Intercomp Strip Sensors Allow Efficient Weight Monitoring

Fleet Plant Hire, a Melbourne, AU-based civil plant hire logistics company, needed an efficient way to ensure vehicles leaving excavation worksites comply with commercial vehicle weight restrictions. As part of a major Melbourne infrastructure, the city government included this contract requirement due to changes in the Chain of Responsibility (CoR) law. The amendments make all parties involved in hiring a commercial transportation company, including the vehicle owner and client, financially responsible for any transport law infractions. As a result, Fleet Plant Hire has ordered several Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) systems, including Intercomp’s Strip Sensors, since mid-2018 to fulfil this need.

Strip Sensors are installed at a location where vehicles travel both directions, and there is not enough room for two access lanes. This road is used when relocating machinery, including excavators, around this worksite, something that could not be done with a traditional full-length truck scale, due to oversized cargo. We also need to keep the vehicles moving because, at times, 20 vehicles will travel the roadway in an hour. – Garry Higgs, Fleet Plant Hire Business Development

Fleet Plant Hire provides heavy construction equipment and removal of excavated material from the project’s numerous worksites. The company utilizes several Intercomp WIM systems to ensure weight compliance. This includes Strip Sensors that utilize durable, field-proven Strain Gauge Load Cells that can accurately weigh vehicles traveling up to 80 mph (130 km/h).

Digging restrictions did not allow for the 2-ft to 6-ft (1-m to 2-m) deep trench needed for the concrete foundation of a full-length truck scale, whereas Strip Sensor require only a 3 in (75 mm)-wide, 3 in (75 mm)- deep channel cut into the pavement. Typical industrial applications need 6- or 8-sensor configurations, a maximum of 17-ft (5-m) long, compared to the +65-ft (20-m) length of a traditional static truck scale. This means Strip Sensors provide vehicle weighing data in one-third the space taken up by a traditional scale installation.

Fleet Plant Hire’s Strip Sensor installation curbed exposure to costly citations ensuring compliance with all gross, split and axle weight regulations. The company also benefitted from greater operational efficiency due to the high-visibility LED displays that allowed drivers to ensure they were not over- or under-filled before leaving the worksite. Fleet Plant Hire also projected a reduced investment over the operational lifetime of the scale system because of minimal installation and maintenance needs.

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