Force Testing Using Signal Conditioners

The Problem:

An engineering company needed to test a mechanical system where the force applied to a strain gauge was measured over the duration of a test movement. This was to be achieved as simply as possible in an office/lab environment.

The Solution:

The company needed to generate a report from the test and laptop was already available. As the measurement was from a strain gauge, the best solution was to use one of Mantracourt's digital strain signal conditioners (DSC) but as only one channel was required, the strain gauge to USB converter version was ideal.

The data only needed to be recorded against time so no specialist or custom software was required other than the DSCUSB Toolkit  (screenshot below) and MS Excel.

 

 

 

 

 

The DSCUSB Toolkit showed the real-time weight of the load cell on screen however the company were also able to choose a logging interval and log the values to a CSV file. Later these results could be loaded into MS Excel and the data analyzed and graphed to create reports for their own customers.

 

The DSCUSB offered the resolution required and was easy to connect to the company's laptop. This also gave the advantage of no power supply wires trailing to the measurement device as the DSCUSB is powered from the USB connection. This enabled the customer to carry the laptop to the test rig and simply connect to the strain gauge to perform the test.