Noise in Load Cell Signal in an Automatic Weighing System Based on a Belt Conveyor

Abstract

Noise in load cell signal in an automatic weighing system based on a belt conveyor has been examined experimentally in time and frequency domains to enhance signal quality. The noise frequency spectrum showed nonlinearly increasing multiple resonance peaks as speed increased. The noise reduction process using noise reduction algorithm, by sharply rejecting peak noise frequency component and afterward forming optimum pulse width ratio through filter slope control using selective switching of 6 LPF stages, was used for enhanced accuracy. The effectiveness of proposed method, controlling both cutoff frequency and slope of LPF, was evaluated by feeding 50 g test mass, and this noise reduction process showed better noise filtering with enhanced accuracy than fixed cutoff frequency control method. The ratio of top to bottom pulse width showed that LPF cutoff frequency above 5 Hz had the ratio above 50% up to 80 m/min speed range.