Transponder technology improves safety equipment

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jul 23, 2002

Euchner reckons its CES-A-C5E-01 transponder switch is set to replace magnetic switches in many safety applications.

Euchner reckons its CES-A-C5E-01 transponder switch is set to replace magnetic switches in many safety applications.

The noncontact switch, which incorporates a CES-A-EA-04B evaluation unit, uses the latest advances in transponder technology and allows closer monitoring of complex production processes.

A transponder (actuator) works by receiving an electromagnetic field from a transceiver station (read head), processing it and sending data signals back to the receiving evaluation unit.

Similar data carrier mechanisms are used in car immobilisers.

Because of the transponder technology in its evaluation unit, the new CES switch has the capacity to use four transceiver stations enabling simultaneous monitoring of up to four safety guards while performing wiring and evaluation tasks and monitoring externally connected devices with just one system.

The ability to switch currents between 1mA and 6A allows users to connect it directly to a safety control module, an increasingly important function as transponder technology develops.

The advantages of transponder technology over conventional magnetic switches include: tamper-proof actuators; ease of use (a new actuator can be taught in situ within seconds); function of machinery maintained in the event of outside influences such as vibration, due to the larger operating range of up to 15mm enabled by the new CES switch's evaluation unit; positioning flexibility of the actuator due to a uniform signal field between actuator and read head; minimal wiring as the two core cable to the evaluation unit is either moulded to the head or connected using an M8 round plug connector; automatic detection of possible errors, eg cable break, short circuit etc; and cost efficient with the need for additional equipment such as tripping devices eliminated.

The noncontact CES-A-C5E-01 safety switch, in which the evaluation unit and read head are housed together, has also been developed to meet decentralised wiring requirements.