Applications: Civil Engineering

Wave Energy

Requirement

Pelamis wave Power, a company specialising in generating electricity from ocean waves required an amplifier that was not affected by electromagnetic noise from the running power cables and would fit in a small space. For their initial trials they used our Standard SY011 with 4-20mA output. The only problem was that the zero offset from strain gauges shifted over time as the parts were stressed, access to re-trim the zero was awkward.

 Solution
An amplifier was designed that could be remotely zeroed, the SY046 digital tare amplifier. This is achieved by digitising the measured signal using high resolution ADC(24bit), applying a digital tare then converting back to an analogue output. The amplifier is robust and can be packaged to meet user specific requirements. This amplifier is now available in our standard range and offers the following features to suit other applications:

1. Configurable to remotely tare by shorting the tare input to 0V or by applying a DC voltage.

2. The tare value can either be 4mA or 12mA.

3. Compact design with high efficiency power supply allowing operation over a wide supply voltage of 9-30V DC.

4. Can be specified with digital gain allowing measurement in systems with high residual weight.