EMC: Directives for Weighing Systems

Be it in packaging machinery or filling systems - load cells always need to weigh precisely and be easy to integrate. Weighing equipment affecting other technical devices through unwanted electrical effects - or vice versa -results in manufacturing errors and additional costs.

For over 20 years, HBK has provided its customers with reliable, EMC-tested weighing equipment. There are many reasons for inaccurate filling volumes in filling machines. Electromagnetic incompatibility of machine components is one of them, for example, resulting from radiated emission of weighing equipment affecting the PLC.

Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) designates the usually desired state that technical equipment items do not interfere with each other through unwanted electrical or electromagnetic effects. Protection requirements are defined in the so-called European EMC Directive. The NAWI and MID directives define specific EMC limits for weighing systems that are utilized, for example, in filling machines or in food packaging. Both standards are based on OIML recommendations.

For over 20 years, HBK has been testing all its weighing technology products in an ISO/IEC 17025-accredited EMC laboratory. This includes both radiated emission and immunity. Due to the fact that the future use of load cells or industrial scale electronics cannot always be determined, all products feature a special shielding design and are tested in line with the most stringent EMC requirements stipulated by law. Users thus benefit from maximum investment protection.