WIKA has been an internationally recognised partner for all measurement tasks for most decades. The product portfolio includes pressure, temperature, force and level measurement, together with flow measurement, calibration and SF6 gas solutions. In the following article, we would like to have 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 is the highest priority in 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, alternatively, uncontrolled machine movements are prevented. This can help you work safely, and completely harmlessly, close to and with machinery. In production lines, for example, the machinery is prevented from pulling, pushing or pressing unchecked, and thereby destroying both components and itself. Another example is port logistics, for which WIKA supplies a globally unique, certified system.
Added value: Safe working environment
Reason 2: Ensuring system stability and production safety
Just collecting data isn’t enough. The correct measured values are also required to have the ability to monitor processes seamlessly. Using force measurement in linear drives, for instance, thus improves process control and also 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. An essential point here is to lessen running costs. The higher the caliber of the measured data, the better the data analysis. The look of a tool change is thus more precise, so that changing it too early 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 thus the maximisation of profit, have been mentioned in the previous section. Only through the optimal 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 one of these, the contact force of the electrodes could be precisely monitored through the use of tension/compression force transducers. In this manner, optimum quality is permanently guaranteed and, at the same time, wear is minimised. Higher profits can also be achieved through saving time, for instance, when containers are weighed ?on pressure gauge ?.
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 a very good exemplory case of improving product quality along with saving materials. Force measurement provides the right data for the most accurate process control. Because of this, machine tool wear is only minimal. Furthermore, force measurement offers many other areas of application. For example, spreading fertiliser where this step is adapted to the soil conditions is one way to save material. This also protects the environment. Furthermore, it is advantageous to know the (supporting) forces acting on mobile cranes. The automobile?s centre of gravity can thus be calculated exactly, which means that the safety margin can be reduced. In this case, loads could be lifted further, yet accidents, e.g. due to slipping or tipping, could be avoided.
Added value: Lowering costs
Reason 5: Ensuring quality
Finally, using force measurement 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. On the other hand, by recording the values, live in addition to saving them for later use, conclusions could be drawn for specific batches. In addition, the most precise force measuring instruments meet up with the highest requirements, for instance, in materials testing machinery or in medical engineering. Incidentally, WIKA also 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 are available 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? can be available. Would you like to buy force transducers? Inside our WIKA online shop you?ll find a few of our standard versions. Assuming you have any questions about force measurement, please ask your contact person.
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The ELMS1 overload protection saves lives
Force measurement in linear drives