Solutions

The challenge

On production machinery, the applied load is not always measured. It is inferred from its consequences, meaning a marked part, a tool that breaks prematurely or a surface defect discovered at the end of the line, so the information often arrives too late: the scrap has already been produced and the cause remains uncertain.

Yet the transducer is rarely the obstacle. Catalogue strain gauge transducers cover almost every requirement, from a few newtons to several hundred kilonewtons, in designs suited to most installations. What holds projects back is integrating the measuring chain: conditioning the signal, making it usable by the PLC already in place, and ensuring the reading stays accurate over time.

The solution

METRO supplies the two links missing between the transducer and your control system: the transducer, selected from the HBK range according to the load to be measured and the way it is introduced, and the electronics that carry the information back.

The CD1-SG-ANA conditioner provides a 0-10 V or 4-20 mA analogue output, directly usable by an existing PLC input, with no change to the machine program. The IO-Link version transmits the reading digitally, which removes signal loss, makes the link immune to electromagnetic interference and allows remote configuration as well as straightforward integration into modern automation architectures.

These conditioners are supplied factory calibrated and with a certificate. They replace the manual potentiometer adjustments of conventional conditioners, which depend on the operator and drift with vibration or temperature. Replacing a transducer now requires only a software adjustment, and the machine restarts with a repeatable setting.

Several transducers can be fitted to the same equipment so that their readings can be compared with one another. An imbalance between two sides of a machine, for instance, is then detected continuously and well before it affects the geometry of the parts produced.

The benefit for the customer

The machine becomes able to report on what it is actually doing. A setting that drifts, wear that sets in or a tool that tires can be read directly from the signal, whereas they previously remained invisible until final inspection. The PLC can raise an alarm or stop the process according to thresholds you define, and the data feeds quality monitoring without any operator involvement.