WIKA has been an internationally recognised partner for several measurement tasks for most decades. The product portfolio includes pressure, temperature, force and level measurement, along with flow measurement, calibration and SF6 gas solutions. In the following article, we wish to take a closer look at the measured variable of force. These five reasons show why force measurement is of particular importance.
Reason 1: Protection of people and machinery
Protecting folks from harm may be the highest priority in virtually any workplace. Likewise, the machinery should remain undamaged so that you can minimise downtime and repairs. In this context, force measurement ensures a safe working environment, especially through overload protection. In cranes, for example, this prevents heavy loads from falling. With construction machinery and robots, on the other hand, uncontrolled machine movements are prevented. This can help you work safely, and completely harmlessly, next to sufficient reason for machinery. In production lines, for instance, the machinery is prevented from pulling, pushing or pressing unchecked, and thereby destroying both components and itself. Another example is port logistics, that WIKA supplies a globally unique, certified system.
Added value: Safe working environment
Reason 2: Ensuring system stability and production safety
Just collecting data is not enough. The right measured values may also be required to have the ability to monitor processes seamlessly. Using force measurement in linear drives, for instance, thus improves process control in addition to automation, while simultaneously ensuring quality. Force measurement also provides the right data for the correct functioning of brakes and drives, conveyors, presses and weighing systems. A crucial point here is to reduce running costs. The bigger the quality of the measured data, the better the data analysis. The planning of an instrument change is thus more precise, in order that changing it prematurily . doesn?t cause increased costs nor does unplanned maintenance cause longer downtimes. The savings in consequential costs alone pay for it many times over.
Added value: Full process control
Reason 3: Optimisation of production conditions
The savings potential, and therefore the maximisation of profit, have been mentioned in the last section. Only through the optimal usage of materials and machinery can margins be increased. A key issue in manufacturing plants is machine availability. Besides reducing downtime, the focus is on minimising maintenance costs. A good example of this are welding tongs. With these, the contact force of the electrodes can be precisely monitored through the use of tension/compression force transducers. In this way, optimum quality is permanently guaranteed and, as well, wear is minimised. Higher profits can even be achieved through saving time, for example, when containers are weighed ?on the fly?.
Added value: Maximum profits
Reason 4: Improving product quality and saving materials
The utilization of force measurement in welding tongs ? as explained in the section above ? is a very good exemplory case of improving product quality and also saving materials. Force measurement provides the right data for probably the most accurate process control. Consequently, machine tool wear is minimal. In addition, force measurement offers a great many other areas of application. For instance, spreading fertiliser where this step is adapted to the soil conditions is one way to save material. This protects the environment. Furthermore, it is advantageous to know the (supporting) forces functioning on mobile cranes. The automobile?s centre of gravity can thus be calculated exactly, which means that the safety margin could be reduced. In cases like this, loads can be lifted further, yet accidents, e.g. due to slipping or tipping, can be avoided.
Added Cripple : Lowering costs
Reason 5: Ensuring quality
Finally, using force measurement also offers many advantages in your community of quality assurance, which includes already been touched upon. On the main one hand, the machinery can be optimally controlled by registering the force. However, by recording the values, live along with saving them for later use, conclusions could be drawn for specific batches. Furthermore, probably the most precise force measuring instruments meet up with the highest requirements, for instance, in materials testing machinery or in medical engineering. Incidentally, WIKA offers a DAkkS-accredited calibration service for force measuring instruments.
Added value: Exact measured values
Note
Further details on our portfolio of force measuring instruments can be found on the WIKA website. There you will also find info on our calibration service for force measuring instruments. In addition, our brochure on force measurement: ?Force measurement is really a matter of trust? can be available. Do you want to buy force transducers? Inside our WIKA online store you?ll find some of our standard versions. Should you have any questions about force measurement, please ask your contact person.
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Force measurement in linear drives