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The Convenience of Interface Portable Instrumentation Devices

Due to their flexibility, portable instrumentation devices are ideal for test and measurement projects and programs. Interface offers a wide range of portable devices designed to help our customers take advantage of the power of Interface solutions wherever they are needed: in the field, at a workbench, or in the test lab.

Portable devices can be easily transported and set up in various locations. This allows measurements to be taken on-site, eliminating the need for a single testing location. Common use cases for portable devices are continuous monitoring applications.

Additionally, portable instruments are user-friendly and require minimal setup, making them ideal for field applications or quick spot checks. Their compact size suits them for tight spaces or situations where benchtop instruments are impractical.

Wireless Handheld Display Options

First, we have our Wireless Telemetry System lineup of products known as WTS displays. Each of these products offers portability and convenience. The WTS-BS-1-HS Wireless Handheld Display for Single Transmitters is roaming handheld, allowing the operator to cycle the display between all available transmitter modules and forms part of the WTS modular telemetry systems. The data sent by transmitter modules can be utilized by multiple receivers such as displays, handheld readers, analog outputs, relay modules, and computer interfaces. Receivers support common industrial power supplies and are available in robust IP-rated enclosures with internal antennas optimized to give outstanding coverage.

Additional models include the WTS-BS-1 Wireless Handheld Display For Unlimited Transmitters and the popular WTS-BS-1-HA Wireless Handheld Display for Multiple Transmitters. Standard features for the WTS-BS series include:

  • Simple Operation
  • Single, Multiple, and Unlimited Transmitter Modules
  • Tare Function
  • Auto Shutdown
  • Rugged Construction

Portable Sensor Display

The 9325 Portable Sensor Display allows a simple display of strain bridge-based measurements such as load cells, torque transducers, and other mV/V output transducers with sensitivity up to +/-1 V/V. Up to six calibration ranges allow different tension and compression loading modes or additional sensors. Each calibration range will remember settings contributing to the user experience, such as selected units and tare values. Full configuration is available with a PC-based toolkit. Some simple configurations, such as two-point calibration, are available from the handheld using the menu system. The 9325NU Portable Sensor Display does not include the USB option. Primary 9325 Sensor Display features include:

  • Superior Linearity Performance Specifications
  • Measurement Rate up to 2400 Samples per Second
  • High Internal Resolution (up to 500,000 counts)
  • IP64 Environmentally Protected Enclosure
  • Battery Powered (Long Battery Life)
  • 128 x 64 Graphical Display with Backlight
  • Supports TEDS Template 33, 40, and 41
  • Live Calibration
  • Standard Audio Alarm
  • CE Environmental Approved

The applications for portable devices are vast, encompassing everything from environmental monitoring and quality control to troubleshooting machinery and building maintenance. With their versatility and ease of use, portable instrumentation devices are valuable for any test and measurement professional. Check out Interface’s easy-to-use Instrumentation Selection Guide to find the best solution for your specific applications.

Inventory Weighing Using Portable Instrumentation Solutions

Effective management of inventory is crucial for businesses. Maintaining precise records can be challenging when monitoring and managing stock from a distance is necessary. A weight-based inventory management system is needed in real-time. Interface suggests installing MBI Overload Protected Miniature Beam Load Cells under each corner of the inventory shelves for this challenge. A JB104SS 4-Channel Stainless Steel Junction Box is connected to each load cell and to a WTS-AM-1E that wirelessly transmits the sum weight to the WTS-BS-1-HA Wireless Handheld Display for multiple transmitters. Results can be displayed, logged, and graphed seen in real time. Customers can use this solution to effectively monitor and manage their inventory using Interface’s force sensors. It also reduces labor expenses and fewer errors, enhancing overall productivity.

jib crane carrying a heavy load

Jib Crane Tension Monitoring with Portable Handheld Display

Jib cranes are used to move or carry heavy loads, as they are attached to a vertical mast or strong support structure. A tension monitoring system is needed to ensure the lifted loads do not exceed the jib crane’s capacity. Interface’s WTSATL-JR Aluminum Compact Wireless Tension Link can be attached to the cable of the jib crane. When a heavy load is placed at the end of the jib crane, the force results are wirelessly transmitted to the WTS-BS-1-HS Wireless Handheld Display for Single Transmitters. Using this solution, the customer could monitor the cable tension forces of the jib crane to ensure it did not reach its maximum capacity.

Catenary Mooring System with Interface Portable Display

A customer had a catenary mooring system used for various offshore applications. They needed to ensure the anchors and chains were securely locked to the node. They also needed to measure the strength and fatigue of the main node the chains and anchors attach to so they did not risk any mooring lines breaking or the node being damaged. Depending on how many points there are on the node, Interface’s special submersible ISHK-B Bow Type Crosby™ Cabled Load Shackles were attached to the node. The chains and anchors are then attached to the shackles. The shackles measure the forces implemented by the chains and anchors, and results are displayed, logged, and graphed using the 9325-1 Portable Sensor Display. This instrument also has supplied software to connect to the customer’s PC. Interface’s submersible shackles and instrumentation helped verify the tensions of the anchors and chains attached to the node of their catenary mooring system.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

The Wonderful World of Wireless Webinar Recap

Digital Instrumentation 101

Interface Instrumentation Definitions

Introducing New Interface Instrumentation Selection Guide

Advancements in Instrumentation Webinar

 

Interface New Product Releases Winter 2023

Interface continues to grow our total force measurement solutions. The following showcases new sensors and instrumentation products now available in our general catalog. You can also now find a new Summary Product Catalog, highlighting best-selling products online for download and quick reference.

