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When your facility’s operations include lifting and moving heavy including palettes of goods, large machinery, building materials and more, a tension meter (also called a tensiometer) can be a great asset. It’s essentially a force measuring device that can help your team track their equipment’s exertion and make sure it’s maintaining smooth, consistent pulling.
But how to choose the right device for your facility’s needs and team safety? To help you decide, this article details some of the top priorities to consider when looking for tensiometers, and the most important information about these devices that you should understand.
Selecting the Right Cable Tension Meter for Your Applications
Along with safe working conditions, the right tensiometer prevents costly equipment or facility damage. Verifying tension levels are within safe limits is important for maintaining equipment integrity, reducing service requirements, and extending service life. A force measuring device is suitable for measuring tension in applications including:
- Hoists
- Winches
- Towing vehicles
- Load turners
- Static structures built to maintain constant line tension (e.g., cable suspensions)
- Mounting points for load-bearing devices (such as walls, I-beams, or jibs)
Certain applications (such as crane equalizers, as in OSHA 1910.179[h][3]) also require balancing tension levels across multiple lines. This means that accurate tension is also essential to maintain safe orientation of suspended loads.
Consider your full range of applications when selecting a force measuring device, then match them to compatible products. For wider tension ranges, several industrial tension meters may be necessary to accommodate two or more pulling/hoisting operations exerting different tension levels outside any one tensiometer's capabilities.
How Industrial Tension Meters Work
Tensiometers use load cells to generate signal readouts in proportion to the tensiometer's force/tension within a given window of accuracy. Even under a wide range of environmental conditions and temperatures, precision-engineered industrial tension meters can achieve accuracy to within a single percent. For extremely high-tension levels (upwards of 10,000s of lbs), accuracy thresholds should be within ±2%.
This means the primary considerations when comparing force measuring devices are twofold:
- Force capacity and range
- Accuracy windows
Note further that very high-capacity industrial tension meters will have higher minimum force thresholds as well. For instance, a tensiometer rated for 40,000 lbs (20,000 kg) of force will likely not be able to accommodate forces less than 400 lbs (200 kg). Industrial operations that must keep a wider range of accurate tension levels will need to exercise greater care in determining minimum and maximum force thresholds. This frequently applies to facilities or construction operations supporting a combination of:
- Heavy lifting
- Rigging and other suspension operations (e.g., windmill servicing)
- Telco installations
- Electrical work
In the latter case, the tension stringing method – which normally depends on light, continuous tension – is often the best way to protect electricians from energized parts (see OSHA 1926.964[b]).
At the other end of the spectrum, ongoing maintenance work for massive load-bearing structures, like suspension bridges, may require balancing many lines under enormous tension all at once. In any capacity, it's important to establish clarity on the full breadth of your tension measurement requirements, including the number and type of devices required.
Other Essential Design Features
After determining basic functional dependencies of our force measuring device(s), consider other important design features, such as:
- Sheaves sized for appropriate rope diameters, typically ranging anywhere from 3/16 in. (5 mm) to 1 3/8 in. (35 mm)
- Long operating duration without an external power source, including low power notifications
- A broad operating temperature range – in most cases, -4–140° F (-20–60° C) is suitable
- Calibrated according to ISO 17.100 force metrology standards
- Support for multiple measurement formats (lbs / kg / N / daN)
- Custom settings and data banks, for saving/loading rope specifications and force ratings logs
- Intuitive, user-friendly controls
Build Quality and Calibration
Even more important than any of these considerations is accuracy, which depends on three essential factors:
- Effective use – e.g., keeping tensioning devices leveled and aligned (per OSHA 1926.964[b][5]), refraining from excessive torque (which causes deflection), and setting the device for proper rope diameter and construction
- Tensiometer build quality
- Proper factory testing and calibration
To these ends, be sure your cable tension meter manufacturer provides certifications for:
- IP 65 and NEMA 4 ratings, verifying enclosures can withstand dust and water from a light-pressure spray nozzle
- Calibration and testing requirements, with adjustment certifications that meet traceability requirements
- Build quality and adherence to measurement standards (e.g., IP 65, NEMA, and ISO)
- Health, safety, and environmental regulations (e.g., CE certification)
Knowing exactly which technical requirements and applications your tensiometer must fulfill depends on carefully evaluating the OSHA and CCOHS regulations relevant to your operation. Nevertheless, an experienced load and force measurement manufacturer can help you navigate the regulatory complexities likely affecting your industry.
Proper Industrial Tension Meter Usage
Ensuring industrial tension meters are always aligned with the direction of the push-pull force; tension could shift if lateral pulling operations transition to an inclined direction. While this could be enough to throw off an inferior force measuring device, more advanced alternatives remain firmly secure and provide immediate feedback if readout accuracy becomes disrupted. The most reliable tensiometer manufacturers will provide ongoing technical support, including specific calibration services using actual wire rope samples from your site. If you have any trouble working with a manufacturer, consider it a possible reflection of their equipment's overall reliability.
Optimal Safety Depends on Accurate Tension Measurements
If you're asking staff to entrust their safety to a cable tension meter readout, it's imperative that the device itself is fully trustworthy. Tractel is a multi-industry leader in load and force measuring applications, including a wide range of measuring devices backed by our own in-house testing and calibration services.
For high-tension applications of any kind, don't chance workplace safety or equipment on inexact measurements. Contact Tractel using the form in the upper right corner, and speak with one of our knowledgeable and experienced representatives.