Hi, I have an application that needs to measure various things in shop floors in plastic packets basically to try and figure out how many packets I have based on the combined weight.
Some broad based goals I'm trying to get at :
- In production quantities I might require a few hundred of these scales.
- The weights will be from 1 kg to around 30 kg.
- Smallest unit weight (hence resolution) would be around 100 gms.
- CHEAP!
I was initially thinking of the same kind of systems used in typical digital bathroom scales, however no one seems to be suggesting this approach in a weighing application. Any idea why this is the case?
Load cells seem to be the most common way of doing this, however they seem to be EXPENSIVE... which directly conflicts with my goal of CHEAP. i.e both the load-cell and the digital circuit that will essentially give me an output RS232 (or something similar) . All put together I want each scale to be in the USD $150 to $200 range. I read somewhere that piezoelectric based load sensors are comparatively cheaper but am not able to find anyone selling those.(couldn't find - or don't know what I'm looking for at
Can someone please give me some insights on whether my goals are achievable, and what technologies/companies/products I should be looking for?
Thanks, A