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Interface 2021 Video Watch List

Interface is committed to providing a variety of online support resources to help our customers and those interested in using our products and services. In fact, we host one of the industry’s largest self-help glossaries of test and measurement technical terms, a detailed technical library, along with a robust troubleshooting guide and access to our famous Load Cell Field Guide.

In our conversations with customers, we know that people like to consume information in a variety of formats. That is why in 2021 we produced a number of new videos to extend our digital library of education and training references.

From product use cases to technical user guides, our team of experts have created 19 new videos in 2021.  The new Interface videos cover a diverse set of topics, including product introductions, industry solutions, animated application notes, use cases, installation tips, and explainers for using Interface software.

We also introduced our new ForceLeaders Webinar Series in 2021. We hosted seven expert-led online events that included product overviews, technical tips, installation support, use cases and FAQs for a number of Interface products and services. Each webinar was recorded and archived on our site, as well as posted on our YouTube channel.

Here is a quick and easy guide to the 2021 Watch List for the latest releases from Interface’s video vault:

NEW 2021 FORCELEADERS WEBINARS

INDUSTRY SOLUTIONS 

ANIMATED APPLICATION NOTES AND USE CASES

PRODUCT OVERVIEWS, SET-UP AND TRAINING VIDEOS

So what is on the schedule for 2022? You need to tune-in by subscribing to our YouTube channel, as well as watching for upcoming ForceLeaders Webinars.  We are already working on our first series of online events that we’ll launch in February. Keep watching, we have a lot more we are ready to share.

Where to Find 50 New Force Measurement Application Notes

One of the advantages we have at Interface is that our application engineers and solutions experts are constantly recommending Interface load cells, torque transducers, instrumentation and accessories for a wide range of projects and programs.  In this fortunate position, it enables our team to explain why and how these solutions work through a series of illustrative application notes. We detail the problem statement, the products required to achieve the desired outcome, and the measurable results in every Interface application note.

The purpose of our app notes is to show the range of capabilities for products we offer, as well as inspire product designers, engineers, and testing professionals to expand how they use sensor technologies. We also increased our industry solutions to highlight a growing interest of how our products are used in agriculture, maritime and infrastructure force and torque measurement projects.

In 2021, Interface produced a record 50+ new application notes.  We have so many application notes, we even produced a first ever complete Interface Applications Catalog.  The type of applications we detailed this year range from space docking to golf swing testing, with everything in between. You can find applications for livestock weighing, crash wall testing, crane safety regulation and even commercial fishing line tests.

Every application note includes a graphic that highlights how the test project is designed and how the products work together. All our illustrated application notes can be found here.  We also have a collection of animated application notes you can watch here.

So if you didn’t keep up with every application note we added this year, here is a quick reference:

AUTOMOTIVE AND VEHICLE

Automotive Head Rest Testing

Pre-Installation Sealing Sensor Testing

Automotive Window Pinch Force Testing

Airbag Connector Testing

Vehicle Crash Test Load Cell Wall

Torque Measurement for Electric Vehicles

TEST AND MEASUREMENT

Garbage Truck On-Board Weighing

Bike Helmet Impact Test

Bike Handlebar Fatigue Testing

Mobile Force System

Gaming Simulation Brake Pedal

Mountain Bike Shocks Testing

Spring Compression Testing

Proving Theoretical Cutting Forces of Rotary Ultrasonic Machining

Fitness Equipment and Machines

6-Axis Load Cell Solutions using Raspberry Pi

Mouse Touch-Pad Force Testing

Treadmill Force Measurement

Veterinary Weighing Scales

E-Bike Torque Measurement

Bike Power Pedals

Bike Load Testing

Bike Frame Fatigue Testing

Golf Club Swing Accuracy

Golf Ball Tee

INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION

Commercial Food Processing

6-Axis Force Plate Robotic Arm

INFRASTRUCTURE

Aerial Lift Overload Control

Concrete Dam Flood Monitoring

Hydraulic Jacking System Testing

AGRICULTURE

Tractor PTO Torque Testing

Silo Grain Dispensing

Poultry Feeder Monitoring

WTS Equine Bridle Tension System

BTS Equine Bridle Tension System

Livestock Weighing System

Tractor Linkage Draft Control

Chicken Weighing

Silo Monitoring and Weighing

MEDICAL AND HEALTHCARE

Tablet Machine Hardness Tester Calibration

Dental Handpiece Torque Check

Interventional Guidewire Quality Inspection

Tablet Hardness Testing

AEROSPACE AND DEFENSE

Space Dock Capture Ring Force Testing

Aircraft Yoke Torque Measurement

Aircraft Screwdriver Fastening Control

Landing Gear Joint Testing

Aircraft Engine Hoist

Rescue Helicopter Hoist Test

MARTIME

Mooring Quick Release Hooks (QRH)

Commercial Fishing Wire Rope Testing

Mooring Line Tension Testing

Crane Block Safety Check

Crane Capacity Verification

Crane Force Regulation

We would like to send a special thank you to our illustration and design team of Lauren O’Hagan and Scott Whitworth for all their work in creating this array of illustrations, along with a special shout out to Ken Bishop and Keith Skidmore that help us create all these application stories.

