This work describes the development and testing of a large-capacity weighing system for calibration of soil moisture sensors in which the gravimetric method is taken as the standard one. The experiment was conducted at the Laboratório de Irrigação e Drenagem, Centro de Ciências Agrárias e Ambientais da Universidade Federal da Bahia, town of Cruz das Almas (12º40'S, 39º30'W), State of Bahia, Brazil. The main component of the system was a 60-kg load cell with a 2-mV/V sensibility when submitted to the maximum load. In the calibration process standard weights of 1, 5, 10 and 20 kg were used during seven loading and unloading cycles. A linear calibration model (r² = 0.999) was found and the repeatability, hysteresis, and linearity errors were 0.119%, 0.068%, and 0.009% of full scale (FS). The accuracy limits, which represent the overall performance of the weighing system, were ±0.083% of FS. The weighing system, in terms of functionality and performance, were considered to be adequate for calibration of soil moisture sensors, like capacitance probes, with undisturbed soil samples under laboratory conditions. The estimated final cost of the system was US$ 766.00.
Gravimetric method; load cell; agricultural instrumentation
