It seems quite obvious that it is necessary to accurately measure all of the ingredients that must be mixed together to manufacture any formulation. What is not as obvious is the level of accuracy that must be attained. This, of course, is highly dependent on the material being formulated. Some types of mixtures are, by their nature, not very accurate and standard. This may be the case with agricultural products and animal feed mixtures. Others may need higher accuracy, but these levels may be easily achieved by a regular digital scale. Standard industrial scales can provide accuracy as good as 1/10 of 1%. Many chemicals, cleaning solutions, foods, and other mixtures easily fall within this range. This allows the typical bench scales to be used for smaller quantities, or floor scales, platform scales or drum scales to be used for larger batches.

But this level of accuracy is not suitable for certain special formulations. Pharmaceuticals may need greater accuracy. Another field which typically requires extremely high precision weighing is the formulation of paints. While there are no safety issues here, the mixture of pigments and other ingredients must be exceedingly precise in order to satisfy the color sensitivity of the human eye. Even very small discrepancies between two batches of paint can be instantly identified when they are displayed side by side. This type of specialty weighing calls for ultra precision scales with accuracy ranges that are ten to twenty times better than regular industrial scales.

Arlyn Scales offers a range of ultra high precision digital scales known as SAW scales, or Surface Acoustic Wave scales. There is a range of bench scales with capacities ranging from 10 lb up to 100 lb. A second range of high capacity SAW scales range in capacity from 200 lb up to 500 lb. These may be used as bench scales, or alternatively as platform scales or drum scales. Paint mixing becomes a much more accurate process with this type of weighing instrument.

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.

The weight values that are shown on the indicator of an industrial scale are of critical importance to the scale operator. A bench scale may be weighing small packages. Or a parts counting scale may be determining the number of parts in a container. Larger drum scales and platform scales may be determining the amount of liquid in a tank or dewar or drum. And large floor scales will be weighing totes, pallets and large tanks. Besides reading the weight information, the operator of the electronic scale can also perform certain control functions, such as applying a tare weight, zeroing the weight on the scale, and choosing the units of measurement, such as pounds or kilos.

While it is required and expected that all digital scales provide all of this functionality locally, it is often desired to be able to also perform all of these functions from another location. In these cases, the most common requirement is to read weight data and control the scale from a local computer. Arlyn Scales provides optional Remote Indicator software that can be operated from any Windows based computer. The electronic scale must be connected to the computer. Typically, this connection would be an industrial standard RS-232 communication line. Alternatively, the USB (Universal Serial Bus) connection may be used.

Now, the computer operator can read weight data directly on the computer screen. They can also save this data in some other computer format, including spreadsheets and databases. Furthermore, the industrial scale can also be controlled directly from the computer. If the scale must be switched from the Net mode to the Gross mode, or the weight of a container must be subtracted, this may be accomplished from the computer keyboard.

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.

Depending on their application, floor scales may also be called pallet scales, drum scales, tank scales or cylinder scales. Forklifts can load pallets directly onto the pallet scale to determine the net or gross weight. The industrial scale design should be very heavy duty for this purpose, as an inadvertent close encounter between the forklift and the floor scale could result in unfortunate results from the perspective of the scale. Those pallet scales manufactured by Arlyn Scales incorporate stainless steel load sensors, specifically for this reason. They are much heavier duty than typical steel sensors.

Large liquid tanks may be permanently mounted on a large floor scale. Arlyn Scales provides electronic interfaces for these tank scales, allowing them to be easily monitored from a computer system. With the optional USB interface, the digital scale may be plugged directly into the USB port of a computer. Another solution is to include the optional Ethernet interface. When connected to a local area network, the electronic scale can be monitored and controlled by any computer on the same network. With specialty software, it is possible to extend these monitor functions to any Internet connected computer.

Some industrial situations require significant additional protection to maintain the level of safety. By the nature of the product itself, there may be serious safety concerns. For example, certain chemical manufacturing processes result in flammable or explosive fumes. That is also the case with producing certain types of paints, including automotive paints. Propellants and solvents are also difficult to handle.

In these hazardous areas, all of the equipment used must be certified as safe. Factory Mutual is one of the organizations that test equipment for safety. This equipment may include mixers, lighting, and industrial scales, among many others. Intrinsically safe scales must be designed so that they cannot cause a problem, even if they are used incorrectly. Arlyn Scales provides explosion proof scales for a wide variety of environment. These hazardous area scales are powered by a single, rechargeable C sized battery.

Arlyn Scales offers intrinsically safe scales for a variety of applications. They include cylinder scales, drum scales, platform scales and floor scales. For smaller capacity weighing requirements, there are also explosion proof bench scales. Besides being suitable for use in hazardous areas, these industrial scales are rugged, accurate and easy to use. They are designed with stainless steel load sensors. These will provide the accuracy required for these digital scales, and they will also provide protection against overload and shock load, as often occur in industrial environments.

One of the most common types of industrial scales is the bench scale. Generally, they are available in capacities ranging from about 10 pounds up to approximately 150 lbs. As a rule of thumb, the lighter the capacity of the scale, the higher the resolution of the display. For example, a ten pound capacity scale may be able to display increments as small as 0.001 lb. Whereas a one hundred pound scale has ten times the capacity, it may have only one tenth of the readability, resulting in display increments of 0.01 lb.

Although the readability of the bench scale is important, the overall accuracy is a defining value. Arlyn Scales produces bench scales that provide levels of accuracy that are suitable for industrial measurement. Many of the important design elements that result in good accuracy can be traced to the electronic sensors of the digital scale. These sensors must be very rugged, or they will be quickly damaged in an industrial environment. But they must also be very sensitive. Additional characteristics include the ability to produce correct results over a wide range of temperature. For these reasons, Arlyn Scales uses a special stainless steel alloy in the production of their weight sensors. Additional electronics are built into the sensor to detect the ambient temperature of the bench scale, and to adjust the electronic output of the sensor to compensate for temperature variations.

Of course, the bench scale must also include accurate digitizing circuitry to convert the sensor output into a digital value for the display. These circuits must react quickly to any change in weight on the scale platform, while also filtering out the results of air movement and vibration.

Millions of drums are filled with thousands of different types of materials. Almost every industry uses 55 gallon drums to store and transport liquids, slurries and powders. This includes the food industry for storage of ingredients and finished products. The pharmaceutical industry uses drums of materials throughout their operations. Almost any commercial or industrial facility can store cleaning materials, waxes and other products in these drums. Inks and varnishes are available in drums for the printing industry. Of course the chemical industry is a prime producer and consumer of materials in drums.

All of the drums must at some time, of course, be filled. An operator at the filling location may simply use a valve to fill the drum for a fixed period of time. This may not be very accurate, as the material may flow differently at different temperatures and under different conditions. It may be filled by sight, as the operator may be able to see when the level in the drum is reaching the appropriate mark.

A drum scale is an excellent method of monitoring the amount of material that has been fed into the drum. Arlyn Scales provides high quality units that are manufactured to resist the types of abuse that may occur when forklifts or other drum handling equipment is used to load and unload these drums. Stainless steel load cells are used exclusively to prevent damage. The amount of material in the drum can be easily seen on the large digital display.

A programmable feature is offered to allow the user to determine the proper full weight of the drum. Electronic outputs can be used to automatically turn the filling device, such as a valve, pump, or motor, on and off at the correct weight. Often, more than one target weight can be chosen. The first would be used for a rapid fill. The second can control a trickle feed to bring the drum to the exact correct level.