Can Digital Weighing Scales be Affected by Temperature?
Temperature is one of the factors that can negatively affect the results that your digital weighing scale produces. This is why it’s important to take it into account and do your best to prevent its interference. This blog will discuss how temperature affects your digital scale, what you can do to prevent it, and list a few other factors that you should look out for.
How Temperature Affects Your Digital Weighing Scale
Load cells are the part of the scale responsible for measuring the weight of an item, as they bend once the object is added to the pan, and this bend is interpreted into a level of force. Load cells in digital weighing scales are usually made from aluminium, though washdown scales may feature ones made from stainless steel. Metals like these are prone to expanding and contracting when the temperature fluctuates, and when temperatures are high, they can expand to as much as a few millimeters. This will change the way that the load cell bends, thus negatively impacting your results.
How to Prevent Temperature from Affecting Your Results
Because metal contracts and expands in very cold and very warm temperatures, the best way to keep your scales accurate is by using your scale in an environment with a consistent, controlled temperature. If you can’t do that, let’s say you’re outside in the field or your workspace just isn’t well regulated, keep your scale in a shady place where direct sunlight won’t hit it. You can also avoid placing your scale on top of anything warm, so the heat won’t spread.
If you use a scale or balance with external calibration, your calibration weights will also be made from metal. Before calibrating, guarantee that both your calibration weights and your scale are the same temperature, or else you’ll have errors before you even begin weighing.
What Other Factors You Should Look Out For
Besides temperature, there are other external or environmental factors that can affect your weighing results. For example, vibrations. Vibrations can be caused by construction down the street, footsteps in a crowded building and more. Highly sensitive lab balances should be used with an Anti-Vibration Table, which compensates for the movement caused by vibration.
Electricity can also cause errors in weighing results when a static charge is built up on the weighing pan. This can be remedied with an ioniser. Issues caused by wind or air currents, another factor, can be solved with a draft shield. Most lab balances have a draft shield built-in, while some precision balances have optional draft shields included.
The whole point of a digital weighing scale is accurate results, but they don’t just happen without some effort on your part! Help your digital weighing scale provide you with the measurements you need by taking precautions against temperature and other factors.