 Weighbridge design and the weight of structural steel used directly affect the life of a truck scale. Many truck scale designs incorporate low grade, non-certified steel and an inferior design to reduce the cost and decrease production time. These reductions also reduce the life of the scale. Rice Lake SURVIVOR® series truck scales utilize up to 30%* more steel than most competitive models and incorporate a longitudinal highway bridge design. More I-beams are strategically placed longitudinally with the traffic flow to ensure tire support regardless of truck position.
Rice Lake’s heavy capacity engineers use the latest Finite Element Analysis (FEA) technology to identify key stress points and develop a thorough understanding of the effects of deflection on accuracy and longevity. The result is optimum weighbridge integrity. Our engineers also complete a thorough weighbridge analysis on each model to determine the scales life expectancy. Using basic bending calculations they calculate the amount of stress and number of weighments each model can handle.
Once they know the number of weighments, the following formula is used to determine the life expectancy of the scale.
Total weighments / (daily weighments x number of days per year) = life expectancy
The following figures were calculated based on an average 70' x 12', four section scale and 500 weighments of 34,000 lbs legal DTA per day in all cases.
SURVIVOR OTR and ATV models
Stress: 9580 psi
3,000,000 / (500 x 300) = 20 years
SURVIVOR SR and PT models
Stress: 8740 psi
4,000,000 / (500 x 300) = 27 years
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