If you have questions about these new additions or any other Interface products, please contact us. If you would like to order any of the new products, go to Request for Quote.

NEW INTERFACE PRODUCT RELEASES 

PILLOW BLOCK LOAD BEARING LOAD CELLS

The Interface PBLC1, PBLC2 and PBLC3 Pillow Block Load Cells series by design measures the force of a pillow block bearing. The force measurement is performed for this load cell between two supports. Learn more about this type of use case in our Feed Roller System Application Note.

Primary Pillow Block Load Cell features and benefits:

  • Capacities from 5 to 30 kN (1.1K to 6.7K lbf)
  • Compatible with INA pillow block bearings
  • IP65 moisture protection
  • Rugged electro-galvanized surface
  • Commonly used for measurement of axle weight in test stands for trains and vehicles

INF1 CANOPEN WEIGHT SINGLE SENSOR WEIGHT TRANSMITTER AND INDICATOR

Interface’s new INF1-CANopen Single Sensor Weight Transmitter and Indicator has a six-digit red LED display (8 mm height), space saving compact design, four buttons for the system calibration, and a six indicator led.

Primary INF1-CANopen features and benefits:

  • Baud rate: 10, 20, 25, 50, 100, 125, 250, 500, 800, 1000
  • Equipped with RS485 serial port
  • Three relay logic outputs controlled by setpoint values or via protocols
  • Two optoisolated PNP logic inputs: status reading via serial communication protocols
  • One load cell dedicated input
  • Back panel mounting on DIN rail
  • Six-digit red LED semi-alphanumeric display (8 mm height), seven segment
  • Four buttons for system calibration
  • Extractable screw terminal boards

INF4-CANOPEN TWO, THREE, AND FOUR SENSOR WEIGHT TRANSMITTER AND INDICATOR

The Interface INF4-CANopen Two, Three, and Four Sensor Weight Transmitter and Indicator has a six-digit red LED display (8 mm height), space saving compact design, four buttons for the system calibration, and a six indicator LED.

Primary INF4-CANopen features and benefits:

  • Baud rate: 10, 20, 25, 50, 100, 125, 250, 500, 800, 1000
  • Equipped with RS485 serial port
  • Three relay logic outputs controlled by setpoint values or via protocols
  • Two optoisolated PNP logic inputs: status reading via serial communication protocols
  • Four load cell dedicated input
  • Back panel mounting on DIN rail or front panel (except PROFIBUS DP version) with fixing kit
  • Six-digit red LED semi-alphanumeric display (8 mm height), seven segment
  • Four buttons for system calibration
  • Extractable screw terminal boards

The INF Weight Transmitter and Indicator Instrumentation solutions come in multiple communication protocols for single and multiple sensors. Be sure to visit our Interface Instrumentation Selection Guide for help in choosing the right instrumentation production for your exact requirements.

ITCA TENSION AND COMPRESSION LOAD CELL

Interface’s new ITCA series load cell is ideal for measuring both tensile and compressive forces. The standard metric threads at each end of the load cell are designed to accept standard spherical seating rod-end bearings. There is great flexibility in the ITCA design, allowing us to offer custom sizes to meet specific application requirements, or different end thread sizes and combinations. There are versions available with male threads at each end, or male threads at one end and female at the other. We also offer the ITCA series with imperial thread sizes.

Primary ITCA features and benefits:

  • Ranges from 1 to 150 metric tons (MT) (2.2K to 330.6K lbf)
  • Stainless steel construction
  • IP66 environmental protection with IP67 and submersible options available
  • Tension and compression
  • Typical applications are structural testing, jack load and cable tension monitoring, material test machine feedback and press load monitoring

ENCLOSURES

Interface has introduced a series of enclosures to protect your transducers and instrumentation investments. These enclosures are designed for single and multiple instrumentation products, along with combined instrumentation and transducers. Enclosures are available as standard products. We also offer customization and mobile device configurations. Contact our Application Engineers to determine which type of enclosure best fits your products and application requirements. Download Interface Enclosures Overview.

