Feel the force

Vishay Intertechnology has announced the introduction of the Vishay Nobel WST 3 load cell output converter. The WST 3, with Profibus DP communication and DIN-rail mounting, provides a weighing solution for food processing and chemicals applications. The WST 3 is said to integrate easily into an instrument control panel to provide local weight or force indications, with set-up and calibration via the front panel.

Vishay says the WST 3 supports up to eight 350-ohm transducers, with excitation voltage from 8.8VDC to 5.5VDC. The WST 3 features a patented analogue-to-digital converter capable of up to 8,300,000 counts and 0.5 to 300Hz conversion speed at 0.015% accuracy. This makes the WST 3 suitable for process weighing, force measurement and a wide variety of applications in PC-based and PLC-based control systems. Communication is via standard RS-485/ MODBUS RTU protocol.

The WST 3 unit is equipped with two relay outputs, which have a response time of less than 20msec, for use in high-accuracy level control applications. WST 3 transmitters also offer on-board fieldbus communications using the Profibus DP format. Fieldbus versions of DeviceNet and Modbus Plus also are available through the GATE 3S network module from Vishay Nobel.

A basic version of the deltaCOM PC-based remote set-up program is included with each WST 3 transmitter. The software is compatible with Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows NT4, Windows ME, and Windows XP operating systems. The WST 3 is CE-marked, including compliance with low-voltage and EMC directives.