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Low Profile Load cell Engineered For Success

ANYLOAD | Low Profile Load Cell Engineered For Success
The Project
A few years ago, we received an inquiry from a scale company wondering if we had an interest in going above and beyond what the market was offering in a low profile, high capacity vessel, hopper, tank weigh module that does not need assembly before installation. Download the PDF
The Challenges

The challenge consisted of a 50,000-pound capacity compression weigh module with a declared accuracy of 0.05 percent and the desired profile lower than 2.2 inches. This size would be about a quarter of what was common in a weigh module height of 8 inches. In the hopper and tank weighing sector of the process weighing industry, 0.1 percent is considered the high accuracy gold standard. Our Anyload engineers set out to improve the accuracy while remaining within the desired height constraint, or in this case, target. Shrinking a conventional weigh module envelope design was not going to cut it. The Anyload team first sampled a few existing competitive contenders and identified key vulnerable areas needing improvement. One competing product fulfilling the low-profile requirement had only achieved an accuracy of 0.3 percent; hence, short of the target. Another key issue was repeatability (because of movement) of the load cell due to temperature or loading conditions during the actual weighing.

The Results

Amid challenges and in line with our design philosophy focused on reliable products, we crafted our initial prototype, reimagining the load cell’s structure. Moving from a spherical washer to an internalized force loading area with a spherical load pin, we reinforced the cell’s base, enhancing reliability for washdown applications while preserving uplift protection at 50 percent capacity. Our design achieved better accuracy despite weight shifts or tilts up to three degrees, yet higher accuracy remained a challenge due to off-center load movements affecting repeatability.

 Addressing this, we revamped the load pin, introducing a convex dimple for a more focused load introduction area, resulting in significantly improved accuracy—0.05 percent versus the standard 0.1 percent. With capacities from 1,000 to 200,000 pounds in stock across our warehouses, our latest models optimize precision and height, even offering a top plate option for easier installation. Collaborative innovation drives us, and we’re committed to pioneering advancements in the industry. Patent pending in Europe and the USA, our engineering team remains dedicated to pushing boundaries.

Help Optimizing Water Efficiency In Stressed Climates

The Project
To reduce the environmental impact of commercial agriculture it’s important to look at the efficiency of water consumption and how that can improve the growing process. Agriculture is the largest consumer of water in the world today, but the efficiency rate of how that water is used is generally very low. Only a fraction of the total water usage is directly utilized for plant growth. The rest of it drains off or is lost through evaporation. When water is used effectively and responsibly, production quality and crop yield are positively affected. Increased water efficiency often provides benefits that go far beyond reduced water use. In an era where water consumption is rising and freshwater availability is increasingly limited—efficient water management in agriculture is essential to maintaining long-term sustainability for farmers as well as consumers.
The Goal

A leading agricultural technology university team is researching ways to optimize plant performance by measuring water consumption efficiently. Their findings are crucial for regions facing water stress. Renowned experts in plant stress physiology and soil and water science aim to ensure future food production despite climate challenges. Their goal is to develop resilient crop strains and processes to improve yields.

In a greenhouse with potted plants, the team uses cooled, humidified air to monitor individual plants’ water consumption continuously. Precise measurement is crucial, and they seek a sensitive system unaffected by temperature variations. This system aims to reduce costs, optimize nutrient delivery, and enhance plant productivity and stress detection, ultimately expediting plant screening.

The Challenges
To accurately track very minute changes in weight of individual samples over a long period of time continuously. The tare weight of the plant containers are approximately 30kg, while the changes to the weight from moisture fluctuations only vary by a few grams over many hours and days. Therefore, the load cell must account for creep over time, even by a few grams as such small changes could compromise entire datasets. This must all be performed in a green house environment where the temperature fluctuates dramatically between 59-104ºF (15 – 40ºc), and while the high humidity may threaten to compromise the body circuitry of the load cell over its service lifetime.
The Solution
Anyload’s 108TA OIML C5 load cells, with temperature compensation tailored specifically for the greenhouse climate to provide an even greater degree of accuracy than OIML standard C3 of 14-104ºF (-10-40ºc). Anyload is passionate about providing custom weighing solutions for any application. We are committed to delivering the best product for the job, eager to rise to any challenge.

