Measuring force on trawl nets

An exciting field study on measuring forces in naval settings was conducted on a crab trawler together with the University of Applied Sciences in Kiel.

In this experiment, the forces at the 6 attachment points of a trawl net were measured. Tension was measured using load cells with a measurement range from 0 to 10kN. The sensors were special shackle load cells with an integrated amplifier (4 to 20mA). They were deployed in depths of up to 20 meters. Even the rough maritime conditions did not cause any problems for the measurement system.