What are the Different Types of Weighbridges?

Across a wide variety of industries – including everything from transportation to logistics, and mining to manufacturing, weighbridges play a pivotal role in daily operations.

They enable vehicle-driven operations to run as efficiently as possible, while ensuring the safety of everyone involved in the process.

So, in this article, we’ve outlined our comprehensive guide to weighbridges. Below, you can find a breakdown of the main types of weighbridges and their specific benefits, to help you pinpoint the best solution for your specific business needs.

What are Weighbridges used for?

Weighbridges are used to weigh vehicles, most commonly being used to weigh trucks and trailers.

Also known as truck scales or loading scales, these large scales are commonly used across a variety of industries.

Weighbridges are critical across these operations, as they are used to:

• Calculate and track the weight of vehicle loads – by calculating the weight of a vehicle and its load, businesses can track their inventories and monitor shipping costs.
• Ensure compliance with weight limits – businesses use weighbridges to ensure their vehicles are not overloaded. Exceeding these weight restrictions can not only damage roadways and vehicles, but can also pose a significant safety hazard.
• Track the weight of shipments – by monitoring the weight of incoming and outgoing shipments, businesses can track production and inventory more easily.
• Improve efficiency and productivity – weighbridges can give businesses greater insights into their loading and transportation processes, thereby helping them to improve efficiency and productivity.

Across the board, by accurately weighing vehicles and monitoring the weight of their loads, the data that weighbridges provide is key in helping businesses to improve the safety, efficiency, and productivity of their operations.

What are Pit Mounted Weighbridges, and what are their benefits?

Pit mounted weighbridges are installed in a pit or depression in the ground. They are usually made of either concrete or steel, with a series of load cells or sensors.

A Pit Mounted Weighbridge:

These (also commonly known as pit scale or pit type weighbridges) weigh the vehicles that pass over them. Conveniently, the way that they are situated in a pit allows the weighbridge to be set at the same level as the road. As such, vehicles can easily drive onto the scale.

Pit mounted weighbridges are most commonly used to measure the weight of trucks or other heavy vehicles.

What are Surface Mounted Weighbridges, and what are their benefits?

Surface mounted weighbridges are installed on the ground’s surface. Like pit mounted weighbridges, these weigh a vehicle as it passes over them. They are typically to weigh trucks and other heavy vehicles.

A Surface Mounted Weighbridge:

Also known as surface type weighbridges or platform scales, surface mounted weighbridges are usually made of either concrete or steel, alongside a series of load cells or sensors.

The main benefit of surface mounted weighbridges is that they can be directly installed onto most surfaces, such as concrete. As a result, they are highly flexible and quick to use, as they don’t require a specialist pit to be constructed (unlike pit mounted weighbridges).

What are Portable and Multi-deck Weighbridges?

As their name suggests, portable weighbridges are designed to be easy to move across different locations. Portable weighbridges are most commonly used for temporary weighing applications. They can also be safely and conveniently used in locations where it would be impractical, costly or otherwise unfeasible to install a permanent weighbridge there. This makes them ideally suited to temporary construction sites, or to weigh a vehicle in a remote location.

Unlike the other weighbridges that we’ve listed here, multi-deck weighbridges have multiple weighing platforms. This allows operators to weigh a vehicle and its load separately. For example, this is highly useful for scenarios where different components of a vehicle’s load need to be monitored over time.

At Weightron Bilanciai, we supply a wide range of weighbridges, including both pit mounted weighbridge and surface mounted weighbridges.

Weightron Bilanciai is the UK’s leading supplier of weighbridges, and we are trusted by businesses across the country, to aid their operations requirements. So, if you’d like to find out more about the benefits of using weighbridges, or to arrange the hire of a weighbridge for your business, contact our team for a quote.