The BroadWeigh portable wireless system offers real-time, simple, effective and accurate load monitoring for rigging professionals, safety officials and site managers enabling them to monitor and log the precise loads on any given rigging point.
Central to the design of the BroadWeigh system are Crosby shackles equipped with a high accuracy, wireless load pin that reports data remotely to a computer or a handheld display. The system is able to monitor multiple load cells and can trigger an alarm should a load exceed a preset parameter.
"Each BroadWeigh shackle is now calibrated using our new test machine," said Kelly Voysey, marketing manager. "The Calibration software developed by our engineering team communicates directly with the shackle and the test rig to record the shackle's calibration. The software then generates a calibration certificate."
With this development, the BroadWeigh range of products is now designed, manufactured, calibrated and tested in-house at Mantracourt's factory in Exeter, in the south-west of England. The company strongly believes that this in-house approach enables them to maintain the quality and usability of their instrumentation products, as well as the accuracy and reliability of every solution that leaves the factory.
"The new automated calibration technology will help us meet the increasing demand for our BroadWeigh system, whilst helping us ensure its accuracy and reliability in the field," said Kelly Voysey. 'In this respect, it has been an important achievement, as we look to build on our success going forward."
Using the new test installation, each shackle is calibrated and linearised over 8 weight points covering its operating range. Each weight is applied and allowed to settle, and then the calibration and linearisation parameters are calculated and applied to the shackle.
Once all points have been calibrated, the shackle is unloaded then loaded again at 4 points over its operating range to check that it falls within in-house specification. The calibration record is electronically stored for future recall, and a Calibration Certificate is issued showing the results of the 4-point calibration check.
The in-house calibration machine has a capacity of calibrating up to 10 tonnes and the main rig load cell is calibrated against an NPL approved transfer standard load cell.
The BroadWeigh system is increasingly being seen as a cost effective solution for entertainment venues, touring companies and production suppliers, to provide essential measurements of force helping operatives eliminate overload risks. The BroadWeigh system has been developed in conjunction with entertainment industry professionals for real world work environments.
(Jim Evans)
