Rakesh Valeja, Managing Director, Thames Side Sensors India, highlights how advanced load cell technology enhances accuracy, process efficiency and legal compliance across every stage of cement production.

Load cells are electronic sensors that convert force or weight into an electrical signal. In cement plants, they provide the backbone for accurate measurement across the entire value chain – from quarrying limestone to dispatching finished cement – enabling inventory control, process automation, quality assurance, safety and legal-for-trade weighing.
The most widely used form in heavy industry weighing is the strain gauge load cell, which measures deformation of a small elastic element and converts that strain into a stable millivolt output proportional to load. Strain gauge load cells are rugged, reliable and available in compression, tension (S type) and shear/bending forms to suit different application, mounting and environmental needs.
Thames Side Sensors, with over 40 years of expertise, designs and manufactures precision load cells and weighing electronics for industries like cement, process weighing, and automation. Produced in Barcelona with stringent quality control, its products—ranging from 300g to 1,000 tonnes—ensure accuracy, durability, and global reliability. With warehouses in Mumbai and the UK, and certifications like ATEX, OIML, IP68, and IP69K, Thames Side provides trusted, high-performance solutions for diverse industrial weighing applications.

Load cells: From limestone to cement
Load cells are used at every stage, as part of weighing systems, during conversion of limestone to cement. Limestone undergoes a multi-stage transformation before becoming cement. The journey begins at open-pit mines, where drilling and controlled blasting techniques are used to extract the raw limestone. Once recovered, the material is transported to crushing units that reduce it to manageable fragments. These crushed particles are then combined with other essential ingredients such as clay and milled into a fine, homogenous powder. This raw mix is fed into a rotary kiln and subjected to intense heat, typically exceeding 1400°C, which initiates chemical reactions that form solid nodules known as clinker.
After cooling, the clinker is finely ground together with a small proportion of additives such as gypsum, fly ash, calcined clay, granulated blast furnace slag, iron ore, manganese oxide, tricalcium aluminate etc., resulting in the finished cement product ready for packaging and distribution.

Quarry and limestone handling (mining, haulage and stockpiles)
Truck scales (or the weighbridges) at the quarry use large compression or double ended shear beam load cells installed under the deck to capture the vehicle plus load. These cells must tolerate impact, shock and wide temperature swings; Thames Side Sensor’s rugged compression load cell models such as the T34 and T35 family are suitable for robust static weighbridges installations. These load cells are available in both – analogue and digital versions.
Under hopper load cells provide real time feed rate and mass flow control to crushers and conveyors; shear/bending beam cells with IP68 protection and overload stops are recommended. Thames Side single ended shear beam/bending solutions work well in this role.
For intermediate inventory control, a combination of weighbridge and belt weighers is common. Rugged Compression load cells and Robust bending beam models from Thames Side Sensors ensure long service life in dusty quarry environments.
Continuous mass flow on long conveyors is monitored by idler mounted instrumentation and Belt scales that often use Thames Side Sensors’ Bending Beam T66, Shear Beam T85 or S type (T60/T61) load cells. These load cells are specifically designed for conveyor and batching plant duties and offer the sensitivity and sealing needed for accurate dynamic measurements.

Raw material dosing and batch plant (crushing, grinding, blending)
High-accuracy weighing systems, including load cells on hoppers and feeders, play a critical role in maintaining blend precision and process stability.
Accurate batching of limestone, clay and additives is done with hopper or bin weighing systems. Vessel/silo weighing with multiple load cells provides static inventory and batch control; Thames Side supplies legal-for-trade approved silo, tank and hopper weighing load cells along with mounting assemblies designed for this purpose.
For controlled dosing into ball mills and raw mix blenders, Single point T12 or Bending beam T66 load cells deliver precise weight measurement for weigh feeder applications.
Loss in weight or weigh belt controls using single ended shear beam T85 or bending beam cells T66 ensure steady throughput to the ball mill and protect downstream process stability.