Weighing a Production Platform

The Challenge
To Prepare a Gas Production Platform for Transport by Ship Across Ocean:The platform would be loaded on to a heavy lift ship at a seaport using dollies with dozens of rubber tires to move it. The rubber-tired dollies will need to distribute the weight over their total number. The heavy lift ship will have to add ballast to get the wide, open, after-deck down to the level of the load-out dock. Then, as the dollies roll the massive weight of the platform aboard, ballast water will have to be pumped, out of the ship, in an amount that equals the weight of that part of the platform that is already aboard. This is a delicate operation designed by specialized engineers who calculate the weight on the dollies, the weight of the volume of ballast water and the timing of the pumping that will maintain a level load-out between the pier and the ship.
The Project
The platform was actually built in two sections that would eventually be placed onto the legs on land. This is the kind of thing that engineers love and it is a fairly straightforward task. They need only get the weight of the platform and then calculate the amount of water to be removed from the ship as it rolls on board.But it is more complex than that. The platform had been built from plans that gave it about two dozen short legs that were designed to mate with a prepared site thousands of kilometers away in a different country. Rubber-tired dollies would support each of these stubby platform legs, but they did not have the platform’s weight equally distributed to each one of them.It was not a matter of simply weighing the whole structure and dividing by the number of legs. The bearing weight near each leg would have to be known to the engineers and this weight could only be accurately measured if each leg-area was lifted and weighted at the same time.
The Method
To lift the total platform as though on its legs all at the same time and get a weight of the pressure near each leg.A well designed and built load cells that could be placed between the hydraulic lifting jacks and the structural beams adjacent to the legs.Simple handles were affixed to each side for ease of manual lifting. Also on each disk load cell, there are two connectors, one each side of a junction box on the load cell body, each connector has one independent strain gage bridge. These strain gauges have been calibrated with the indicator individually, so in case of one load cell bridge failing on site, the second strain gage bridge will still provide the data.With the weight on each of the legs is determined, engineers responsible for the load-out to the heavy lift ship are able to determine the arrangement of the dollies and, most importantly, a schedule for the de-ballasting of the heavy lifts ship. The all-important information would also be used again at the other end of the voyage for the off load of the platform and when the individual legs would mate with the prepared site.
The Result
Anyload developed a unique load cell specifically for this project. The load cells are designed and built a series of circular disk load cells that could be placed between the hydraulic lifting jacks and the structural beams adjacent to the legs.It was a challenge to design the right load cell for this complex task. But it is the kind of challenge that is welcomed by the engineers at Anyload. Having been successfully completed, it is one more project in Anyload’s growing list of quality load cells for any application from milligrams to tons.

China's First Retractable Stadium Roof

The Project

In 2005, we were contracted by Enerpac to manufacture and supply 96 load pins for Nantong Stadium, China’s first retractable stadium roof located in the Nantong, Jiangsu, China. Completed in 2010, Nantong Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium that holds 32,244 spectators and is known for being the world’s first stadium in which the propulsion and stabilisation of the moveable parts take place hydraulically

Load Cell Features

• Materials: Stainless steel and alloy steel
• Capacities supplied: 10t and 150t
• Safe Overload: 150%
• Breaking Overload: 400%

What We Provided

• 88 Stainless Steel 10t Load Pins
• 12 Alloy Steel 150t Load Pins

Split Type Donut Load Cell

Split donut load cell
Application

Designed to measure and monitor the tension force of an anchor that reinforces the stability of slopes for the prevention of landslides

Installation

Each load cell half was designed with an individual strain gage and individual cable. When installed, the cable from each of the load cell halves are connected with a junction box.

Accuracy Results
The overall accuracy level achieved was 3% with a 0.5% difference in sensitivity when the load cell was rotated and used in different positions.
• Material: Alloy steel
• Capacity: 50t
• Safe Overload: 150%
• Breaking Overload: 300%
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