Gec Avery Limited

Illinois Tool Works Inc.

Michael William Ford

A force sensor () is forced from a vibrating beam (), an excitation piezoelectric device () to cause a vibration in the beam at its resonate frequency and a measurement piezoelectric device () to measure the frequencies being indication of the force applied to the beam (). The excitation and measurement piezoelectric devices () are attached to the beam adjacent to each other at one end of the beam ().

Piezoelectric vibrating beam force sensor

A load cell, one end of the cell being mounted on a base and the other end of the cell being arranged for connection to a force applicator so that in operation applied loads are transmitted vertically to said other end to distort the cell, and wherein the cell houses a vibrating beam force sensor lying in a plane parallel to the base, the cell being so arranged that the vertical force produced by an applied load to the force applicator is translated into a horizontal force applied to the vibrating beam force sensor.

Low profile load cell for a weighting machine

In a load cell for a weighing machine, the load cell includes a vibrating beam force sensor clamped at its two ends to respective support parts of the load cell, and wherein each end of the sensor is clamped by a bolt having a head which traps the associated end of the sensor against a support part, the bolt having remote from its head a threaded portion engaged with a nut which tensions the bolt, and a portion of non-circular cross section having at least one cross sectional dimension which is greater than that of the threaded portion, the non-circular cross section portion of the bolt having been drawn through a hole in the support part which had a diameter less than said one cross sectional dimension. This reduces the production of forces parallel to the plane in which clamping is required.

Growing community of inventors

Sutton Coldfield, United Kingdom

Michael William Ford