Posted to News on 15th Feb 2021, 00:00
Compact safety switch protects personnel within industrial and processing applications
Euchner has launched a new range of compact and highly secure locking switches ideally suited to applications in the manufacturing, processing and packaging industries with special variants for hygienic areas in food and beverage plants. The new CTM transponder–coded safety switch with guard locking is ideal for the protection of medium-weight guarding often used on manufacturing and automation equipment, including packaging lines, filling systems, component loaders, or almost any situation where a compact, high integrity switch is required.
Both types of switch feature high-level coding using transponder technology and an advanced diagnostic capability that provides excellent resistance to misuse, especially where motivation for defeating the safety systems on the equipment is likely. Information, such as number of operations, operating temperature, etc. can be used by the control system to ensure the maximum ‘up-time’ of the equipment is maintained.
The well thought out design means that additional holding magnets and clips are eliminated as the switch-actuator has a ‘holding’ force preventing the doors or flaps opening unintentionally while the equipment is in use and ‘unlocked’. The compact dimensions of the CTM switch, which is just 120x36x25mm, makes this one of the smallest yet strongest locking devices of its type. The locking ball actuator on an elastomer bearing allows some degree of flexibility which enables the CTM to be used on smaller, lightweight doors with extremely small pivoting radii, right down to 150mm. This allows lower cost swing-type doors and flaps to be used where more complex sliding access solutions had to be used previously.
The CTM range of interlocks include variants which are watertight and meet IP69. These use special materials such as PEEK thermoplastics and 316L stainless steel fixings to ensure continued operation in these arduous environments. They can be cleaned using high pressure without any detriment to the unit or actuator.
David Dearden, Euchner’s UK&I country manager, says: “One feature which sets the new Euchner CTM apart from competitors is that, owing to its small dimensions, the device can be fitted to units or doors that are close together. Where most interlocks of this type require a distance of 100mm between each unit to avoid signal confusion, CTM switches can be sited just 40mm apart. At its price point it is unbeatable for this level of security and flexibility in such a small switch.”
Euchner’s CTM boasts a wide range of functionality that makes it perfect for almost all situations. The bi-stable guard locking function, with a locking force in excess of 1000N, means that in the event of a power failure or shut-down, the switch remains in it’s previous state, making it much safer for applications where body access is required or where clean-down or maintenance procedures are ideally carried out without power being applied to the machine. When the operating voltage of the switch is removed, the guard locking always remains in its current state. The guard door is either locked or it can be opened and closed as required. For ease of operational monitoring, the CTM features two multi-colour LED displays that are visible from either side of the switch allowing the current status of the switch to be easily checked at a glance, even from a distance.
