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A digital weight scale is a simple, but extremely important quality control device found in processing plants around the world. They have countless applications, but are usually found in the food processing and agriculture industries. Postal services also make frequent use of these devices to sort through items of varying sizes. Alone, they are typically used to portion out material or ensure that product quality is uniform during processing. Many processing facilities prefer devices that provide multiple functions, like employing magnets or X-ray machines to detect contaminants while they size up the product.
The most important thing a food processing plant strives for is safety and quality. After that, efficiency is the goal. For this reason, a digital weight scale is usually combined with a conveyor or placed somewhere along the product flow for autonomous checking. For instance, food items may be conveyed from processing machines to other devices for packaging. Along the way, a scale will quickly determine the item’s mass. Some models may automatically reject product that falls outside of accepted size limits or alert an attendant to the presence of undesirable product. Modern models will track the average mass of product over a predetermined amount of time. This can help a facility determine the quality of its product, and figure out if any processes need to be altered prior to packaging. From this interface, a worker can alter the parameters of the device as conditions change.
Agriculture processing facilities also need a digital weight scale at several points to maintain consistent material flow and to determine material quality. There is a subtle difference between desirable agricultural material and undesirable material. These devices can help find those differences and isolate the problem for the processing facility. More often, though, they are used to portion off agricultural material to maintain a steady flow. Milling machines can only handle a certain amount of material at any one time, so conveyors or feed chutes with built in weighing devices are employed to maintain adequate bulk density. This is also an ideal solution for conveying liquids and ensuring proper flow.
Food and agricultural processing plants have to quality check their products for many different contaminants before they can be packaged. Because space and power are often at a premium in these facilities, manufacturers typically build several functions into each digital weight scale. For instance, the device may come with a series of magnets that can detect ferrous contaminants like tramp iron in the material flow. Some models are designed with X-ray machines that check for debris, decay, and other harmful toxins. It is usually much less expensive to install a single device that incorporates multiple safety checks instead of multiple single function machines.
A digital weight scale can handle a huge range of flow rates, and can finely detect the mass of even the tiniest objects. Even in industries where the flow rate is not always uniform, like at postal sorting facilities, these devices can compensate and adapt to changing work conditions. Even though a checkweigher is one of the simplest devices in any facility, it provides valuable information and safety procedures that are essential to product quality.
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