What are the main characteristics of force measurement systems?
Force measurement systems can involve a number of different physical principles but their performance can be described by a number of common characteristics and terms, and the behaviour of a system or transducer can be expressed graphically as a response curve – by plotting the indicated output value (eg voltage) from the system against the force applied to it. The terms used are sometimes applied independently to the force transducer, the force measurement system as a whole, or some other part of the system and it is important to establish, for any given application, the way in which the terms are being used. An idealised response curve is shown in fig 1 – where the force applied increases from zero to the rated capacity of the force measurement system and then back again to zero. The deviation of the response curve from a straight line is magnified in the figure for the purposes of clarity. Characterising the performance of a force measuring system is commonly based on calculating su
