Belt Scale and Weigh Belt Environmental Test Chamber

Access can be gained through either a standard size swing-out door or a larger overhead “garage” door, depending on the size and complexity of the elements or machines being evaluated.

For weigh belt feeders and conveyor belt scales installed outdoors, extreme temperature swings can adversely affect their performance. The operating temperature limits of a weigh sensor can only be accurately determined and compensated for, by applying it to a simulated installation and subjecting it to varying temperature ranges.

In order to better assure customers of a successful installation of our products, an Environmental Test Chamber, located within the Thayer Scale manufacturing facility, provides a means for temperature testing of load cells, scale suspension systems, instrumentation and entire weighing and feeding machines.

This test chamber is equipped with special suspension loading “aids” (for precise positioning of static weights on the pivoted suspension members), for use in the manufacturing process of the RF Belt Scale and MD and MDL Weigh Belts.

The chamber finds use in Mechanical and Electrical Research and Development work, as well as in Production as a Quality Assurance tool where particularly stringent temperature specification are called for. A distinguishing feature of these confirmation tests is that they also include the effects of the lateral and longitudinal restraining elements required to hold the suspension in place on inclined conveyors.

A quality control procedure using the test chamber assures that the particular equipment being tested either meets or exceeds Thayer’s requirements for stable load cell output but in the case of commercial belt scales exceeds the stringent temperature requirements dictated by the NTEP phase 1 test procedures. The chamber tests also go beyond the scope of the present NTEP tests in that all active suspension elements, including those that are used to restrain the lateral motion of the scale on inclined conveyors, are tested for their combined effects.

Thayer Scales investments in this Environmental Testing Laboratory, our Material Test Center and our (outdoor) Belt Scale Suspension Testing Conveyor have paid off. They provide our technical staff with the means to make measurable improvements in the products we have chosen to make.