{"id":10184,"date":"2018-10-18T11:25:26","date_gmt":"2018-10-18T16:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog-stage.wika.cloudpowered.services\/us\/\/?p=10184"},"modified":"2023-08-22T01:12:40","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T06:12:40","slug":"shear-beams-bending-beams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog-stage.wika.cloudpowered.services\/us\/products\/force-products\/shear-beams-bending-beams\/","title":{"rendered":"Bending Beams and Shear Beams: Indispensable in Weighing Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cPhew, I\u2019ve not gained anything!\u201d Aren\u2019t you relieved when your bathroom scale shows that? But in actuality, your scale doesn\u2019t directly measure your weight. Instead, the load cell built into it converts the weight force into a path. In many industrial applications, bending beams and shear beams are often used for such measurements.<\/strong><\/p>\n

How Is Weight Measured?<\/h2>\n

Be it a bathroom scale, a finely calibrated laboratory balance, or the gravimetric level monitor of a silo, these measuring instruments determine mass. As a rule, they measure the weight force that’s occurring. But unlike, for example, a beam balance or a spring balance, the load cells used for this determine the weight force indirectly. For this purpose, these force transducers convert the weight force into a path.<\/p>\n

Here’s the principle: In a load cell, the weight force deforms a built-in spring or a bending beam. The intensity of this deformation then gives information about your weight \u2013\u00a0or, more precisely, about your weight force \u2013 in the case of your bathroom scale. And with that information, it also answers the question of whether you can order a dessert or should start thinking about a diet!<\/p>\n

The \u201cCore\u201d of Bending Beams and Shear Beams<\/h2>\n
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The different design stages of force transducers in weighing technology: shear beam, bending beam, single-point and S force transducer.<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

How can you determine how far the measuring bodies of a bending beam or shear beam load cell deform? At this point, special strain gauges or thin-film sensors come into play. These are attached to or mounted in the measuring bodies. In the measurement process, they act as a mechanical intermediate stage.<\/p>\n

Example of strain gauges: These are glued to the measuring body. If the measuring body deforms, this is transferred to the strain gauges. These convert the elastic deformations proportionally into electrical signals. Such changes in resistance can be easily and very accurately measured: with a measurement accuracy of between 0.01% and 0.05% Fnom<\/sub>. The calibration is made in grams, kilograms, or tons.<\/p>\n

As an alternative to these glued foil strain gauges, there are force transducers with welded-in thin-film sensors. This is a technology that the WIKA Group excels in and for which, in the field of force measurement, is the only supplier on the market. The thin-film technology offers consistently high quality, an exact measurement directly in the force flow, very good temperature characteristics, and high long-term stability. With bending beams and shear beams, the standardized sensor is welded into the measuring element using a laser, which enables automated series production.<\/p>\n

Application Fields for Bending Beams and Shear Beams<\/h2>\n

Bending beams and shear beams are used in weighing technology to determine the weight of small and medium-size vessels, and are also frequently used in force measurement. The agricultural industry, for example, frequently uses load cells for weighing livestock, when dosing animal feedstock, in gravimetric level monitoring of vessels and silos, and for weighing straw or hay bales directly in the baling press.<\/p>\n

But beyond these fields of application, bending beams and shear beams can be used in a wide variety of other ways:<\/p>\n