Factors that can affect your Truck Scales' Weighing Accuracy

Your truck scale is the heart of your business. Raw materials arrive and finished products get sold, so having an accurate and dependable weighing system is essential to the success of your operation. At Ancoma Scales, our quality equipment, commitment to individualized service, and maintenance by our certified technicians can keep your business operational today and in future.

Truck scales in Alberta are long-term investments that, with reasonable care, should easily provide years of dependable service. There are a variety of options in the truck scale market today, however, to ensure that your weighing system performs accurately, you need to choose components suited to your application and take steps to control environmental and other forces acting on the system.

Four Factors Greatly affecting your Weighing Accuracy

There are four factors that greatly affect the accuracy of your weighing system. Taking advantage of the expertise of weighing equipment suppliers can help you ‘weigh’ your options including where and how the system will be installed and what factors can affect its operation once it is operational.

The first factor is load cell accuracy. The load cell is the major weighing component of all electronic weight scales and a malfunctioning load cell will result in inaccurate weights. There are a number of performance parameters that you should be familiar with including nonlinearity, hysteresis, non-repeatability, creep, temperature effects, and response time need to be understood to optimize accuracy.

Next are the load factors. Poorly aligned and twisting loads can cause the load cells to interpret the force as weight and measure output changes inaccurately. Minimizing load factors requires correctly align each load at assembly, that the floor or structure under the load cells is strong enough to bear the weight of the vessel and its contents, and if necessary you can add cross bracing to the legs to strengthen the structure and preserve your weighing accuracy.

Environmental factors can affect the accuracy of your weighing system by adding more force to the applied load and load cells including wind loading, shock loading, vibration, large temperature changes, and pressure differentials. This includes keeping your scales clean on top and free of debris buildup under the scale.

The fourth factor is interference to the electrical signal that is processed by a weight controller, which then outputs the result as the measured weight. Moisture and condensation can create interference in the signals, as can wire resistance. Electromagnetic interference (EMI) or radio-frequency interference (RFI) can also cause the controller to register incorrect weight. EMI and RFI sources include lightning, portable two-way radios, large power lines, static electricity, solenoids, and electromechanical relays.

Accuracy means considering many factors, both mechanical and operational, when it comes to your weight scales in Alberta. Quality components suited to your application are critical so as a general rule, select load cells and a weight controller with accuracies ten times better than your desired system accuracy to accommodate future growth and additional needs.

If you have questions about your scale requirements or how Ancoma Scales’ products and services can keep your weight scale reading accurately, contact our experts at 1-800-661-2408 from anywhere in Alberta, or at 780-432-0205 in Edmonton today.