Platform Scales
Protection Against Impact & Kinetic Forces
In an ideal world all items being weighed would be placed gently on the scale, applying only the force of their weight vertically downwards. In practice this rarely happens and the load is often placed with considerable force and at an angle to the deck of the scale. This has a similar effect to a battering ram, ultimately causing damage to the scale and possibly its mountings through movement.
Another important consideration is the effect on the speed and accuracy of the weighing mechanism, which is achieved through the load cells on which the scale sits. A load cell will not measure accurately unless it is absolutely vertical. Any lateral movement will distort its measurement as well as taking longer to settle down, not to mention possible damage to the load cell.
It is critical that adequate protection is built into the scale to prevent this happening. By its nature a scale has to be "free floating" on its load cells in order to work, so any protection must not interfere with that.
In the 1980s Shering patented the IDE Restraint Post system. It is essentially a vertical solid stainless steel bar which is fixed at the base of the platform scale. A restraint arm fits round this bar with only 1mm clearance, which allows unhindered vertical movement but restricts lateral movement to only 1mm in any one direction. The restraint arm is fixed to the load cell, as shown below, and effectively takes the lateral shock forces from any load placed on the scale. The exact design of the Restraint Post system varies depending on the model of platform scale, but each design works on the same principle.
This solves the problems of potential damage, inaccurate measurement and, because the movement is so small, the scale settles very quickly and so maximises the throughput.
The IDE Restraint System is standard in all Shering Platform Scales except the Colt and Colt Junior. Having said that, all Shering platform scales incorporate overload end stops to prevent excessive vertical forces on the load cells. This could be from trying to weigh too heavy a load for that scale or from a load being dropped on a scale, with the resultant increased downward force.
These end stops will prevent any damage to the scale and its load cells.