A new family of load cells from Measurement Specialties will allow design engineers to use direct force measurement in many OEM applications where the technology had previously been too expensive. Microfused™ load cells are manufactured at a fraction of traditional cost, allowing pricing as low as $5 each for high volume orders. The new sensors are made by fusing silicon strain gages at high temperature with inorganic glass to the load-measuring member. The glass bonding process eliminates the instabilities associated with conventional epoxy bonded strain gages, creating a more durable and stable sensor. Long term drift, zero and span combined total only 1% over the first 12 months and another 1% for the life of the sensor. For moderate accuracy OEM product use, you can depend upon both zero and span stability over the life of the product. Medical applications include tube occlusion detection, physical therapy machines, IV bags, scanning system limb entrapment detection, tissue clamping forces and hospital gas systems. Consumer applications include appliance payload/unbalance, food weighing and equipment controls. Automotive applications include seat occupancy detection, brake system forces and force-driven system controls. Industrial applications include hoist and winch loads, pumps, assembly line forces, robotics end effectors and tank level detection. The load cells feature low deflection and inherently low mass, which enables optimized response time, superior low-end resolution and provides essentially unlimited fatigue life expectancy. Microfused load cells have been tested to ten million cycles and beyond with no indication of fatigue failure. Four standard compression packages can be used "off the shelf" or as templates from which to begin the customization process with worldwide support from Measurement Specialties engineers. Standard ranges from 750 grams up to 2000 lbf are offered with either millivolt or amplified outputs. Measurement Specialties, Inc., designs and manufactures a wide variety of sensors and transducers that measure pressure, force, vibration, position, humidity and temperature.
