Calibration of commercial dyno load cells

[Daniel R Burk]

Michael:  You can calibrate a load cell in a similar fashion:  Build a 
rigid lever arm of known length.  Mount it to the load cell such that it 
sticks out in a perpindicular fashion from the load cell axis, parallel 
to the ground.  Zero out your gages to account for the added weight of 
the lever arm.   Apply a load of known force, (20 lbs or so,) and 
calibrate your sensor for torque.  If we assume your lever arm is three 
feet long, and you have placed a 20 pound weight on it, you now have 60 
ft-lbs (Lbs-ft?) of torque on your cell.  Again, assume that the gages 
are linear to account for higher amounts of torque.  

 If 5V = 1200 ft.lbs, and zero ft-lbs equals 2.5V, you have 2mv per 
ft-lb, or a cal value of 2.5V plus 120mv, or 2.620mv predicted output of 
your load cell gaging.

	Cheers,

	Dan Burk
		Instrumentation Engineer for oh, about 12 months now.