Because these systems are designed to handle high capacity loads, they are ideal for several types of weighing and measuring uses. Their versatility is great for force measurements, lifting and, of course, weighing functions. This will allow any user to complete a full run of measurement tests with ease.

This type of crane scale is available in many different weight capacity levels. The smallest is up to 2,500 pounds or 1,000 kilograms. The middle capacity is up to 5,000 pounds or 2,000 kilograms. The highest capacity is 10,000 pounds or 4,000 kilograms. The diversity allows the user to pick the correct crane scale for the job.

The scale is designed with a high capacity weight hook. This hooks swivels to make it easier to make it easier for the user to weigh the object. The hook also offers a closure so that the object is secure while it is being weighed. While the hook enclosure is secure on the object, the user can step back and allow for a no hands weigh.

Wireless crane scales are normally built with a very sturdy sensor which is made out of stainless steel for greater integrity. The remainder of the crane weighing system is also ruggedly durable, with a normal operating temperature that ranges from 14 degrees to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

Rechargeable batteries operate the scale mechanism. Internal parts that move have been taken out of the design in the hopes of ensuring a maintenance free scale. Wireless crane scales also provide the user a very high rate of accuracy. Its high weight resolution is up to 0.5lbs. It can provide measurements in pounds, kilos, grams, ounces and more. It will provide and overload warning message when it reaches 102% of its scale’s capacity.

Wireless crane scales also feature a user friendly user interface. They offer easy pushbutton functionality for automatic control. A digital display screen allows the user to easily see what the weight is. There is no more need to strain to see the measurement on a traditional weights measurement system. Not only does this type of scale show the total weight on its digital screen, it also allows for the information that it collects to be transmitted wirelessly to its user.

Because the measurements are going from computer to computer, there is not any room for human error. Numbers will not be transposed, dropped or misread. The system will also allow the user to stand a comfortable distance away from the object being weighed and measured. Radio data transmission from scale to hand held device easily reaches 60 yards. Most handheld devices are equipped with error detection programming so that the user is sure to get the correct information.

In an age where constant email checking is becoming a necessity, Wi-Fi is all the rage. Besides being important in the home and the office, it is found in airports, at train stations, and on moving buses. Now, it is also found in industrial scales.

A few higher-quality electronic scale manufacturers, such as Arlyn Scales, are now providing wi-fi connectivity as an option in much of their industrial scale lines. Previous to wireless, there were several methods for linking digital platform scales, bench scales, and floor scales to computers. RS-232 allows one scale to be linked to a computer. RS-485 allows several electronic scales at a time to be linked to a computer. For both of these protocols, RS-232 and RS-485 to USB converters are available. In these cases, the computer linkage can be used to store precise digital weight information in databases and spreadsheets.

More recently, Ethernet connectivity has become a common protocol for connecting digital scales into a Local Area Network. Besides allowing an industrial scale to be controlled and monitored from any computer on the network, this method also allows access to a scale controller from anywhere in the world, over the internet. Arlyn Scales even provides Remote Indicator software with its network electronic scales, which can read scale information on any computer with internet access.

RS-232, RS-485, and Ethernet all pose one typical difficulty-they require cabling. Often, an industrial scale may be found on a factory work floor that is several hundred feet away from a monitoring room or office. Particularly with RS-232 and RS-485, cabling becomes very expensive. Ethernet is much more commonly found built into many modern buildings for the purpose of having a Local Access Network, so very often, a building does not have to be retrofitted. Wireless connectivity, however, has the same benefits as Ethernet, when built into industrial scales, without requiring the cabling. Electronic scales can still be accessed from any computer on the network as well as from any computer in the world using the Remote Indicator software.

Recycling programs have become widespread in many industries for several different reasons. Economically, it is extremely viable for companies to sell any unused materials, including steel, iron, glass, plastic, rubber, wood, paper, and precious metals, to recycling companies. Environmentally, any products that are reused rather than placed in landfills help protect valuable land and nature. Legally, it is becoming more and more common for states and municipalities to pass legislation required industrial entities to create these recycling programs.

When recycled products are brought to recycling plants, these plants must first sort out the different products, and then must weigh them in order to determine how much to pay the donator. Digital platform scales are ideal for weighing this recycled material. These digital scales usually have a capacity of about 1000 pounds, which is a reasonable capacity for the expected loads in a recycling plant. They can range in sizes. Arlyn Scales platform scales are offered in a 20″x27″ size for smaller packages of recycled material, a 36″x36″ size for larger boxes, and a 48″x48″ size for large loads. In addition, these scales are only 1 7/8″ high which make for easy loading and unloading.

