area in which the light is blocked is darkened, and when electrical current is strategically applied, the darkened areas form numbers, which represent the weight reading.
 
Load - The applied weight of an object to a load cell.
 
Load Cell - A mechanism that reflects the weight of an object in the form of an electronic signal.
 
Load Cell System - The use of load cells to measure an object.
 
Load Pin - A transducer used in determining the weight of an object.
 
Measuring Cell - The part of the scale that actually senses the weight and converts in into an electrical signal.
 
Output - The electronic signal produced when weight is applied to a load cell.
 
Piezoelectric System - The use of sensors to determine the weight of an object.
 
Platform - A structure on which the weight of a heavy object is distributed in order to achieve an accurate weight reading of the object.
 
Pivot - A mechanism that rotates an object.
 
Reproducibility - The ability of a scale to produce the same reading for an object weighed multiple times.
 
Resolution - The smallest amount of weight that a scale can detect.
 
Scale Pits - Holes into which a scale is anchored.
 
Strain - The change in a structure's size after weight is applied to the structure.
 
Strain Gauge - A tool used to measure the change in size of a structure after weight has been applied to the structure.
 
Transducer - A tool that converts energy into a different form.
 
Weighbridge - A machine that consists of metal plates implanted into the ground. This is used to measure the weight of heavy objects, such as vehicles.
 
Weigh-in-Motion - The use of sensors to determine a vehicle's weight, while the vehicle is in motion. As the vehicle moves over the scale, the sensors establish the amount of force applied to each axle and calculate the total force applied.
 
Weight Module - An instrument that converts an item, such as a container, into a scale by measuring the capacity of the container.
 
Weight - The amount of gravity exerted upon an object.