Upward forces applied to load cell in mobile application.

[mstump]

My current project is as follows:

Designing a system that will be mounted to a truck that will be traveling down the equivalent of a dirt road. Part of the system is an ingredient bin that is rigidly mounted to load cells. The loads cells are a cantileaverd beam type. The primary concern at this moment is installing overtravel stops so that the load cells don't deflect past their designed capacity as the truck is "bouncing" down the road.. Putting in travelstops for excessive downward deflection is not an issue. I don't believe that there is a need for a travel stop in the upward direction since the whole system moves together (everything is rigidly mounted) and the only concern is the shock load that would be applied as the truck hits the ground again. However I need to mathematically or experimentally prove that this is the case to my supervisor. He believes it is needed because it is similar to a roller coaster ride or riding in a school bus where you bounce out of you seat or have the sensation of coming out of your seat.

 

[Navin A S]

He believes that the same situation could occur with this system. I have been researching and performing experiments with a spring mounted cantileaver beam and a load cell to see if I can prove it with math or experimentally. The ultimate goal of this project is to be able to accurately measure the weight of the ingredients as the truck is traveling down the road. This is because the truck will be carrying multiple bins and will be used to dispense the ingredients at various sites. So accuracy and reliability is key.