Efficient weighing processes help companies achieve operational excellence and reduce waste. They also improve labor productivity and cut overall production costs.
For example, in a filling weighing system, the supply hopper is filled with the required amount of ingredient. Then, a valve partially closes to dispense the correct quantity.
Understanding your weighing process is vital in selecting the right balance for your application. Let’s discuss some of the most important factors to consider.
Accuracy
Whether you’re weighing bolts or active pharmaceutical ingredients, any inaccuracy can be costly. To ensure your weighing process meets regulatory requirements, you must have the right calibration and maintenance practices in place.
The best way to ensure accurate results is to perform regular tests on your analytical balance. This should include the repeatability test (which involves weighing 10 weights in a row) and the eccentricity test, which checks for cornerload error by moving a weight to different corners of the weigh pan.
Also, remember that dirt can silently degrade your weighing results. To avoid this, you can monitor settling time and keep your equipment clean. You can also shield your weighing system from vibrations and other external factors that can disturb measurements. In addition, you can use a foundation or mounting system that offers stability. This reduces movement of the load cells, which may cause inaccurate measurements.
Errors
Weighing errors can result in product loss, production halts, non-compliance with audits, or costly batch recalls. To prevent them, you need to know what causes them and make corrections or improvements regularly.
For example, vibration in the vicinity of your balance can cause instability. To prevent this, you should isolate the scale from vibration sources as much as possible. Also, it’s essential to use software that removes vibration effects when weighing.
Other factors that affect measurement accuracy include air currents, lack of thermal equilibrium, magnetic and electrostatic fields, and human manipulative skills. These errors can be minimised by following weighing procedures and using good laboratory techniques.
You can reduce drift by using a high-quality balance with a quality sensitivity weight, and avoiding opening the weighing chamber too often. You can also minimise the effects of convection by allowing objects to settle in the weighing chamber before measuring and not moving them too quickly. Lastly, it’s vital to ensure your scale is installed in an area free of air currents.
Reliability
In manufacturing, accuracy and reliability are key. If your weighing equipment isn’t accurate or reliable, it will cause errors throughout the process and compromise quality and productivity. Whether you’re measuring ingredients, tracking inventory, or creating finished products, precise and consistent weighing is essential for adhering to recipe formulations and maintaining product consistency.
An ideal weighing system would have high accuracy and low standard deviation. This combination allows you to deliver accurate measurements consistently and ensures that products meet specifications.
To ensure that your weighing instrument is accurate and reliable, calibration is essential. Regular balance calibration and frequent testing help to minimize weighing errors. The calibration procedure compares the reading of your balance or scale with a reference value and applies tolerances to produce a pass/fail result. Beamex CMX Calibration Management Software has dedicated functionality for calibrating weighing instruments. This includes Eccentricity tests, Repeatability tests and Minimum Weight tests. The software also helps you to track calibration history and maintain traceability documentation.
Safety
A reliable weighing system is necessary for the safety of workers and the integrity of industrial facilities. Several factors affect the accuracy of analytical balances, including their environment and how they are installed and handled.
Maintaining the proper cleaning and handling of the weighing pans, draft shield, and weights is vital to ensure optimal performance. Avoid touching standard weights with bare hands as hand grease can cause inaccurate readings. Clean the draft shield regularly to prevent dust from settling on the weighing pan.
Weighing equipment must be designed and built for harsh environments, such as those used in pharmaceutical and food production. Corrosive chemicals, fine dusts, and high temperatures can damage components or degrade calibration over time. Specialised weighing components are required for dependable performance in risky industrial settings, including load cells with IP and NEMA ratings matching the environment. Hermetically sealed designs also enhance corrosion resistance.