Kiln feed, clinker handling and kiln support systems
Accuracy in kiln feed is vital for kiln stability and fuel efficiency. Loss in weight feeders and weigh feeders typically use bending beam or single point load cells; Thames Side load cell model T66 and T12 are suitable for both the dosing accuracy and industrial sealing required.
For the clinker transfer bunkers and hot material handling robust load cells are required with appropriate thermal isolation and protective housings; Thames Side’s silo and hopper weighing solutions include Rugged Compression column T34 load cells with its mounting assemblies and instrumentation tailored for bulk solids monitoring in challenging environments. The T34 cells are available in 10t to 1000t capacities.

Cement finish milling, storage silos and load out
Cement finish milling reduces cooled clinker and additives to a fine powder, with precise grinding and gypsum addition to control setting time. Accurate feeders and load cell equipped hoppers ensure consistent mill feed and uniform product quality. Finished cement is stored in silos monitored by Bin Level Measuring Systems for inventory control and dispatch planning. Loadout operations use silo discharge controls, bulk tanker filling systems, and legal-for-trade approved weighbridges to ensure correct quantities for customers.
Thames Side Sensors offers complete silo/tank/hopper weighing solutions designed for bulk storage measurement and communication with plant control systems.
For the cement mill and final blending stage, precise small hopper weighing enables consistent cement fineness and additive dosing. Static vehicle weighbridges at despatch use heavy duty compression load cells (e.g., T34/T35) selected for long term reliability and trade accuracy, allowing accurate ticketing for commercial dispatch.

Packing, bagging and palletising
Bagging lines fill and seal cement into sacks using highspeed gravimetric or volumetric fillers that prioritise accuracy and throughput. Load cell equipped fillers and platform scales ensure each bag meets target weight and maintains tight tolerances for quality control. Automated palletisers and case packers then arrange filled bags onto pallets for secure storage and transport, with checkweighers and inline scales providing final verification. Integrated data capture from the weighing systems feeds traceability, production reporting, and despatch reconciliation.
Highspeed bagging and valve type packers
require fast, repeatable weight measurement at the filling nozzle or weigh platform. Thames Side Sensors’ bending beam load cell model T66 is explicitly recommended for batching and cement packer applications where speed and resolution matter.
Big bag (FIBC) filling machines suspend the bag from load cells during fill; S type or specially designed suspended weighing cells are ideal. Thames Side S beam T60/T61 and Single ended Shear Beam T85 load cells are designed for suspended tank/vessel and big bag filling duties and are a practical standard for plant spares and maintenance.

Transit, despatch and legal-for-trade approved weighing Transit and despatch operations rely on legal-for-trade approved weighbridges to provide legally valid mass measurements for customer deliveries and revenue reconciliation. Weighbridge systems, calibrated and certified to local metrology standards, ensure accuracy and defensible transaction records.
Complementary checks use bulk tanker scales, on-board systems and batch tickets to cross-verify loads before release. Integrated weighing data is linked to ERP and dispatch systems for invoicing, inventory control and audit trails.
For legal for trade transactions at dispatch, the weighing system must meet regulatory approvals and be mounted with heavy duty compression
load cells. Thames Side’s heavier compression load cell families like the T34/T35 meet the structural and environmental requirements for weighbridge installations.

Instrumentation, integration and environmental considerations
Accurate load cell measurement requires properly matched transmitters, junction boxes and controllers with protocols for PLC/DCS/SCADA integration. Thames Side’s weighing systems include instrumentation options compatible with common industrial protocols to integrate silo inventory and despatch data into plant systems.
Dust, moisture, corrosive atmospheres and vibration demand high-IP rated welded load cells with robust cable sealing and protective mounts. Thames Side’s product families cited above are designed and specified for industrial bulk solids environments and include suitable sealing and mounting assemblies.

Conclusion
Strain gauge load cells are the measurement of backbone across a cement plant’s entire lifecycle. Standardising on proven load cell families such as Thames Side’s Bending Beam T66, Shear Beam T85, Single Point T12 for feeders, conveyors and bagging and T34 compression load cells for heavy weighbridge and silo support simplifies spares, commissioning and maintenance while delivering the accuracy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Rakesh Valeja, Managing Director, Thames Side Sensors India, holds over 35 years in India’s weighing and automation industry and is known for his ethical leadership and strategic acumen.