Wireless Load Shackle

So what are load shackles used for normally? The most common application is when things are being lifted. Lifting equipment or objects that can weigh tons, can be dangerous. To ensure that there’s never any sort of overload, you can constantly monitor the tension in the line. This way you can be completely aware of how everything is performing.

One of the latest uses for wireless load shackles is in the monitoring of complex overhead rigging found in live concerts, theaters and convention centers. Entertainment rigging can be a highly complex suspended structure. Even when the weight of each item hung from the rigging is known, the challenge of achieving even load distribution remains. Any suspended beam or truss with 3 or more support points is considered to be an indeterminate structure, making it impossible to evenly distribute loads without directly measuring the forces on each support point.

In addition, there are a lot of different industrial applications for these devices. These are often used in foundries, oil & gas installations, ports, mines, installing wind turbines, and while loading rockets. All of these different industries frequently require lifting heavy equipment. You want to make sure that you are protecting your equipment, the people running it, and the things that you are lifting. Load shackles are a great way to do all of that.

So, why would you want a wireless load shackle? What advantages does that offer? With a standard load cell, strain gauges are used to measure the force applied. These strain gauges output a mV/V output. With some load cells, that is the only output you will get, and you need to run it through your own signal conditioning in order to get a more readable analog or digital output. Some load cells will have internal signal conditioning which can convert that mV/V output to something like 0-10V or 4-20mA output.

With any of these types of signals, you are going to need some sort of IO device that can read the voltage or current signal and convert that back to a force reading. By using a wireless load shackle, you no longer have to worry about wiring the load cell to a signal conditioner and from the signal conditioner to an IO device. Instead, the signal conditioning is all done internally. The force data is then passed via Bluetooth to nearby devices. This makes it much simpler and quicker to monitor equipment remotely.

You may be wondering if there are any other advantages to using wireless technology for your weight monitoring applications. Apart from simply monitoring things remotely, you also have the huge advantage of expandability. In developing systems, finding a flexible and expandable solution is critical. Rigid, hard to adapt solutions can cost companies millions of dollars. By choosing the right hardware, you can easily expand your system to provide further features and functionality to your systems.

If you start with a single load shackle that you are using to monitor one crane, it may not seem like you need to worry too much about this. Although, it could turn out that in a couple years, you want to monitor 10 nearby cranes all from a single central location. Now you are hoping that you have an expandable solution so you can easily add multiple sensors and easily communicate to a central location. If you chose an expandable solution, this isn’t a problem at all.

The same also applies when seeking a load monitoring system for use in stage rigging. Since each show, tour and venue is different the ability to expand is critical for the future longevity and customization of the system.

It’s important that you always leave room for things to grow. The requirements of today rarely are the requirements several years down the road. Choosing a platform that can allow you to monitor hundreds of wireless load cells from a single location will save you a lot of headaches down the road.