Recycling plants may have a corrosive environment that can damage the electrical platform scales. Corrosion resistant scales are beneficial. Therefore, it is often necessary to make the scale components out of materials that won’t corrode. High quality scale manufacturers, like Arlyn Scales, make their load cells out of a special stainless steel alloy. While this alloy is more difficult to machine than steel or aluminum, which is found in lower-quality scales, it is much more resistant to corrosive materials. In addition, stainless steel load cells are more resistant to bending that occurs when they are exposed to heavy shock loads. In recycling plants, where forklifts are often used to place heavy loads on the industrial scale, this extra strength is extremely important.

Industrial scales are often subject to very harsh conditions. A cylinder scale may have to support a 250 pound tilted liquid gas cylinder as it is being loaded on and off. A platform scale may be subject to high shock loads as large pallets are placed on it by a forklift. Parts counting scales may also have to support these shock loads if a large batch of parts are placed on it at one time.

The most important component of any electronic scale is the transducer, which senses force, and outputs an electronic signal. Most often, the transducer is a strain gauge load cell. When force from an object acts on the load cell, it bends in a very controlled manner. When the object is removed, the load cell unbends back to its original position, much like a spring. A strain gauge, a type of electrical resistor, is placed on the load cell. As the load cell bends under the weight of an object, the resistance of the strain gauge changes. The weight of the object is proportional to the change in resistance of the strain gauge, which is affected by the amount of bending of the load cell.

Many industrial scale manufacturers choose to use aluminum alloy load cells in their scales since it is relatively cheap and it is very easy to machine. However, these aluminum load cells are very easy to damage. A shock load may bend the aluminum so much that it will not be able to spring back to its original position. If this happens, the electronic scale is no longer usable. Other manufacturers used nickel-plated steel load cells. However, these devices are susceptible to corrosion. High-quality industrial scale manufacturers, like Arlyn Scales, often choose to use a 17-4 stainless steel alloy. Load cells made from this material are very difficult to damage, and therefore, can sustain larger shock loads and can last longer.

Wherever special chemicals, liquids, gases or cryogenic materials are used within an industrial process, there are large cylinders and dewars that are required to hold these materials. Many manufacturing facilities can house quantities of these types of containers. Others may only have one or two, but they may be critical to their operations.

Both the larger and smaller operations can run into significant problems if the materials become depleted. Therefore it is important to keep track of the amount of remaining material. Different types of instruments may be used for this purpose. In some cases, a liquid level tube will be sufficient. In other cases, a float device may be able to indicate the height of the contents within the container. But the most accurate and reliable method is to weigh the container and the contents.

Large floor scales are available for this purpose. These industrial scales are produced in a wide variety of different sizes. There is even one company, Arlyn Scales, that will manufacture a custom scale to any size required. Electronic scales display the weight of the contents on a digital indicator, which usually has the ability to subtract the tare weight of the container. Some digital scales also provide the ability to transfer these weight values into a computer system where they may be recorded for data analysis purposes.

The materials that are being weighed may have different corrosive characteristics. Arlyn Scales offers electronic scales from a variety of different materials. Whereas painted steel is usually the industry standard for floor scales, they coat the scale with a special protective epoxy. For more severe environments, they offer floor scales made from aluminum or even stainless steel. In all of these cases, the actual weight sensor is made from a high grade alloy of stainless steel. These provide years of trouble free use.

The most important goal in commercial aviation is the safety of passengers and crew. Tremendous efforts are made to assure that aircraft are built safely. Critical functions are provided with redundancy, to avoid disaster when there is some mechanical failure. Engines are designed to work well beyond their rated specifications, both in terms of power and environment. Navigation devices provide a variety of fail safe functions, allowing pilots to obtain necessary flight information.

Of course, any aircraft is designed for a specific capacity. It should never be loaded beyond this point. This includes the weight of passengers, luggage and fuel. Larger aircraft are typically limited by the number of passenger seats. Statistical data provides the average weight of a single passenger and their luggage. The correct amount of fuel needed can then be calculated. But statistical data becomes in issue for much smaller aircraft. If there are only six passenger seats, it is always possible that each of the passengers, and the pilot, may be considerably lighter than average. This would allow the plane to carry more cargo, or require less fuel. On the other hand, they may be much heavier than average. This could result in an exceedingly dangerous situation where the plane was carrying more than it was designed for.

Industrial scales, such as those provided by Arlyn Scales, are being pressed into service to obtain actual accurate weights of the passengers, luggage and crew. These platform scales provide resolution as high as 1/10 of a pound. The electronic scales may transmit their data to a computer system for totals and record purposes. These digital scales are light in weight, but very rugged. It is easy to move the platform scale to a loading area, and then move it back to the cargo area, if necessary. Industrial scales can become a critical tool in the efforts to maintain the highest levels of safety.

