^Title Load Fault Monitoring in Bakery Production 2

Often, a single structure uses two or more load cells for weighing. The result relies on each load cell contributing the correct electrical signal for the force applied to it. If a load cell or its cabling fails, then the indicated weight of the associated instrument becomes incorrect. This causes quality, safety, and inventory issues.

The LCI Load cell junction box and fault monitoring alarm is an intelligent junction box.  This can provide fault monitoring of up to four load cells. It is directly powered from the instrument that is providing the measurement.  This is achieved as it scavenges power from the load cell excitation voltage, normally 10 Volts. The LCI has the same functionality as a summing junction box.  However, it also provides individual measurements and integrity checks on each of the connected load cells and its cable. Should a fault condition arise, an alarm relay contact is used to warn of probable measurement failure. The display indicates which cell or cells are at fault allowing quick diagnosis and repair to be carried out.

The LCI performs the following checks:

• Open circuits on any load cell cable
• Short circuits on any load cell cable
• Excitation voltage error on any load cell
• Internal load cell fault such as bridge imbalance
• Load cell out of pre-set balance range where one cell is reporting more load than another
• Load cell out of range where one load cell is reporting greater or less than what is expected

The easy-to-use configuration and display allows the device to be used to aid installation as the individual mV/V and total mV/V can be displayed.