The Impact Force Measurement Kit comes with an impact sensor with a platform and a base, a USB Sensor Interface with 1 KHz data update rate and LoadVUE Pro (LV-1000) software .....

This kit comes with a impact sensor with a platform and a base, a USB Sensor Interface with up to 50 KHz data update rate and LoadVUE Pro (LV-1000HS-10K) high speed software .....

When trying to capture the peak force during a test, the data capture rate is a very important consideration. If the duration of the peak is just a few milliseconds, then having a 1 Khz data capture rate means that you'll have just a few data points. In that case, one may miss the peak completely. And repeated tests may not give you satisfactory consistent results. That is why our faster solution with up to 50 khz data capture rate (of calibrated force values) maybe very important for your particular test.

If you want to get a rough estimate of the impact force that would be exerted in your application, you can use our impact force Estimator tool. Simply, input the Mass, Drop Height, and estimated  Duration of Impact, and get an idea of the max capacity you might want to purchase. Change the estimated time duration to get a sense of the range of forces you might encounter prior to purchase. You can start with 0.001 second if you are not sure and vary it to 0.0005 seconds or smaller to get a sense of the estimated max forces that might be encountered.

Remember, it is better to get a higher capacity sensor than needed in order to avoid overloading and damaging the sensor. Even with higher capacities, the resolution and accuracy you get (or the order of +/- 0.1% to +/- 1% of full scale) should in most cases be plenty good for your needs.

The Impact Force Measurement Kit comes with an impact sensor with a platform and a base, a USB Sensor Interface with 1 KHz data update rate and LoadVUE Pro (LV-1000) software that can handle data rates  up to 1 Khz - live - and allow you to display, log and plot data on a Windows PC or Tablet. A minumum 8 GB of RAM and a recent model PC with Win 8/10 is recommended for this application.

The base LoadVUE Pro software allows a user to display the applied force in real time and do a force vs. time plot, capture the peak and low forces that occur during the test, log the data to a comma separated file as well as add user defined data to the report as needed to append the file with useful identifiers for the test. The software also allows the user to define the time span of interest for the plot as well as overlay previously captured data sets in order to compare one test to another. 

 The LV-1000HS-10K software allows the user to "capture" the data during the test and then display the results on screen by opening the file. It cannot display the results in real-time unlike the LV-1000HS-1K software.  For applications that need at least 10 data points in 1 millisecond, we recommend you select this higher speed 10 KHz version of the interface and software, which allows a user to capture data at up to 50 kHz.

Sometimes there might be multiple events during a test with its own local Peak/Low values that a user might be interested in. For such cases, we provide a special Region of Interest feature. You can set the time interval (beginning and ending times) on the plot that is of interest to you. The software calculates the Peak/Low/Delta between the two in THAT region.

For capturing impact forces consistently and accurately, especially with hard surfaces impacting hard surfaces, we recommend using the same impact sensor with the DI-1000UHS-10K USB Sensor Interface and the LV-1000HS-10K software. This is NOT a live solution. You can capture data for say 10 seconds during which time the attention is on capturing data exclusively. As soon as the time period expires, the data is displayed as a Force vs. Time plot and captures as a CSV file.

In the configurations shown earlier we showed you impact sensors with a base and platform. We offer them in 8" x 8" or 15" x 18" standard sizes. But you do not necessarily need to use these types of "scales". You can use any of our resistive load cells for e.g. the RSB2, RSB1, RAP3, RAP4, RAS1 or RSB6 load cells and use them with the DI-1000UHS-1K or DI-1000UHS-10K interfaces and LoadVUE/SensorVUE software to capture impact forces. Our solution is a very modular and versatile hardware, software solution to meet your particular needs.

Most available dynamic force measurement systems use an accelerometers to make measurements. This requires the user to interpret the acceleration data (usually provided as G values) to estimate the actual force of impact. This complicates the task of the user who has to correctly estimate the mass of the "system" to arrive at the force values. Such dynamic force measurement systems fall under the umbrella of vibration measurement systems and can easily cost upwards of $8000 per channel.

Here are two sample data files (in CSV format) captured during a one foot drop test of a plastic object. The data was captured at 50 kHz.  Each file has over 150,000 points. Since Microsoft Excel can graph only 32,000 points, you may need to use other software like R, Matlab etc to graph this data. 

Sample File 1

Sample File 2

Our reasonably priced solution provides a very practical method of computing the actual measured forces as experienced by our sensor. The platform provided as part of our solution makes it easy for users to place test samples that will be subjected to the impact.

NOTE: You can use ANY of our resistive load cells and mate it with either the DI-1000UHS-1K (up to 1 KHz) or DI-1000UHS-10K (up to 50 KHz) high speed interface devices to create your own unique combination needed for your application. Just have to add SensorVUE software or LV-1000HS-10K software respectively to display, log and plot data on a Windows PC/Tablet.