All types of liquids, powders, pellets, slurries and other materials are handled in a wide variety of different types of cans, buckets, pails, drums, tanks and other types of containers. Traditionally, these have been filled by hand. Liquids are often dispensed by a manually operated pump or gravity fed valve. Other types of materials may also be gravity fed, or filled by use of a conveyor or other type of device. In all of these cases, the accuracy of filling is dependent on the operator. Of course, it is also labor intensive, as the operator is needed at all times to monitor the filling process.

Industrial scales are perfect for monitoring the filling process. A bench scale is used to keep track of the weight during the filling process for smaller sized cans, pails and other containers. A drum scale will serve this purpose for drums and small tanks, whereas a platform scale or floor scale can handle larger dewars and larger tanks. While this will solve the accuracy issue, it still requires the filling operator to read the scale and control the filling process.

Arlyn Scales offers a programmable set-point controller for their entire line of bench scales, drum scales, platform scales and floor scales. This allows the filling operator to program the desired weight into the industrial scale. Electrical signals from the scale will control the filling device, shutting it off when the target weight is reached. While this minimizes the efforts required of the fill operator, there may still be some inaccuracies caused by latent delay in turning off pumps, and valves, and the material remaining in fill pipes or tubes.  This controller permits a second target value to be programmed, which can set the filling into a much slower trickle feed. Generally, this will be sufficient to obtain the desired target weights.

An industrial scale is a wonderful instrument for determining the weight of an item. Bench scales accurately weigh small items. Depending on the capacity of the digital scale, the readability of the weight can be as small as 0.0001 lb. Platform scales weigh larger packages and drums up to 1000 lb, whereas floor scales and pallet scales can accepts loads up to 20,000 lb. The accuracy of the electronic scale is dependent on the type of technology used. High quality industrial strain gage scales have an accuracy range of approximately 1/10 of 1%. If greater accuracy is required, alternate ultra precision scales, such as Arlyn Scales Surface Acoustic Wave technology can provide ten or even twenty times better accuracy.

But even an industrial scale with the best accuracy obtainable will not be of value within an industrial process if the user chooses not to use it because it is too difficult. Even if the electronic scale is being used, if the reading cannot be easily read, it is likely that inaccurate results will be obtained. Gross errors will occur if the front panel controls are confusing, potentially resulting in readings of kilograms where pounds are expected.

Good design practices can combine ease of use with excellent accuracy. For example, Arlyn Scales provides a combination of clearly marked front panel controls with a graphics, menu driven digital display. The user is guided through weighing operations by menu prompts which automatically scroll to the next operation. Furthermore, the very low profile of the industrial scales assist the scale operator in placing objects onto and off of the industrial scale platform. High quality stainless steel load cells protect the scale from damage caused by dropping items onto the scale platform, in addition to providing many years of trouble free use.

But not all industrial applications are created equally. Just being tough will be sufficient for most situations. But certain uses require an electronic scale to be able to withstand harsh chemical environments. One of the most common of these is found in municipal water treatment facilities, both for the municipal water supply itself, and for the treatment of waste water. A wide variety of very corrosive materials are metered in very small amounts into the treatment process. The drum scales that hold these drums must not get damaged by chemical spills or even the vapor from these chemicals. Floor scales that are used to hold tanks or totes must be similarly protected.

Arlyn Scales offers cylinder scales, platform scales and floor scales with stainless steel construction and a unique coating for excellent protection. The coating on these industrial scales is comprised of a special anti corrosive epoxy. Even the best coatings will only protect the electronic scale if it has not been scratched or abraded. Ultra hard garnet particles are mixed into the epoxy to protect the scale platform from wear.

But often, the data must be used at some other location or at some other time. The weight of a package to be shipped may need to be automatically entered into a parcel manifest. Or a label may need to be printed. A record in a database may need to be kept of the number of packages filled by the parts counting scale. The contents in the drum on the drum scale may need to be monitored from a remote location. The doctor may need to keep records of the patients weight for each visit.

An Internet connection is an ideal means for performing all of these functions. Arlyn Scales offers this as an option for all of their industrial scales. This connection may be used specifically within an individual facility. Other computers on the local area network may be given access to any or all of the connected electronic scales. Or, with the proper software, these Arlyn Scales may be viewed, and controlled from any device that has Internet connectivity. This is particularly suitable for larger organizations that may need to collect data from a number of different facilities. It is also especially useful in those situation where there are mandated documentation requirements, as the data can be sent to the appropriate database files.