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Getting Started with Load Cells
Introduction
Have you ever wanted to know the weight of something? How about
knowing the change in weight over time? Do you want your project to sense
the presence of something by measuring strain or a load on some surface.
If so, you're in the right place. This tutorial is here to help you get started in
the world of load cells and their variants.
One of many kinds of load cells.
Suggested readings:
Before jumping into load cells and all of their awesomeness, we suggest
you familiarize yourself with some basic concepts if you haven't already:
• Voltage, Current, Resistance, and Ohm's Law
• Series and Parallel Circuits
• Resistors
• Voltage Dividers
• How to Read a Schematic
Load Cell Basics
Types of Load Cells
A load cell is a physical element (or transducer if you want to be technical)
that can translate pressure (force) into an electrical signal.
So what does that mean? There are three main ways a load cell can
translate an applied force into a measurable reading.
Hydraulic Load Cells
Page 1 of 6
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Summary of Contents for sparkfun TAS606
- Page 1 Page 1 of 6 Getting Started with Load Cells Introduction Have you ever wanted to know the weight of something? How about knowing the change in weight over time? Do you want your project to sense the presence of something by measuring strain or a load on some surface. If so, you’re in the right place.
- Page 2 Page 2 of 6 Hydraulic load cells use a conventional piston and cylinder arrangement to convey a change in pressure by the movement of the piston and a diaphragm arrangement which produces a change in the pressure on a Bourdon tube connected with the load cells. Diagram of a Hydraulic Load Cell from Nikka’s Rocketry Pneumatic Load Cells Pneumatic load cells use air pressure applied to one end of a diaphragm,...
- Page 3 More in depth diagram of strain gauges on bar load cells when force is applied In this tutorial we will be focusing on strain gauge load cells like the ones SparkFun carries: Load Cell - 200kg, Disc Load Cell - 10kg, Straight Bar...
- Page 4 This is where an amplifier, such as the HX711 comes in handy. SparkFun’s HX711 Amplifier breakout board A good way of taking small changes in resistance and turning it into something more measurable is using a wheatstone bridge. A wheatstone...
- Page 5 Page 5 of 6 Bar load cell wheatstone bridge example From All About Circuits Combinator Basics Now that you have a load cell with a strain gauges hooked up to an amplifier, you can now measure force applied to your cell. For more information about how to hook up strain gauges, load cells, and amplifiers go to our hookup guide.
- Page 6 Load Cell Amplifier HX711 Breakout Hookup Guide J UNE 11 , 2015 A hookup guide for the HX711 load cell amplifier breakout board Can’t get enough about how load cells work? Check out this article for more in depth information. https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/getting-started-with-load-cells?_ga=1.228858844.193... 10/22/2015...
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