What’s new in 2022? Stay close to our Interface IQ Blog and watch our updates on the homepage and solutions for new inspirations and unique examples how engineers and product designers are thinking about using our sensors,

IoT Solution That Monitors Rigging and Lifting in Real-Time Showcased at OTC50

Interface, the world’s trusted leader in technology, design, and manufacturing of force measurement solutions is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) by exhibiting at the global event.

In coordination with the event theme, The Next 50 Years of Offshore Developments, Interface will be highlighting their latest innovations that are advancing force measurement solutions specifically for the oil and gas industry. We will be gathering input from participants in our next-generation of downhole load cell and strain gage technology.

During OTC 2019, Interface is showcasing its proprietary wireless telemetry system (WTS) that measures force capacity in heavy machinery used by oil and gas support service. This innovation connects to software on a PC to handle enormous amounts of weight, preventing damage to both humans and equipment.

Interface’s solution is part of the most exclusive line of integrated wireless products on the market.” Ken Bishop, Director, Sales Engineering

Interface will also be discussing its line of ATEX approved products for use in extremely harsh environments, including its most popular product, the Interface LowProfile® load cell.  The company’s products are customizable to meet any customer specification.

Interface force measurement solutions are used in every facet of energy production from research and exploration to monitoring equipment. You can read more about Interface innovation in dry load cell technology here.  This advancement in force measurement provides unparalleled accuracy in a ruggedized package that will stand up to the harsh environments of a deep oil well. These design iterations increase product lifespans, with cost savings and consistency of using a single force measurement solution.

Attendees of OTC 2019 can find Interface team members at booth #7551, Hall C at NRG Park in Houston, May 6-8 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and May 9 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. CST.

Interface Leads Innovation in Oil and Gas Force Measurement

The oil and gas industry is among the world’s most dangerous and expensive industries. There’s also the inherent risk of ecological harm caused by faulty machinery. Because Interface is able to address these challenges, the company’s products have become a heavy favorite among oil and gas companies.

Oil and gas companies recognize the interface for product reliability, accuracy, and innovative design.

The oil and gas industry has used “wet” load cells to monitor forces on their downhole load strings for several years. These downhole load strings are equipped with various sensors that travel down thousands of feet during exploratory drilling operations. These load cells provide data to the user that measures the forces on the load string to ensure it doesn’t break due to forces greater than the string has been designed to. When one of these strings breaks, it leaves up to a million dollars worth of equipment trapped underground until it can be fished using expensive recovery techniques.

The problem with wet load cells is that they don’t hold up for extended use in wells that extend several thousand feet underground with extreme pressures and temperatures in a caustic environment. These wet load cells typically last about a year or two before being damaged beyond further use. The turnover rate of these products becomes extremely expensive and can also cause critical measurement inconsistencies or the complete loss of measurement feedback.

These wet load cells break down after a year or two because the sensors on this product are exposed to the harsh underground environment. To address this issue, Interface created a “dry” load cell that protects the sensitive parts with innovative design, reduces the number of sensors required in the customer’s downhole load string, and allows the load cell to last 10 years or more.

“Our dry load cell technology provides Interface’s signature accuracy in a ruggedized package that will stand up to the harsh environments of a deep oil well. These design iterations that allow for longer product lifespans are critical to our customers because of the cost savings and consistency of using a single force measurement solution.” Ken Vining, Chief Engineer at Interface

Interface initially developed this technology as a custom solution to address a customer’s challenge of constantly replacing wet load cells. Based on the positive feedback Interface received, the company has begun developing a standard version of the dry load cell. The standard load cell will be more cost-effective than wet and custom-designed dry load cells.

For more information on Interface’s products for the oil and gas industry, click here.  For details on all Interface solutions, please visit www.interfaceforce.com.

Contributor:  Ken Vining, Chief Engineer at Interface

 

 

 

Interface Goes Above and Beyond with Custom Solutions

For clients in need of customized force measurement solutions, look no further than Interface. We excel in providing customers with specialized load cells and torque transducers that can’t be purchased off the shelf—and we have a robust solutions design team to back it up.

Our dedicated engineers and measurement experts, company resources, and advanced engineering lab give Interface the competitive advantage to make any force measurement application work.

Starting the Customization Process

To create these specialized force measurement solutions, we start by assessing our customers’ fundamental requirements.

  1. Does the solution need to be customized from the ground-up?
  2. Does the solution already exist, and it needs to include some custom features?

