A balancer is a handling aid that when
supporting a load, will keep that load at a given height (and thus in
balance) for you. So, for instance if you are lifting a 300 lb
part and it is hanging, supported from say a jib crane and you move it
around to place it into an oven, and in so doing you let go of the
handling aid and are actually pushing down on the part with you hands to
get it in the oven, a balancer will compensate for your push by sensing that
there is now more force on the system and allow the part to move
downward.
Pneumatic Balancer.
A pneumatic balancer was the first
balancing type lifting aid used, and have been around
for 30 years or more. It relies upon air pressure changes to
sense an increase in part pressure and release or retract
cable. Shown is a balancer that is to be mounted using
enclosed track as the rail.
Electric Balancer.
An electric balancer actually falls under the category of IAD or Intelligent
Assist Device. Essentially, this type of lifting aid will do the
same thing as the pneumatic balancer except that it uses a load cell
to detect weight fluctuations and it uses that measurement to
release or retract cable. Read more about these on the Intelligent
Assist Device page.
