An introduction to electronic weighing
Wrap-Up
I've presented here some background on the theory and application of industrial weighing. I've shown a practical design for a workshop balance that is flexible enough to be applied to many single-load-cell weighing applications and, in the process, shown that Linux and open source software make an excellent choice for engineering applications. I hope this example encourages you to experiment with strain gauges and load cells and come up with your own innovative applications. The complete design is available on my GitHub page, and I can be contacted by email (see my bio).
Finally, I'd like to dedicate this article to my father, who started and ran his own industrial weighing company for many years and taught me much of what I know.
Infos
- Charles Wheatstone: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Wheatstone
- OIML and ASTM weights: https://static.fishersci.com/cmsassets/downloads/segment/Scientific/pdf/MettlerToledo/11796035_OIML_weights.pdf
- International Organization of Legal Metrology: https://www.oiml.org/en
- HX711: https://cdn.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Sensors/ForceFlex/hx711_english.pdf
- ADS1232: https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/ads1232.pdf
- REF5040: https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/ref5040.pdf
- HT1621: https://hobbycomponents.com/displays/1053-ht1621-6-digit-7-segmenr-lcd-module-white-backlight
- HT1621 datasheet: https://datasheet.lcsc.com/szlcsc/Holtek-Semicon-HT1621B_C7873.pdf
- STM32F030x4: https://www.st.com/resource/en/datasheet/dm00088500.pdf
- KiCad: https://home.cern/news/news/computing/kicad-software-gets-cern-treatment
- Author's GitHub project page: https://github.com/andrewrussellmalcolm/loadcell
The Author
Andrew Malcolm (MIET, CEng) works as a lead hardware and firmware engineer for Guru Systems (https://www.gurusystems.com/), a fast-growing IoT hardware and SaaS company working on low-carbon-energy projects. In his spare time, he likes to combine software engineering with his first love, hardware engineering. With all the open source tools available, he is never short of things to design. The Raspberry Pi has proved to be a source of inspiration, and to date, Andrew has designed five different add-ons, or HATs. He is currently working on microstepping motor drives for a Pi-based laser cutting machine. You can contact him at mailto:andrewrussellmalcolm@gmail.com.
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