2025-07-28
Do you know what a weighing sensor is
What is a weighing sensor?
A weighing sensor - sometimes referred to as a "force", "weighing" or "weight" unit - is a sensor that converts the load acting on it into a measurable (analog or digital) output. Output is proportional to the applied force or load. Next, we will introduce how to use weighing sensors and different types of weighing sensors for force measurement.
The conversion is achieved through the physical deformation of the strain gauge, which is combined with the weighing sensor structure. The strain gauge is connected to a Wheatstone bridge circuit with four strain gauges (full bridge), two instruments (half bridge), or one instrument (quarter bridge). Using half bridge and quarter bridge, the bridge is completed using a precision monitor.
Configure additional bondable resistors in the bridge circuit to compensate for the impact of temperature on zero or no-load signals and sensitivity (due to the output caused by the applied load, plus another resistor to render the bridge ineffective when unloaded).
The completed Wheatstone bridge requires a stable DC power supply to excite the circuit. This is usually 5VDC or 10Vdc, but can be any value from 1VDC to 18Vdc.
When stress is applied to the adhesive strain gauge, a change in resistance occurs, causing the Wheatstone bridge to become unbalanced. This provides an output signal that is linearly proportional to the stress value. The value of this signal is also proportional to the excitation voltage, typically a few millivolts.
Output options for weighing sensors
These low-level millivolt signals are compatible with various customized strain gauge instruments. These instruments include digital displays, analog and digital amplifiers. A typical analog amplifier will generate higher levels of voltage (0-5VDC, 0-10VDC) or current (0-20mA, 4-20mA) for subsequent processing.
Digital amplifiers typically provide RS232, RS422, or RS485 outputs using the universal ASCII protocol or a range of more specialized industry-specific protocols developed, such as Modbus. The size of both analog and digital instruments has been reduced (miniaturized) enough to allow items to be installed inside the body of weighing or force sensors.
The design of weighing sensors is distinguished by the type of output signal they generate (pneumatic, hydraulic, or electrical) or by the method they detect loads or weights (bending, shearing, compression, tension, etc.).
To meet various purposes in research and industrial applications, weighing sensors can take on multiple forms. However, most designs today use strain gauges as sensing elements, using foils or semiconductors.
The foil gauge provides the widest range of weighing sensor design options, making it often the most commonly used. The strain gauge pattern provides measurements of tensile, compressive, and shear forces.
Semiconductor strain gauges have a smaller mode range, but have smaller advantages and provide a large scale factor, resulting in greater output under the same given stress. Due to these characteristics, they tend to be used in the design of miniature weighing sensors. Prove that the ring is used for load measurement, using calibrated metal rings, and its motion is measured using precision displacement sensors.
Working principle of Xi'an weighing sensor
Strain gauges convert the load acting on them into electrical signals. The measuring instrument itself is bonded to the beam or structural component, and when force is applied, the beam or structural component deforms. In most cases, four strain gauges are used to achieve maximum sensitivity and temperature compensation. Two instruments are usually in a stretched state and two in a compressed state, and are wired through compensation adjustment. When a load is applied, strain will cause the resistance of the load to change proportionally to the load. As strain gauge versions continue to improve their accuracy while reducing unit costs, other weighing sensors are becoming increasingly unpopular.
Early weighing sensor designs simply used strain gauges to measure direct stress, which was introduced into metal components when subjected to tensile or compressive forces.
The curved beam design uses strain gauges to monitor the stress in the sensing element when subjected to bending forces. Recently, the measurement of shear stress has been adopted as a more effective load determination method, as it relies less on the direction of force applied to the load sensor.
Other types of weighing sensors include hydraulic (or hydrostatic), pneumatic, piezoelectric, and vibrating wire weighing sensors.