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The double-ended shear beam load cell is a transducer that converts load into an electrical signal, usually by the use of four or more strain gauges in a single or multiple Wheatstone bridge configuration.

The term double-ended refers to the fact that the load cell has two independent shear sections, usually one at each end, and is then subjected to loading between the centre and the two ends simultaneously. The capacity of the load cell is therefore doubled and the construction is made inherantly stable.

The double-ended shear beam load cell is a convenient amalgamation of two single-ended (conventional) shear beam load cells into one physical device, giving the advantage of higher loading capacity and higher resistance to off centre loads and side forces.

The double-ended shear beam is often provided with purpose-designed mountings that allow the load to self-align with the load cell, to maximise performance and avoid parasitic stresses such as those that are often transferred to the load cell by temperature changes in the structures above and below the load cell.

Double-ended shear beams are most often used for high capacity installations such as silos, tanks, truck scales (weighbridges), railway scales and other heavy industrial processes.

Multiple load cell outputs are wired in parallel and their outputs are then summed to give the total load result. In the case of truck scales and other applications where the load can be positioned off-center, then it may be necessary to trim the outputs of the individual load cells so that the load result is the same, regardless of load position on the scale. Such devices are known as summing junction boxes or trimming boxes, and can be found in the OTHER PRODUCTS selection on the Mantracourt website.

The output of such load cells is usually in the region of 2 to 3 mV/V at full load, which makes them suitable for use with any of Mantracourt's strain gauge amplifiers, digitisers and controllers.