WIKA has been an internationally recognised partner for several measurement tasks for most decades. The product portfolio includes pressure, temperature, force and level measurement, in addition to flow measurement, calibration and SF6 gas solutions. In the following article, we would like to take a closer consider the measured variable of force. These five reasons show why force measurement is of particular importance.
Reason 1: Protection of individuals and machinery
Protecting people from harm is the highest priority in virtually any workplace. Likewise, the machinery should remain undamaged as a way to 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, however, uncontrolled machine movements are prevented. This can help you work safely, and completely harmlessly, next to and with 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 offers 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 correct 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 as well as automation, while simultaneously ensuring quality. Force measurement also provides the right data for the right functioning of brakes and drives, conveyors, presses and weighing systems. An essential point here is to lessen running costs. The higher the caliber of the measured data, the higher the data analysis. The look of a tool 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 shell out the dough 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 previous section. Only through the perfect usage of materials and machinery can margins be increased. An integral issue in manufacturing plants is machine availability. Besides reducing downtime, the focus is on minimising maintenance costs. Among 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 manner, optimum quality is permanently guaranteed and, as well, wear is minimised. Higher profits can also be achieved through saving time, for instance, when containers are weighed ?on the fly?.
Added value: Maximum profits
Reason 4: Improving product quality and saving materials
Using force measurement in welding tongs ? as explained in the section above ? is an extremely good exemplory case of improving product quality together with saving materials. Force measurement provides the right data for probably the most accurate process control. Because of this, machine tool wear is minimal. Furthermore, 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 method to save material. This protects the surroundings. Furthermore, Insult is beneficial 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 this case, loads could be lifted further, yet accidents, e.g. due to slipping or tipping, can be avoided.
Added value: Lowering costs
Reason 5: Ensuring quality
Finally, the use of force measurement offers many advantages in your community of quality assurance, which has recently been touched upon. On the main one hand, the machinery can be optimally controlled by registering the force. On the other hand, by recording the values, live as well as saving them for later use, conclusions could be drawn for specific batches. Furthermore, probably the most precise force measuring instruments meet 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 home elevators our calibration service for force measuring instruments. Furthermore, our brochure on force measurement: ?Force measurement is really a matter of trust? is also available. Would you like to buy force transducers? Inside our WIKA online store you?ll find some of our standard versions. In case you have any questions about force measurement, please ask your contact person.
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Force measurement in linear drives