Weigh in motion
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Weigh-in-motion (WIM) devices are designed to capture and record truck axle weights and gross vehicle weights as they drive over a sensor. Unlike older static weigh stations, current WIM systems do not require the subject trucks to stop, making them much more efficient.
Gross vehicle and axle weight monitoring is useful in an array of applications including:
- Pavement design, monitoring, and research
- Bridge design, monitoring, and research
- Size and weight enforcement
- Legislation and regulation
- Administration and planning
Weigh in Motion also applies to the railroad industry. Trains are weighed, either coupled in motion or uncoupled in motion. Coupled in motion weighing refers to a train weighing while all of the railcars are coupled. Uncoupled in weighing requires that the railcar be uncoupled on both ends in order to weigh. Uncoupled in motion weighing is generally reserved for railroad classification yards.
Recent years have seen the rise of several "specialty" Weigh in Motion systems. The most popular of these is the front fork garbage truck scale. In this application, a container is weighed -- while it is full -- as the driver lifts, and again -- while it is empty -- as the container is returned to the ground. The difference between the full and empty weights is equal to the weight of the contents.
