Maintenance, Test & Measurement, Calibration


Loadcells for heavy industrial use

October 2003 Maintenance, Test & Measurement, Calibration

Massamatic specialises in heavy industrial weighing and has a range of products to suit such applications. The company manufactures its own electronics in South Africa and it is all fully approved by the SABS, resulting in it being a preferred supplier to Iscor vanderBijl works, Iscor Newcastle and Iscor Saldanha Steel. Massamatic also manufactures a range of weighbridges used in the agriculture and mining industry. The loadcells are imported from HBM Germany and are of the highest quality available at present. HBM also manufactures a range of digital loadcells for all applications.

Projects undertaken by Massamatic include the supply of steel and concrete weighing bridges for companies like PPC, Iscor Saldanha, Foskor. 80, 180, 80/100-ton capacity, respectively. The company has also involved itself on many silos and hoppers, with load capacities up to 500 tons - in this example at PPC Saldanha, the 39 m high silo stood on three x 200 ton loadcells.

The range of HBM loadcells extend from 1 kg aluminium units to 470-ton stainless steel units. The industrial range of loadcells ranging from 220 kg up to 470 tons is manufactured from high-grade stainless steel. The rocker pin designs, ranging from 20 to 200 tons, which incorporate their own 'large ball' for the movement of weighbridge decks requires very low maintenance and is self restoring, which alleviates a lot of problems as found in standard weighbridges and platforms with regard to movement and maintenance.

The ring torsion type ranges from 1 ton-470 ton, and is suitable for the high accuracy range and very high load ranges. Often preferred for silo and tank weighing as it exhibits high stability with little movement during operation. The bending beam design varies from 220 kg to 10 ton in stainless steel and is often the option chosen for use with hoppers.

HBM's range of digital loadcells offer RS485 connectivity allowing the user to read more than one device on a PC or PLC using custom software. The set-up and calibration software is offered free of charge to the customers.

The most recent addition to this range is a loadcell called FIT which is digital and ranges from 5 to 75 kg for check weighing, grading and dosing. The loadcell can be placed on a bus (up to 99 devices) and then monitored or controlled from a PLC. The loadcell does 600 measurements per second and can do all the decision-making and I/O controls for a batching scale and for dosing of products and bottles/drums. Its makers report that these features are making this device very popular in Europe.



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