Development of force measuring system, using strain gauges and an Arduino microcontroller

Merilni sistemi za merjenje sile se danes uporabljajo na mnogih področjih in so praktično nepogrešljivi. Obstaja več principov delovanja tovrstnih merilnih sistemov. V okviru naloge smo izdelali in predstavili cenen merilni sistem za merjenje sile, ki deluje po principu deformacije nosilca. Na nosilcu so nameščeni merilni lističi, ki so občutljivi na relativno deformacijo le-tega. S pomočjo mikrokrmilnika Arduino in ustreznih elektronskih komponent se merilni signal iz merilnih lisičev ustrezno obdela do oblike primerne za prikaz na LCD zaslonu oziroma na računalniku. Izdelan merilni sistem smo preizkusili in predstavili glavne prednosti in pomankljivosti ter možnosti za nadaljne izboljšave.Force measuring systems are used in many different fields and are nowadays indispensable. There are many different working principles for measuring force in real applications. In this thesis we developed and describe the force measuring system based on the girder deformation principle. Strain gauges are placed on girders surface to detect its relative deformation. With an Arduino microcontroller and additional electronics the signal from strain gauges is transformed to the form suitable for visualization on LCD display or computer. We also tested the system and present the results. We analyse the advantages and limitations of the system and propose options for its improvement