Scale Systems for Mixing Applications
There are many factors in deciding how to setup your production processes when needing to weigh the tanks and vessels that also have some type of mixing, blending or mechanical agitation systems to combine materials together.
This system has a conical tank that spins around the middle of the axis much like a washing machine to tumble dry powdered ingredients together.
When choosing load sensors or loadcells for your tank you have to consider a few different factors to ensure that the system will perform accurately for your production team and ensure minimal down time from maintenance.
Empty weight of the tank, hopper, vessel itself.
We call this the "dead load" of the system.
Typically this information can be found from the tank manufacturer or at the very least if it is a new installation you will have an approximate weight designated on the shipping documents that would get us close to actual.
As weighing experts we need to know the entire weight of the process that will be supported by the load sensors. There is a delicate balance in providing enough capacity that the cells can hold up to the entire weight of the system yet be sensitive enough to provide the resolution or "count by" increments on the weight display to accurate formulate your products.
Expected heaviest batch weight of the ingredients for your products
Are you mixing rock and concrete? Or egg whites and sugar?
Does your business require a large range between these different products, it might be best to setup a completely different weighing tank system for one of your products because your largest and heaviest product would require a tank too big to accurately formulate your smallest and most delicate products.
Expected dynamic forces from the agitation of the ingredients on the entire vessel
Mixing something like bread dough industrially is a very intense and dynamic process requiring huge electric motors and bar type agitators.
The load sensors must be properly isolated from these forces to ensure that they are not overloaded or side loaded which would prematurely fatigue the load sensors causing additional downtime and repair costs.
Expected center of gravity of the vessel
Here you can see the drive motor for this mixing tank is set off to the side of the system hanging far outside of the center of the tank.
This motor is not very large compared to the entire tank assembly so it is not a factor in this application, but this type of offset loading should be checked to ensure that the loading is relatively equal across the 4 loadcells.
Ensure you have adequate calibration loading points
One of the biggest time factors and subsequently cost factors when assisting our customers with tank and hopper calibrations is that it can be VERY difficult to properly load weights onto the tanks. There are very few flat spots to load hand weights, there are usually quite a number of structures and things in the way around the tanks to have good access to the device.
Here we were able to work with our customer so that they could setup these steel arms that mounted to the mixing vessel structure that allowed us to mount our chain hoists and lift up 4,000 pounds of certified test weights quickly and easily. Without doing this, there was really way to get any test weights on the tank at all due to the design.
Free onsite evaluations!
Please contact us to setup a free appointment to meet with your production and engineering teams to determine the right weighing system for your application.
We are always happy to help get your process designed and setup properly for the lowest total cost of ownership for your business.