From there, we determine what the load cell needs to mount to and what specifications it needs to perform in its intended environment. Interface also can transmit load cells wirelessly to our customers’ networks.

“We can customize the load cell, the torque transducer, or we can provide a total system solution. Essentially, if we can make it, we can customize it!” – Ken Bishop, Sales Engineering Director at Interface

Building Custom Solutions: Food Industry Sensors

To best understand how we approach a custom solution, consider this real-world example. A meat processing plant needs a custom load cell solution to weigh its product during processing. With this scenario, there were 225 sides of beef that needed to be accounted for on each trolley. Keeping track of all that meat is no easy task. That is until Interface deployed an intuitive wireless sensor network to make monitoring simple.

Interface addressed this task by engineering a wireless base station to talk to the customer’s network. The base station transmitted a signal that was converted to Ethernet. In this case, the solution also needed to be water resistant to withstand the intense water pressures for cleaning. By using a custom wireless network, the sensors could easily communicate with staff members to alert them of critical information without failure or disturbances.  Read more about our custom solution case studies here.

Engineers at the Ready

What allows [user_id] Even prototyping at Interface is faster on average than any other provider in the market. We also have access to a host of strategic partners that give us breadth and depth in all components and technologies. If a technological requirement extends outside of Interface’s capabilities, we have the partners in place to fully optimize the solution to meet the exact custom requirements.

Going back to the start, if you have a need with specific requirements that fall outside our standard products, contact us and let our specialized engineers identify the possibilities. You can also detail your requirements in our easy to use request for custom solutions. Don’t hesitate to contact us about developing a custom force measurement solution. We’re excited to hear about your unique challenges!

Contributor: Ken Bishop, Sales Engineering Director, Interface

The Power of Teamwork Drives Interface Success

At Interface, teamwork is a critical element to our success—and no one understands collaboration better than our team. We recently delivered a highly-critical assignment for the oil and gas industry. Robert Fuge, a design engineer at Interface, and his team of experts were tasked with delivering an emergency order that required the typical lead time for a new design to be cut by 30 percent.

The delivery entailed prototyping, machining, assembly, and calibration, and the order was incredibly high-end and complex. What motivated the team to deliver above and beyond results despite the short notice was its unapparelled desire to please both the customer and support one another.

Although the team was successful in completing the order on time and within budget, it wasn’t without its fair share of challenges. Some of the key machine parts were behind schedule from the supplier, and technical issues didn’t make it any easier. On top of that, the most crucial part arrived a week and a half late. However, despite these circumstances, the team implemented plans to combat tasks as they arose. Nothing ever sat or waited, and each part of the process had a clearly-defined plan. Fuge attributes this success to effective communication.

“Everything was communicated ahead of time, and each team member knew exactly what was expected of them. No amount of information ever fell through the cracks, leaving all team members and customer contacts fully equipped to deliver their best work.” – Robert Fuge

The team immediately started drawing designs and building fixtures ahead of time and on top of the normal workload. Purchasing got everything ordered quickly, and the team inspected all parts right as they arrived from outside vendors. Interface’s quality department worked with machinists to get all repairs completed and continue moving through the process. As parts continued to go through, supervisors scheduled and planned for all equipment, and employees were trained and prepped before parts even arrived.

What makes this effort particularly successful is the passion demonstrated by both Interface and the customer. Completing this project wasn’t easy and it required sacrifice, but the team learned a valuable lesson in how to facilitate a proactive, company-customer partnership. By the end of the project, the team reinforced the notion that if concrete and well-communicated plans are put in place from the very beginning, there’s no limit to what can be achieved.

Meet the Interface Team

We’d like to thank Robert Fuge and his team of experts who made it all happen:

Drafting: David Connacher facilitated the quick turnaround of flexure, fixture, wiring, outline drawings and designs.

Engineering: Jim Schafer helped with the fixtures design, as well as evaluated how to repair and modify a fixture later. Rick Haun modified a fixture to work properly for the new part—and did so on top of his normal workload. Wrote the programming and stayed late to assist the machine operator in his work.

Purchasing: Tim Combs placed fixtures and hardware on the order right away to have everything in time for the rapid delivery schedule.

Quality: Kevin Armstrong executed immediate inspection of flexures when they arrived from the outside vendor and worked with machinists to repair a damaged thread on two parts.

Machine Center: Daniel Shipman repaired a damaged fixture in between jobs to keep parts moving throughout the process.

Production: Rob Udink scheduled, planned and configured production equipment for new parts ahead of time to mitigate delays in the parts. He also ensured all of his employees were trained on the new parts before they even arrived and drove these parts through at the end.

DLC Production Team: Tiger Singharath, Manny Castro, Doug Konkler, Dung Nguyen and Chris Balland came together to keep parts moving forward to meet the customer deadline.

Interface is a leader in providing custom, standard and modified force measurement solutions to the energy industry. To learn more about our applications, visit our applications page.