Design and Shape Optimization of Strain Gauge Load Cell for Axial Force Measurement for Test Benches

Omar Sabah Al-Dahiree; Mohammad Osman Tokhi; Nabil Hassan Hadi; Nassar Rasheid Hmoad; Raja Ariffin Raja Ghazilla; Hwa Jen Yap; Emad Abdullah Albaadani

doi:10.3390/s22197508

Design and Shape Optimization of Strain Gauge Load Cell for Axial Force Measurement for Test Benches

Sensors (Basel). 2022 Oct 3;22(19):7508. doi: 10.3390/s22197508.

Authors

Omar Sabah Al-Dahiree^{1

2}, Mohammad Osman Tokhi³, Nabil Hassan Hadi⁴, Nassar Rasheid Hmoad⁴, Raja Ariffin Raja Ghazilla², Hwa Jen Yap², Emad Abdullah Albaadani⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Baghdad, Baghdad 10071, Iraq.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia.
³ School of Engineering, London South Bank University, London SE1 0AA, UK.
⁴ Department of Aeronautical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Baghdad, Baghdad 10071, Iraq.
⁵ Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia.

Abstract

The load cell is an indispensable component of many engineering machinery and industrial automation for measuring and sensing force and torque. This paper describes the design and analysis of the strain gauge load cell, from the conceptional design stage to shape optimization (based on the finite element method (FEM) technique) and calibration, providing ample load capacity with low-cost material (aluminum 6061) and highly accurate force measurement. The amplifier circuit of the half Wheatstone bridge configuration with two strain gauges was implemented experimentally with an actual load cell prototype. The calibration test was conducted to evaluate the load cell characteristics and derive the governing equation for sensing the unknown load depending on the measured output voltage. The measured sensitivity of the load cell is approximately 15 mV/N and 446.8 µV/V at a maximum applied load of 30 kg. The findings are supported by FEM results and experiments with an acceptable percentage of errors, which revealed an overall error of 6% in the worst situation. Therefore, the proposed load cell meets the design considerations for axial force measurement for the laboratory test bench, which has a light weight of 20 g and a maximum axial force capacity of 300 N with good sensor characteristics.

Keywords: Wheatstone bridge; amplifier circuit; axial force measurement; finite element method (FEM); load cell; machine design; shape optimization; strain gauge.

MeSH terms

Aluminum*
Calibration
Torque

Substances

Aluminum

Grants and funding

This work was supported in part by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) Malaysia under Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS/1/2015/TK03/UM/02/6).