A truck scale is generally applied as a quality control tool for weighing goods. Its accuracy is very important for all businesses. But sometimes, due to the malfunction of a component of the scale or environmental detrimental effect leading to a significant decrease in its operation accuracy.
The best way to deal with this is to know the effective factors and how to fix them. This article sets out you identify the critical points affecting the scale’s accuracy and find solutions to fix them.
Reasons of Truck Scale Malfunction
Items listed below are the most common causes of inaccuracy in all truck scales operation. Bearing in mind the list learn more about its components by reading the sections of this article.
Damages caused by environmental effects
• Damage caused by lightning
• Freezing and debris accumulation
• Flood damage
Damage caused by junction boxes and cable connections
• Moisture penetrated the junction box
• Inappropriate cable connections in the junction box
- Damage to the load cell cable (rodents, accidental disconnection, etc.)
Now that you are familiar with the most common injuries and their reasons, you should look for an effective solution that is mentioned in the following paragraphs.
Temperatures
Temperature changes are another environmental factor that can create challenges for truck scale. Over time, temperature change cycles can cause frequent scale calibration and service. Some load cells can experience signal fluctuations due to temperature, which reduces the scale’s accuracy.
Thunder and Lightning
Lightning is one of the biggest dangers for truck scales. If the scale is damaged by lightning, in some cases the cost of repairing is very high.
Overhaul-related downtime significantly impacts a business and cannot be ignored. This is why lightning protection is an important issue in scale protection.
The truck scale should have an electric current discharge cable according to the geographical areas and the average lightning strength.
In addition, voltage-reducing equipment is also used. These devices are circuit breakers that react to heat generated by electrical fluctuations. These features work together to protect your scale from direct lightning strike damage.
Scales that are supposed to be installed in the lightning-prone area are subjected to lightning tests in laboratories before truck scale installation.
Protection Against Environmental Challenges
Flood and humidity
Geographical areas in which rain, snow, frost and especially floods regularly happen, should pay special attention to this issue.
Waterlogging of the scale can cause corrosion of the metal components of the scale, but most of the time this causes serious damage to components such as load cells and junction boxes.
To prevent damage from flooding, load cells can be manufactured by hermetic (air-tight) seals using precision manufacturing technologies, such as laser welding. In addition, load cells and cable connectors can have an ingress protection (IP) code rating to provide resistance to dust and water. The protection level of load cells is indicated by a two-digit number. For example:
• IP68
The number 6 indicates that the protection is dust-proof and protects the load cell from dust. And
The number 8 indicates that this load cell is suitable for continuous immersion in water.
• IP69K
This rating indicates that the enclosure is suitable for high-pressure and high-temperature wash applications.
An extreme situation like a flood shows more clearly the value of water conservation. A scale with a low set of protective measures may require many expensive replacement parts.
With proper protection, scales can survive even weeks of immersion in water and their performance will not be poor.
Protection Against Junction Box Challenges
A junction box is a box that receives the output of load cells through cables and sends them to the display with a single cable.
Connection cables
One of the most potential damages of a road scale is its connecting cables. These cables may fail or become loose due to being exposed to the environmental conditions mentioned above or due to the vibrations of the scale during weighing.
Another factor that affects the cables is the rodents that damage the cables. To ensure that the cable is safe from these animals, it is better to use a suitable and resistant cover.
To prevent damage to the cables and to prevent moisture in the junction box, be sure to inspect this box regularly before your work process becomes a problem.
Increase the reliability of your truck scale by complying with the points mentioned in this article so that this instrument does not cause any problems in your overall work processes.