Tension Load Cell: Everything You Need To Know
A tension load cell is a type of force sensor that measures the amount of tension in a material. This can be used to determine the level of stress on anything from ropes to fishing line and everything in between! To get started, let's talk about how this device works. How does it work? The strain gauge measures the amount of deflection in a beam. The amount of deflection is proportional to the force applied to the strain gauge, so by measuring how much your material has been stretched (or compressed), you can determine how much force was applied. The simplest way to imagine this is as follows: Imagine a spring attached between two points on your object with some mass attached at its center point (like an upside-down pendulum). If you pull down on one end of this spring with some amount of force F1 and let go, it will swing back up until it reaches its equilibrium position--the point where its potential energy equals its kinetic energy--and stay there until something else happens