Hygienic load cells are a vital piece of kit in the modern food manufacturing, pharmaceutical, dairy and drink industries.
These weighing sensors specialist put contamination prevention, easy cleaning and complying with super-tight hygiene standards at the top of their agenda, making them a clear winner in sanitary environments over standard load cells.
What Are Hygienic Load Cells?
Hygienic load cells (often referred to as aseptic or sanitary design load cells) are precision sensors that convert applied force or weight into an electrical signal. These have been specifically engineered with one thing in mind: working in environments like food production, pharmaceuticals & life sciences where contamination risks have got to be minimised.
Unlike bog-standard load cells, hygienic versions put a load of emphasis onto cleanability and resisting bacterial build-up through:
- Materials that Resist Corrosion: top-grade stainless steel (AISI 304 or 316L), which has often been electropolished to a mirror finish to stop adhesions in their tracks.
- Design With No Crevices: smooth surfaces with no gaps, edges, threads or protrusions that could hold onto residue.
- Solid Sealing: a hermetic laser weld that keeps moisture & cleaners out for good.
- Cutting Down On Complexity: removing the bits you don’t need, like mechanical overload stops on many models.
This all means a huge cut-down in cleaning time, while ensuring your weighing is bang on for jobs like monitoring tanks/silos, filling machines, dosing systems and packaging lines.
Types of Hygienic Load Cells
Hygienic load cells are available in several configurations to suit different capacities and applications:
Hygienic load cells are available in all sorts of configurations to suit different loads and tasks:
- Single Point Load Cells: Perfect for off-centre loads in platforms, filling and packaging.
- Beam Load Cells (shear or cantilever): ideal for dynamic processes and side loads (e.g. conveyors, smaller tanks).
- Compression Load Cells (Canister/Column): The heavy-hitters for big tanks, silos, and reactors.
How Hygienic Load Cells Improve Food Production Safety?
Food production always has a problem with microbial risks: Listeria, Salmonella, E. coli and the like. Standard load cells can harbour bacteria in tight little spaces and be nearly impossible to clean, which just leads to more contamination, more recalls, and more downtime.
Hygienic load cells are tackling this directly, helping food safety and making operations run a lot more smoothly.
Here are some of the key benefits:
- Containment at its best: With surfaces that are completely gap-free and electropolished, and a hermetic seal that keeps bacteria from getting in, it’s easy to get your clean-in-place (CIP) process going and keep it that way.
- Meeting Regulations: We’re talking about compliance with the global standards, because some things are just not negotiable.
- Cleaning costs plummet: CIP processes are way faster, using way less water, chemicals and labour.
- Production speeds up: Accurate weighing means less waste, more precise batching, less downtime – you get the picture.
With leading manufacturers behind them, these hygienic load cell solutions are a recipe for successfully future-proofing your operation and meeting the needs for fresh and sustainable products.
Specialized Features of Hygienic Load Cells
Hygienic load cells have some pretty clever features that bring them in line with EHEDG and 3-A Sanitary Standards, such as:
- Smooth surfaces, no crevices: Liquids flow right off, making cleaning a breeze.
- Tough and corrosion-resistant: With electropolished stainless steel and low surface roughness (Ra values), this stuff can withstand even the harshest environments.
- Sealed up tight: Laser-welded construction means no way for the internal workings to get contaminated.
- Clean design: We’re talking minimalist here, because no cleaning traps from overload stops or complex kits. We just integrate protection where it’s needed, and let the clean-in-place process take care of the rest.
- Load-carrying capacity: Up to 150% safe overload and 300% ultimate overload.
This design keeps your load cells running smoothly over their whole life, even if you’re in a wet or aggressive environment.
IP Ratings and Certifications for Hygienic Load Cells
Certification is pretty important when it comes to hygienic load cells. Here’s what you need to know about Ingress Protection (IP) Ratings and the various other standards and approvals:
IP Ratings (IEC 60529)
- IP68: A dust-tight seal that can put up with continuous immersion – a given for hermetically sealed models.
- IP69K: Protection against even the highest-temperature (80C) and high-pressure (100 bar) washdowns – we’re talking food-grade tough here.
Certification Overview
- EHEDG: European benchmark for CIP which is a requirement for load cell design compliance and in-place cleanability tests (with no residual bacteria).
- 3-A Sanitary Standards: Material, finish, and inspectability standards in the US, especially for dairy and other products.
- ATEX/IECEx: For explosive atmospheres in food plants – not something you want to mess around with.
- OIML/NTEP trade accuracy: Additional certifications for accuracy in trade, and FDA-compliant materials.
It’s worth noting that some models combine IP68/IP69K with EHEDG/3-A, and specifics will vary by manufacturer.
Hygienic load cell systems are often designed to work with hygienic mountings for complete systems.
So when you get right down to it, hygienic load cells are just a better all-round choice for food production safety, efficiency and compliance.
If you want to discover which perfect hygienic load cell is for your food application, our team of specialists is here to help at your earliest convenience!
Have Questions About Load Cells or Weighing Systems for Your Specific Application?
From hygiene requirements and harsh environments to certifications and installation challenges, it often helps to talk things through with someone who’s been there before. The team at Massload is happy to answer questions, share practical guidance, and help you make informed decisions for your application.
