Electronic cylinder scales provide a useful method to measure the weight of liquefied gasses. These are gasses that under pressure become a liquid and are pumped into a cylinder. For the purposes of liquefied gases, the user wants to ensure reliable and accurate measurement. Accuracy helps maintain high levels of product purity and consistency.
What Are Electronic Cylinder Scales?
These are high accuracy electronic scales consisting of a weigh platform, a top plate, a bottom plate, and a load cell. The platform size is ideal for weighing gas cylinders. This type of scale will often include an integrated circuit board that accepts the output from the load cell and converts it into a 4 – 20 ma analog signal. This signal can be sent to the user’s PLC or other process equipment.
Alternatively, the output from the load cell can be sent to a weight indicator. This allows an operator to accurately measure the weight of the cylinder. It is accurate and easy to read.
The weight indicator can also be used to communicate with computer systems to collect and use the data. Different communication channels may be chosen, such as RS-232 or USB or Ethernet. Wifi can also be used for certain situations. With the appropriate software link, this data can even be inserted into other computer applications.
Challenges of Weighing Liquefied Gasses
Cylinder scales weigh gases like liquefied chlorine, carbon dioxide, or sulfur dioxide. Originally, cylinder scales were user unfriendly and difficult to maneuver and load because the platforms were quite high. The design made it hard to get cylinders onto and off of the platform. As a result, they were hard to repair and lacked indicators.
They broke down easily from the corrosive gases and liquids and corroded easily from exposure. Most scales are produced to measure weight between 60 and 400 pounds. Make sure to look for the following things when considering which cylinder scale to purchase:
Make the loading of the gas filled cylinder easier by looking for a scale with an appropriately sized platform. A scale that has surface area (9.25 inches square to 14 inches square) but is not far from the ground (under an inch and a half) is ideal for accurate and easy loading
Make sure the platform is constructed of a durable material, preferably stainless steel. This material has to be built to withstand years of use, various weights, heavy-duty lifting and loading with potential damage to the surface.
Even more important, use a scale with a stainless steel load cell. This makes it much more abuse and corrosion resistant. Find a platform that includes overload protection. This will be helpful in avoiding damage when a heavy cylinder is being loaded onto the scale.
Compare and examine the weight resolution of different models. You want to be as accurate as possible, so look for an excellent weight resolution. For those applications with higher precision requirements, Arlyn’s Ultra Precision scales provide more than ten times the accuracy of regular cylinder scales.
Industrial Uses of Digital Cylinder Scales
Many different types of industries use these types of scales. While the most common usage is with liquified gas cylinders, they may also be used for buckets and small tanks of liquids. They are often used when materials are being removed from the container and fed into an ongoing process.
Semiconductor Fabrication
The electronics industry is one of the largest industries in the world. Electronic circuits are used in absolutely every corner of our lives. This promises to become even more so as time goes on and technology innovates.
The semiconductor devices themselves have evolved to become extremely small. There are typically thousands of them fabricated on a single wafer of silicon or other semiconductor material. While any single device may be fairly inexpensive, the total value of the finished product from a single wafer can have a very high monetary value. It is very important to the semiconductor manufacturers that every single wafer be processed successfully.
The processing sequence typically requires exposure to a number of different gases, in sequence. Some of them deposit material on the wafer. Others are used for etching purposes. If the process gas is depleted from its tank in any of these steps, the entire wafer or set of wafers can be ruined.
Solvent Extraction
The extraction of essential and botanical material is required for the manufacture of different types of products. Solvents are often stored and dispensed from tanks. The process requires cylinder scales to monitor the weight of the contents of these tanks.
Due to the nature of the solvents, it is often required that the use of Intrinsically Safe Cylinder Scales. ArlynGuard cylinder scales are rated for C1D1 areas, along with many other types of Classified, or Hazardous areas.
World-Class Electronic Cylinder Scale Manufacturers: Arlyn Scales
A fully functioning weight indicator will do wonders with an easy to read screen and large digital typeface.
A warranty from a well established company that is eager to help provide you with the level of service you need.
An extensive list of additions that you can make to your scale to enhance the productivity. Consider small additions like memory card data logging, rechargeable battery packs, a label, paper, and card printer. There are ports for computer and printers to record, log, and reproduce the data recorded by the scale.
An effective cylinder scale is a necessary addition to your small treatment plant, well-head, booster station or various industrial plants. Researching the different types of scales available will allow you to make an informed decision. Then you will positively impact company goals.
