Industrial Bolting
FORCE AND TORQUE MEASUREMENTS FOR BOLT FASTENING APPLICATIONS
A Bolted Joint is the most widely used method for fastening industrial components together.
When fastening a bolt, applying a known load is critical to ensure the integrity of the bolt connection. Torquing and Tensioning are the two most commonly used methods to tighten a bolt. Both techniques work by elastically stretching the fastener which in turn exerts a clamping force on the components being joined. For a full description of each technique read our Industrial Bolting blog.
Accurate implementation of either technique, requires a measurement to be performed; either the torque exerted to the nut or bolt head, or the tensile force applied to the fastener. Sensing Systems manufactures sensors and transducers to obtain the required torque or tensile force measurements for bolting applications.
Torque Measurement Sensors:
- Electronic Torque Wrenches
- Rotating Torque Sensors
- Stationary Torque Sensors
The above sensors have overall full scale accuracies of ≤ ± 0.25%. Sensing Systems also provides IS0 17025 accredited calibration services to help our customers comply with industry standards requiring torque wrenches to be calibrated once a year or every 5,000 cycles.
Bolt Tension Measurement Sensors:
- Load Washers
- Instrumented Bolts
Load washers are placed under the head of the bolt and become an integral part of the bolted assembly. High accuracy instrumented bolts sensors incorporate strain gages to measure the applied load during and after the fastening operation. Both sensor types directly measure the tension developed in a bolt during and after the fastening operation. This allows long term monitoring of bolt tension. The Tensioning approach circumvents any torsional effects which makes it highly desirable for critical bolted joints.