Primary Enclosure options and features:

  • Special Purpose Wireless Enclosure NEMA 4
  • Single Instrument Enclosure NEMA 4
  • Dual Instrument Enclosure NEMA 4
  • Single Channel Benchtop Enclosure
  • Dual Channel Benchtop Enclosure
  • Single Channel Internal Mount Enclosure NEMA 4
  • Dual Channel Internal Mount Enclosure NEMA 4
  • Stainless Steel Enclosures for Indicators and Controllers NEMA Type 4X, Type 12 and IP66
  • Special Purpose Portable Systems
  • Rack Mounts

9825-AI GENERAL PURPOSE ANALOG INPUT INDICATOR

Interface’s 9825-AI is a General Purpose Analog Input Indicator Instrument works with mV/V sensors. It has an easy to navigate menu structure and fast speed, up to 1kHz. This product has analog output, peak valley monitoring, USB connection, and two relay setpoints plus alarms. It has an IP54 rating. Another option of this model is the 9825 General Purpose Indicator,

Primary 9825-AI features and benefits:

  • Digital input for print, reset, or tare
  • Excitation sense and bipolar
  • ±999,999
  • Nonlinearity < ±0.01%
  • Analog output 0-5V, 0-10V, 4-20mA, 0-24mA
  • Calibration by live load or mV/V entry
  • High speed of 1200 readings per second
  • Digital filters

9325 PORTABLE SENSOR DISPLAY

The new Interface 9325 Portable Sensor Digital Display Instrumentation is handheld, battery and USB powered, plus is TEDS ready. It a allows simple display of load cells, torque transducers, and other mV/V output transducers with sensitivity up to +/-1 V/V. Up to six calibration ranges are available allowing for different loading modes, both tension and compression, or different sensors. There are also up to six display modes available, which determine what is visible on the LCD display and what actions are available from the set of three soft keys. Please inquire about our new 9325-NU Portable Sensor Display product as well, which offers easy to use menu structure for setup and for performing live calibration of instrument.

Primary 9325 features and benefits:

  • Superior linearity performance specifications
  • Measurement rates up to 2400 samples per second
  • High internal resolution (up to 500,000 counts)
  • IP64 environmentally protected enclosure
  • USB port providing configuration, calibration, save and restore, live logging
  • Multiple display modes
  • logging and graphing, software is included
  • Supports TEDS template 33, 40 and 41
  • Live calibration and multi-point calibration
  • Standard audio alarm

ADDITIONAL PRODUCT RESOURCES

Interface Catalog

Interface Product Line Brochures

Interface Summary Catalog

Interface Products Overview

Interface Applications

Interface Solutions by Industry

Interface Support Resources

 

Digital Instrumentation 101

Digital instrumentation used for test and measurement provides faster data input and output, and more robust analytics. Interface offers several types of digital instrumentation devices that transform load cell and strain bridge input into digital data output in numerous protocols and bus formats.

Instrumentation that utilizes analog output has long been the standard in the industry. As new requirements for use cases and applications grow, test and measurement engineers and professionals find digital instrumentation advantageous because of the lower cost, easy integration and scalability. They also like the advantage of daisy-chaining multiple sensors together on a single cable run.

Advancements in sensor technologies coincide with growing demands to gather more testing data. This is seen through the use of multi-axis sensors, along with requirements for multi-channel instrumentation that can integrate into existing systems already designed with specific digital connections and protocols, as highlighted in using Interfaces BX8 with our 6-Axis sensors. Change is also coming with a strong desire to utilize instrumentation that can easily work within cable free environments or in remote locations.

In addition to improving speed of data output, digital instrumentation offers an abundance of benefits. This is primarily due to the digital signal, as they are less susceptible to noise and are more secure. Digital instrumentation typically has built in error detection. Digital signals are best for transmitting signals across longer distances or when you need to allow for simultaneous multi-directional transmissions. Many people like the ease of integration, both into existing networks as well as with other testing devices.

Types of Interface Digital Instrumentation

  • Indicators and Bidirectional Indicators
  • Portable and Programmable Indicators
  • Battery Powered Indicators and Bidirectional Indicators
  • Single and Multi-Channel Transmitters
  • Controllers and Programmable Controllers
  • USB Output Modules
  • PC Interface Modules
  • Sensor to USB Output Converters
  • Data Acquisition Systems
  • Wireless Instrumentation

Connection options available for Interface Digital Instrumentation include, RS232, RS485, RS422, Wi-Fi, USB, Bluetooth, and Ethernet Protocols. The types of data output protocols available include ASCII, Modbus, CANopen, DeviceNet, Profibus DP Modbus/TCP, Ethernet TCP/IP, Ethernet/IP, EtherCAT and several others. See the complete list of connections and protocols in our Digital Instrumentation Overview.

Top selling digital instrumentation models from Interface, with many available in various protocols:

Do you have questions about the type of instrumentation that will support your application?  You can see more of the solutions by visiting our instrumentation selection guide.  Here are six questions begin evaluating your instrumentation options:

  • Where are you going to connect your sensor technology and how?
  • Do you need to store your data?
  • Do you prefer an analog or digital output device?
  • Are you going to plug-in your instrumentation or use hand-held, wireless or Bluetooth connectivity?
  • How will your data output be displayed?
  • How many channels do you need for your project or program?

For additional help with instrumentation, please contact our application engineers.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Digital Instrumentation for Force Measurement

Ultimate BlueDAQ Software Guide for Interface Instrumentation

Interface Instrumentation Definitions

Instrumentation Selection Guide

Advancements in Instrumentation Webinar

Interface Instructional on Instrumentation Event

Instrumentation