University of Engineering and

Technology Taxila
Mechanical Engineering Department
Lecture No: 10

Course Title: Measurement and

Instrumentation
(ME-314)
Tutor: Khalid Masood Khan

Measurement of Force
Force tends to change state of a
body being
either at rest or in motion
Quantitatively, force is equal to
the rate of
change of momentum of the body
Force is defined from the
fundamental

Load Cells
The term is used to describe a
transducer that
generates a signal as a result of an
applied
force, usually along a particular
direction
These transducers often consist of an
elastic member and a deflection
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 These deflection sensors may

employ
changes in capacitance,
resistance, or the
piezoelectric effect to sense
deflection

Categories of Load Cells

Strain Gauge Load Cells
Proving Ring
Piezoelectric Load Cells
Load cells may be characterized as beamtype
load cells, proving, or columnar-type
designs
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Strain Gauge Load Cells

These are designed by using a
linearly
elastic member instrumented with
strain
gauges
The shape of the linearly elastic
member
should meet the following
requirements

 It should provide an appropriate

range of
force measuring capability with
necessary
accuracy
It should provide sensitivity to forces
in a
particular direction
It should have low sensitivity to
force

Types of Strain Gauge Load Cell

Bending Beam Load Cell
Shear Beam Load Cell
Within the elastic range, the bending
stresses are linearly related to applied loads

Bending Beam Load Cell

The sensing element functions as a
cantilever beam
Strain gauges are mounted on the
top and
the bottom of the beam to
measure normal
or bending stresses

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Shear Beam Load Cell

The beam cross-section is that of an
I-beam
Shear stress in the web is constant
In general, bending beam load cells
are less
costly because of their construction.
However,
shear beam load cells have several
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Proving Ring
A ring type load cell can be employed
as a local
force standard
Such a ring-type load cell is often
employed in
the calibration of materials testing
machines
because of the high degree of
precision and

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 If the sensor is approximated as a

circular
right cylinder, the relationship
between
applied force and deflection is
given by

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 The application of proving ring

involves
measuring the deflection of the
proving
ring in the direction of the
applied force
Typical methods for this
displacement
measurement include
displacement
transducers, which measure

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Piezoelectric Load Cells

Piezoelectric materials are
characterized by
their ability to develop a charge
when subject
to a mechanical strain
The most common piezoelectric
material is a
single crystal quartz

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 The basic principle of transduction,

which
occurs in a piezoelectric element,
may best
be thought of as a charge
generator and a
capacitor
The frequency response of
piezoelectric
transducers is very high, since the
frequency

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 The modulus of elasticity of

quartz is
approximately 85 GPa, yielding
load cells
with typical static sensitivities
ranging
from 0.05 to 10mV/N, and
frequency
response up to 15000 Hz.
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Section-B/28th November 2013

Assignment:
Measurement of flow velocity
5th Dec 2013

QUIZ TAKEN(#2)

(Piezoelectric load cell designDraw simple figure and identify

different components )

ASSIGNMENT COLLECTED
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