ATE designed, manufactured and delivered a 6 ~ Component Virtual Centre Overhead Balance incorporating, Yaw and Incidence Adjustment System, and the necessary Control System for operation and Data Acquisition. The Balance was installed above the test section of the University of Bristol's 7’ x 5’ Low Speed Wind Tunnel, to replace the existing obsolete device. The Virtual Centre Balance is designed to measure the six components of load at a point which is external to the Balance itself. The new 6 ~ Component Overhead Balance was installed onto the existing support structure above the test section . The Balance is of a Virtual Centre type such that its resolution point is aligned with the test section centre line. The aerodynamic loads acting on the model are transferred to the Balance and the mechanisms separate the total load into the six individual components of Lift, Pitch Moment, Drag, Side Force, Yaw Moment and Roll Moment.
The Balance is a high precision device to suit the demands of current wind tunnel testing, providing minimal deflection and high measurement accuracy. Load measurement is performed by precision strain gauged cells to instantly detect the load and allow data to be recorded in the shortest time frame. A High Speed Data Acquisition system provides reliable signal processing specifically to suit the Balance with intelligent filter and data collection rate settings
