Centre of gravity systems

Load cell technology improves accuracy of centre of gravity systems

With its long history of working with the boat racing industry, LCM Systems has had many years’ experience developing Centre of Gravity (CoG) solutions. Now, it is one of the few companies that can provide engineers with easy to use systems that not only accurately and quickly calculate the CoG, but also offer reporting through specialist software. And not only for boats, their expertise provides innovative and intuitive CoG systems that are used for a wide range of applications including calculations during oil platform manufacture and siting, for weight distribution measurements, monitoring stress during the movement of large structures and more recently in the pharmaceutical industry where accurate powder drying methods are required.

LCM’s Centre of Gravity solutions can range from a simple system with only 3-4 load cells to large, complicated structures that may require 30/40 load cells to calculate the correct CoG. The software, customised for each application, allows the data to be fed directly from the load cells to a PC or laptop. This means that both visual and numerical outputs can be displayed, results can be exported into other packages for further analysis while reports can be easily produced and customised. Most importantly, human error is reduced as the software carries out the calculations and any changes in the CoG can be seen immediately on screen.

LCM Systems supplies a comprehensive range of load cells including D-cells, wireless and larger capacity products such as LCM Systems’ own CPA series of compression sensors available with a rated load range from 2tonne to 1000tonne. The software is also available configured or provided ‘raw’ to customers as a development system.