Industries:
- Marine
- Engineering
- Manufacturing
- Research & Development
Products Used:
- DDEN 100N Submersible Load Cell + 10m PUR Cable
- ICA1H Miniature Integrated Circuit Load Cell Amplifier
I have used many sensors during my career, but the DDEN sensor from Applied Measurements is by far the most accurate that I have ever seen. It’s 0.15% accuracy is simply outstanding. – John McDowell, Research Lead at DEEP.
The brief
Nestled in a modern business estate near the Bristol Channel lies the headquarters of ocean engineering company, DEEP. Its office-based front hides a cavernous interior that is fully equipped to make ocean floor living a reality. This gleaming white state-of-the-art research facility has a distinct SpaceX feel about. The cacophony of robotic machinery, prototype habitation assembly, forklift trucks and the excited babble of researchers leaves you in no doubt that serious work, progressing this new world initiative, is happening all around you. But Applied Measurements was not there, on a sunny day in August 2024, to marvel at the latest crew operated submersibles, instead we are guided by our hosts to their impressive wave and current test tank.
The multi purpose wave and current test tank at DEEP
The wave and current test tank is not just there to validate DEEP products. It is also used as a stand alone revenue-generating test facility that can be hired to test third party scale model prototype designs. Using up to six Applied Measurement sensors, DEEP can measure structure load forces on a whole range of third party scale models in addition to their own in-house tests.
Watch the wave and current test tank in action
How the DDEN Submersible Sensor was used
Tethered seaweed farm load testing
SeaGen, a UK marine technology company, was keen to understand the forces that their innovative tethered seaweed farm would experience when subjected to a whole range of sea states and tidal flows. They approached DEEP to simulate these scenarios without going to the great expense of testing a full scale version out to sea. By embedding DDEN-100N Submersible Sensors in to each of the three tethering chains (See Fig 5.) the DEEP team could view and record the output from each DDEN sensor. This output capture is nicely illustrated in Fig 6 & Fig 7, where proprietary computer software allowed for short and long time period visibility of the dynamic tension that each of the tethers were experiencing.
In order to ensure the voltage output range (0.1V to 10Vdc) was compatible with their test rig, each DDEN sensor had an integrated circuit load cell amplifier (ICA1H) fitted inside them. The IP68 rated DDEN sensors ensured that the devices remained waterproof no matter where they were placed in the water tank and the stainless steel construction prevented any corrosion from taking place in the chlorinated water (swimming pool level concentration).
John McDowell, Research Lead, had this to say about our DDEN sensor. ‘I have used many sensors during my career, but the DDEN sensor from Applied Measurements is by far the most accurate that I have ever seen. It’s 0.15% accuracy is simply outstanding’”. John then added “many researchers use load cells for scale model testing, but the scaled down loads can be relatively small in certain applications. Having a load cell that can accurately show the difference between a few Newtons, but also has the capacity to measure up to 100 Newtons means that the DDEN’s are useful for a wide variety of testing and research”.
Limitless testing possibilities
The 10m of thermoplastic polyurethane (PUR) of supplied cable allow the DEEP researchers to easily connect the three DDEN 100N sensors to their computer monitoring set up. This DDEN test set up will allow DEEP to offer the full suite of force tension and compression test measurements to any third party.
Meeting your requirements
Applied Measurements pride themselves in designing bespoke sensors, even if only one sensor is required. If you have a bespoke industrial sensor requirement to accurately measure pressure, load, weight, torque, position or displacement then please contact us. Our technical engineers can design sensors (also called transducers) to seamlessly integrate with any test rig, operation or device and measure any magnitude of force in any situation.
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