Strain gauge bridge amplifiers with several measuring channels

Strain gauge bridge amplifiers with several measuring channels read two or more strain gauge full bridges in one device. Each bridge remains a measuring channel of its own, with its own scaling and its own output – two measuring points, therefore, not one summed value.

Two channels or two cells on one channel

This distinction decides whether the setup will deliver the information you want. If several load cells are wired to one input, their signals add up: you get a total weight, but not the distribution. That is exactly right for a vessel scale and useless for load distribution.

If the measuring points are to stay separate – because you want to detect uneven loading, monitor two independent axes or watch two limits individually – every bridge needs its own channel. That is what the devices on this page are built for.

Monitoring two measuring points in a safety function

The ESMB (SMM-HD) sits in the U-CASE 2 field housing rated IP65 and is available with one or with two amplifiers in the same housing. In the two-bridge version, two measuring points are monitored independently of each other up to SIL3 and PL e category 3.

Each bridge signal goes to two galvanically isolated current outputs so that the safety controller can compare the two outputs of one channel against each other. With two bridges that makes four outputs for two measuring points. The version is set by the order number: 0600-00493 with one bridge, 0600-00494 with two bridges.

What multi-channel does not mean here

A two-channel process amplifier is not a data acquisition system. It delivers a stable value per channel to the controller, but it does not record a curve, does not sample at a high rate in time synchronism and brings no evaluation software with it.

If you need the curve – the rise in force during assembly, the peak on impact, the phase relation between force and displacement – or if many channels carrying different quantities are to run synchronously into one recording, a modular laboratory and test bench system is the right tool. We put such systems together to match your test setup; tell us the channel count, the quantities, the bridge type and the fastest change you need to capture.

Going further

If one measuring point is enough, the bridge amplifiers with one measuring channel lead to the cheaper device. Where weight and dosing with several cells are involved, the multi-channel weighing transmitters are the right branch. For several measuring points without cabling, the wireless telemetry systems sit alongside.